Kinématoscope

Un des six programmes d'une demi-heure pour une série télévisée intitulée Not Mozart, célébrant le bicentenaire de la mort de Mozart (Peter Greenaway réalisa dans le même cadre M is for Man, Music, Mozart.
Letters, Riddles and Writs explore les relations difficiles entre Wolfgang et son père. Haydn et Beethoven arbitrent le conflit.
Les "riddles" en question sont les huit énigmes que Mozart rédigea lors du carnaval de Vienne de 1786 et qu'il envoya à son père comme un geste de défi. Voici les deux mises en musique dans le film :
1. "We are many sisters; it is painful for us to unite as well as to separate. We live in a palace, yet we would rather call it a prison, for we are securely locked up and must work for the sustenance of men. The most remarkable thing is that the doors are opened for us quite often, both day and night, and we still do not come out, except when one pulls out by force." [Les dents]
2. "I am an unusual thing; I have no soul and no body; one cannot see me but can hear me; I do not exist for myself; only a human being can give me life, as often as they he wishes, and my life is only of short duration, for I die almost at the moment in which I am born. And so, in accordance with men's caprice, I may live and die innumerable times a day. To whose who give life I do nothing - but those on whose account I am born I leave with painful sensations for the short duration of my life until I depart […]" [La gifle].
[DR]