QUESTION:

Hello,

How many portraits of Mozart exist from his lifetime?

Andrew

REPLY:

Hi, Andrew,

Excellent question. First, there are five known authentic adult portraits of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Here are the artists and the locations of the portraits:

1. Anonymous, Austria 1777, now Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale, Bologna, Italy.

2. Della Croce 1780-81, now Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum, Salzburg, Austria.

3. Lange 1782-89, now Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum, Salzburg, Austria.

4. Stock 1789, now Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum, Salzburg, Austria.

5. Edlinger 1790, now Berliner Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, Germany.

The 5th one above is also the last known portrait of the composer. There are only 10 known portraits of Mozart known to exist today. You can see them here: http://www.edto.net/mozart_life.htm

Hope this helps.
Steve O’Meara

QUESTION:

Dear Mr. O’Meara,

Where do you have a headache? Obviously in your head, but in the brain or in your muscle? That always confuses me when I have a headache, and then it just makes the headache worse when I try and figure it out!

Amanda

REPLY:

According to the Mayo Clinic, headaches occur in more than 90 percent of school-age children. But each person’s headache is different. Sometimes, headaches can be caused by accidental bumps and bruises. Other headaches are located in the neck or upper back.

Since the brain doesn’t have any nerve fibers sensitive to pain, the headache cannot be linked to it. What can hurt are several areas of the head where the meninges and the blood vessels do have pain perception. Headache often results from traction to or irritation of the meninges and blood vessels. The muscles of the head, then, may similarly be sensitive to pain. Now let’s look at five specific types of headache:

1) vascular: This is your common migraine — a headache typically characterized by severe pain on one or both sides of the head, among other symptoms. Interestingly, the cause has to do with nerves in your head at those locations with pain receptors. A true form of “vascular” headache are the cluster headaches related to usually older people with high blood pressure.

2) myogenic headaches are muscular (or tension) headaches. Typically, these involve the tightening of facial and neck muscles, and are related to stress.

3) cervicogenic. Ah! These headaches are a real “pain in the neck” . . . literally! They are commonly caused by holding your head in an awkward position for a long period of time. And finally . . .

4 & 5) traction and inflammatory: These are headaches caused either by a stroke or something like a sinus infection.

So there you have it. Hope this reply didn’t give you a headache!

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