Word.doc Version

Dear Colleague,

Thank you for your inquiry about the NEH Institute “Mozart’s Worlds.”

Imagine yourself living in Vienna for four weeks, and studying the music of Mozart in its historical context! Imagine yourself walking the same streets that Mozart walked, seeing the same buildings he saw, and hearing his music in his city–Vienna!

During this four-week Institute we will study together Mozart’s life; the historical context and the built environment of Vienna, where he spent the last ten years of his life; and two of the operas which secured his fame in Vienna and Prague during the final decade of his life, along with a sampling of other keyboard, instrumental, and church music. Of course, in four weeks we cannot cover Mozart's entire musical legacy, but through this study of his life and some of his greatest compositions, we will try to deepen our understanding and appreciation of Mozart as perhaps the most universal of all composers.

This is a long letter, but I want you to have a clear picture of this Institute...so find a comfortable chair and settle in for a bit.
 

Institute Content

Mozart and Vienna

Institute Format

Curriculum Development

Director and Faculty

Living in Vienna

Application Information

Dates and Schedules

INSTITUTE CONTENT

Even though he had visited Paris and London and all the important centers of Europe, when Mozart left his birthplace of Salzburg he chose to settle in Vienna. His regard for Vienna can be documented in his letters. For example, on April 4, 1781, he wrote to his father about Vienna, "I can assure you that this here is a Magnificent [sic] place–and for my Métier the best place in the world. Anyone will tell you that.–I like it here and am taking full advantage of everything as best I can" (Spaethling, Mozart’s Letters, Mozart’s Life, p. 240).

Mozart’s world view, however, encompassed more than just Vienna. Born in Salzburg, during his early years he traveled to virtually every musical and political capital of continental Europe and England. Mozart’s world view also included an awareness of the world to the east, especially Turkey, the new intellectual world of Enlightenment thought, and most of all, the new world of sounds that he created with his compositions. During our four weeks together in Vienna we will explore these worlds of Mozart.


Week One. This Institute will study music associated with the three most important cities in Mozart’s life–music from his Salzburg years, and two great German operas–Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro, 1786) and Don Giovanni (1787), representing Vienna and Prague respectively. During the first week guest lecturer Dr. Thomas Fröschl (history, University of Vienna) will place Mozart and these operas in their historical context–18th-century Vienna and the Habsburg Empire. Mozart’s genius extended to recognizing and using the plots that would resonate with his larger contemporary world. To appreciate his operas thus requires understanding their place in the context of the larger Austrian Enlightenment.

The eighteenth century saw significant reforms in Habsburg lands under Maria Theresa (co-regent 1765-1780) and especially under her son, Joseph II (co-regent 1765-1780; reigned alone 1780-1790). Like their contemporaries Frederick the Great and Catherine the Great, these Habsburg rulers were influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment spreading across Europe. They believed that it was their duty to devote their lives to the service and betterment of the condition of their subjects. Without conceding their monarchial powers they saw the state and its power as instruments to achieve social progress: the principle of “everything for the people but nothing by the people” predominated.

The Enlightenment was, of course, an intellectual as well as a political movement. Mozart was drawn to its ideals of rationalism, decorum, balance, symmetry, and structural unity, as well as beauty. These same values had their counterpart not only in literature but also in the free and open discourse associated with Freemasonry. Thus, in the plots of his operas we see outward signs of the Enlightenment–for example, Figaro, the clever servant who outwits the Count, and in so doing upsets the outmoded social and political order. His music, however, also reveals Enlightenment values as well–for example, “architectural” order and structure and rational clarity.

