Bringing a small child to a Mozart concert can be risky business. What if he gets bored and screams? What if he won’t sit still? But that is not what happened at the end of Mozart’s Masonic Funeral Music. Instead, as the music came to an end, before the applause began, you can hear (0.36 seconds) the simple word “Wow” come from the young child’s mouth. It was one word. But it said everything and more. This child wasn’t wondering about the acoustics in the room or if the performance was the best he had ever heard. He didn’t carry with him into that concert worries or stress from his work day or from his relationships. Rather, he was completely present and in awe of a powerful performance of music, and after taking it all in, without any prompting or questioning, let out exactly how he was feeling in the word “wow.” As you can hear, the audience then roared in laughter and exploded in applause, as his reaction reminded them that they should all feel that way. And more so, be willing to express it. Judaism teaches that music is the quill of the soul because it has the ability to reach the deepest of places within us that supersedes our thoughts and logic. It gets to the essence of who we are and our most intense yearnings. And so, when this anonymous little boy said, “wow” he tapped into that pure innocence and truth that we all have, but that we are not always able to experience. Thanks to him, all those there and all those that hear this recording, now can.
