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Reviewer
Jean Longo is a Research & Learning Librarian at the University of Central Oklahoma.
Review
Mozart’s Starling by Lyanda Haupt
Shopping in a local Viennese market, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart heard a tune that was very familiar to him. It turned out that the shop had a starling for sale that sang a portion of his Piano Concerto Number 17 in G. That would begin a wonderful relationship as Mozart brought the starling, Star, home to his family. Gifted author Lyanda Lynn Haupt heard about this relationship and decided to adopt a starling of her own. She wrote a book telling the story of Mozart’s relationship with his bird and the experience of raising her own starling, Carmen.
She intertwines stories of Mozart’s beloved pet and her own Carmen. She found Carmen intelligent and playful. Haupt traveled to Austria to see Mozart’s birthplace and study his notebooks that mention he purchased a bird and transcribed both versions of the tune. This book was a delight to read and changed by opinion of starlings.
