Mozart's Starling Hardcover – April 4, 2017

I listened to this book on audiobook but loved it so much I bought it for my aunt who is a history teacher. She said she’s been dying to read it. If you love history or birds or anything similar this will be your jam. I especially loved the author’s connection to the starling she saved which ties in nicely to the themes in the book. Great read and I learned a lot!

This first person account of living with an ordinary starling is extraordinary. It is told with caring and extensive knowledge of bird and song. Analyzing how Mozart lived with his bird is so interesting and informative.

A lovely book for nature and music lovers. Well written, well-researched. I’d give it a 5 but I reserve 5 stars for the great books. But it’s good for one’s soul and a wonderful gift.

Back and forth between Mozart’s Vienna and today’s Northwest coast of the US, this tale shed’s new light on the hated starling. A great read.

I can hardly say enough wonderful things about this book, but I'll start with the writing, which is fresh, inventive, and surprising at times. Then there's the subject matter, which is a bundle of touching and humorous vignettes that explore the life of Mozart through his own pet starling, Star. And yes, Mozart did have a pet tame starling that flew around in his home, adding to what was a joyful blend of chaos, commotion, and some of the most brilliant composing ever to grace our planet. Parallels and observations are made to and with the author's own beloved tame starling, Carmen. This book is written for sensitive readers who possess an appreciation for art and nature. A careful reading will provide you with a greater understanding of the expanse of starry space that connects nature and art. I will read the book again, to be sure, and I will also write a letter of appreciation to the gifted author, Lyanda Lynn Haupt.

Haupt provides a wealth of information about birds in general and starlings in particular. She chronicles her experiences raising a starling chick to an adult bird and integrating it into her household. She compares her experiences with her starling, Carmen to the "imagined" experiences Mozart had with his starling, Star. She fleshes out the story with Mozart's biography, latest studies on linguistics, theories on language acquisition and musicology. She certainly did a lot of research and even traveled to Mozart's haunts in both Salzburg and Vienna. This reader, however, could not get past certain serious dilemmas, some of which Haupt herself raises. Is it legal to steal a wild starling chick from a nest in a city park even though the birds were to be culled by the Parks Department later that evening? Someone might be enchanted by this idea, but as Haupt relates raising a wild chick is time-consuming, messy and precarious. There is a difference between wild and domesticated creatures. Carmen is protected from the vicissitudes of life in the wild, but she is also denied a real, full life as a female starling; socializing and raising chicks of her own. Indeed, Haupt closes the book with the line, "But not a single day passes that I do not wish I could see her fly free."Then there is the issue of bird vocalizations as representing mimicry or song. Haupt admits that birds vocalize primarily to mate, establish territory and to warn of danger. The author is so fond of her starling that she frequently anthropomorphizes Carmen's actions. When Carmen makes the sound of a squeaky floor board or the family cat, is that music or mimicry? When Haupt is content with the bird, is the bird also expressing contentment with her vocalizations? The author makes many speculations about Mozart's "relationship' with his starling. Haupt admits there is a lot of misinformation surrounding Mozart's life and death. Sadly, Haupt seems to add to this by giving credence to the "possibility" that Star "sang" to Mozart before he bought her and that the bird served as an "inspiration" for many of Mozart's works including "The Magic Flute". These and other "flights of fancy" by the author were annoying distractions for this reader.

Delightful book.

Delightful book. Throughly enjoyed reading about the pet starling, Carmen, and Mozart’s starling. Interesting facts about birds and Mozart’s life. I am a birdwatcher and lover of nature. If you enjoy wildlife, you need to read this book.

Story about birds and music. What’s not to like.

This is a story with four principal characters. Two are humans, and two are birds, and all four are unique creative creatures, rooted in time and place yet also awesomely universal in their, tasks and tiumphs The humans are Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who lived in Austria in the eighteenth century, and Lyanda Lynn Haupta, who is an American author, naturalist, poetic wordsmith and eco-philosopher currently living in Seattle. The two birds are starlings who deeply and intimately shared the domestic lives of, respectively, a great composer and a wonderfully sensitive, knowledgeable and passionate naturalist.Both as individuals and as a quartet, they respond to what the author calls 'a wild summons'. In the case of the humans it is a summons 'to paint, draw, dance, compose, to write songs, poems, letters, diaries, prayers, to set a violet on the sill; stitch a quilt; bake bread; plant marigolds, beans, apple trees ... ' And for all four it is a summons to 'to listen with changed ears, and sing back what we hear'.

The book was a gift for a friend. It was highly recommended by another friend.

椋鳥はあまり好きではないが、読みやすさ、につられて読んだ。

Another wonderful book by one of my favourite authors. A thought-provoking look at an often overlooked, or even hated, bird, this study of the starling is full of history, humour, science and music. Highly recommended.