Robert Spaethling looks at Mozart's letters

Grants | Legacy Digitization | Programs & Series | All Things Considered | Topics | Arts & Culture | Special Collections | Theme & Variation - Classical interviews | Legacy Project Work (2023-2024) |
August 6, 2001
Annie Feidt - Producer, Tom Crann - Interviewer, Robert Spaethling - Interviewee
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Robert Spaethling isn't the first person to translate Mozart's letters, but he went to great lengths to be the most precise. The German professor chose 275 letters and postscripts written by Mozart over a span of 22 years. Spaethling tells MPR's Tom Crann it was especially difficult to translate the poems Mozart wrote, like one he sent to his mother in January of 1778.

The translations include misspellings, vulgarities and linguistic nuances Spaethling hopes will help readers understand all of the unique personality twists that made Mozart such an unusual man... and a great composer.

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Digitization made possible by the State of Minnesota Legacy Amendment’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, approved by voters in 2008.

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