Description:
Editorial Reviews
Review
“[A] comprehensive and engaging biography.... With the eye of an omniscient novelist, Mr. Swafford tells Mozart’s story looking both forward and back, knowing too well how it will end…. When he’s describing music, Mr. Swafford the novelist often becomes Mr. Swafford the poet, finding the impeccable image or unforgettable turn of phrase…. [Mozart is a] conversation he so irresistibly invites us to join.” — Wall Street Journal
"This is an excellent book on Mozart for both musicians and the general reader. The story is told in a lively, knowing style, without written-out musical examples but shot through with unfailingly erudite and impassioned discussion of the composer’s work." — Washington Post
“Mozart: The Reign of Love, is now the best single-volume English biography of the greatest composer and musician who ever lived.” — Merion West
“It is a great pleasure to read about Mozart as a working composer in a narrative written by a working composer....Jan Swafford, an author whose music has been performed by the symphonies in St. Louis and Indianapolis, is our guide into the composing process, aided by a dexterous use of Mozart’s correspondence and a deep knowledge of how music came about during the 18th century…The result is a biography that has an immediacy, a wholly thrilling ‘you are there’ impact.” — San Francisco Chronicle
“The book goes well beyond setting the historical record straight, however. It is an utterly comprehensive look at Mozart's life, as well as an exhaustive reference to his music. Swafford, who has also written biographies of Beethoven, Charles Ives and Brahms, is a composer first, and his keen understanding of music is his greatest strength as a biographer.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune
"In this masterfully written biography, Jan Swafford not only presents a richly detailed portrait of one of the greatest classical composers of all time, but debunks many of the myths surrounding the momentous and all-too-short life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The author, who is a composer, brings his insight to bear on his subject." — Christian Science Monitor
"Composer and biographer Swafford brings expertise and insight to bear on a comprehensive, animated life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart…. Swafford deftly captures that brilliance in a challenging narrative that is sure to thrill classical music fans…. An admiring, authoritative biography.” — Kirkus Reviews
"If tackling an 832-page biography of anybody seems daunting for the general reader, Swafford makes it almost effortless with Mozart, animating his genius....and, as a composer himself, offering an astute yet thoroughly approachable analysis, almost piece by piece, of the composer’s entire canon, lingering fittingly on the composer’s major operas....A virtually indispensable volume for the music collection."
— Booklist (starred review)
"The copious detail will appeal to musicologists, while the flowing, conversational style will draw in general readers who’d like to learn more about the composer. Heartily recommended to everyone with an interest in the subject." — Library Journal (starred review)
"[An] amazing biography....Orchestrating words and themes as deftly as any of the composers he so vividly has revealed to date (who will be next, we wonder?), Swafford transforms a deluge of available information into imaginative yet fact-based contexts that reveal Mozart’s talent in a down-to-earth and memorably human way." — Bookreporter.com
"Jan Swafford peppers his biography of a genius with astute critical judgments." — The Economist
"Swafford paints a revelatory portrait of [Mozart], his music, and his times." — New York Journal of Books
“Few hearts fail to melt upon encountering his humane, joyous and ravishingly beautiful music. The challenge for any biographer is how to articulate where this elusive magic comes from…. Jan Swafford has met that challenge head on.... For many [Mozart's] works are dear old friends. You can come away from this book feeling that he is too.” — The Times (UK)
"There may be no one better to tell the exuberant story of the life, loves and music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart than composer and author (Beethoven and Johannes Brahms) Jan Swafford. Musicians may most fully appreciate Swafford's more detailed descriptions of Mozart's canon in this dauntingly thick 832-page biography, but nonprofessional music fans and history lovers of all sorts are likely to be drawn in by the colorful portrait of an artist famous for both his talent and lust for pleasure." — aarp.org
The author of biographies of Beethoven, Brahms, and Charles Ives, Swafford is a fluent writer with a sharp eye for detail.... [He]...capably guides classical music enthusiasts through Mozart’s life from its miraculous first act to its denouement." — New Criterion
“Mozart: Reign of Love provides a new way of looking at the composer, his family and career." — Toronto Star
About the Author
Jan Swafford is an American composer and author. He earned his bachelor of arts magna cum laude from Harvard College and his DMA in composition from the Yale School of Music. His music has been widely played by ensembles, including the symphonies of St. Louis, Indianapolis, and the Dutch Radio. He is the author of biographies of Ives, Brahms, and Beethoven. His many honors include an NEA Composer Grant and the Deems Taylor Award for online writing on music, which he won for his essays in Slate. He is a longtime program writer and preconcert lecturer for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and has written notes and essays for the orchestras of Cleveland, Chicago, San Francisco, Detroit, and Toronto. Among his liner notes for recordings are those for DGG’s anniversary release of Beethoven’s nine symphonies by the Vienna Philharmonic.
