Einstein’s
Mozart: Two
Geniuses
MUSIC BY W. A. MOZART *** TEXT BY KATE LIGHT
Celebrate Mozart’s 250th birthday and Einstein’s Miracle Year with Einstein’s
Mozart!
Poet Kate Light, author of Oceanophony,
The Laws of Falling Bodies, and Open Slowly, hits the stage once
again with her new piece Einstein’s Mozart: Two Geniuses. Commissioned
and premiered by the Colorado
Chamber Players in 2006, Einstein’s Mozart commemorates this year’s
historic close convergence of the centenary of Albert Einstein’s Miracle Year
(1905-2005) and W. A. Mozart’s 250th birthday (1756-2006), with Light’s original
text and Mozart’s chamber music.
Trace Einstein’s five papers of 1905, including the theory of special
relativity, in rhymed dactyls! Follow Mozart the child prodigy as he travels Europe from age six! Float through space with Pythagoras’
music of the spheres -- and enjoy the chamber music that inspired Einstein all
his life. Contact Kate
Light to arrange a performance or for more information.
SYNOPSIS
(Text copyright 2006 Kate Light )
EINSTEIN'S MOZART: TWO GENIUSES
Part 1: MOSTLY EINSTEIN (1879-1955)
Intermission
Part 2: EINSTEIN AND MOZART (1756-1791)
Einstein’s Mozart: Two Geniuses integrates two of Mozart’s great string works with Kate Light’s original poetry and prose. The narration draws listeners into ordinary and extraordinary moments of these two exceptional men, while the music -- separating the texts into discrete segments -- casts its own magic.
In poems such as “The Friends Which Could Not Be Lost,” “Time and Tempo,” and “A Remarkable Year: 1905,” Ms. Light’s text delivers facts with humor and poignancy. Einstein’s Mozart begins with Einstein at the end of his long life as he looks back -- as he so often did -- in gratitude to great men “of the past...as well as the insights which they had achieved,” calling these “the friends which could not be lost.”
Part 1, Mostly Einstein, comprises a poetic recasting of Einstein’s early creative life and times and his scientific insights, including the five papers of his Miracle Year (1905), interwoven with a performance of Mozart’s String Quintet in Eb Major, K. 614 (1791).
Part 2, Einstein and Mozart, introduces Pythagoras’ concept of the “music of the spheres,” Einstein the philosopher, and Mozart as both young prodigy and maturing artist, interwoven with Mozart’s String Quartet in C Major, K. 465 (“The Dissonant”, 1785).
At the end of this journey with the “the friends which could not be lost,” the circle closes as Mozart dreams forward to his listeners of the future.
Please note: Abridged versions are available for younger audiences.
Why Einstein’s Mozart? Why link these men together this way?
What does my group, series, or
festival need to produce this work? Is it complicated to arrange?
What music by Mozart is involved?
Could other string chamber repertoire be performed?
How soon can I schedule this work?
How long is the piece?
What is the format of the piece?
Are there any supplemental materials available for the piece?
What is the intended audience for the piece?
Can the piece be done for young people or young children?
Are educational materials available?
What is the cost?
What about the narrator?
Why Einstein’s Mozart? Why link these men together this way?
The lives and creative
spirits of these two men have much in common, with their “outsider” qualities
and the extraordinary ways in which they worked. Their uneasy relationships
with fame, incapacities in early years to get or keep jobs, the need to rebel,
to speak their minds and above all to tap into the wells of creativity beyond
their times and to leave us with something beautiful and miraculously
human--all these similarities combine to make them a dynamic pair. Each
had two sons and one sister and married against their family’s wishes; and
despite their unique and extraordinary takes on “family”, in a way each was,
quite deeply, the product of his own.
But it is Einstein’s love of Mozart’s music, and the inspiration that it
provided him, that is the strongest link of all. Said Einstein, who played the violin from the age of six, “Mozart
is the greatest composer of all. Beethoven ‘created’ his music, but the
music of Mozart is of such purity and beauty that one feels he merely ‘found’
it-- that it has always existed as part of the inner beauty of the universe
waiting to be revealed.”
[back
to questions]
What does my group, series, or
festival need to produce this work? Is it complicated to arrange?
Performing Einstein's Mozart couldn’t
be simpler. Other than the chamber musicians, all that is needed is the narrator
(preferably Kate Light!) and a microphone. Your performance is ready to go!
[back to questions]
What music by Mozart is involved?
Einstein's Mozart: Two Geniuses was originally performed with the
String Quintet in Eb Major, K. 614, and String
Quartet in C Major, K. 465 (the “Dissonant”), and these pieces are very
effective. [back to questions]
Could other string chamber repertoire be performed?
