Klarinet Archive - Posting 000803.txt from 2002/06

From: Daniel Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Mozart's brain
Date: Mon, 24 Jun 2002 11:02:25 -0400

Kent wrote:

"Unfortunately, despite the title, the only specific reference to
Mozart's brain deals with his recording on paper the "Miserere" of
Gregorio Allegri after hearing it only twice."

If the story is to be believed (and there is no reason why it should
not), Mozart wrote down the text of the Miserere after hearing it only
once. Then he heard the work a second time and was chagrined that he
had made a few errors, the exact number being unknown.

There is no evidence that his hearing it a second time was for the
purpose of finding errors that he might have made, though that is the
generally offered hypothesis. But that he wrote it down after the first
hearing is the traditional wisdom. Of course, we have no corroboration
for the entire event, but that he might have been able to do it is not
unreasonable in the least. The guy certainly had a head on his
shoulders at that age (or at any age, for that matter).

Dan

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** Dan Leeson **
** leeson0@-----.net **
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