Reviews:
5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Makes Me Mad 5/5
This was an excellent read, it's well written, flows beautifully and is accessible to the average person I think. There is a bit of technicality about sonata and rondo form that might be confusing at first to laymen but the author has a very good appendix to explain these things.The book makes me angry because of how unfair it is to the world that Mozart died at such a young age, at the height of his creative powers. It also prevented him from having a direct say in the transition to Romantic music which I think left that style the poorer. The ending and details of his final days is gut wrenching. The author does a great job of making Mozart your friend the entire book and you feel a profound sense of loss at his death.The information is impeccably researched, with only one minor detail I found to be wrong, the author states that Leopold Mozart got to spend eternity surrounded by Webers, whom he detested, but this is incorrect. Leopold was actually buried in a community vault in a mausoleum by himself, with the mausoleum emptied and the bones all reinterred in an ossuary in the attic in 1814 and then again in the 1840's. The presence of a marker near that of Constanze does confuse the issue and this information was hard to find.
5.0 out of 5 stars Mozart's "Love"
First, let's get the biographical information corrected....Many years ago on the planet Krypton, Jorel and Lara placed their infant son on a spacecraft enabling it to escape the catastrophe about to consume their planet. Launching it into space without a GPS, it eventually landed in the small yet picture post card alpine village on Earth called Salzburg. Adopted by unsuspecting parents to be the child named Wolfgang at age 5 seemingly, without any musical training, jumped up on a piano bench and played yet unknown tunes which caused his father to exclaim..."He is a miracle." For the next 35 years and 11 months the lad continued to leap tall buildings at a single bound and enjoyed life like a speeding bullet. Really, could this all be true? Jan Swafford presents us with a different story however in 740 pages of action packed string quartets, operas, symphonies, piano concertos and other assorted musical bon bons all to prove a point that all of this has something to do with "Love." And he does so, convincingly. Building his story on the shoulders of such imminent music thinkers such as Maynard Solomon, Alfred Einstein, Volkmar Braunbehrens, Edward Dent, H.C. Robbins Landon and a few others, much of the mythical anecdotes are dispelled. Yes, we know who commissioned the Requiem Mass as Mozart neared death (one Herr Franz von Walsegg), and that Mozart was not poisoned by Salieri and that Mozart's marriage to Constanze was truly a loving relationship. Copious end notes and resource reading citations back up Mr. Swafford's presentation and this tome will likely be the "go to" place when looking for details about Mozart and Da Ponte, Mozart and Schikaneder, Mozart and Opera, Mozart and letters to his father (Leopold) and his sister (Nannerl). And did I mention the piano concerti, wind music and string chamber music. All there and ably noted. A few quotes that may encourage you to explore this wonderful read....Mr Swafford opines on page 469..."To make a broad generalization: music needs both simplicity, for coherence and expression, and complexity, for depth and durability."...."Mozart's surface is often deceptively simple and direct. But often in his finest work...the material is richly varied in shape and rhythm and expression....managed by subtle and complex form." Wise words indeed. Or page 471...."No artist made more of pleasure-made it deeper, more liberated, more sensual-than Mozart." I agree. And in a conclusion on page 733...."From childhood, music was his (Mozart's) native language and his mode of living. He thought deeply but in tones, felt mainly in tones, loved in tones, and steeped himself in the world he was creating with tones. From a life made of music he wove his music into the fabric of our times. More and more toward the end, as he reached toward new territories, his art found a consecrated beauty that rose from love: love of music, love of his wife, love of humanity in all its gnarled splendor, love of the eternal yearning for God in the human heart. His work served all that. Whatever his image of God by the time he reached the Requiem, it was taken up in his humanity, and his humanity was for all time, and it was exalted in his art." Moving sentiments indeed. Thus the streaking comet that blazed the sky on January 27, 1756 and expired in December 1791 left us with the profound image of mankind as a better angel. BTW-the author does not explain the letter "K" appended to each of Mozart's cited compositions. In case you find yourself under assault at your Friday evening cocktail reception and this issue arrises: Just remind all those within earshot that Ludwig von Kochel attempted to organize Mozart's output chronologically in the late 19th century with some success. Since then the list has been revised twice and in its 6th edition. The "K" represents Herr Kochel's initial of his last name. With that one reservation this book is highly recommended.
