On your birthday…request to “Monostatos”…:-0

Have you considered giving a birthday gift to your colleagues in the MO?  Let me make a gentle suggestion — why not tell them the truth about die zauberflote?  You know, that gift of perfection of sound that caused you to spend about 666 days insinuating yourself into the lives of me and my three little children, only to then run out of our house with your tail between your legs?  Hmmm…That gift that caused you to entice me onto the stage at Orchestra Hall to ‘practice’? Then did you not slander me to your colleagues and encourage them to boycott my concerts; thus, in effect, taking food out of the mouths of my children?  That gift that, no matter what evil strategy you may have used to attempt to attack me or my children, has, as even you can see, resulted in everything working for our good? That gift which works precisely the way Wolfgang Mozart said it would in his prophetic opera The Magic Flute? “Thy magic tones, they speak for me; my message carry.  Thou all cares of heart canst banish, and hate, and hate and wrong before thee vanish?”

Just a thought…:-0

 

 

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‘Monostatos’ and me and the opera Die Zauberflote…

I should preface this post by saying that from the time I was born I felt I had a connection to Wolfgang Mozart.  I could identify his music even before I knew his name.  With that connection came, what appeared to me as a child, to be an overwhelming burden of responsibility.  I was unable to deal with it back then.  It seemed he had left everything in a terrible mess and I was too small to pick up the pieces.  My birth parents were dangerously immature.  I had no help, no support system.  So I decided to, in effect, hide the gift I had been given and live a ‘normal’ childhood.  That proved to be impossible, but that’s another story…

As a young adult, when my birth family situation became unbearable, I fled to school in the UK.  I had numerous opportunities to travel to the continent, and did, on my sparse student budget.  I vigorously refused to go to either Austria or Germany at that time, due to their horrible Nazi past.  I refused to learn German.  And I refused to have anything to do with the opera Die Zauberflote.

Looking back, I can say that the turning point in my relationship with “Monostatos” was when we decided to see the Bergman film of The Magic Flute.  By that time, in shell shock having to deal with the attacks against me, and the targeting of my children, I didn’t really give much thought to the fact that I was taking a major step out of my comfort zone.  But then, there it was. The horrible mother, who had a split personality — one charming, one vicious — the father in the background — the kidnapping to the frozen tundra of Minnesota, the three little children — all came into focus.  I had felt all along that my perspective was different from that of others.  At that time I began to realize that I felt I was living inside an opera and trying to explain to others what this reality entailed.

I was able to accept the burden of responsibility, and the pain it involved.  I finally accepted the call, as the hero or heroine usually does, when all other alternatives have become unbearable or unavailable..

And I have been fighting ever since…:-)

 

#MinnegeddonPartDeux…just how does a band that locked-out Mozart make a ‘comeback’? :-0 (M4B)*

Monostatos’ Orchestra seems to be attempting to go through a sort of rebirth.  After the contentious and bitter lockout, which may well, in fact, have been in response to their, in effect, locking Mozart out some time ago, in terms of the great gift that I call die zauberflote, they seem to want to put the dismal recent past events behind by making a foray into new performing territory (not a bad idea) and conducting a media blitz intended to showcase them as ‘new’.  Frankly, virtually nothing about this organization is ‘new’.  In fact, what we may well be seeing is more of the ‘same-old, same-old’.  Not that the ‘same-old’ is ‘bad’, just that it is predictably the same — a veneer of ‘grace’ and ‘loveliness’ masking the fact that its ‘voice’ (if you can even call it that) is empty and dead…

Why, you might ask, am I not tempted into mushy sentimentality about the supposed newness of the recent ‘historic’ runout or accompanying schmoozy current ad strategy?  Frankly, any group who can put up with the character I call “Monostatos” is not deserving of being taken seriously.  It has, in fact, settled its fate in my mind once and for all.  Ironically, it appears that one of the previous administrators of this group attempted to oust this person, but in a turn of irony, they were the one to go.  So I hold to no illusions about this situation. (I am, in fact, speaking from personal experience.  I learned the hard way, and am not about to be fooled again.)

