Twenty years ago I had the chance to interview Liane Ellison Norman. She was coming to the area to make an appearance with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra. They were going to be playing some selections by the Mozarts, father and son. A little known member of the Mozart family was the woman who was married to Wolfgang Mozart's father; Mozart's mother. Since there was so little actual information available about Mozart's mother the author decided to write a novel about her instead. This fictional account was her way of writing this relatively unknown woman back into history in a way.
As I was editing my original interview with Liane Ellison Norman I remembered that several years ago I interviewed Lyanda Lynn Haupt about a book she wrote about another little known aspect of Mozart's life; his pet bird. Mozart had a starling and some music experts believe that that little bird might have inspired the composer to write a particular piece of music. The author went all in on her research; she obtained a starling of her own. Please note that making a starling into a pet is probably not a good idea. It could be illegal. Every time I hear a starling singing I think about Mozart's little friend.
Starlings are the most creative improvisers around. They are virtuosos. Haupt's starling would mimic the sounds she heard around the author's home, people's voices, the cat meowing, even the sound of the microwave! Such brilliant and misunderstood little creatures. Starlings are non-native species and thus reviled by some people. The story of how they first came to this continent is a fascinating one, too. A fellow who was obsessed with the works of William Shakespeare decided that he would transplant every non-native bird species mentioned in the Bard's plays to America. It was that gentlemen who originally brought starlings here from Europe. They flourished, much to the discontent of people who consider them to be pests.
Starlings are cavity nesters. They will build their nests in tree cavities, cracks along rooflines, anywhere that they can raise their nestlings. After the emerald ash borers killed off all the white ash trees around my house we had to cut them all down. We left the tall stumps. It has been delightful to watch each year as more cavities appear atop those stumps. Each morning during springtime I can hear the starlings who are nesting in those stumps saluting the day with unique performances of songs that could have inspired Mozart.
