Director’s Note:
“I cannot be sure that this child will not turn my head if I go on hearing him often! He makes me realize that it is difficult to guard against madness on seeing prodigies!” wrote one of the brothers Grimm (of fairy-tale fame) after hearing the infant Mozart improvise on the clavichord. Truly, the more one listens to the music of Mozart, the more wonder is to be found.
What began for me as a simple story telling about the early life of Mozart has become, with a lot of help from the several talented teams collaborating on the evolution of this show, an affirmation on the mystery and power of art to connect and shift sensibilities of the world. Symphony of Clouds has been a journey of joy for when problems arise it is simple matter of closing eyes and listening to the music to revisit the rapture of feeling and invention spurring our work.
Mozart’s life – or what we know of it through letters and historical documents was tempestuous and short. The play touches imaginatively on some key moments of joy and rigor, and the possible obstacles Mozart might have faced in his desire for artistic freedom. Historically he is credited as the first independent composer in Western music.
His music – as varied and infinitely and perpetually forming cloudscapes surrounding the earth the, taps into the full range of human feeling
This short play is structured around some well known musical quotations and mapping of images and scenes of his early life embedded in a metaphor of changing cloudscapes. The play introduces new audiences to the variety and vitality of his astonishing creative force.
Symphony of Clouds
Video and Photo links
Production Photographer Luke Olson
http://lukeolson.smugmug.com/Theater/SDSU/Symphony/
Pollyanna Theatre/ Ballet Austin Production
http://pollyannatheatrecompany.org
/2011/11/22/symphony-of-clouds-by-margaret-larlham-2/
(An excerpt of the opening of the play will be posted on this page. Request the full script from Margaret. larlham@mail.sdsu.edu)
margaretlarlham 