This is certainly a fun meme and it is even close to being true. According to his wife Constanze, he wrote the overture the night before, while consuming large amounts of punch, finishing it by seven the next morning, when the copyist arrived to collect it. (Reference, The Complete Operas of Mozart by Charles Osborne, pp. 258-9.) In the same book we learn that the librettist, Da Ponte, wrote the libretto while consuming Tokay and snuff. Those were certainly the days!
Let's hear that overture. This is the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra with Manfred Honeck, conductor.
Snuff, Tokay, and the ingredients for 'punch' are all available in Mexico, I'm pretty sure. :-) The keepers of the annals of music history might have to note 'pre-' and 'post-' snuff/Tokay/punch periods, however.
ReplyDeleteYou know, it wouldn't be so bad if it didn't have to be a GOOD string quartet...
ReplyDeleteSomeone just gave me a bottle of Don Julio añejo tequila. Supposed to be the best.
I don't think Tokay is available here--at least I've never seen it.
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