Work Text:
1762
Nations know their people.
They know every face and name and age when it is necessary, every detail to help them ensure the survival and well-being of their populace, their life source. But occasionally, what they know is not necessary; what they know is not survival. There is no real name for the instinct that intermittently surfaces, that alerts them to the presence of someone extraordinary... but one can, perhaps, call it destiny.
The child's face is concentrated and flushed, enamored of the task at hand, and Roderich Edelstein feels his own heartbeat quicken with every note. Wolfgang cannot be more than eight years old, and yet he plays the instrument masterfully, swiftly, without even seeing the keys - his fingers fly over the cloth placed there at the Empress's orders, testing him, and Roderich can tell that she is pleased with the result.
But no one else feels what Roderich does. That sense of something impending, something great... that sense that only a handful of his people have ever given him. Unconsciously, he leans forward; there are three of them before the court today, the child and his father and sister, but Roderich is wholly focused upon one. Drinking in the elegant music, feeling it reverberate through his being with more than just sound.
This is a prodigy and a name already on the lips of the aristocracy, but not just any name. A name that will live on, Roderich realizes, far after this date... a name meant to last. The source of this certainty is inexplicable, practically mythic, but it is undeniable. It is a nation's certainty, after all.
The song lulls for a moment, carried on only by the father's violin, as Wolfgang ceases and picks up his own violin; his sister takes over the harpsichord smoothly. And suddenly, there are two violins playing in concert, father and son, accompanied by Marianne's sweet harpsichord notes.
Roderich closes his eyes and lets the strains of the violin overwhelm him for a moment; music, that universal language, and here before him is a child already rarely matched in bringing it to life. A child who will affect it for years to come, Roderich knows, and though his conviction is unexplainable, the nation smiles because of it... losing himself in the beautiful melody and promising himself to make the acquaintance of this bright young prodigy, this Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.