Anne-Sophie Mutter: I owe it all to Pippi Longstocking
mainThe violinist, tonight in Stockholm, on receiving the Polar Prize:
‘I am simply overwhelmed by the honour and acknowledgment which you, who are responsible for the Polar Music Prize, are bestowing upon me. This distinction fills me with pride and joy, as you are permitting me to join the ranks of the wonderful musicians who have previously received the prize. I admire many of them profoundly, for example Witold LutosÅ‚awski, Sofia Gubaidulina, Ennio Morricone, Dizzy Gillespie and Mstislav Rostropovich, to name just a few.
‘My special thanks on this day, however, are due to the incomparable Astrid Lindgren. Her Pippi Longstocking has been a role model for me since my childhood. Like no other literary figure, this red-haired girl showed me that females can be active and self-determined, finding their own path with creativity and wit. Living her own dreams, and daring to be different: at the time when I first read the Pippi Longstocking stories, that was not taken for granted when it came to girls and women. And, from a global perspective, it is still not to be taken for granted.’
separated at birth?
“..females can be active and self-determined, finding their own path with creativity and wit. Living her own dreams, and daring to be different…”
Please go to one of your beloved “migrant” communities far down the street from your gated mansion and preach this. Don’t worry, we’ll be ready with your funeral arrangements afterwards.
Urgh. What a truly ugly comment. You should be ashamed.
…………..not a globalist then eh Doug?
Anne-Sophie Mutter: you continue year after year, decade after decade, to be a beautiful and lovely musician and human being.
Long may you live and play the violin!
I read a bunch of those books as a child and thought they were hilarious and wonderful. Tommy and Annika were such clean, well-behaved children of the establishment before they met her 🙂
Not being a girl, what I got from them was a more general “kid power” message: the most impressive thing to me was that she lived by herself, stayed up as late as she wanted, didn’t have to ask anyone’s permission to do anything, had adventures… and got along just fine. Quite the role model.
ASM, of course, has provided similar inspiration. My favorite story is when I lent her recording of the Brahms concerto to a violinist friend who hadn’t heard of her yet. (It was 1983 or 84, so this was still possible.) Later the friend said she’d listened to it. I said, “Doesn’t it just make you want to give up and quit?” My friend replied: “NO! Are you kidding?! I had a headache and was in a terrible mood when I started listening; now my headache is gone and I’m inspired to go practice and become great!”
I love everything about this woman.