page 82

The 'dopo' in Capriccio sounds slightly better then
the 'e poi' in the title of Salieri's opera, some
150 years earlier. Stefan Zweig provided Strauss
with the libretto, written by a priest called Casti,
but didn't want to adapt it for Strauss, because
Strauss continued working under the Nazi regime.
The first performance was in 1942 'Unter der
Schirmherrschaft (patronage) des Herrn
Reichsministers Dr Joseph Goebbels.'
In 1786 Belgium was the Austrian Netherlands
and emperor Joseph II had organized a feast,
honoring the visit of the governors-general
of the Austrian Netherlands, where both a
piece of Mozart and Salieri were performed.
Salieri's 'Prima la musica e poi le parole'
and Mozart's 'der Schauspieldirector'.


left: Strauss right: Goebbels

Then Carmenita and Marie began a conversation
about the movie 'Amadeus', which Henk hadn't
seen. He could join the conversation again when
they were talking about the cause of the rumor
about the poisoning of Mozart by Salieri, and
Henk picked up the word 'Pushkin'. So he could
bring up 'Onegin'. And that once, together with
two friends, he had been trying to write ... When
suddenly the phone rang and Carmenita sent them
to the kitchen making hand gestures. With her lips
she formed the sentence: "Boet is on the line."

page 86

Carmenita and Henk took a bath together.
"Marie, with her ending. Strauss said
a funny thing in 'Capriccio' about endings,
and Carmenita sang: "Gibt es einen der ist
nicht trivial?" (is there one that's not
trivial?) Then she asked him what music he
wanted played at his funeral. "No idea ...
and you?" "The music you hear now. Symphony
No. 44 in E Minor by Joseph Haydn. He has
composed it for his own funeral. At least
the slow part. But at his death they played
the Requiem Mass by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.



"I prefer to imagine my death without
burial. More as in old Indian stories.
That an old warrior feels death
coming and then withdraws to a lonely
place, quietly waiting for his death.
Once I had a presentation at school
about Slauerhoff. Paul had written the
major part and I made a rhyming ending.
I think I can still recite it:
He wanted a burial at sea
He wanted to be set free
So he could keep going astray
But it didn't go that way
Finally he found his Elysium
In a nursing home in Hilversum."


Slauerhoff