4.0 out of 5 stars A moving and beautifully written biography that is not for the faint of heart
This comprehensive, beautifully written biography is full of insights about Mozart’s life and music, classical music history, the process of music composition, then and now, and indeed all of life.And yet it begins with an enigmatic statement -- that the depiction of Mozart as a poor and miserable genius is a myth created by biographers to add drama to a boring story. Swafford has “sympathy with those mythmakers” because who “wants to read about a happy man? We shall see.”Do we? By page 350 of this 800 page biography, Mozart’s life is 2/3 over, and how has he lived it? Being paraded as a child and teenager throughout Europe by a scoundrel of a father who saw Mozart primarily as his meal ticket. During his only trip accompanied solely by his mother, he watched her die in a hotel room, age 57. His first true love was unacceptable to his father who ruined any potential of a relationship. His second attempt at marriage, to the sister of his first true love, was only accepted by his father in the most grudging and ungenerous way, and by the time Mozart had finally established himself in a new city away from his father and with some measure of independence, he would have 9 more years to live. True those 9 years would see an unprecedented and unmatched production by a musical genius, but also the death of four children, money troubles, ill health and finally what seems a literal working of himself to death.Swafford does convincingly portray Mozart’s disposition as generally positive, but is having a sunny disposition and a short apparently happy marriage all Swafford meant when he asked who “wants to read about a happy man?”No, Swafford meant that Mozart was “happy” because he effectively used his unmatched gifts to express his deepest and most personal feelings. But to prove this, Swafford’s book is not just a biography of the events of Mozart’s life, but is also an exhaustive cataloging and analysis of seemingly every piece of music Mozart ever wrote. Multiply this sentence, one in a 20 page analysis of the opera Don Giovanni, by 10,000 sentences of a similar type, to get a sense of what this book is: “What follows the menacing opening is an Allegro in recognizable buffa-overture mode, capering and exuberant, in a brilliant D major.” For this sentence to be meaningful, the reader must have a rather intimate knowledge of this piece of music, but also be somewhat highly trained in classical music lingo and theory. This is one sentence in a 20 page description of one opera, hundreds of pages of this massive tome seem to examine almost all of his works in this manner. Non-experts will quickly find themselves skimming or skipping entirely these many pages of music theory analysis. But, like that one sentence, the musical analysis is cogent, subtle, and deep, even if, at times, it feels like “too many words.”
5.0 out of 5 stars A full meal of historical literature
Beautifully written account of an enigmatic life. Dense descriptions of individual pieces of music; your tolerance for these pages will define how well this book works for you, but I found them literarily fascinating, constantly in search of larger patterns in Mozart’s musical trajectory.
Maravilhoso
Lindo
the book came in poor conditions
A very good book, but came in very cheap and poor conditions (in a paper bag) and of course the book had damages. It was also not ok, because it is not a cheap book.
