Happy Birthday, Wolfie!

"On January 27, join in the worldwide celebration of the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth on 98.7WFMT and on wfmt.com.

WFMT will begin its Mozart 1/27 birthday-day feature at 8:00 am and then go live to Lisa Flynn in Salzburg at 11:00 am for a series of concert performances and the 7-minute ringing of all Salzburg's church bells, beginning at the moment of Mozart's birth.

WFMT will offer free streaming on January 27 from 8:00 am -7:00 pm.

As thousands gather in Salzburg for a unique commemoration during the week leading up to Mozart's 250th birthday January 27, you have a special invitation to join in the festivities via radio, as the WFMT Radio Network, XM Satellite Radio, WQXR/New York Times Radio, and InterContinental Media Chicago offer a joint presentation of concerts, commentary, and interviews. Co-hosting are WFMT's Lisa Flynn, Martin Goldsmith from XM, and WQXR's Jeff Spurgeon."

"Mozart was the musical Christ." --Peter Ilyich Tschaikovsky

Today was the 250th anniversary of the birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Bonnie Lee came in just before my second section of Fundamentals of Reasoning was to start, saying she was going to broadcast the churchbells into our classrooms, and hoped that I wouldn't mind. Mind? I was ecstatic. As students filtered in, talking and cramming for their upcoming first exam, I asked them if they knew what today was.

"Test!" "Friday" "January 27, 2006!"
"Yes, but it is also Mozart's 250th birthday," I said. "Soon you will hear the sound of churchbells, as every church in Salzburg celebrates the amazing gift of music that God gave us through Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart." It couldn't have been scripted better, because at that moment, the bells began to ring. My students were restless and noisy. So what, they were saying, aloud and with their body language.

What a perfect occasion to teach them that the Lord speaks to us not only discursively, but non-discursively; and not only through praise songs but through operas and concertos and symphonies. "Listen!" I urged them. "This is a moment no less sacred than your chapel service," and slowly they became silent. Not the usual EBC chapel posture! Just two days ago that same place was filled with loud moans and groans and cacophanic tongues. Now it was filled with faraway bells, and--at least for me--a prayer of praise for the genius who was Mozart.

Class ended, and I sped from EBC to NCC. I tuned in to hear the final minutes of the gala concert in Salzburg, which had paused for the tribute of the bells, and then resumed. Samuel Ramey and Cecilia Bartoli sang "La ci darem la mano," from Don Giovanni. The announcer's appraisal of her was "ebulient," and that was the truth. Then he spoke about the final piece for the concert. "It certainly must have been difficult for the organizers to decide what to end with, after all we have heard this evening, arias and a symphony and concertos and a motet. But they have decided to choose a chorus, and the chorus they have selected is none other than the final chorus, "Heil sei euch, Geweihten," from The Magic Flute, one of the last pieces Mozart wrote.

I was transfixed as the Festspielhouse simply overflowed with the music. Such nobility, such joy, such dignity, such playfulness. It was one of those epiphanic moments, which have unfortunately been relatively rare for me lately. Ah, Mozart. What Karl Barth said of you is so true:

"Mozart's music is free of all exaggeration, of all sharp breaks and contradictions. The sun shines but does not blind, does not burn or consume. Heaven arches over the earth, but it does not weigh it down, it does not crush or devour it...Mozart's music always sounds unburdened, effortless and light. That is why it unburdens, releases and liberates us... Mozart's music is an invitation to the listener to venture just a little out of the sense of his own subjectivity....

Ah, Mozart! Would that we could have a Sunday worship service that included your voice in the Lord's praises! But I am thankful for the one that took place today, simultaneously in Salzburg, and in my car driving along 13th street.