One Of Us Poem by gershon hepner

Mozart’s superhuman but
LvB is one of us,
We share the cloth from which he’s cut,
a cut above us, sure! Discuss.

There are born interpreters
of Mozart, Schubert, but the spark
that Ludwig’s inspiration spurs
requires aging in the dark,

like the wines we will not drink
before in cellars they mature;
his music, neither white nor pink,
from ripe redness gains allure.

He's one of us, the best, and we
must learn from life before we may
interpret sounds that, although he
could never hear, we try to play.

Stuart Isacoff, author of Temperament: How Music Became a Battleground for the Great Minds of Western Civilization, writes about András Schiff’s performance of Beethoven’s 32 piano sonatas (“Lessons from Beethoven and Life, ” WASJ, October 31,2007) : Schiff explained:

Performing all the sonatas is indeed similar to an actor taking on all the male roles in Shakespeare. But it goes beyond that. I would include the sonnets of Shakespeare as well, because there are also very personal intimate pieces. There can be a born Mozart interpreter, or a born Schubert interpreter, ” he continued. “But in my mind there is no such thing as a born Beethoven interpreter—you have to learn how to approach this work, and much of that comes from life’s lessons. Moazrt is not really human. He’s superhuman. Beethoven is one of us—but the best of us.”



10/31/07