excelente obra
Como los otros libros del autor. Esta muy bien documentado. Su lectura es un placer. Además de aprender sobre W A Mozart y su increíble música
Style, poise and empathy
Hard to find anything to dislike in this superb biography. Most important of all, the author, who is himself also a composer, empathises with his subject, and understands the music. Without drowning us in technical jargon, he draws us into all the major works, if not quite bar by bar, then certainly movement by movement, by enthusing about each one's unique qualities. From 1784 onwards, Mozart is rarely happy to rest on his laurels, but is constantly pushing himself further and further. Those who still think of Mozart as a writer of 'galant' rococo sugar-plums ('Eine kleine Nachtmusik' etc.)---and, sad to relate, there are still such cloth-eared philistines around---need to read this book even more than fully paid-up Mozartians like me. A slightly later genius, Beethoven, was a troubled soul throughout his frequently unhappy life; but Mozart was mostly cheerful: someone, in other words, who was very much in love with life. But that didn't preclude him from being able to plumb the depths of tragedy when he needed to, and not merely in his operas. Swafford sees both the life and much of the music as a struggle between darkness and light---with light consistently breaking through, if only after the repeated onset of the forces of darkness. Witness his sublime account of Piano Concertos nos. 20 and 21 . . . This is a biography to read and re-read. Keep it close at hand on your shelves to consult every time you listen to yet another of Mozart's many triumphs.
Terrific biography
Like the same author's biography of Beethoven, this book is well written, engaging, and very informative. There is some speculation, but it is clearly labeled. I felt that I understood Mozart's music much better after reading this.
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Visit the Harper Perennial Store
Mozart: The Reign of Love
AED8367
Quantity:
Order today to get by 7-14 business days
Delivery fee of AED 20. Free for orders above AED 200.
Imported From: United States
At BOLO, we work hard to ensure the products you receive are new, genuine, and sourced from reputable suppliers.
BOLO is not an authorized or official retailer for most brands, nor are we affiliated with manufacturers unless specifically stated on a product page. Instead, we source verified sellers, authorized distributors or directly from the manufacturer.
Each product undergoes thorough inspection and verification at our consolidation and fulfilment centers to ensure it meets our strict authenticity and quality standards before being shipped and delivered to you.
If you ever have concerns regarding the authenticity of a product purchased from us, please contact Bolo Support. We will review your inquiry promptly and, if necessary, provide documentation verifying authenticity or offer a suitable resolution.
Your trust is our top priority, and we are committed to maintaining transparency and integrity in every transaction.
All product information, images, descriptions, and reviews originate from the manufacturer or from trusted sellers overseas. BOLO is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or an authorized retailer for most brands listed on our website unless stated otherwise.
While we strive to display accurate information, variations in packaging, labeling, instructions, or formulation may occasionally occur due to regional differences or supplier updates. For detailed or manufacturer-specific information, please contact the brand directly or reach out to BOLO Support for assistance.
Unless otherwise stated, all prices displayed on the product page include applicable taxes and import duties.
BOLO operates in accordance with the laws and regulations of United Arab Emirates. Any items found to be restricted or prohibited for sale within the UAE will be cancelled prior to shipment. We take proactive measures to ensure that only products permitted for sale in United Arab Emirates are listed on our website.
All items are shipped by air, and any products classified as “Dangerous Goods (DG)” under IATA regulations will be removed from the order and cancelled.
All orders are processed manually, and we make every effort to process them promptly once confirmed. Products cancelled due to the above reasons will be permanently removed from listings across the website.