Further, the built environment of 18th-century Vienna is an enduring part of modern Vienna, which thus offers a direct link to Mozart’s physical world. Professor Christian Otto (history of architecture, Cornell University) will explore the Vienna of Mozart's time, with special consideration for the formal structure of the city, the architectural traditions that shaped it, and the built institutions that housed musical and operatic performances. In addition to an overview lecture, Professor Otto will lead on-site walking tours of the places and spaces that Mozart knew, some with Turkish influences (for example, Prince Eugene's Belvedere, with a silhouette loosely patterned after the tents of the Turks whom he defeated in 1683). Thus participants will experience first-hand something of the same Vienna that Mozart knew.

Dr. Frederick Amrine (German, University of Michigan) will survey German literature and aesthetic theory of the eighteenth century, and place the two operas in the context of German Enlightenment thought, especially that of Friedrich Schiller. He will also give a fascinating lecture on the Freemasonry movement; Mozart enthusiastically belonged. And Richard Benedum and Julane Rodgers will sample Mozart’s musical style, and Alan Kimbrough will introduce concepts of literary and character analysis.
 

Week Two. The second week will be devoted to Le nozze di Figaro. First performed in Vienna’s Burgtheater on May 1, 1786, Le nozze di Figaro was Mozart’s first Italian opera written for Viennese audiences. Taken together, Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni represent the peak of Mozart’s popularity in both Vienna and Prague during the mid-1780's and during the ten years of Joseph’s reign (1780-1790). The musically revolutionary characteristics of The Marriage of Figaro parallel the revolutionary ideas in its story--the dignity and equality of all, truth and honesty, knowledge and self-knowledge, perseverance and fidelity, all hallmarks of Enlightenment thought. Dr. Paul Morman (history, University of Dayton) will trace the roots of the French Enlightenment, and the connection between Mozart’s opera and the French playwright Beaumarchais.

Our study of the opera will also include Mozart's concern with dramatic effects, especially his ability to delineate character and maintain dramatic pace. Close study of his letters from 1785-86, in which he outlines the effects he hopes to achieve dramatically, will be important here.

Week Three. In the third week we will study Don Giovanni, the second opera that Mozart set to a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, premiered in Prague. Don Giovanni (1787) illustrates not only Mozart's mixture of comic and tragic elements in one composition, but also the changes in the critical reaction to Mozart over the past 200 years. Both operas will, further, provide opportunity to examine Mozart's gift for characterization. Dr. Marilyn Fischer (philosophy, University of Dayton) will explore new ways of looking at various issues in the two operas–especially gender and morality.

During the Institute Dr. Julane Rodgers (music, University of Dayton) will complement our study of the two operas by introducing music by Mozart’s contemporaries; for example, Gluck composed a dramatic ballet score, Don Juan, which may have provided models for Mozart’s opera. Richard Fuller (forte-pianist, Vienna) will demonstrate the forte-piano, illustrating with examples from Mozart’s keyboard music.

Week Four. During the four-week Institute we will also focus on the development of curricular materials, scheduling both plenary "brainstorming" sessions and smaller breakout groups. Participants will develop plans for interdisciplinary integration of the material from the Institute into innovative curriculum units. Especially during the fourth week James Schindler, curriculum consultant and a participant in Dr. Benedum’s 2003 Mozart Institute, will work with participants as they begin curriculum units, which will (1) identification of a topic or problem for study; (2) creation of unit objectives, including a description of central concepts; (3) explication of the developmental activities that could be included within the unit to achieve the objectives; and (4) identification of the evaluation procedures, appropriate to the unit, to be used in assessing student understanding of the topic or problem.

Texts. I will ask each participant to buy three texts: vocal (or full) scores to Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni, and Nicholas Till’s important Mozart and the Enlightenment, costing approximately $70-80. Participants may want to try to find The Metropolitan Opera Book of Mozart Operas (New York, 1991), now out of print but available from used book dealers. Its translations of libretti, from Idomeneo to Die Zauberflöte, are excellent. In addition, participants may wish to buy books other on Mozart, the Habsburgs, or related topics.

