My lonely drive from Colorado to California had its advantages: Against any logical projection—I was about to turn 60—I had fallen into the Potterverse, with the first five books of J.K. Rowling’s phenomenal series. Having studied the life and work of Mozart for decades, in my own work as a singer and opera stage director, unlikely affinities between these characters struck me square between the eyes—somewhere on I-80, west of Salt Lake City. It later felt perfectly natural for old guy me to be waiting with the cluster of tweens and teens outside the local stores for doors to open on the first day The Half-Blood Prince and The Deathly Hallows were available—but there we all were, looking for the same escape and inspiration!
Both leading characters are small of stature. Ten-year-old Harry Potter is spared his parents’ deaths and acquires his signature lightning bolt; at 13, having overcome smallpox, Wolf Mozart is spared a first attempted–if counterfactual–murder on the road in Italy.
Both boys have challenging families, beginning with Harry’s Dursleys. Although Mozart’s Papa Leopold genuinely loves his “miracle that God caused to be born in Salzburg,” he is a stern and demanding taskmaster, generally humorless and at times capable of unspeakable emotional cruelty.
Harry comes from a family of wizards; Wolf, suspected of wizardry while playing in Naples, has to remove a ring his young listeners think enchanted. An English musical historian examines him and declares his musical talents “premature and almost supernatural.”
Both youths have untraditional educations: Harry’s at Hogwarts speaks for itself, Although church- sponsored school is mandatory in Salzburg, Wolf’s Papa petitions the town council for an exception—granted—owing to Wolf’s extraordinary talents. Leopold’s instruction encompasses mathematics, reading, writing, literature, languages (Latin, Italian, French, Dutch, English), and dancing; and every aspect of music: harmony, counterpoint, composition, instrumental practice and performance (harpsichord, organ, violin), and singing. Mama Anna Maria guides her son’s moral education.
Both lads have their spirit animals: Harry, his owl, and Wolf his…wolf, Friede. (Peace.)
For allies, Harry has the human Dumbledore and his magical Patronus; his best friend Ron, and the feminine compassion and passion of the mother who gave her life for him; Hermione Granger and the Weasley women. For Wolf, I imagined the glorious Maria Anna, celestial manifestation of St. Cecilia, patroness of music; his mother Anna Maria and sister Nannerl–and decades of women who find him irresistible.
Harry’s enemies Voldemort, alter ego of Tom Riddle, his minions the Malfoys–and the opaque professor Snape–range about him; while Mozart’s nemeses begin with the sham shaman Cagliostro, his Watchers, and the last Archbishop of Salzburg, Hieronymus Colloredo.
Analogies flow into oceans of similarity with travel: Harry’s begins with Track 9 ¾ and the trip to Hogwarts; and Wolf’s in a carriage to Vienna’s imperial court at age six. Then imagine being whisked—as if 18th -century carriages and ships could whisk—for three years, five months, and 20 days, to Germany, France, Holland, and England, all between the ages of seven and ten; and another year and a half to Italy, with all the dizzying education that travel provides in religion, politics, languages, art, history, morals, and customs.
Harry Potter led me irresistibly to my counterfactual Mozart: If history didn’t support every aspect of the story told in Wolf’s voice, it could have. So come enjoy the thrill- and chill-filled world of Mozart and the Lost Tomb!
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