Description:
Editorial Reviews
Review
“[A] comprehensive and engaging biography.... With the eye of an omniscient novelist, Mr. Swafford tells Mozart’s story looking both forward and back, knowing too well how it will end…. When he’s describing music, Mr. Swafford the novelist often becomes Mr. Swafford the poet, finding the impeccable image or unforgettable turn of phrase…. [Mozart is a] conversation he so irresistibly invites us to join.” — Wall Street Journal
"This is an excellent book on Mozart for both musicians and the general reader. The story is told in a lively, knowing style, without written-out musical examples but shot through with unfailingly erudite and impassioned discussion of the composer’s work." — Washington Post
“Mozart: The Reign of Love, is now the best single-volume English biography of the greatest composer and musician who ever lived.” — Merion West
“It is a great pleasure to read about Mozart as a working composer in a narrative written by a working composer....Jan Swafford, an author whose music has been performed by the symphonies in St. Louis and Indianapolis, is our guide into the composing process, aided by a dexterous use of Mozart’s correspondence and a deep knowledge of how music came about during the 18th century…The result is a biography that has an immediacy, a wholly thrilling ‘you are there’ impact.” — San Francisco Chronicle
“The book goes well beyond setting the historical record straight, however. It is an utterly comprehensive look at Mozart's life, as well as an exhaustive reference to his music. Swafford, who has also written biographies of Beethoven, Charles Ives and Brahms, is a composer first, and his keen understanding of music is his greatest strength as a biographer.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune
"In this masterfully written biography, Jan Swafford not only presents a richly detailed portrait of one of the greatest classical composers of all time, but debunks many of the myths surrounding the momentous and all-too-short life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The author, who is a composer, brings his insight to bear on his subject." — Christian Science Monitor
"Composer and biographer Swafford brings expertise and insight to bear on a comprehensive, animated life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart…. Swafford deftly captures that brilliance in a challenging narrative that is sure to thrill classical music fans…. An admiring, authoritative biography.” — Kirkus Reviews
"If tackling an 832-page biography of anybody seems daunting for the general reader, Swafford makes it almost effortless with Mozart, animating his genius....and, as a composer himself, offering an astute yet thoroughly approachable analysis, almost piece by piece, of the composer’s entire canon, lingering fittingly on the composer’s major operas....A virtually indispensable volume for the music collection."
— Booklist (starred review)
"The copious detail will appeal to musicologists, while the flowing, conversational style will draw in general readers who’d like to learn more about the composer. Heartily recommended to everyone with an interest in the subject." — Library Journal (starred review)
"[An] amazing biography....Orchestrating words and themes as deftly as any of the composers he so vividly has revealed to date (who will be next, we wonder?), Swafford transforms a deluge of available information into imaginative yet fact-based contexts that reveal Mozart’s talent in a down-to-earth and memorably human way." — Bookreporter.com
"Jan Swafford peppers his biography of a genius with astute critical judgments." — The Economist
"Swafford paints a revelatory portrait of [Mozart], his music, and his times." — New York Journal of Books
“Few hearts fail to melt upon encountering his humane, joyous and ravishingly beautiful music. The challenge for any biographer is how to articulate where this elusive magic comes from…. Jan Swafford has met that challenge head on.... For many [Mozart's] works are dear old friends. You can come away from this book feeling that he is too.” — The Times (UK)
"There may be no one better to tell the exuberant story of the life, loves and music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart than composer and author (Beethoven and Johannes Brahms) Jan Swafford. Musicians may most fully appreciate Swafford's more detailed descriptions of Mozart's canon in this dauntingly thick 832-page biography, but nonprofessional music fans and history lovers of all sorts are likely to be drawn in by the colorful portrait of an artist famous for both his talent and lust for pleasure." — aarp.org
The author of biographies of Beethoven, Brahms, and Charles Ives, Swafford is a fluent writer with a sharp eye for detail.... [He]...capably guides classical music enthusiasts through Mozart’s life from its miraculous first act to its denouement." — New Criterion
“Mozart: Reign of Love provides a new way of looking at the composer, his family and career." — Toronto Star
About the Author
Jan Swafford is an American composer and author. He earned his bachelor of arts magna cum laude from Harvard College and his DMA in composition from the Yale School of Music. His music has been widely played by ensembles, including the symphonies of St. Louis, Indianapolis, and the Dutch Radio. He is the author of biographies of Ives, Brahms, and Beethoven. His many honors include an NEA Composer Grant and the Deems Taylor Award for online writing on music, which he won for his essays in Slate. He is a longtime program writer and preconcert lecturer for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and has written notes and essays for the orchestras of Cleveland, Chicago, San Francisco, Detroit, and Toronto. Among his liner notes for recordings are those for DGG’s anniversary release of Beethoven’s nine symphonies by the Vienna Philharmonic.