During the Institute each participant will read a biography of Mozart. I especially recommend Maynard Solomon’s Mozart: A Life (New York, 1995). Other standard biographies include Volckmar Braunbehrens’ Mozart in Vienna (New York, 1990), Georg Knepler’s Wolfgang Amadé Mozart (Cambridge, England, 1991), Julian Rushton’s Mozart (Oxford, 2006), and Stanley Sadie's The New Grove Mozart (New York, 1983). An excellent additional resource is Arthur Hutchings' Mozart: The Man, The Musician (New York, 1976), for both its text–informative without being stuffy–and, especially, its lavish pictorial essays of Mozart portraits, the Mozart family circle, eighteenth-century travel and fashion, Habsburg rulers and their residences, and the Vienna that Mozart knew. During the Institute participants will also read selections from two primary documents: (a) Mozart’s letters, either in the new translation by Robert Spaethling (Mozart’s Letters, Mozart’s Life; New York: 2000) or in the standard edition of Emily Anderson, (The Letters of Mozart and His Family, 3rd edition; London, 1988) and (b) Johann Pezzl’s contemporary description of Vienna in the late eighteenth century (Robbins Landon, ed., Mozart’s Vienna; New York, 1991). I will ship a basic on-site library of 50-70 books to Vienna, so that Institute participants can have easy and uninterrupted access to the collection at our hotel.

MOZART AND VIENNA

Institute lectures and discussions are designed to help each participant understand Mozart and his music as the historical embodiment and aural representation of the late eighteenth century in Habsburg Europe. The elegance of courtly life in one of Europe's most important political centers and the Enlightenment's desire for proportion, balance, and symmetry can be seen in Mozart's music at every turn. To best facilitate this study, the Institute will be held in Vienna, one of the most important cities in the world for understanding the history and culture of the West.

Vienna's role as a political center explains only in part the magnetism she had for musicians in the eighteenth century. Even though he had visited all the important centers of Europe, Mozart chose to settle in Vienna. His regard for Vienna and its musical public, as well as his frustrations, are documented in his letters.

Participants will be able to place the events of Mozart's life in the context of the city that he loved. During Professor Otto’s walking tours and subsequently will visit the residence in which Mozart composed Le nozze di Figaro (now a museum), and see many of the sites in which his music was performed and numerous other homes and public buildings from the late eighteenth century.

Participants will also be able to study the engravings, portraits, and paintings in the Albertina; the varied resources of the City of Vienna Historical Museum, the treasures in the Kunsthistorisches Museum; the Music, Theater, and Portrait Collections of the Austrian National Library; the International Theatre Museum, housed in the historic former Lobkowitz Palais; the holdings of the Library of the Gesellschaft für Musikfreunde; the Technical Museum; and other collections. And, of course, we’ll attend numerous concerts and operas during our month in Vienna. To study Mozart in Vienna amid this special environment is a matchless opportunity. It is not an exaggeration to say that “the entire city will be our library.”

INSTITUTE FORMAT

A draft syllabus for our four-week Institute is available on the Web site that I’ve developed for this Institute: go to www.udayton.edu/~nehinstitute2008/syllabus. Each participant will be asked to:

• listen to the music of the two principal texts, preferably at least once in the U.S. before leaving, and again in Vienna; as well as other music by Mozart (I'll bring CD's and a player to Vienna, but invite you to bring along your own CD player and favorite performances too);

• read assigned and suggested readings from the small library of 50-70 books that I'll ship to Vienna;

• take an active role in Institute discussions; and

• prepare curricular materials based on Institute content.

I will also ask participants to write several short assignments to stimulate thinking about discussion topics. Participants may also wish to do optional writing assignments (e.g., an essay tailored to individual interests, keeping a journal of reactions to the music we study and hear, summarizing readings that are especially meaningful, or engaging in more traditional and formal research–for example, studying and writing about a work not covered in the Institute, some aspect of Mozart's life, his librettos and their literary/dramatic content, the instruments for which he wrote, his letters, cultural life in the Habsburg empire, or another topic of interest).

