Thursday, January 10, 2013


Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a bird lover?  Specifically, a starling lover!  He noted the musical motif that the bird was whistling with pleasure.  "Das war schon!" (that was beautiful!)  
Mozart recorded the following melody from the starling:
The last movement of his Piano Concerto in G major, K.453, which was written about the same time that he owned the starling, contains a very similar theme!  The starling inserts a fermata and sang a G-sharp instead of a g-natural.  Did Mozart teach the bird the melody?  Or was art imitating nature?   
This concerto was one of the few that was published during Mozart's lifetime.  Here's the concerto's 3rd movement for your listening enjoyment with Dezsö Ránki at the Piano.