300

[brezly]

Tyle mniej więcej w Roku Mozartowskim znajduje sie w obrocie artykułów
spożywczych i konsumpcyjnych (??) z nazwuskiem Mistrza. Uwage zwraca Kiełbasa
Mozart (z pistacjami). Powodzeniem, szczególnie wsrod gosci z Dalekiego
Wschodu cieszą się kilkuseteurowe kursa przygotowania "Mozart Kugel" (pierwsi
sprytni, juz od dawna, czekoladowa konfekcja) zakończone certyfikatem.

Milking Mozart (;))))

[millefiori]

www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/article/0,13005,901060116-1147109,00.html

[millefiori]

Music / Merchandising
Milking Mozart
The Austrian city of Salzburg is making hay while the sun shines from its most
famous son

By PETER GUMBEL

Austria's weekly newsmagazine Profil recently ran an illustration on its cover
of an agonized-looking Mozart squashed beneath his father's leather britches and
spewing out gold coins. The message in the headline: Mozart has been "brutally
marketed for 200 years." And this year, during the 250th anniversary of the
composer's birth, the accompanying article concluded, "the threat of total
marketing looms." Nowhere is that commercial exploitation more evident than in
Salzburg, the quaint Austrian city where Mozart was born, which hopes to cash in
on the anniversary with an incongruous mix of kitsch and high culture. "Salzburg
without Mozart is hardly imaginable. Without Mozart, I really couldn't say how
this city would be," says Heinz Schaden, Salzburg's mayor.

An all-star lineup of musicians will be performing in town this year, including
conductors Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Riccardo Muti and Simon Rattle. And for the
first time, the annual Salzburg Festival in July and August will be staging
every single one of Mozart's 22 operas. Festival organizers expect a huge run on
tickets. Herbert Brugger, managing director of the tourism board, says the town
began its marketing push three years ago and has since staged press conferences
in Japan, in the U.S. and throughout much of Europe to stir up excitement.
Tourism is already a big cash cow for the city, which hosted 6.9 million
visitors in 2004. Quite how many more will come this year isn't clear, although
Brugger expects a 10% jump in total visitors.

Salzburg stores are stuffed with Mozart souvenirs — from musical boxes and T
shirts to the famous Mozart Kugel chocolates. Josef and Marina Reiter, who own a
souvenir shop on the motorway that connects Salzburg to Munich, are looking
forward to a roaring 2006. "We are expecting the Mozart year to be great for
business," says Marina Reiter. "Everyone wants to take a little bit of Mozart
home with them." Not all the products being touted are conventional ones. One
dairy firm, Alpenmilch Salzburg, is marketing a special Mozart-year
yogurt-and-milk drink flavored with marzipan, chocolate and nougat cream, the
same ingredients as Mozart Kugel candy. Not everyone approves. Gérard Mortier,
the current director of the Paris Opera who headed the Salzburg festival for a
decade in the 1990s, says he worries that the Mozart anniversary year "won't
yield much. To the contrary, I fear it might turn Mozart into an event. Instead
of really delving into Mozart's depth, it will just make him more superficial."

Mortier is also critical of the Salzburg festival's plans. "What interest could
there be in playing Mozart's 22 operas? None. The interest is not to play the
Mozart catalog but to make out of, say, [the opera] Don Giovanni, everything
that that work could be," he tells Time. Salzburg officials aren't fazed by such
criticism. The tourism office's Brugger points out that Mozart has long since
become a global brand, exploited by some for much more than his music. And for
this Mozart anniversary year, money doesn't just talk in Salzburg — it sings.
(Time Europe Magazine, Jan.07.2006)