Institute meetings will be held in a recently remodeled classroom in the Schottenstift, a Benedictine monastery dating from the 12th century. During the Institute I will be available to meet individually with each participant, and in addition be available informally (e.g., during meals).

Optional: The University of Dayton will offer participants one, two, or three semester credits of graduate credit at a discounted tuition rate.
 

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

I’ve planned "Mozart's Worlds" to enrich the minds and spirits of the 25 participating teachers. I hope that its impact, however, will extend to other teachers and to countless students through the development of interdisciplinary curricular units begun during the Institute and, if necessary, completed in the months following the Institute.

Participants may work alone or in small groups; each individual/team will present a brief report during the closing days of the Institute. The curriculum projects will be completed after the Institute; teachers may continue meeting in person, if geographically feasible, or communicate electronically to prepare the units. Each teacher will be expected to design one teaching unit, growing out of Institute lectures and discussions and representing his/her interests. Each teaching unit will include suggestions for teaching strategies and recommended Internet resources. All Institute faculty will be available by phone or letter or e-mail to serve as consultants to this process.

Work on these curriculum materials should be completed by December 2008. By that time each participant will be expected to send his/her unit to the University of Dayton. I will share the units with participants via a web site of resources for teaching Mozart and/or CD-ROMs mailed to each participant.

INSTITUTE DIRECTOR AND FACULTY

You might like to know about us.

Richard Benedum: I taught at the University of Dayton for more than 30 years, and am now retired. I have previously directed eleven NEH Mozart Seminars and Institutes (1990-1992, 1994, 1995, 1998, 2001, 2003-2006), all in Vienna. I have also co-directed ten mini-Institutes on operas not only by Mozart and Beethoven but also by other composers for teachers in Ohio and Florida, with funding from the NEH and the Ohio Humanities Council. As a participant I have attended two NEH Summer Seminars for college teachers, and found the second one to be an especially important influence in my professional development.

I am active as a performer, both as an organist, church musician, and for 28 years as conductor of a professional-level chorus, the Dayton Bach Society. I wrote the program notes for the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra for 25+ years. In that capacity, as well as in my teaching at the University, I tried to share more than just names and dates and opus numbers with students and/or the general public. For instance, in 1991, a Mozart anniversary year, I wrote the script and produced a series of six thirty-minute radio broadcasts featuring excerpts from Mozart's letters interspersed with appropriate music, which aired locally and nationally on about 150 stations throughout the NPR network.

Visiting Institute faculty have all been part of one or another of my past seminars/institutes, and are not only noted scholars but also outstanding teachers. They include Dr. Frederick Amrine, a noted scholar from the University of Michigan’s Center for German Studies; Dr. Marilyn Fischer, a philosopher from the University of Dayton, also a professional violinist; a distinguished historian–Dr. Thomas Fröschl, from the University of Vienna; Dr. R. Alan Kimbrough, professor and former chair of English at the University of Dayton, and one of my most regular academic partners for prior Mozart institutes; Dr. Paul Morman, professor of history and former dean at the University of Dayton; an award-winning teacher and scholar Dr. Christian Otto (history of architecture); and Dr. Julane Rodgers (music and librarian, formerly University of Dayton), also a frequent collaborator.

LIVING IN VIENNA: HOTEL, HOUSING, AND MEALS
 

I have reserved a limited number of rooms in the four-star Hotel am Strudlhof, just outside the historic central city. It is just blocks away from where Mozart lived when he wrote Cosí fan tutte and his last three symphonies, and from the apartment where Beethoven died, and from Freud’s apartment and office! Rooms at these hotels are very comfortable though a bit smaller than many American motel rooms. Rooms there are (more or less) air conditioned–unusual for anything but the most exclusive hotels in Vienna--and have a private bath, a large wardrobe, upholstered chairs, TV and radio, and a small refrigerator. The hotel staff is extremely friendly and helpful, and the breakfasts (included in the charges) are truly extraordinary. (Several cities in Austria, including Vienna, will be hosting the World Cup Soccer Games during our Institute; thus the Hotel Strudlhof has allowed us only a limited number of rooms; if necessary, some participants may be housed in a nearby hotel.)

