Requiem For Chuck E Cheeses

Tuesday night I had the opportunity to attend a performance of Mozart’s Requiem at my seminary. I must say that the first 2/3 of the performance was thrilling and well worth the price of admission. However, the last third of the concert was somewhat mediocre at best. It appears that there is some serious scholarly discussion over the authenticity of the final three movements of the piece. I would have to offer my dilettante opinion that Mozart did not write these pieces. But the rest of the performance was great. The Fort Worth symphony orchestra was excellent. The seminary choir was excellent. The featured soloists were superb as always. I heard all of these performers last Christmas at a performance of Bach. I must admit that I preferred the Bach performance but probably because I prefer Bach to Mozart. I think Glenn Gould said it best when he quipped that Mozart was just a flashy song-writer in comparison to Bach. With minor adjustments, I would agree with this opinion.

Also, before the performance, I took the missus to Chuck E Cheeses. Yes, Mozart and Chuck E Cheeses – don’t those two just go together? My lovely wife has been wanting me to go there for over a year now and I have steadfastly refused until now. I finally felt that the absurdity of going to a kiddie casino followed by a performance of one of my favourite decomposing composers was contradiction whose irony God had blessed.

You’ll notice that I called Chuck E Cheeses a “kiddie casino”. Yes, very quickly, while I was there, I was reminded of Las Vegas’ Circus Circus casino. In fact, as I looked at all the tokens these kids were pumping into the games I quickly realized that THIS was a casino.

So, parents, if you want to start your child off on the road towards high class casino lounging then I suggest taking your tot to Chuck E Cheese. It’s never to young to start. I think that’s how Don Giovanni began.