Musical geniuses inspire and annoy each other in imaginative new play, ‘The Vienna Lessons’

ANDREA PHOX

Quentin Chisholm, left, and Jesse Kodama co-star as Beethoven and Mozart, respectively, in “The Vienna Lessons” at New Jersey Repertory Company in Long Branch, through June 28.

There was a time when both Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven were alive. To be exact: 1770, when Beethoven was born, to 1791, when Mozart died. And though no one knows for sure if they ever met — some music historians think they did, while others are more skeptical — Jack Canfora imagines a series of meaningful encounters in his new play “The Vienna Lessons,” which is now having its world premiere at New Jersey Repertory Company in Long Branch. As written by Canfora and performed by Jesse Kodama (Mozart) and Quentin Chisholm (Beethoven), with Evan Bergman directing, these are vivid portrayals.

But the story itself is constrained by historical realities: It is not possible that the real Mozart and the real Beethoven spent more than a little time together, and so Canfora’s attempt to build intense drama into nearly every moment the two are with each other seems somewhat contrived. And the dialogue in this heavy-on-conversation, light-on-plot play isn’t always as sparkling as it needs to be. When Beethoven says that he believes Mozart is the greatest composer in the world, the conceited Mozart responds, not all that amusingly, “It’s warm in summer.”

At the start of the play, it is 1787, and Beethoven, 16, has moved from Bonn, Germany, to Vienna, Austria, where he approaches Mozart — 31, married and widely celebrated as a composer, though living an expensive lifestyle and therefore having trouble making ends meet. Beethoven — a very serious and artistically driven young man — arrives at Mozart’s comfortable but surprisingly messy apartment. “My wife is a shimmering and radiant jewel,” says Mozart. “But it turns out, shimmering and radiant jewels, alas, are absolute shite at housework.”

Beethoven wants to take composition lessons from the older artist, who seems as frivolous, on the surface, as Beethoven is solemn and reserved. After Mozart makes a suggestive joke, Beethoven says, “I can’t help but notice, since I’ve arrived, that your mind tends towards …”

ANDREA PHOX

Jesse Kodama, left, and Quentin Chisolm in “The Vienna Lessons.”

“The gutter?” Mozart asks, finishing Beethoven’s thought. “It’s true. I’ve always had a childlike — although Papa insists on calling it childish — love of low humor. But I cannot think of a single witticism ever committed to paper that, for sheer humor, can outclass a well-timed fart.”

These two musical geniuses are like oil and water. But Mozart recognizes Beethoven’s potential — and can use the money Beethoven will pay him — and so he takes him on as a student. It doesn’t exactly go smoothly, though. Consumed by his own writing projects, Mozart is a distracted teacher, at first. But when he does pay attention, his assessment of his student’s talent grows.

“I think your mistakes verge on genius,” Mozart tells him, while also encouraging him to write less in the style of Bach, and develop a style of his own … and strengthen his counterpoint … and be a little more playful … and try to write from his heart instead of his mind. While ingenious music seems to just flow through Mozart, Beethoven has to work at it.

They go deep, on subjects like artistic theory, and religion, and psychology. They both have daddy issues. And Beethoven accuses Mozart of avoiding real emotion, and reality, in favor of keeping everything light and pretty — which he is incomparably good at.

When Beethoven tells Mozart, “We must expand music’s scope of expression,” Mozart scoffs. “Must we? Would you like to do that all today, or shall we do half today, and half tomorrow?” But he is listening. If Beethoven has a lot to learn from Mozart, Mozart has, perhaps, more to learn from Beethoven, and he does so, altering his approach to his writing in response to Beethoven’s prodding.

ANDREA PHOX

From left, Quentin Chisholm, Jesse Kodama and Sandy Clancy in “The Vienna Lessons.”

There is a third character in the play: Mozart’s wife Constanze (Sandy Clancy), who is down-to-earth in a way that the two male characters aren’t — and much more sensible about money than her profligate husband. When she talks, she sounds like a warm, relaxed, unpretentiously humorous person: She isn’t perennially making an intellectual or artistic point, as the two men are, or trying to out-argue or out-clever anybody. She grounds the play, in a way.

As does the music, in a different way. When Mozart or Beethoven plays the piano — alone or, sometimes, together, duetting or improvising off each other — they break through all of the psychological clutter and express themselves clearly and directly.

Which is at it should be, in a play about Mozart and Beethoven.

New Jersey Repertory Company in Long Branch will present “The Vienna Lessons” through June 28. Visit njrep.org.

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