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Beethoven. Beyond
Sezione 1
Sezione 2
At the home of the god of music
VIENNA, Mozart's House. 1787
PLAY ME
In 1787, my tutor Neefe urged the nobles of
Bonn to finance me to go to glittering Vienna,
seat of the Habsburg empire, world capital of music. He said I was a genius, that I would become a second Mozart. So a group of aristocrats invested their money in me. That year, I put myself to the test and went to Vienna,
the centre of European culture, where the arts flourished and the nobility showered money and favours on artists of all kinds. For years I had dreamed of going to that city; I wanted to meet the god on earth of music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. I used my connections to get the opportunity to play at his house.
My magnificent performance stunned the great maestro. He was incredulous. He left the room and went to the next one, where his wife was entertaining guests, and said to her: <<Keep an eye on this boy. One day he will give the world something to talk about >>. I was very happy to have impressed Mozart and would have liked to
study with him.... But that was our first and last meeting. Just two weeks after my arrival in Vienna, my mother fell ill with tuberculosis and I had to rush back to Bonn. That same summer she died... I was troubled by conflicting feelings towards the woman who loved me, but who had never been able to defend me from my father.
Sezione 3
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