Living in Vienna for four weeks will be expensive! Your $3000 stipend from the NEH will not cover all your costs. Shared rooms at the Hotel Strudlhof will be 50€ per person (approximately $70/night per person for a double room and breakfast, depending on the exchange rate) or 82€/ night for a single room (roughly $115). Because the World Cup soccer matches will be held throughout Austria during the time of our Institute, the Strudlhof has been forced to raise the price quoted above for 5 of the 26 days that we’ll be in residence. Also because of the World Cup matches, a few participants and/or their participants’ guests may be housed in a nearby hotel.

You may also, of course, choose to find your own housing. If you are chosen to participate in this Institute, I will need to know your housing preferences very shortly after notification between March 25 and April 1, 2008. In spite of the cost, however, I urge you to consider staying at the Strudlhof, with the majority of Institute participants. You’ll benefit from the sense of collegiality and community. Because we have only a limited number of rooms, I also urge you to consider sharing a room.

I mentioned above that breakfast at the Strudlhof, included in the cost of the room, is extraordinary! It’s served buffet style. I’ve found that with such a lavish breakfast I needed only a very small lunch (perhaps just fruit, or sausage and bread from a street vendor, for $2-4). I'll be able to direct you to moderately priced restaurants where you can have supper for $15-20, including wine and a tip. (Of course you can spend more if your taste and wallet are so inclined.) I anticipate that faculty and participants will often eat together, and thus Institute discussions can continue at dinner and in the evenings, over a glass of wonderful Austrian wine or with the coffee and pastry for which Vienna is justifiably famous.

Computers. Computers may be helpful to you as you begin work on your curricular project, but will not be required for Institute work. If may, however, be very handy for communication with friends and family.

A computer and printer are available the hotel lobby for a fee; you can also use your laptop in the lobby, again with an access fee. Internet cafes are readily available for e-mail, and printing documents is also possible at internet cafes. I will bring a laptop (PC) and digital projector, but any participant needing regular access to a computer should plan to bring his/her own laptop. Participants who want to keep in touch with friends and relatives via e-mail should establish an internet account with Hotmail, Yahoo, or a similar service.

It's very difficult to anticipate your actual expenses. Most importantly, you’ll be paying your living expenses in Euros, and today's exchange rate may change by next summer. In addition, it's too early to have firm airline costs at this writing. But I also understand your need to have some idea about travel and housing expenses. The following is intended solely as a guide, and under no circumstances is a guarantee.
 

*Estimates taken from several web sites at the time of this writing. In addition, don’t forget to budget for your transportation to NYC or other port of departure.

**These are the current rates, based on a specially-negotiated rate between our hotel and the American Embassy. The cost in US dollars is calculated at €1 = $1.4 US, the approximate exchange rate at the time of this writing. The exchange rate, of course, is subject to change between now and summer 2008.

In addition, you'll want to budget $15 per week for subway/streetcar passes, and money for concert and opera tickets, museums, and sightseeing. All-World Travel, the University of Dayton travel service, is willing to help you book your airline ticket. You’re free, of course, to work with your own travel agent, and/or to arrange for your own accommodations.

I am very aware of the fact that this will be an expensive Institute, and that your costs will certainly exceed the NEH stipend (and may even exceed the estimates above). You might think of it in this light, however: You couldn’t live and study in Vienna, a major international capital, for just under a month this cheaply without the NEH stipend as a start to your budget. From that perspective I hope that you'll see this as a really great opportunity. While some participants in each of my past seminars were surprised at the costs, in retrospect not one would have refused the opportunity. You may be able to ask your principal or superintendent or PTA for support, or get help from the Rotary Foundation or some other source.

