Hello. We are delighted to note we are adding books to our little Drawing Room, among our constellation of cinema and song that intrigues.  New titles will be added slowly. We are taking title suggestions as well—what is your favorite book to tuck into on a Sunday evening? 

This brings us to this week's movie, Amadeus (1984), on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The film was directed by Miloš Forman and written by Peter Shaffer, to remarkable critical and commercial acclaim. It was decorated with 40 awards, including eight Oscars. Yet if that sounds impressive, consider this:

"At the age of three [Mozart] started picking out tunes on the piano. His ear was so delicate that loud sounds would make him physically ill.  And it was not only delicate, but perfect in pitch. At the age of four he was telling his elders that their violins were a quarter tone out of tune.  At that age he also could learn a piece of music in about half an hour. At five he played the clavier amazingly well. At six he started composing, and his father, Leopold, took him on tour with his sister Maria Anna…"

The breathtaking excerpt is from The Lives of the Great Composers by Harold C. Schonberg. Was there ever a greater prodigy than Mozart?

MUSIC THAT IS SONOROUSLY EPIC (Open in Spotify)

Requiem in D minor, K. 626: 1. Introitus: Requiem—Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Music to Goethe's Tragedy "Egmont" op.84: Overture—Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 1 in D Major, Wq. 183/1: Allergro di molto—Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach
Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, Op. 95, B. 178 "From the New World": 4. Allegro con fuoco—Antonín Dvořák
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, 'Choral', Op. 125: IV. Presto - Allegro assai—Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 36: IV. Finale: Allegro con fuoco—Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Dies Irae—Giuseppe Verdi
Symphony No. 10 in E Minor, Op. 93: II. Allegro—Dmitri Shostakovich
Symphony No. 3 in A Minor, Op. 56, MWV N18 - "Scottish": 4. Allegro vivacissimo—Felix Mendelssohn
Violin Concerto in G Minor, RV 315 "Summer from the Four Seasons": III. Presto—Antonio Vivaldi
Turnadot / Act 3: "Nessun dorma!"—Luciano Pavarotti
Carmina Burana: O Fortuna—Carl Orff