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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#26: Musical Genius

January 27th marks 264 years since the birth of one of western music’s greatest composers: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

To celebrate Mozart’s birthday, this week we’re inviting you to explore different facets of both his life and his legacy. From little-known biographical details to the things he’s most remembered for, let the tune of his life inspire you to create your own entirely unique masterpiece.

P.S — Want to learn more about the lives and legacies of other greats? Check out this list of our 30 favorite biographies.

This week's prompts

Write about a character who was considered a prodigy when they were young.

Fiction – 61 stories

Write about a character who goes by many different names throughout their life.

Character – 50 stories

Write about a character who was raised in a musical family.

High School – 49 stories

Write a story about a musician struggling to find work during wartime.

Historical Fiction – 42 stories

Write a story about a character obsessed with one of the long-dead “greats” in their profession.

Adults – 24 stories

Stories

“Holding” by Carmen Friesen

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #26

He wakes up in an empty bed. A pang of hollowness stabs him. It will take a long time before he’s used to this, the raw ache of missing. It’s a familiar feeling. It feels like losing a limb. For a minute he lies there, crushed by the weight of a thousand empty mornings stretching out before him. He doesn’t want to get out of bed, to face the loneliness of the future that yawns like a gaping mouth. How can he bring himself to move forward into a world without her? He will not think of the future. Not yet. Today is for remembering. He forces h...

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“Anomaly” by Courtney Myers

Submitted to Contest #26

Song, and the joy of song, composed most of Camran's first memory. The full, silver moon hung low in a sky speckled with stars, and the light reflected off the black, brown, gray, and white throats of his pack. Normally human but now in the forms of half-breed wolves, the BehnKailev Clan howled their monthly Gathering's harmonized chorus toward Heaven. From high, piping wails to bone-deep moans and every sound in-between, not a single note rang sour as the guardians of the montane Rebirth Forest wove a song of thanks, promise, and supplicati...

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“All That Glitters Is Not Gold” by Amy DeMatt

Submitted to Contest #26

It had been one of those glittering evenings. It was a party, a concert for one of my distant relatives. Private concerts were all the rage, and we Hapsburgs knew how to make an evening. Mama had told me that Wolfgang Gottlieb was to play. You, reader, know him by his other name, Mozart. He was a child, like me. A prodigy. The son of Leopold Mozart. Like me, fortune had already kissed him on the forehead. Austria knew both of our identities. So...

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“He wasn't just an Elvis Impersonator.” by John Steckley

Submitted to Contest #26

He Wasn’t Just an Elvis Impersonator . He wasn’t just an Elvis impersonator. In Edward’s mind, he was THE Elvis impersonator, or at least was going to be. It has all started when he was 13 years old. He was extremely bored one Sunday afternoon, so he decided to watch a movie on the old movie channel. He wasn’t a fan of new movies. In part this was because he didn’t like video games. This isolated him socially from most of the other boys in his class. Generally he was socially isolated, from boys and girls his ag...

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“Harriet” by Maya Ritz

Submitted to Contest #26

Your fingers hit the keys at just the right time, in just the right way. Music resonates around the room, filling the corners and delighting your ears. You play the opening notes of Gestard de la Nuit with effortless grace. In the corner to your right, other pianists glower at you. On your right, the judges, sway to the rhythm of the music. "Are you feeling okay, sir?" A quiet voice asks from the side. Your eyes open, and your head swivels to see a woman dressed in yellow scrubs next to your bed. "I'm feeling fine," you answer, your voice ...

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“Prodigy” by Sam Kirk

Submitted to Contest #26

Amy walked into the room and looked around. It was only a bit smaller than the entire studio apartment that she had been renting for the past couple of years. To her right, there was a robin egg blue couch, which looked like a cloud. Amy reached out as she walked past it. Her fingers elegantly glided through the velvety silk. In the corner, there was a TV on the wall and a table with a Keurig and everything you might need to make a cup of coffee or tea beneath it. To her left, there was a mirror that took up almost half the wall. In front of...

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“Broken Strings ” by Kari Warner

Submitted to Contest #26

There isn’t a day where I don’t stare at my violin and remember the symphonies I dreamt of playing. My fingers wish to play the strings as gracefully as my youth allowed but time and depression has taken my motivation. You see...I wasn’t always this tape of self loathing, I used to have dreams and passion. But something, something changed that spring. I told my mother about the competition. I asked her to drive me to the institute so I could enter. It’s a free ride scholarship, I’d be paying nothing and I’d get to study at the best scho...

