Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: A Biography

ISBN: 0226519619

Author: Melograni, Piero

Condition: Used

Piero Melograni here offers a wholly readable account of Mozarts remarkable life and times. This masterful biography proceeds from the young Mozarts earliest years as a wunderkind-the child prodigy who traveled with his family to perform concerts throughout Europe-to his formative years in Vienna, where he fully absorbed the artistic and intellectual spirit of the Enlightenment, to his deathbed, his unfinished Requiem, and the mystery that still surrounds his burial. Melogranis deft use of Mozarts letters throughout confers authority and vitality to his recounting, and his expertise brings Mozarts eighteenth-century milieu evocatively to life. Written with a gifted historians flair for narrative and unencumbered by specialized analyses of Mozarts music, Melogranis is the most vivid and enjoyable biography of Mozart available.Italian historian Piero Melograni delivers a charming biography. Expertly grounded by the massive correspondence between Mozart and his highly complex family, Melogranis study benefits from its authors keen understanding of the changing social environments of the late eighteenth century.-Todd B. Sollis, Opera NewsThe idea that Mozart's achievements had nothing to do with self-discipline, hard work, knowledge or intellect is deeply embedded in the popular image of his genius, but Melograni . . . will have none of it, pointing out how hard Mozart worked on his music, even as a child, and suggesting that the eternal child view was put about by . . . family members to emphasize Wolfgang's need for and dependence on them.-Sheila Fitzpatrick, London Review of Books