The composer of interest here is none other than the famous Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The International Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg, Austria has in its possession what is thought to be the skull of W.A. Mozart. The artifact has been kept from public view for over 100 years, due to the uncertainty of its origins. However, the Foundation has recently agreed to make the skull available for DNA testing. Archaelogists have opened a grave in Salzburg and exhumed the bodies of what may be the young composer’s father, Leopold Mozart, and other relatives. Experts plan on comparing what genetic material remains with those of the skull in question. Click here to see the full article.
If the skull is confirmed as that of our young musical genius, I wonder what things we can learn from the speciman? Or perhaps only the fascination of holding the 300 year old skull of such a celebrity will be enough.
I’m sure the fascination of holding such an artifact would be enough. That is, of course, until the day when we will finally be able to extract the DNA from the skull and create a concentrated “musical knowledge” serum to inject into our young musicians. Hm…maybe that’s a little bit too far-fetched.
Oooh! Sounds exciting, if not a little scary! . . . You never know what the future holds, though.
I find it funny that Wolfgang is getting the “last laugh”, so to speak. Now it’s because of him that people are defiling his father’s grave.
It just reminds me how precious and fleeting life is. How we must enjoy this day today because tomorrow we too will be dead bones. I will put on some of Mozart’s music tonight and just be thankful for the miracle of his life.
Hi, there! Thanks for stopping by, Jared. What you’ve said is all too true. And Mozart’s gift was truly an amazing one. His style was so innovative – combining the scholarly approaches to music of his predecessors in the Baroque style, with the new and light-hearted style of the “opera buffa”, the “pop music” of his day… (you can see this article to see what I mean). 🙂