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So then what is it?

Come on, don't give up so easily. It can be found in several collections of Mozart's letters (inclding a very recent one). Don't rely on the internet. This will most likely require you to read a book.

Well than give me time.. I'm kinda at work right now... How about a clue?

Hmm, I can't think of a clue that won't give it away. But the letter in question can be found in several collections, so it should be easy to find.

One learns a lot about Mozart by reading his own words, so this should be good for you.

And if you could prove me wrong by citing a letter in which Mozart explicitly describes the key of G minor as "tragic," then all the better!

I already know when I reference it your just gonna find some ort of reason to say how its not true or something like that anyways... No matter what your going to make it seem like your right, so what would be the purpose of me wasting my own time for nothing?

Simple: there's a difference between a commonly held belief (G minor is Mozart's "tragic" key) and an explicit statement (Mozart writing/saying explicitly that he thought G minor was a "tragic" key). Your G minor post didn't distinguish between the two, so it's akin to putting words into Mozart's mouth.

If you view learning as a waste of time, then I can't do anything about that. Reading through collections of Mozart's letters can only be good for you.

How would one consider it putting words in Mozart's mouth, when I heard it from another source and just relayed the message? I really don't feel that this is a false statement.. And I don't find it that mportan or critical to read Mozart's letters everytime I hear something, just to verify it....

Just because you are relaying information doesn't mean the information itself is accurate. At least a critical edition/collection of Mozart's letters is closer to the truth than received "wisdom" about Mozart from a radio station.

Too bad though -- Mozart's choice of food after the premiere of his 31st Symphony is actually quite amusing.

Im sure it is..

Were there any composers who were known to be atheists? Just curious.

DDS,
You are correct of course that it is not technically "about" the purification of Mary. But the event of presentation of Jesus in the Temple (where he was held by Simeon, as narrated by Luke if I am not wrong) occurred during the rite of purification of Mary (she presented to the temple to carry out the rite and present her newborn). I think that the cantata was also written by Bach for the Candlemas or the feast of purification of Mary.

On a different note, what is the source of your Akhmatova quote? I am interested in the translation. I have a version of "Music" whereby this strophe is translated quite differenlty, unless she wrote two slightly different versions.

Verdi was an agnostic (not quite the same thing as an atheist). Much has been written on how this affected his Requiem.

The word you want is "cite", not "site".

wr, I'm surprised at you! There's no doubt in my mind that JS already knew that, and that it was either a typo or a "brain fxxt" that causes momentary confusion amongst homonyms.

In either case, it's not a spelling error of the sort people make who never learned i before e except after c. I think I might have seen a few examples of that in this thread.

Steven

he he.. one could argue that the high tech generation would rather "site" as in referencing a web site, rather than "cite" a traditional source..

That, or Janus could have been referring to location. Slight differences in Brit and American usage. For example:

Large-scale industry is sited in the Midlands. Americans would say located or situated.

This translation from the original Russian is by Lyn Coffin, and it comes from the collection entitled Anna Akhmatova: Poems (W W Norton & Co Inc). Here is the complete translation:

Music
for D.D.S

A flame burns within her, miraculously,
While you look her edges crystallize.
She alone will draw near and speak to me
When others are afraid to meet my eyes.

She was with me even in the grave
When the last of my friends all turned away,
And she sang like the first storm heaven gave,
Or as if flowers were having their say.- 1958

But poetry can be translated in so many different ways. I have seen that last line also translated as "Or as if flowers had broken into words". It is a beautiful image, in any translation.

Two more examples of Shostakovich in "despair" mode:

Piano Quintet in g minor: iv. Intermezzo: Lento

Violin Concerto No. 1 in a minor: iii. Passacaglia

Thanks very much DDS (are you a dentist or is this referring to ethernet?)
Of course I realize that translation especially across latin and slavic languages is highly personal.. I copied the version I have below (courtesy my piano teacher). It is translated by a russian and upon close comparison with your fuller version, they are obviously the same poem. I kind of like "mine" better. See what you think.. I think the imagery of music being her muse even in the grave is rendered more vividly :

(to the tunes of Passacaglia)

Something of heavens ever burns in it,
I like to watch its wondrous facets' growth.
It speaks with me in fate's non-seldom fits,
When others fear to approach close.

When the last of friends had looked away
From me in grave, it lay to me in silence,
And sang as sing a thunderstorm in May,
As if all flowers began to talk in gardens

No, I am not a "dentist"(LOL!). My handle is a loving reference to Dmitri Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87...which, in my opinion, is the greatest collection of solo compositions of the 20th century.

Thank you for including that other translation of the same poem by Akhmatova dedicated to Shostakovich (one of my four all-time favorite composers, the others being J.S Bach, Mahler, and Scriabin). This is the first time I came across this translation, and I appreciate it very much.

"Were there any composers who were known to be atheists? Just curious."

Delius, Rimsky-Korsakov, Faure, Saint-Saens and God knows (assuming that he exists) how many Soviet composers.