So, what is actually going on here?  This is my impression.  If this group was, in fact, put under judgment by the Lrd for their treatment, not only of an extraordinary gift of music, but of a gift of the Holy Spirit, they had the opportunity to, for example, come to repentance over the initial lockout during their own prolonged 18-month lockout and make appropriate apologies and amends.  They were aware of the facts involving the initial lockout.  But they chose to ignore that information and, in effect, ‘rebuild’.  Not even simply rebuild, but attempt to claim they have re-invented themselves.  I doubt that will work.  I sincerely hope that believers will look very critically at having any involvement with this group, especially anything involving their children (yes, they manage to insinuate themselves in many schools).  I consider the effect of their music unhealthy.

If I am correct, this glossy sheen of new-found respectability will in time wear thin and the public will once again have no choice but to deal with the grisly reality at the core of this group.  As long as Monostatos is being protected there, this is an organization that can only be called Anti-Mozart.  And, as we are, artistically speaking, currently in the middle of what I call “Minnegeddon” (this being ‘PartDeux’ as post-MO lockout) — that is the time when all Anti-Mozart is revealed.  And so it will be.  I could be wrong.  But I don’t think so…

*Mozart for Believers…

#MinnegeddonPartDeux — when all anti-Mozart is unmasked…

There are really only two kinds of people — those who get Mozart and those who don’t.  Many of those who don’t brazenly pretend to be Mozart experts — even taking to performing his music while holding him in contempt, using the music as some sort of victory banner, so to speak.  They arrogantly seem to think that they can do so without consequence.  After all, Mozart is the one who is dead, isn’t he? they think.  Many of those who detest Mozart are, in fact, extremely knowledgeable about his life and music.  They can tell you great detail about both — while missing the point of the unique position Mozart really represented.  

But now, at this time in the history of music, the two camps have separated. Just as the I35W bridge collapsed in Minneapolis in 2007, the bridge of confusion seeming to connect the two groups has been destroyed.  Those who genuinely love Mozart and his music are protected by the glorious sound of die zauberflote; those who do not are camped on the other side — they get to face the cacaphony of the Night Magician and what one called his ‘riding-crop voice’ and try to pretend their lives will not be affected.  They sometimes even seeth with rage and grit their teeth as they try to find someway to escape the fate they are starting to understand that they may have brought upon themselves.  

And so, this is the essence of Minnegeddon, pre-MO lockout and MinnegeddonPartDeux, post lockout.  MinnegeddonPartDeux also includes in its scope the lockout of the Other Mozart by the cadre “Monostatos”, which has grown to include, it appears, those who attempted to turn the bridge tragedy into art, as well as a couple of area musical groups and some schools. Hopefully, by now all of those who are truly anti-Mozart are unmasked, so those around them can see for themselves what they are dealing with.  And perhaps for some there will be a bit of chastening, and a return to the glowing shelter of die zauberflote…

#MinnegeddonPartDeux…as of today…

Last week torrential rains tore through most of the state of Minnesota.  Many roads are still closed and countless citizens are waiting with their hearts in their throats to see if sandbags will hold while the rivers and Minnehaha Creek crest this week.  This dire condition is consistent with the events transpiring surrounding me and die zauberflote.

Early in the MO lockout I sent very respectful letters to Michael Henson and Osmo Vanska describing why I consider myself to be a part of the MO family and asked to be heard again on the stage at Orchestra Hall, where I once was regularly encouraged to practice.  I even recently sent a last letter to Gordon Sprenger, asking for his help in bringing me and die zauberflote to the public at the level of the press.  I have not been granted the courtesy of a reply, so have no choice but to move forward on my own.  Still, it seems somewhat ironic that they insist on staying mum about the player one of their own has let slip is the “most exciting musician since Mozart.”  Other players in fact, made similar dazzling statements before running away as fast as they can.  

So no I am starting to prepare a group of concerts that will be, appropriately, called “Locked-Out Concerts.”  They will feature, I hope, the music of some whose suffering makes my experiences look utterly superficial — the women composers who were interned in camps in the Holocaust.  And the program will also include pieces by Mozart, for yes, he was indeed locked-out of his rightful position and financial security by those who deemed him, alive, to be a threat.  

