“The Mozart mystery”, immerse yourself in the heart of musical genius

The machine to go up the centuries activates as soon as the door of the old Cistercian college was crossed. The walls of this Gothic gem nestled a stone’s throw from the Seine, in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, date from the 13th century. The melody that welcomes us was composed more than two hundred years ago. The string quartet which interprets it and the actors who guide the spectator carry, meanwhile, costumes and fashionable headdresses in Vienna in the 18th century. And while we recognize an aria of The enchanted flutenow a slammer declares like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart like Wolfgang’s genealogy.

The tone of this journey through the life and career of the composer is given. Then begins for the visitor a rich outbreak of 90 minutes through the floors of the Bernardins: eight scenographic paintings where the masterpieces of the creator of Figaro wedding come to life in sumptuous decorations and a clever mixture of music, theater, dance and video frescoes. The bet of Michel Eli, designer of this show? “Mozart’s music listens to with the eyes. »»

Here where there, a narrator intervenes to bring us some chronological landmarks or information on the sometimes sulphurous life of the prodigy. And the songs take us. Seventeen in total, pre-recorded or played in lively by musicians. Thirty artists act in this succession of services where each room becomes a world in itself.

Sensitive and fun

At times, the sequences are linked a little quickly. To others, the chronometer seems to stop. This is the case in this painting imagined by the choreographer Mourad Merzouki where dance, classical music, hip-hop and digital imaging intertwine. A merger claimed between tradition and modernity. The playwright Nathalie Spinosi, who orchestrates this daring staging, explains: “We wanted to reach an audience that does not necessarily listen to Mozart. Purists accustomed to perfectly millimeter recitals may be disconcerted by this mixture of genres. But for simple amateurs or uninitiated -including children -all ingredients are gathered for a discovery that is both sensitive and fun. On several occasions, the public is called upon to participate in the celebrations. By accompanying a musical piece with the voice, trying, armed with a wand, in the direction of the orchestra, or by learning to dance the Menuet for a baroque ball. With powdered skull wig, of course.

A moving final

Some downside nevertheless. Mozart’s reconstituted office first, too frozen, which undoubtedly restores the atmosphere of artistic effervescence, even joyful disorder, in which the composer often worked. The imposed pace of the visit then, in small groups, which will be able to give certain visitors the impression of being in a hurry … When others may get impatient here or there.

And people with reduced mobility may have trouble getting fully involved in these ambulatory performance between the floors. Finally, if we can understand the price of the show with regard to the beauty of the setting that welcomes it, technological innovations and the strong involvement of interpreters, entry to 32 euros may discourage some.

For those who will have the chance to go to the Bernardins, let’s say it: in the end, emotion is there. This is evidenced by the final table which brings a set of strings to dialogue and the video recording of a choir projected on the vaults of the college which ignite, for a poignant interpretation of Requiem that Mozart wrote in the last year of his life. Proof, if it took one, that, more than two centuries later, the work of this genius musician continues to challenge time and to inspire designers of artistic forms of today and tomorrow …