Margaret & Mozart THE EXCLUSIVE ABC INTERVIEW MARGARET THROSBY INTERVIEWS WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

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1 I tell you, as God is my witness and as an honest man, your son is the greatest composer I know in person or by repute. He has taste, and more than that, the greatest knowledge of the science of composition. Would you please be able to direct me to the nearest convenience? My bladder is bursting. Joseph Haydn, speaking at a soiree to Mozart s father, Leopold Margaret Margaret & Mozart THE EXCLUSIVE ABC INTERVIEW MARGARET THROSBY INTERVIEWS WOLFGANG AMADEUS

2 He always cracked me up. Very funny. If he hadn t made it as a composer he could have done stand up, or a sitcom. Everybody Loves Wolfgang! Baron van Swieten, fellow Mason. Every weekday at 10am Margaret Throsby interviews a guest of distinction on ABC Classic FM. She s been doing this for ten years and in that time has spoken to presidents, prime ministers, painters, poets, pianists and plumbers. Men and women from all walks of life. I ve always been jealous of Margaret s ability to talk to these luminaries in an easy and engaging way, whilst uncovering deposits of wisdom and wit. In this way she is like a friendly radio dentist. With the anaesthetic of her warm personality, she probes deep and extracts memories, both happy and painful, from her subjects, getting to the canal root of the matter, before the chair is back upright, the mouth rinsed, and the patient unburdened without feeling a thing. But now Margaret has outdone even herself. She has enticed to her studio one of the greats of the classical music world perhaps the greatest composer who ever lived Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Being deceased was no obstacle for Mr Mozart in many ways it was a blessing. You can talk knowledgeably about your life without the nuisance of being in the middle of it. I am insanely jealous that Margaret managed to speak with Mozart listening to this recording of her interview he comes across as a fun kind of guy, and Margaret s spirited tap-dance routine is worth the price of admission alone! Broadcaster and Musician 2 The Magic Moving Door. 3

3 Margaret & Mozart MARGARET & Written by 1 Margaret s Introduction Le Festin d Ésope Mozart arrives at the ABC The News The Welcoming Ceremony Mozart meets Margaret Great Singers at Home Mozart Plays Live On-Air Non più andrai Salieri and the Requiem 5 02! Lacrimosa 3 Papa Haydn 3 50 So You Want to Be a Conductor? 1 01 $ Mozart s Childhood 2 59 % Jupiter Symphony 1 35 ^ Amadeus 2 39 & Bei Männern 1 37 * Silence on the Network! 1 00 ( Mozart The Musical 2 45 ) I m Gonna Be Big! 2 21 Final Request 1 23 Clarinet Concerto 1 59 # Margaret at Home 2 08 Papageno Duet 1 25 Total Playing Time CAST Margaret Throsby Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Derek Tebbutt, Front Desk Man, Network Head, ABC Manager, Mrs Daphne Croker, Justin MacDonald, Michael Methane, Jim Thompson, Feodor Chaliapin, Luciano Pavarotti, Dame Joan Sutherland, Joseph Haydn, Richie Benaud, Gough Whitlam, Joseph Leutgeb, Anton Stadler, George Gershwin, Hector Berlioz, Richard Wagner, Jacques the Butler, The Parrot ABC News Reader Soapy Poowater, Emergency CD Activation Voice ABC Managers ABC Manager, Staff Member ABC Manager, Promo Voice The Clarinet of Anton Stadler The Horn of Joseph Leutgeb The Piano of George Gershwin Percussion herself Petah Collyn Meredith O Reilly Lyle Chan, Hilary Shrubb, Jane Somerville Robert Patterson Ric Herbert Marjorie Smith James McCrow Brian Nixon Combined Primary Schools Elite Recorder Unit Ali son Johnston, Hilary Shrubb, Patrick Boland, Meredith O Reilly, Lyle Chan, Robert Patterson, Virginia Read. 4 5

4 MUSIC Le Festin d Ésope Op. 39 Heinz Gebackne-Boehne piano Piano Sonata KV.545 (arr Franz Liszt) Played by the composer Non più andrai from The Marriage of Figaro Flagat Halfmast baritone Orchestra of Linz Lacrimosa from the Requiem The Chorus Of Disapproval 1st Movement, Jupiter Symphony Orchestre de Suisse de Fromage Ding Dang-Dong conductor Bei Männern duet from The Magic Flute Hilfa Nurgen soprano Wolfgang Asten baritone The Hangover Band I m Gonna Be Big Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart baritone Joseph Leutgeb horn Anton Stadler clarinet George Gershwin piano Hm hm hm hm duet from The Magic Flute Margaret Throsby soprano Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart baritone and piano ALKAN I m gonna be big, I m gonna be grand. I m gonna impress and be quite the best dressed, The most blessed in the land. I m gonna get rich, I m gonna get paid. Every note that I wrote Is a note from the bank to be made. I m gonna feel good, I m gonna feel fine. I m gonna feel silk and cashmere And eat pheasant with plenty of wine. Cos my music, they ll say Is the best of its day (Or I ll eat my wig!) I m gonna be big. There s no fun at all in being poor, In always being shown the door, You can t afford new breeches, Cos the money s all been spent. A patron comes with sympathy, He wants a bloody symphony, You bite your tongue, you write the piece, It almost pays the rent. I M GONNA BE BIG Words and music by It s not surprising that I play Forty games of billiards every day. I can socket in the pocket, Tell the bailliff he can focket,* Whilst I m scribbling out a scherzo in the key of A. I m gonna be big! I m gonna be top! They ll know I m the best, And at last they ll confess That the rest all wrote slop! And if you don t think this is true, You know just what you can do, CHORUS: You eat his wig! : I m gonna be big! CHORUS: He s gonna be big! * Focket (v) (arch.) to run away, be gone, absquatulate. (f. G fockentocken) 6 7

