Q: How do you pay homage to a towering musical genius?

A: With a bra that can play Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.

From the Times of London (UK):

GOOD news in time for Mozart’s 250th birthday next month: listening to his music, according to the latest research, boosts IQ, squeezes more milk out of cows and makes rats more loveable.

Judging by the frenzied commerce in the narrow streets of his birthplace, Salzburg, it also makes the cash tills ring.

Austria is gearing up for a year-long celebration of its best-known composer. With 500 events planned for 2006, it hopes to use Mozart to rebrand itself as a serious European player, the place where the big issues of European identity can be hammered out.

At the risk of identifying myself as a classical music tyro, Mozart is my favorite classical composer. Although I don't think his music has made me any smarter, it certainly has given me hours of enjoyment. Austria's Mozart Year will feature a tremendous amount of his music:

“It will be an artistic feast,” says Inge Brodil, a former set designer who is helping to co-ordinate the programme for the Mozart Year. Salzburg alone will host 260 concerts and 55 masses. “For the first time, all 22 of Mozart’s operas will be staged,” Frau Brodil says.

Some quick Wolfie facts:

Born in Salzburg on January 27, 1756

Educated by Leopold, his father, a professional musician

First musical piece written aged 5; first stage work aged 11

Mozart spent a third of his life on tour

He is said to have suffered from Tourette’s syndrome, a disorder compelling him to repeat obscene words

The Abduction from the Seraglio, written when he was 26, was Mozart’s most successful musical work during his lifetime

He died on December 5, 1791, from a fever

An amazing man with an amazing body of work for someone who died just before his 36th birthday.