Guinea-Bissau, Mozart Memorial

 

Guinea-Bissau issued this stamp in honor of the birth of Amadeus Mozart in 2016, the 260th anniversary of his birth. The stamp pictures a musical salon scene with participants/listeners and perhaps a clergyperson in the rear of the scene.  In the background is an inset picture of Mozart which includes an image of a pipe organ. Another performer is playing an additional keyboard instrument, a piano or harpsichord perhaps. The stamp seems to show a fairly specific organ, though I cannot determine what instrument it may be. I would be happy to hear suggestions. 

Netherlands: Mozart in Netherlands

Netherlands Post issued this stamp in 2016, part of a set of two commemorating the visit of Amadeus Mozart to Haarlem in 1766. While there the ten-year-old music prodigy played the organ in the Grote Kerk. The same instrument had been played by GF Handel when he visited the city in 1740 and 1750. The stamp shows a portrait of Mozart and the console of the organ. (The other stamp shows Mozart and a music manuscript.)

The Mueller organ was completed in 1738 and is generally acclaimed as one of the finest instruments to this day. The last major repairs were complete 1959-1960 by the Marcussen firm. Flentrop now takes care of the instrument. Ninety percent of the original pipework is still in place.

My stamp was a gift from Mark Jameson; it is unused. It pays the first-class postage rate.

Mali: Mozart

Mali honored W. Amadeus Mozart in 1981 with a set of two stamps which includes artistic representations of the composer along with several musical instruments, organ among them. Being artistic representations, no specific organ is identified. Both of the stamps in this set paid airmail postage.

Andorra: Mozart

The French/Spanish principality of Andorra, located in the Pyrenees mountain, issued this stamp (Scott 409) in 1991 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In addition to a line of music notation, there is a group of orchestral musicians (including a conductor who is playing a stringed instrument while leading the group. There is also a scene of a city (Vienna or Salzburg?), a row of keyboard keys, and a curious star pattern with what appear to be people walking toward it. Finally there is an anonymous row of organ pipes. This is curious in itself, because Amadeus Mozart is not known for playing the organ, though he may have; nor is he known for composing works for the instrument. The only works remotely connected to the organ are works for musical clock (with flute pipes) which have been arranged for standard pipe organ. It would be interesting to know what the stamp's designer had in mind with these various elements.