Mozart, Cats and Clowder Press

Wolfie the Cat

Wednesday, 31 January 2024 17:37

On 27 January it was the birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, infant phenomenon, child prodigy and cosmic musical genius. He was born in Vienna in 1756 and died there just 35 years later. By the time he was eight, he could play the piano and violin, to standards we can only dream of, and had written a symphony and several violin sonatas. 

Over his lifetime he composed over 600 pieces for all types of instruments, covering every known musical form: symphonies, concerti, sonatas, quartets, quintets, opera, masses, choral pieces and requiems; had he lived long enough, he would surely have gone on to cover the waltz swing, jazz, 12-bar blues, rock ‘n ‘roll, bluegrass, punk. trance, jungle, dnb and hip-hop (We suspect that he would have really loved hip-hop. And punk.)

Of course, this is entirely uncat: way too industrious. Belvedere and I are quite exhausted.  And yet.

Although Mozart was very fond of animals (he had a dog, a canary, a starling and a horse), there is no evidence that he actually owned a cat. We think that is because secretly he was one. Here is our thinking:
• When he got bored or his attention wandered, which was often, he would jump about the furniture, turning somersaults and miaowing like cat.This was witnessed on several occasions. 
• His adored billiards; the game where you push coloured balls off a table (if playing pocket billiards) or just around the table.
• He did not appreciate being told what to do
• He preferred working alone
• He was an Aquarius.

 At least 90% cat. Incontrovertible, nicht wahr?

  

For more about cats in music, have a look at Musical Cats, part of the Creative Cats series.





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