W.A. Mozart by Hermann Abert
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Book Summary Author: Hermann Abert Editor: Professor Cliff Eisen Translator: Mr. Stewart Spencer Edition: Hardcover Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published) Published: 2007-11-30 ISBN: 0300072236 Number of pages: 1515 Publisher: Yale University Press |
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Book Reviews of the W.A. Mozart
Customer Review: The titanic basis for our conception of Mozart
Summary: 5 Stars
As the centenary of Mozart's birth loomed in 1856, German musicologist Otto Jahn published the first volume of his ground-breaking four volume biography of Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus (Gottlieb) Mozart. Theophilus, meaning 'beloved of God', was changed to its German equivalent, Gottlieb. The names Johann and Chrysostom commemorated the boy's birth on that saint's day. He was born on 27 January 1756 at eight o'clock in the evening. He was the last of seven children: only two of whom, Nannerl, the fourth, and Wolfgang, survived. No one at the time had the slightest foreknowledge of the epochal nature of that birth.
Simultaneous to Jahn's massive undertaking was Ludwig Kochel's similarly path-breaking catalogue of Mozart's works. The two scholars created the historical landscape upon which all subsequent study and knowledge of Mozart's life and works would be based. Jahn's and Kochel's work were as comprehensive and dependable as the then current state of knowledge about Mozart's life and music permitted. In the process, the foundation of a Germanic cultural hero, a Romantic myth, of Mozart, the inestimable, miraculous child genius who created musical masterpieces Jove-like fully formed from his mind, was created. That myth is still with us in books, in concert notes, in recording liner notes, in essays and in films.
Jahn's work was revised several times before Hermann Abert fully reworked it in the post-war years of 1919-1921, taking full advantage of an additional 70 years of research and discovery: in the process modifying Jahn's 19th Century Romantic tone to fit a more modern sensibility. Abert's massive work included everything then known, the most informed and substantial biography of Mozart in any language. It is unquestionably the most comprehensive account of the composer's life and a profound analysis of the composer's work. In Abert's 'book-within-a-book', he scrutinizes the music, with individual chapters on the operas, splendid accounts of the orchestral works, the symphonies and piano concertos, church music and compositions for solo instruments. It is a titanic work that has never been rendered in English until now.
Brilliantly translated by Stewart Spencer, what makes this massive work so impressive is how even Abert's deeply considered words are brought up to date. Recent developments in Mozart scholarship since the last German edition are analyzed by Mozart scholar Cliff Eisen in his meticulous and informative annotations located on every single page. This whole massive undertaking is supported by a coterie of leading Mozart scholars. At the weight of a very healthy baby, this is not a book you will be carrying to your local Starbuck's unless you plan to use it as a portable table. It is, nevertheless, the single most important source on the life of a truly great composer. It is remarkable that it has been unavailable in English. That it now is, and in such a superlative edition, makes its publication the single most important event in English language Mozartean scholarship of this, or perhaps any other, year. This book is not an investment to be made lightly. It probably requires a program of upper arm development (a small lectern might be helpful). But for the committed Mozartean, this mighty volume would make a splendid gift. You will spend the rest of your life absorbed in its 1600 pages. Most strongly recommended.
Mike Birman