Absolutely. Other string chamber music repertoire
could be substituted for these two pieces. [back
to questions]
How soon can I schedule this work?
Schedule it as soon as you would like. If you already have Mozart
programmed in your season, Einstein's Mozart can expand your musical
performance into a multi-media event. [back
to questions]
How long is the piece?
Einstein’s Mozart, when performed with the
String Quintet in Eb Major and String Quartet in C
Major (the “Dissonant”), is just under two hours, including
intermission. [back to questions]
What is the format of the piece?
The piece alternates text with movements of the music. The titles appear in
the program, listed between movements, as they occur. [back
to questions]
Are there any supplemental materials available for the piece?
Yes. Kate Light has compiled “top ten” quotes each, from Einstein and from
Mozart, which give a taste of their personalities and senses of humor. At some
performances, posters of the quotes have been exhibited in the lobby. A page
elucidating the many commonalities between the two is also available. [back
to questions]
What is the intended audience for the piece?
The piece is generally for audiences of all ages. Those who are curious
about the nature of creativity, or who are fans or science or classical music,
will find much to interest them in the piece. However, the full-length piece is
not necessarily intended for very young children. The abbreviated versions for
schools would be more suitable for children under eight. [back
to questions]
Can the piece be done for young people or young children?
Several abridged versions of the piece are available for K through high
school. These are between 45 minutes and one hour in length. We strongly encourage
choosing a version which leaves time for Q & A in your school’s timeslot.
[back to questions]
Are educational materials available?
Yes. We have compiled a vocabulary list, a list of things in common to the two men, and quotes from each. We can recommend some books about Einstein and Mozart written for young
readers. There are also wonderful materials such as timelines
available on line through the PBS Nova and the American Museum of Natural History
exhibit websites.
Though Einstein’s Mozart stands on its own, schools and teachers might
consider preparing the students by listening to recordings of the chamber music
in advance and reading and learning about Einstein and Mozart. [back
to questions]
What is the cost?
The fees to put on the work are negotiable based on various factors, taking
into account your budget, size of venue and number of performances. School discounts
are available. [back to questions]
What about the
narrator?
We encourage engaging Ms. Light as narrator. Ms. Light is renowned for her lively
and accessible readings and her performances of her own work and
that of others. She appears internationally and is also in demand as a teacher.
If you’re engaging Kate Light to narrate on your concert series or at your festival, take
fullest advantage of her presence by adding a
pre- or post-performance talk and/or Q & A. Or seize the opportunity for
other events with
Kate Light
such as another poetry reading, media interview or broadcast, or school visit
or performance.
[back
to questions]
There’s still time to celebrate both the centenary of Albert Einstein's Miracle
Year (1905-2005) and W. A. Mozart's 250th birthday (1756-2006) with Einstein’s
Mozart in 2006!
To take fullest advantage of author Kate Light’s appearance with your
chamber group or visit to your community, school, or festival, please consider
scheduling a pre- or post-performance talk or Q & A, media interview or
other event, school or festival visit or talk, public poetry reading or
workshop!
Poet Kate Light is the
author of The Laws of Falling Bodies (winner
of the 1997 Nicholas Roerich Prize from Story Line Press) Open Slowly (Zoo Press, 2003), and the
forthcoming Gravity’s Dream: New Poems and
Sonnets (West Chester University Press, Donald Justice Award, June
2006). The 2003 work Oceanophony, with music by Bruce
Adolphe, is available on PollyRhythm Records. Her poetry has appeared in The Paris Review, Hudson Review, Washington Post Book World, Feminist Studies, Wisconsin Review, Dark Horse,
Barrow Street, Carolina Quarterly, Western Humanities Review, Rattapallax, The Formalist, and many other
journals, and in the anthologies The Penguin
Book of the Sonnet, American Poetry: The Next Generation, Western Wind, and Poetry Daily: 366 Poems from the World's Most
Popular Poetry Website. She has been featured several times on
Garrison Keillor's Writer's
Almanac, and composed lyrics for Disney’s Mulan II.
She has taught at Hunter College and was Visiting Professor at Cornell University
and at Musashino Art University
in Tokyo in
2004. Renowned for her lively readings, her current and recent engagements
include the 2006 Interlochen Arts Academy Literary
Symposium, DC International Poetry Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, Cal State
LA, and a return visit to teach at the Musashino Art University.
As narrator of Oceanophony,
she has appeared with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, at the American Museum
of Natural History in New York,
and with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. She is also a professional
violinist in New York City.
[back to questions]
Visit http://openslowly.home.mindspring.com
for more information about Einstein’s Mozart,
and about Kate Light’s poetry, readings, and books.