Reviews:
5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Makes Me Mad 5/5
This was an excellent read, it's well written, flows beautifully and is accessible to the average person I think. There is a bit of technicality about sonata and rondo form that might be confusing at first to laymen but the author has a very good appendix to explain these things.The book makes me angry because of how unfair it is to the world that Mozart died at such a young age, at the height of his creative powers. It also prevented him from having a direct say in the transition to Romantic music which I think left that style the poorer. The ending and details of his final days is gut wrenching. The author does a great job of making Mozart your friend the entire book and you feel a profound sense of loss at his death.The information is impeccably researched, with only one minor detail I found to be wrong, the author states that Leopold Mozart got to spend eternity surrounded by Webers, whom he detested, but this is incorrect. Leopold was actually buried in a community vault in a mausoleum by himself, with the mausoleum emptied and the bones all reinterred in an ossuary in the attic in 1814 and then again in the 1840's. The presence of a marker near that of Constanze does confuse the issue and this information was hard to find.
5.0 out of 5 stars Mozart's "Love"
First, let's get the biographical information corrected....Many years ago on the planet Krypton, Jorel and Lara placed their infant son on a spacecraft enabling it to escape the catastrophe about to consume their planet. Launching it into space without a GPS, it eventually landed in the small yet picture post card alpine village on Earth called Salzburg. Adopted by unsuspecting parents to be the child named Wolfgang at age 5 seemingly, without any musical training, jumped up on a piano bench and played yet unknown tunes which caused his father to exclaim..."He is a miracle." For the next 35 years and 11 months the lad continued to leap tall buildings at a single bound and enjoyed life like a speeding bullet. Really, could this all be true? Jan Swafford presents us with a different story however in 740 pages of action packed string quartets, operas, symphonies, piano concertos and other assorted musical bon bons all to prove a point that all of this has something to do with "Love." And he does so, convincingly. Building his story on the shoulders of such imminent music thinkers such as Maynard Solomon, Alfred Einstein, Volkmar Braunbehrens, Edward Dent, H.C. Robbins Landon and a few others, much of the mythical anecdotes are dispelled. Yes, we know who commissioned the Requiem Mass as Mozart neared death (one Herr Franz von Walsegg), and that Mozart was not poisoned by Salieri and that Mozart's marriage to Constanze was truly a loving relationship. Copious end notes and resource reading citations back up Mr. Swafford's presentation and this tome will likely be the "go to" place when looking for details about Mozart and Da Ponte, Mozart and Schikaneder, Mozart and Opera, Mozart and letters to his father (Leopold) and his sister (Nannerl). And did I mention the piano concerti, wind music and string chamber music. All there and ably noted. A few quotes that may encourage you to explore this wonderful read....Mr Swafford opines on page 469..."To make a broad generalization: music needs both simplicity, for coherence and expression, and complexity, for depth and durability."...."Mozart's surface is often deceptively simple and direct. But often in his finest work...the material is richly varied in shape and rhythm and expression....managed by subtle and complex form." Wise words indeed. Or page 471...."No artist made more of pleasure-made it deeper, more liberated, more sensual-than Mozart." I agree. And in a conclusion on page 733...."From childhood, music was his (Mozart's) native language and his mode of living. He thought deeply but in tones, felt mainly in tones, loved in tones, and steeped himself in the world he was creating with tones. From a life made of music he wove his music into the fabric of our times. More and more toward the end, as he reached toward new territories, his art found a consecrated beauty that rose from love: love of music, love of his wife, love of humanity in all its gnarled splendor, love of the eternal yearning for God in the human heart. His work served all that. Whatever his image of God by the time he reached the Requiem, it was taken up in his humanity, and his humanity was for all time, and it was exalted in his art." Moving sentiments indeed. Thus the streaking comet that blazed the sky on January 27, 1756 and expired in December 1791 left us with the profound image of mankind as a better angel. BTW-the author does not explain the letter "K" appended to each of Mozart's cited compositions. In case you find yourself under assault at your Friday evening cocktail reception and this issue arrises: Just remind all those within earshot that Ludwig von Kochel attempted to organize Mozart's output chronologically in the late 19th century with some success. Since then the list has been revised twice and in its 6th edition. The "K" represents Herr Kochel's initial of his last name. With that one reservation this book is highly recommended.