And where better to study Mozart's music than in Vienna? You will see signs of Mozart’s continuing legacy (and of Beethoven’s, Schubert’s Mahler’s, and Schoenberg’s) throughout the city. Performances at the State Opera (standing room places are less than $5.00!) and by the Vienna Philharmonic, the extraordinary array of period instruments in the Hofburg Instrument Collection, the State Music Library and the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, are but a few of the resources that will supplement Institute meetings and discussions. And the June 2008 Vienna opera schedule includes performances of Le nozze di Figaro and The Magic Flute during the Institute.

On weekends you may choose to stay in Vienna to explore its other cultural treasures–its art museums or the natural history museum, the many beautiful Baroque churches that Mozart also knew, and the fascinating City of Vienna Museum. Just walking the streets of the old city, you’ll marvel at the interesting 17th- and 18th-century architecture. Or you may choose to travel outside Vienna, perhaps to Salzburg, his birthplace. I might also organize a group trip one Saturday, taking the train to the famous Abbey at Melk, touring the ornate eighteenth-century buildings, and then returning to Vienna via a cruise ship on the Danube. While my official role is to lead Institute sessions and to guide you in your study of Mozart's life and music, I'll also be happy to try to serve as an unofficial "tour guide," so that you'll gain as much as possible from your time abroad. During past seminars, for example, I often closed each day's session with brief announcements of concerts and other opportunities that not only enriched the content of study but also were a real musical treat.

As you think about applying for this summer, you may be motivated in part by the opportunity to travel in Austria and Europe. Although these are good things, they must be subordinate to commitments to the Institute. Participants are expected to attend all Institute meetings, and you can't do this while you're hiking in the Alps. You can extend your time in Europe to do other things, however, before or after the Institute.
 

APPLICATION INFORMATION

The Institute will include 25 participants chosen from K-12 teachers throughout the United States. While many applicants and some participants will be music teachers, I want to include teachers from other disciplines as well. In fact, a large part of the success of past Seminars and Institutes was directly attributable to the broad mix of participants' disciplines. Knowledge of German would be helpful but is not required; Institute sessions and guest lectures will be in English.

All applicants for this Institute should be able to read music, at least enough to follow a musical score. I don't at all mean to discourage applications from non-music teachers, however; just the opposite is, in fact, true. It has been my experience that teachers with specializations other than music often have both an intense love for and admirable knowledge of music, and that participants representing a range of humanities disciplines will stimulate discussion and thus enrich our Institute sessions a great deal. I also especially encourage applications from teachers who have not participated in previous NEH Seminars or Institutes.

Application information and forms can be downloaded from the internet:
www.udayton.edu/~nehinstitute2008

You can also write or send an email to

Carolyn Ludwig
Administrative Assistant, NEH Institute
c/o Humanities Office
University of Dayton
Dayton, OH 45469-1549
ph: 937.229.3490
FAX: 937.229.4400 (this is a shared FAX number; be sure to include my name or Carolyn’s on your message)
e-mail: Carolyn.Ludwig@notes.udayton.edu

As mentioned above, each Institute member will receive a stipend of $3,000 to cover transportation, living expenses, and books/scores, payable during May 2008. Optional: I will also arrange for participants to earn 1-3 graduate semester hours of credit from the Music department at the University of Dayton, @ about $360 (tentative–to be confirmed) per credit hour.

If this letter has confirmed your interest in this Institute, please return your completed application, including NEH forms and essay in triplicate, postmarked no later than March 3, 2008, and sent to:

Dr. Richard Benedum
NEH Institute
Humanities Office                                                                                       
University of Dayton                                                                                 
Dayton, OH 45469-1549

Your completed application should include the following:

• three copies of the completed application cover sheet, which MUST be filled out on line at this address: www.neh.gov/online/education/participants. Please fill this out on line as directed by the prompts. When finished, be sure to click on the “submit” button. Finally, print the cover sheet and add it to your application package.

