Mozartballs, A Walk-Ins Storyby Steph WallerIt started with violins. Then came oboes and clarinets, and in a few days the remaining strings. Although a professional musician and singer-songwriter most of her life, Kaye was untrained in music and had never been exposed to classical music. She grew up with jazz, the Beatles, and church hymns. What lately resounded in her head day and night was new, exciting, and even frightening. Life hadn't been easy. It was full of abuse and her soul was as delicate as a moth's wings. She had been a widowed mother of a 2 week-old baby when she was only 18. Then another marriage, and a divorce that stole her second child from her. It was a painful life and she was exhausted. Music was the only constant she had and it was her lifeline, her connection with something larger than herself. A student of metaphysics and the world of spirit, she was a believer in reincarnation and a great fan of Ruth Montgomery's books, especially after two near-death experiences. She had even been regressed by the man Mrs. Montgomery used for her research, and had logged many out-of-body journeys. When she read Strangers Among Us, Kaye felt that she'd found something that would come in useful for her one day very soon. That's where I came in, so to speak. I had been waiting to reenter the earth plane for a while. When I learned of Kaye's request to leave her body and allow a Walk-In to inhabit it, I considered her background and native musical talents and decided to accept the offer. I knew it wouldn't be an easy life to step into. I accepted that she had a great deal of unfinished business that I would have to attend to before getting on with my own, but I didn't mind. We were kindred spirits, she and I. I felt very attuned to her. Thus it was that I began to prepare her. When we changed places, it was smooth and gentle, altogether an easy transition as she sat at her piano in the trance-like state so common to artists, writing the music I dictated to her. Although she had never learned to write musical notation—and I was a little rusty at managing a pen—we got it written down. It was Christmas Eve of 1984, after the household was asleep. When I opened these eyes several hours later, still seated at the piano, I saw before me ten pages of finished manuscript; a fully scored piece of music written in perfect score order in a neat, tight hand. Award winning screenwriter Thomas Wallner ( Beethoven's Hair, Solidarity Song: The Hanns Eisler Story , and My War Years: Arnold Schoenberg , to name only a few) and Academy award winning Rhombus Media ( The Red Violin , Beethoven's Hair , 32 Short Films on Glenn Gould , and many other films) contacted me in 2003 after having found a web site I had at that time, called Notable Past Lives. He told me in our first phone conversation that they'd been contracted to make a film about Mozart for the composer's 250 th birthday celebrations in 2006 and he wanted to know if I'd be interested in helping him with it. I'm considered rather a Mozart historian by those who don't know me well enough to know my real identity, so his offer didn't sound out of the ordinary to me, but as time passed and our communication expanded, I realized that what he and director Larry Weinstein wanted was to spotlight my story as a Walk-In. My story? I am the soul of he who was once named Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. “Mozartballs” (lovingly named after the Salzburg confection that was created to pay homage to their native son, “Mozartkugeln”) at first appears to be a lighthearted look at people whose lives have been dramatically impacted by Mozart, but like Mozart's opera, The Magic Flute , it possesses profound symbolism for those whose spiritual evolution has unveiled their understanding. This effect has been carefully crafted by the talents of Wallner, Weinstein, producer Jessica Daniel and cinematographer John Minh Tran. It is also made in High Definition, something that only adds to the beauty of the film. Although ambitiously filmed in Canada , the United States , Austria and Switzerland , the 55-minute documentary never feels rushed. It unfolds and evolves, taking the viewer on a delightful and moving journey, each story containing a primary element of being human: intellect, soul, flesh, and heart. It has already been aired on the major European television networks, at the Cannes Music Festival, and was celebrated as the opening film at the Victoria Independent Film and Video Festival on Mozart's birthday (January 27), followed by the blowing out of 250 candles on a huge birthday cake that set off the fire alarm. Additionally, it has already won a nomination at the Montreux Festival in Montreal , something that usually takes a year to come about. Because of the sensitivity of the filmmakers and their unprecedented openness to all of the characters who are featured, “Mozartballs” has met with very little resistance concerning my claim of having been Mozart, and the fact that my partner (Lynette Erwin, who is also featured) and I are both in female form, explaining that we are twin souls. As this isn't daring enough, it is also revealed in the film that in her eighteenth-century life, Lynette was the English soprano Anna “Nancy” Storace, who sang the role of Susanna in the 1786 Vienna premiere performance of Le Nozze di Figaro and was my true love. Other characters featured in the film include composer and music theorist David Cope, who, after a near-death experience, began composing in the style of long-dead composers, using algorithms and computers; Konrad Rich, who, after suffering through six or seven years of a suicidal depression, went to Mozart's grave in Vienna, calling for help and finally heard a reply that saved his life; Franz Viehboeck, the first Austrian astronaut launched into space and who took with him a bag of Mozartballs; and Julius Müller, the effusive and delightful proprietor of Vienna's St. Marx Cemetery who collects, catalogues and archives each and every letter and card left on Mozart's grave, and reads them aloud to the composer once a year. To viewers who understand the metaphysical, these things are second-nature, but to others they could seem laughable, even absurd. They don't come off that way in “Mozartballs”, however. The film weaves a delicate tapestry depicting its characters tenderly and compassionately, and always with a hint of that famous Mozart giggle. They have captured my spirit perfectly. Information: |