5 Security was tight for my arrival! I met the famous tenor David Hobson! He taught me to yodel! The biggest pepper-pot I have ever seen! 8 Here I am helping producer Virginia Read. I wonder what this knob does? I visited the ABC Shop and saw a lovely CD of my own music and a book by someone called, (obviously a local aristocrat). 9

6 My Great Day at The ABC By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (reprinted by kind permission of the Great Composer s Guild Gazette, Vol. 687) I was very excited to be invited to appear on the Margaret Throsby wireless radio program on ABC Classic FM. When I arrived at the studios, everyone was very helpful, with the exception of one officious gentleman, who refused to let me tether my horses in the front vestibule. This small matter was soon laid to rest, and I was on my way to meet Miss Throsby. I was ushered into what I can only describe as a Vertical Horse. This gleaming carriage travels not in the horizontal but the vertical plane, and within the walls there are secret recesses where an orchestra resides! I most assuredly heard one of my own pieces, albeit in a slightly doubtful arrangement. I was told this was a new form of entertainment Muzak. Oh, the riches of the 21st century where even the walls do sing! The kind folk at the ABC even showed me an amazing invention called a Foto Kopyist. My composing friends, what we could have done with this in our own time! I wrote a small fragment of fugue upon a manuscript, and placed the parchment on the glass of the machine. A button was pressed and nothing happened. Then my friends showed me how to kick the obstinate automaton in the side, rather like a stubborn nag. From within the bowels of the machine emanated a green light. In the time it takes to pull on one s breeches, a fresh copy burst forth from the side of the apparatus. Miraculous! How they fit so many copyists in so small a contraption, I do not know. I am pleased to report that Miss Throsby is every bit as enticing in person as she is on the wireless radio. Our conversation was sprightly and engaging, and not since I bounced on the knee of the Empress of the Holy Roman Empire do I recall feeling in such safe hands. The ABC very kindly gave me a copy of my interview for posterity on a new form of recording called a See-Dee. I have put this gleaming disc to my ear, but have not been able to hear my interview perhaps it is faulty in some way. I shall ask Wagner about this he is good with such modern applications. Finally, I was given a tour of the building, and not since my audiences with Emperor at Schönbrunn have I witnessed a construction on such a vast and opulent scale. This thing called Public Broadcasting is obviously so well-funded, so redolent with ducats and florins, that every form of luxury can be purchased. Oh that I could have lived in such a time, rather than dying a pauper and lying in an unmarked grave in the Cemetery of St Mark s in Vienna! I look forward to our next meeting of the Great Composer s Guild on the 14th of this month, where we will have a speech by Jean Baptiste Lully on the subject of The Dangers of Conducting with a Large Wooden Stick, and Wagner will be displaying a New Range in Silken Under-Garments. Your true friend, servant and brother, W.A. Mozart Executive Producers Robert Patterson, Lyle Chan Editorial and Production Manager Hilary Shrubb Recording Producer & Engineer Virginia Read Engineer (Tracks 20, 24) Neale Sandbach Editor Virginia Read Cover and Booklet Design Imagecorp Pty Ltd Photography Gary Johnston Recorded September November 2003 in the studios of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation s Ultimo Centre. Le Festin d Ésope excerpt (Alkan) performed by Guy Noble / Piano Sonata KV.545 excerpt (Mozart arr. Noble) performed by / Non più andrai from Le Nozze di Figaro excerpt (Mozart) performed by John Pringle, Queensland Symphony Orchestra conducted by Richard Bonynge / Lacrimosa from Requiem KV.626 excerpt (Mozart) performed by Sydney Philharmonia Choir & Orchestra conducted by Antony Walker / Symphony No. 41 KV.551 Jupiter excerpt (Mozart) performed by Sydney Symphony Orchestra conducted by Stuart Challender / Bei Männern from Die Zauberflöte excerpt (Mozart) performed by Isobel Buchanan, John Pringle, Queensland Symphony Orchestra conducted by Richard Bonynge / I m Gonna Be Big (Noble) performed by, Marjorie Smith, James McCrow, Brian Nixon, Patrick Boland, Lyle Chan, Robert Patterson / String Quartet in G KV.156 excerpt (Mozart) performed by the Australian String Quartet / Pa-Pa-Pa-Papagena from Die Zauberflöte (Mozart/Lennon/McCartney arr. Noble) performed by and Margaret Throsby. ABC Classics acknowledges the assistance of Meredith O Reilly, Alison Johnston, Ric Herbert, Petah Collyn, Patrick Boland, Erica Mann, Bonnie Harris, Bronwyn Jones, Emma Theobald, Opera Australia, Alan Mead, Martin Webby, Randy Buck Australian Broadcasting Corporation Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Made in Australia. All rights of the owner of copyright reserved. Any copying, renting, lending, diffusion, public performance or broadcast of this record without the authority of the copyright owner is prohibited