• three copies of a detailed resume,

• three copies of your application essay, as outlined below, and

• two letters of reference, included in a sealed envelope with the author’s signature across the flap.

If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to e-mail or write, or call (941.312.5875 or benedum@udayton.edu. FYI, I’m on Eastern time. Because I anticipate a lot of applicants, I may not be able to return phone calls right away; don’t be afraid to try several times. Best times: M, T, W evenings until 11pm. If you are likely to be away from home during spring vacation between March 25 and April 10, please indicate how I can reach you by phone. My selection committee and I look forward to reading your application.

Perhaps the most important part of the Institute application is the four-page (maximum) essay. Your essay should include any personal and academic information that is relevant; your reasons for applying to this particular Institute; your interest, both academic and personal, in Mozart and his music; your qualifications to do the work of the Institute and make a contribution to it; what you hope to accomplish by participation, including any individual research and writing projects; and the relation of the study to your teaching. In other words, what can you contribute to the shared intellectual activity of the Institute, and what do you hope to gain, personally and professionally, from study Mozart’s music for four weeks in Vienna?

One final piece of advice: If you think you want to apply to my Institute, or any other NEH program abroad, make sure that your passport is good through at least December 31, 2008. And if you don’t have one, or if it will expire before that, start the application process now. If you wait until April 1, the time of notification, you probably won’t have it back in time to leave.

A WORD ABOUT DATES AND SCHEDULES

As you will have noticed, this Institute is scheduled earlier than other NEH seminars and institutes. This Institute will start in mid-June to take advantage of the last portion of regular concert and opera schedules in Vienna, which close for the summer each year on June 30; see the tentative syllabus posted on this web site for more specific information.

I am aware that for some of you, the starting date of this Institute will come right on the heels of the close of your school year, and that for a few of you, the start of the Institute will even overlap with the closing of your 2007-08 academic year. That has also been the case for participants in each of my previous seminars and institutes; in each case, the teacher was given permission to leave a few days early, to participate in the seminar. With enough advance notice, I hope that each of you will similarly be able to make any necessary arrangements. If necessary, I’m happy to write or call your principal or other supervisor.

One final note: because I plan to use the resources of the entire central city during our Institute, please be aware that the Institute will include some mildly strenuous walking. In addition, Vienna, like most European cities, is generally not as accessible as American cities. This Institute is nevertheless committed to ensuring that everyone invited to join the Institute will be able to participate in and benefit from the program. Please contact me if you feel that you need special arrangements.

I apologize for the length of this letter. I hope that I’ve answered most of your questions about the Institute, but I hope you'll also feel free to write or call me if you need more information. Since this Institute will be held abroad, it is more complicated than most, and thus I thought it necessary to give you as much information as possible, and let you know what will be expected of you. Since you've struggled through this letter you're well on your way to applying!

From reading this letter, you may gather that Mozart and his music are very dear to me. While preparing for past NEH Seminars and Institutes, courses, and performances, my own love and enthusiasm for his music has only deepened. A participant from a previous Seminar wrote, “[Some colleagues] had language proficiencies, musical expertise, historical context, and philosophical foundations. The seminar was one which daily engaged us in such a way that conversations usually continued into meal times and evening activities....As a result, I believe that I will never listen to Mozart in the same way I did before....Now I hear, see, and imagine Mozart as a man who lived a life in a historical period which shaped him as much as his musical training did. I now know Mozart as a genius who operated within intellectual, political, and musical circles....”

You might also sense that Vienna is one of my favorite places. I look forward to receiving applications from many of you, and to sharing both Mozart and Vienna with you. For those of you who choose not to apply, let me urge you to contact the NEH and find a different Seminar or Institute that better meets your needs and interests.


Sincerely,

Richard Benedum, D.M.A.
Professor Emeritus of Music