Overview

Piero Melograni here offers a wholly readable account of Mozart's remarkable life and times. This masterly biography proceeds from the young Mozart's 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. Melograni's deft use of Mozart's letters throughout confers authority and vitality to his recounting, and his expertise brings Mozart's eighteenth-century milieu evocatively to life. Written with a gifted historian's flair for narrative and unencumbered by specialized analyses of Mozart's music, Melograni's is the most vivid and enjoyable biography of Mozart available.

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9780226519562

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Reviews

"""Italian historian Piero Melograni delivers a charming biography. Expertly grounded by the massive correspondence between Mozart and his highly complex family, Melograni's study benefits from its author's keen understanding of the changing social environments of the late eighteenth century."" - Todd B. Sollis, Opera News ""The 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 ""[The book] is absorbing as a filial psychodrama, depicting Mozart's slow emergence from the suffocating embrace of his father, Leopold, the quintessential stage parent."" - New York Times Book Review ""This is one of the most engaging, vivid and well-written biographies of Mozart around. As befits the work of an admired historian, the sense of time and place is wonderfully alive and the elusive personality of his subject is captured with sympathy and genuine insight. He has an engrossing story to tell, he knows it, and he tells it better than most. As a portrait, the book is a triumphant success and deserves a wide readership."" - Piano"""

Italian historian Piero Melograni delivers a charming biography. Expertly grounded by the massive correspondence between Mozart and his highly complex family, Melograni's study benefits from its author's keen understanding of the changing social environments of the late eighteenth century. - Todd B. Sollis, Opera News The 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 [The book] is absorbing as a filial psychodrama, depicting Mozart's slow emergence from the suffocating embrace of his father, Leopold, the quintessential stage parent. - New York Times Book Review This is one of the most engaging, vivid and well-written biographies of Mozart around. As befits the work of an admired historian, the sense of time and place is wonderfully alive and the elusive personality of his subject is captured with sympathy and genuine insight. He has an engrossing story to tell, he knows it, and he tells it better than most. As a portrait, the book is a triumphant success and deserves a wide readership. - Piano

Author Information

Piero Melograni is the author of eighteen books, including Lenin and the Myth of World Revolution, and, most recently, La guerra degli italiani, 1940-1945. Lydia G. Cochrane has translated numerous works from Italian and French, including Luc Ferry's What Is the Good Life?, also published by the University of Chicago Press.

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