WIENER MOZARTJAHR 2006 - this is not farewell?

 
Peter Marboe, Artistic Director, WIENER MOZARTJAHR 2006

Every year is a Mozart year. That is why no official “opening” to the Vienna Mozart Year 2006 was held on 1 January, and it is all the more reason not to hold any kind of pompous concluding festivity on 31 December. How on earth could one “conclude” a Mozart year? The fact that “perhaps the greatest genius in the entire history of mankind” (Wolfgang Hildesheimer) lived here in Vienna for ten years and created many of his most glorious works during that time is cause for rejoicing. But we were convinced and determined, right from the beginning, that WIENER MOZARTJAHR 2006 should not and would not be limited to isolated, unreflecting celebrations of the 250th anniversary of Wolfgang Amadé’s birth, but that it was going to be a new attempt to approach the “miracle” of Mozart (Goethe) from many different angles and in many different ways, and at the same time, with his help, to reflect upon many different questions - particularly, of course, the significance of music in our society. At the beginning of the year, justified warnings came from a number of quarters about the dangers of “overkill” that could result from such a year of commemoration. It was therefore also clear that anything that smacked of this kind of excessiveness must be avoided. We did not want a Mozart Year that would pounce upon the public like a street robber, screeching “Amadeus!”, in hopes that this would make everyone love Mozart. No loudspeakers, no shrill advertising? we simply wanted to communicate the message that life is more beautiful with Mozart, and with music, than without them - especially in places where people were not (yet) so aware of this. More than 100,000 people accepted the invitation to join in the three-day celebration at the end of January; many millions tuned in to the concerts and other happenings that were broadcast on radio and television in more than 50 countries the world over. And at the end of the year, artists from all continents were invited to come and build reflective and visionary bridges to the Mozart years of the future, here in Vienna, during Peter Sellars’ festival New Crowned Hope.

 In between lay numerous exciting premieres, glorious encounters with Mozart in opera houses, concert halls and churches, some 40 world premieres of contemporary compositions, hundreds of school and youth projects, film and theatre festivals, impressive exhibitions, music research symposia, concerts and other encounters in public spaces, dance performances, and Mozart oases, all of which were reported on in over 10,000 documented articles worldwide. No “spectacles”, but rather encounters imbued with the “Spirit of Mozart”, the thoughts and ideas that connect us with this great genius.
In all of this, there was always a focus on reducing reservations and misgivings in those for whom classical music was still somewhat of an unknown quantity, on creating and facilitating new accesses and possibilities for approaching Mozart. Not in a “missionising” way, not with presumption or ostentation, but as a continually renewed invitation to assure music its own specific place in our society. Particularly in a city like Vienna, which fortunately created the budgetary and organisational preconditions for planning and conducting this very special year, this will always be a topical concern, just as topical as the question of an eight-year-old youngster who wanted to know: “And where is Mozart now?” “We live in difficult times, brother,” wrote Giorgio Strehler in his (fictive) letter to Mozart, “but it is also thanks to you that we are not totally despairing. And in approaching you, to the best of our abilities, we feel that we are in a position to accept life and to fight ? each in his own way ? for a better world.” We need Mozart much more than he needs us. And that will always be so. To all those who helped us remember this once again this year, we extend particular thanks: the wonderful artists, the co-producers, co-organisers, partner institutions and sponsors, the many committed people who participated in various parts of the school and youth programme, the ORF and our print media partners, our managing director Dr. Franz Patay and the entire WIENER MOZARTJAHR 2006 team, Wien Holding (Mozarthaus Vienna), Vereinigte Bühnen Wien, the Vienna Tourist Board and many, many others. We cannot - and should not - bid WIENER MOZARTJAHR 2006 farewell. Every year is a Mozart year. Martin Buber was once asked whether he thought the destructive powers or the sustaining powers in the world would be victorious. “How can you ask? After all, the world has Mozart,” was his spontaneous reply. Mozart will always be “food for the soul”, will always be a beginning and give us hope. Long after this year is over.