4.0 out of 5 stars A moving and beautifully written biography that is not for the faint of heart
This comprehensive, beautifully written biography is full of insights about Mozart’s life and music, classical music history, the process of music composition, then and now, and indeed all of life.And yet it begins with an enigmatic statement -- that the depiction of Mozart as a poor and miserable genius is a myth created by biographers to add drama to a boring story. Swafford has “sympathy with those mythmakers” because who “wants to read about a happy man? We shall see.”Do we? By page 350 of this 800 page biography, Mozart’s life is 2/3 over, and how has he lived it? Being paraded as a child and teenager throughout Europe by a scoundrel of a father who saw Mozart primarily as his meal ticket. During his only trip accompanied solely by his mother, he watched her die in a hotel room, age 57. His first true love was unacceptable to his father who ruined any potential of a relationship. His second attempt at marriage, to the sister of his first true love, was only accepted by his father in the most grudging and ungenerous way, and by the time Mozart had finally established himself in a new city away from his father and with some measure of independence, he would have 9 more years to live. True those 9 years would see an unprecedented and unmatched production by a musical genius, but also the death of four children, money troubles, ill health and finally what seems a literal working of himself to death.Swafford does convincingly portray Mozart’s disposition as generally positive, but is having a sunny disposition and a short apparently happy marriage all Swafford meant when he asked who “wants to read about a happy man?”No, Swafford meant that Mozart was “happy” because he effectively used his unmatched gifts to express his deepest and most personal feelings. But to prove this, Swafford’s book is not just a biography of the events of Mozart’s life, but is also an exhaustive cataloging and analysis of seemingly every piece of music Mozart ever wrote. Multiply this sentence, one in a 20 page analysis of the opera Don Giovanni, by 10,000 sentences of a similar type, to get a sense of what this book is: “What follows the menacing opening is an Allegro in recognizable buffa-overture mode, capering and exuberant, in a brilliant D major.” For this sentence to be meaningful, the reader must have a rather intimate knowledge of this piece of music, but also be somewhat highly trained in classical music lingo and theory. This is one sentence in a 20 page description of one opera, hundreds of pages of this massive tome seem to examine almost all of his works in this manner. Non-experts will quickly find themselves skimming or skipping entirely these many pages of music theory analysis. But, like that one sentence, the musical analysis is cogent, subtle, and deep, even if, at times, it feels like “too many words.”
5.0 out of 5 stars A full meal of historical literature
Beautifully written account of an enigmatic life. Dense descriptions of individual pieces of music; your tolerance for these pages will define how well this book works for you, but I found them literarily fascinating, constantly in search of larger patterns in Mozart’s musical trajectory.
Maravilhoso
Lindo
the book came in poor conditions
A very good book, but came in very cheap and poor conditions (in a paper bag) and of course the book had damages. It was also not ok, because it is not a cheap book.
excelente obra
Como los otros libros del autor. Esta muy bien documentado. Su lectura es un placer. Además de aprender sobre W A Mozart y su increíble música
Style, poise and empathy
Hard to find anything to dislike in this superb biography. Most important of all, the author, who is himself also a composer, empathises with his subject, and understands the music. Without drowning us in technical jargon, he draws us into all the major works, if not quite bar by bar, then certainly movement by movement, by enthusing about each one's unique qualities. From 1784 onwards, Mozart is rarely happy to rest on his laurels, but is constantly pushing himself further and further. Those who still think of Mozart as a writer of 'galant' rococo sugar-plums ('Eine kleine Nachtmusik' etc.)---and, sad to relate, there are still such cloth-eared philistines around---need to read this book even more than fully paid-up Mozartians like me. A slightly later genius, Beethoven, was a troubled soul throughout his frequently unhappy life; but Mozart was mostly cheerful: someone, in other words, who was very much in love with life. But that didn't preclude him from being able to plumb the depths of tragedy when he needed to, and not merely in his operas. Swafford sees both the life and much of the music as a struggle between darkness and light---with light consistently breaking through, if only after the repeated onset of the forces of darkness. Witness his sublime account of Piano Concertos nos. 20 and 21 . . . This is a biography to read and re-read. Keep it close at hand on your shelves to consult every time you listen to yet another of Mozart's many triumphs.
Terrific biography
Like the same author's biography of Beethoven, this book is well written, engaging, and very informative. There is some speculation, but it is clearly labeled. I felt that I understood Mozart's music much better after reading this.
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