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“A Sweeter Song” by Iona Cottle

Submitted to Contest #26

The wedding was a small affair, at least by the standards of their families. Only thirty people had been invited, although plenty more had threatened to turn up anyway. As it was, one of the uninvited aunts- who was always one to take everything personally- had organised a separate gathering in a nearby function room, so the rest of the extended family could get together. This had been mentioned to the bride and groom, and it was the groom Marcus who immediately decided that they should stop in there after the church. “That’s a little mean, ...

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“Buskin” by Karin Morley

Submitted to Contest #26

Orion woke up first although I usually do. He can’t be quiet when he is excited. He is so happy to wake me up, he stifles cried of joy as I rise from slumber. I try to keep his environment somewhat predictable to help him feel calm but things are not exactly stable around here. I never know who I am going to be from one day to the next. Literally. Mom makes me tell people I have a different name and told me to keep track of who knew me as what name. It was an impossible task but I told her I had it down. I used to be amazing at math, w...

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“Wren during newlife woof fly at warp speed” by Matthew Harris

Submitted to Contest #26

This preface so real (profess aerial), yours truly chokingly (chicken or egg thing) conceived in sin (rated quirkiness), i.e. Cincinnati, Ohio (asthma most up to date version of Matthew Scott). Any attempt for garden variety generic fecund woman (applicable to mother dearest back during her pro creative years), whose departure early May 2020 delineates fifteen blockchain twelve month calendrical time spans) tries to successfully counteract biologic reproductive force to whit deserves grudging testes meant to garner at least tidbit prematurel...

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“STAYING A HALF STEP AHEAD” by Andrew Grell

Submitted to Contest #26

STAYING A HALF STEP AHEADBy Andrew Paul Grell“This dive? Are you sure?”“Woof. Woof, woof. Yodel.”“I’ll take your word for it. Good boy, Bruce. Let’s see if they go for it.” Annie didn’t feel the need to tie Bruce up. In fact, she wished she could bring him in. You never know what to expect from people getting plastered at three in the afternoon. Bruce, a Decker Rat Terrier, put his forepaws on the ukulele case, almost entirely covered in checked baggage stickers, and trained his eye on the entranc...

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“Didn't your Mother ....?” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #26

You could hire me as a mind-reading act, and pretty impressive I’d be too. As long as you stuck to one sentence, that is. To that sentence beginning “Didn’t your mother …..?” Then I know what’s coming. Not Once live next door to us? Not Have a dog called Puggles? Not Make wonderful coffee and walnut cake? No. It was always “Didn’t your mother write Tapestry?” And she did, and I’m proud of her and think it’s a beautif...

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“The twisted music boy.” by Len Mooring

Submitted to Contest #26

The monstrosity that was the fetus, was finally ‘torn,’ via the surgeon’s knife from the mother’s belly, more than 2 weeks after its ‘scheduled’ appearance upon our stage. Its grotesqueness brought horrified gasps from all those attending the delivery.The misshapen head, humped back and deformed lower limbs elicited thoughts that he would do the decent thing and expire before his very young mother emerged from the anesthetic. No such fortune awaited this unprepared woman. Apparently, though, his lungs had not suffered the same fa...

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“One Night Only” by Gina Burke

Submitted to Contest #26

“Are you ready, boss? Fifteen minutes until we open.” The anxious voice in the doorway of my office did nothing to calm my nerves. I’ve got to learn to close my door. “I’m ready, Zeke. Are you?” “Oh yeah, boss, am I ever. The guys are more than eager to perform, and the crowd has been getting bigger since before 5:00. They’re starting to curve around the block. I hope we have enough food. I hope we don’t run out of ice!” “Zeke, take a deep breath. It’s going to be fine. Make yourself useful and go check on the club one more time.” “Alright, ...

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“A Veteran Fiddle” by Dakota Geiger

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #26

First was my Pop. He served in the Civil War, a drummer boy, and an excellent one at that. Somewhere buried deep in my drawers I bet I could find his badge he willed to me. He was only 16, but he still marched just as tall –if not taller– than the other soldiers. Fighting for the unity of our country, he was my idol. I never quite knew how he was able to play music after the war. He told me the bloody details that I was too young to hear yet remember fondly. And still, he love...

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$50

Prize money

226

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jan 31, 2020 EST

Won by Hannah Carter 🏆

Title: Lara

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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