Independence Day at the Gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts

After a morning studying the Mozart Effect, the literary antecedents to Don Giovanni, and Mozart’s annoying “Credo” Mass, it was time for a vision of Hell. Hieronomous Bosch’s triptych of the Last Judgment is in Vienna and Mary, Pete, and I were on a mission to see it. We had to get back by 4:30 for the afternoon salon on Mozart’s contemporaries, where I was supposed to talk about Jacques-Louis David and Mary was supposed to talk about Lagrange and Laplace.

Our first lecture was, strangely enough, by a psychology professor appropriately called “Don.” He told me he ”loves women.” He gave me a sip of his absynthe when we were in Prague. He didn’t talk about his namesake per se, but he did tell us that the so called “Mozart Effect,” which is an increase in spatial reasoning abilities after listening to Mozart (specifically K. 448, for two pianos), while difficult to replicate, is somehow a legitimate phenomenon.

After that we heard from Dick about the “Credo” Mass, which Mozart wrote in Salzburg in 1777 and which is really annoying in the way it keeps repeating “Credo! Credo!” I was more than ready to hear from the wonderful Professor Kimbrough about the literary precedents to Don Giovanni, especially since that’s a lot more relevant to what I will be teaching in the fall and winter next year. I am getting some great ideas for my project, which I will be doing jointly with Karen, who lives in Wallingford but bikes to work in Edmonds! She is a cellist but doesn’t carry her instrument on her bike. I think I may have mentioned this before, at least once.

Anyway, the museum was great. Not only was there this Bosch triptych – you can imagine how amazing it is to see something like that in person - but just out of the blue was a luminous Botticelli Tondo, just hanging there on the wall! It was lovely. Also there was one Durer drawing, which stood out like magic from all the others. And a bunch of amazing 18th century “Academy” style paintings with typical classical subjects like “The Death of Germanicus” and “Odysseus and Circe” and of course the ever popular “Blind Belisarius Begging at the City Gates.”

We were a little late back to the salon, but everyone gave their presentations, and then I tried to go on the exercycle while reading the Don Giovanni libretto and listening to the opera on my ipod. This only lasted a short time. Then Karen and I went out to a great Italian restaurant and brainstormed a little bit about our projects. Now we’re back watching the World Cup, and it’s still 0-0 although there have been some close calls. We are all feeling the time running out, with so many things to see and places to go yet. On the list: Schonbrun, the Hofburg, Melk, and Mauthausen (I hate to put those things together like the last one is some kind of fun lark outing but you know what I mean). So many cafes to visit, too! Be assured I will keep you all posted as to my frenzied activities.


Karen and Mary watching World Cup soccer!