Garrison Keillor wrote in "Garrison Keillor and Friends" today that he enjoyed and was uplifted by a Mozart violin concerto. I often listen to classical music, too. After taking friends to an airport, I turned on my car CD player and listened to Beethoven's 9th, performed all over the world. I kept listening to those 4 tracks over and over for about a year. I learned of Elizabeth Margulis's book "On Repeat : How Music Plays the Mind" and I will track down a copy sometime. The Kindle version is too expensive.
After a year or so, I switched to the iPod in my car. It is set to play "The Elixir of Love" by Donizetti (1832), in English, repeatedly (t.ly/Qt4C). It is a lightweight story with a tremolo baritone repeatedly complaining he is dying of love until a con man sells him a bottle of Bordeaux that "Dr." Camara says is a magic med that will surely make Adina fall in love with him immediately. I actually am interested in what is often called mind-body medicine and deals with placebos and the biological power of belief.
I sit at a red light and nearby autos are playing country western or hot metal and I wish I could introduce those listeners to classical music and its greater richness and variety. When I assemble a bowl of breakfast flakes, Elixir tunes and arias come to mind, just as Margulis says they will.
