Cottage Cheese and Yogurt

Not that kind of culture...but here at Mental Fiber we would like to talk about a different kind. Today is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 250'th aniversary of his birth. In his very short life here on this earth he became one of the most well known composers of his time. The very fact that his music is still know and played today speaks volumes about the man...do you think Kelly Clarkson or Ashlee Simpson will be played in a couple centuries from now? So in honor of the day of his birth...here are a few interesting facts about the man, the myth...the legend, Mental Fiber Style.

• Born in Salzburg, Austria on Jan. 27, 1756; full name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Gottlieb Mozart. Because signing his "mark" every time took three inkwells full of ink...he later decided to shorten it to W.A. Mozart.
  
• Mozart started playing the keyboard at age 3...which scholars have debated if this was before he was even able to use the "big boy's" chamber pot.
• At the age of 5, he started composing minuets...a year earlier he was composing secontets, but his attention span had lengthened by age 5.
• By his teen years he had mastered the piano, violin, and harpsichord. He had also discovered the teenage art of becoming a master debater.
• In 1779, he was appointed court organist to the Archbishop of Salzburg. Mastering his organ in his teen years was finally paying off.
• Dec 5, 1791 Mozart died of rheumatic fever at the tender age of 34. On his deathbed he was trying to finish his final work Requiem Mass...and cursing the fact that he was born in a time before modern medicine where he could have survived such a health crisis. His final words were "heissen mein scheisse, my only regret, was that I forgot to cure bone-itis". After his death, stock in the W.A. Mozart Opera Company went down to 3 cagiggers.

Happy Birthday Mozart. Hopefully the next 250 years will be as exciting for you as the past 250.