 

Ah yes, reminders of the “Tornado Concert”…

With dual tornadoes flattening a small town in Nebraska yesterday I found myself thinking of a performance I gave under rather challenging conditions some time ago.  The program was, what else? — all Mozart.  The venue was the beautiful Art Room of the Hennepin Avenue Methodist Church in Minneapolis.  Everything went smoothly until around noon the day of the performance.  Tornadoes moved in on the Twin Cities.  Some of my guests who planned to attend the concert found themselves holed up in movie theater in a Mall in St. Paul as a tornado roared by.  Another who lived near Lake of the Isles found a tree had fallen across their driveway.  One tornado zeroed in on my accompanist’s apartment building.  He became terrified and tried to bow out, claiming he had no way to get to the church.  He did, fortunately, manage to arrive, at the last moment.  And yes, everything ended up working beautifully, and all but a handful who had planned to attend made it and seemed to be delighted by the program.  My three little children ran around the back of the room, playing quietly.  As with just about everything connected to Mozart, that which seemed to be almost impossibly challenging evolved into an experience of absolute joy…

What happened to Mozart? Might it have included an ‘evil eye’…:-0

Every once and a while someone will make reference to an ‘evil eye’.  This, as a concept, seems to have started in the earliest civiizations, where even Egyptians had a stone with an ‘eye’ in it, to ward off the ‘evil eye.’  There is a look connected to the concept, eg ‘he gave me the evil eye’.  But there is also a group context.  It works like this.  

Someone with ill intent will insinuate themself into another person’s life, pretending to be their friend.  They are very chummy, oh-so-helpful, and nearly always ‘good’ people who make sure to let you know just now special they are.  They flatter and move in.  In truth, they are only feigning affection.  They are about to begin treating this person as though they were already dead.  The victim may sense little bits of disrespect or harshness from time to time, but for the most part they are sure they ‘know’ the person and must have misread their word or action. This leader will then assimilate others with ill intent toward this person.  If these are people already in a relationship, such as family or co-worker to the victim, all the better.  A few knowing looks can solidify a connection.  Then all these people are in agreement that this person needs to go.  They form a group, or a vortex of the evil eye.  This will tend to cause the victim to become vulnerable, and perhaps take sick or have some sort of accident.  It all looks ‘natural’ and nobody is to blame.  Some people seem to have been targeted in this way.  One of them is Mozart, others are JFK and Princess Diana.  Just a thought…

 

If you think you understand Mozart you may, (as my Mother would say), have ‘another think coming’…

Let’s start with a question — one that is almost rhetorical in nature — namely, if anyone were to deliberately lock-out Mozart from jobs or opportunities, must not questions be asked about their credibility as a musician?  Or can we just make excuses for them, on the basis of Wolf’s being obnoxious?

In short, is there any ethical responsibility to others regarding genius or not?  Oh, I suppose we have to add into this question the axiom that everyone, even his worst detractors, consider Mozart to have been a genius. And yet, after Wolf died, didn’t the very people who agreed to his murder in the first place (perhaps through what is called an ‘evil-eye’) became the ones parading his music like a banner, pretending to be as good as Mozart — even pretending that they were him?

The Other Side of Die Zauberflote…

It continually amazes me about die zauberflote, not the opera, the flute itself, that so many appear to take it for granted, as though there is nothing unusual.  From my standpoint, there is just nothing more powerful.  I call it a gift of “shalom” — something kind and refreshing, and this is true.  Playing the flute while keeping in mind a certain person or issue always helps to make things better.  No matter how dire a situation may appear, something wonderful seems to swoop in and turn everything for good.

There is another side of die zauberflote, however; a more enigmatic one, somewhat mystical.  It seems that it can generate a sort of energy of fire that will charge into the layers of lies or misrepresentations in a situation and pull them out.  Then it is as though a negative fog lifts and the truth becomes clear.

There seem to be a few stiffnecked people who think they can reverse the energy of die zauberflote somehow and use it to their own ends.  Many of them are now dead.  The luckier ones may be those who end up in a panic, seeking help to deal with something they find they do not understand.

Waiting for an apology from the players? May be a long wait… s d reply

Bob Smith said, “I hope the Musicians apologize to the community and donors who they insulted during their union inspired year and a half tantrum. “

I am still waiting for a proper introduction from the ringleader of the clique I call “Monostatos” and an apology to my children for the effects they experienced by my being, in effect, ‘locked out.’

We may both have a bit of a wait. :-0

http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2014/01/slipped-disc-editorial-today-is-zero-hour-in-minnesota.html#comment-186783