| 131 |  |
NARRATOR: He lived, at first, in opulence, for throughout enlightened Europe he was revered as a cultural demagogue. His musical inspirations upset and overturned many longstanding mores, and defined what would become known, by future generations, as the baroque sensibility. |
| 132 |  |
NARRATOR: All over Europe, his music was played and was likely to turn up anywhere. During his most productive years, he contributed such musical masterpieces as-- |
| 133 |  |
Note—The
next few moments are like a "greatest hits album" commercial; on video, thirty
or so song titles scroll over the frames quickly, with the mentioned ones highlighted NARRATOR: Music for the Royal Fireworks… Smoke on the Water Music… Reich Mir ein Kartoffel…Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor… and a lesser-known processional, Arrival of the King’s Purser with My Long-Awaited and Much-Overdue Commission…(hastily, as an afterthought) and Messiah. |
| 134 |  |
(Other titles which scroll include: Concerto Grosso (twelve of them, #1 - #12), Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, Water Music, Ein Mark für Zehn Kilo?. Aber ich liebe Kartoffelpurrée, Bitte lass mir ein Kartoffel übrig, Ode To Me, Ist es nicht zum hevlen dass so viele Amerikaner diesen satz nicht lesen kõnnen) |
| 135 |  |
NARRATOR: But despite the brilliant veneer of George Frederic’s success, he lived the tortured life of the impoverished artist. |
| 136 |  |
NARRATOR: Reduced to living and working in local art galleries, called "Acadamies" by the Hanoverian elite, George Frederic eked out a hand to mouth existence, feverishly fulfilling commission after commission in the rodent-infested corridors. |
| 137 |  |
NARRATOR: Unable to afford a stylus, Handbag was forced to write his manuscripts with a mouse—a circumstance which many modern musicologists have interpreted as prophetic… |
| 138 |  |
SFX: "Magic!" autoharp strum |
| 139 |  |
NARRATOR: Despite his foresight, his income was meager. He was hardly able to feed his own mouth... |
| 140 |  |
NARRATOR: ...much less the venomous mouth of his exotic Moroccan consort, a millstone he had picked up while travelling in his university days. |