This year 2006 is a significant milestone to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart lovers as the musical world celebrates his 250th birthday anniversary. A lifelong Mozart enthusiast, I believe Mozart was the most comprehensively gifted musician who has ever lived. This piece is another one of my tributes to the Wunderkind.

Recently, a friend's question took me by surprise. "What's your favorite Mozart music?" She knows how I feel about Mozart, the only composer I consider "immortal." In fact, I've loved the master's music from childhood even before I knew anything more about his life. I looked at my friend, speechless. She repeated her question, while my thoughts maneuvered some answers.

"Hmm, not an easy question," I said, "I simply love his music."

"Surely you have a favorite," my friend replied, this time more persistent.

"Well," I said, "I love his Clarinet Concerto, Flute and Harp Concerto, and Quintet for clarinet and strings. Of course, I also love his quartets."

My friend stayed silent for a while before asking me about piano concertos.

"Piano concertos? I love them all. Ok, ok. I’ll name one. Piano Concerto No.21. You'll probably know this by 'Elvira Madigan', popularized by the movie of the same title. That’s actually the Andante movement of the concerto."

"Oh yeah? So it's Mozart's, huh?" my friend mused and added, "there was a time when I was crazy about that music after seeing the film, I even wanted it played in my elegy."

"Then I also love the symphonies. There are No. 40 and 41 simply called Jupiter. Oh, you can also include No. 39."

I was now unstoppable; noticed my friend turned very quiet, intently looking at me with my passionate enumeration of Mozart's music, one after the other.

"Oh, can I also add his violin concertos and sonatas? Yes, and his Requiem. By the way, it's not fair if I don't include my favorite operas, ok?"

"I'm sure you'll include Don Giovanni, Cosi Fan Tutte, and The Marriage of Figaro," my friend once again interjected.

"They're all fantastic but my top choice for opera is actually The Magic Flute." My friend didn't push the issue anymore. Made me wonder if I satisfied her very first question.

Oh, I do love and admire a lot of other composers, among them, Schubert, Haydn, Beethoven, Brahms, Bach, some days even Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov. But only Mozart can fill the emptiness. Other composers are too dangerous for me. They give me turbulence and upheaval instead of gently touching my soul. I need no criteria or tonal design analysis to support Mozart's greatness. The pure delight and enjoyment that flow into my being is enough.

So much has been written of this composer. To me, he was the most comprehensively gifted musician who has ever lived. This year, two and a half centuries after his birth, millions of people throughout the world continuously play and listen to his music. While there had been other prodigies, none has approached his ability to combine a dazzling musical imagination with a total mastery of style and form, unified by his strong musical personality. He combined the perfect musical blending of the German knowledge, Italian art, and the French elegance.

Mozart belonged to the Classical period of the latter half of the 18th century. He began to play the harpsichord at the age of three and to compose at the age of five. His musical education began when he was four, along with his older sister Anna Maria. He also played both the violin and viola to soloist standard. Sadly, he died at the young age of 35.

This paramount composer never had good health, and his life was filled with difficulties. Yet, there was hardly any evidence of this in his compositions. We do not hear any raging or angry sounds in his music. His love of fun and lively disposition that enabled him to carry gracefully his cares of genius came from his mother.

To all Mozart lovers out there, what can I say about our fixation with the music of this short-lived and long-gone beloved composer, who wrote his music for a world so different from our own? That it makes us happy? That it touches our innermost being? That it gives us a glimpse of our higher power? Yes!

Join me to a toast in remembering the 250th birthday of this composer who gave us so much in his short-lived life of 35. To celebrate Mozart's birthday last 27th of January, I chose listening to Clarinet Concerto in A, K.622 with its ethereal perfection, one of the immortal's last works, just a month before his death. I find the mood of the second movement that of profound melancholy. Finally, I honored him with Jupiter Symphony, the culmination of his symphonic output - powerful yet gentle, elegant yet romantic, intense yet tender.

The music of Mozart brings me closer to God and nearer to beauty. I thank Mozart for his gift of music.