Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: A Biography

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: A Biography
by Piero Melograni

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: A Biography
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Book Summary Information

Author: Piero Melograni
Translator: Lydia G. Cochrane
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-05-01
ISBN: 0226519619
Number of pages: 316
Publisher: University Of Chicago Press

Book Reviews of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: A Biography

Book Review: A fascinating man, interesting information, yet still a mystery
Summary: 5 Stars

After reading Piero Melograni's biography of Mozart, I am left with the impression that ultimately we don't know much about the man who created some of the world's most beautiful music. We know things based on his letters to family and friends and on his catalog of music, the things he left behind. What we don't have a lot of, sadly, is eyewitness testimony, probably because Mozart was the most underrated and underappreciated artist in history both during his life and for many years after his death--in other words, a semi-famous composer no one thought was particularly important. The result is that Melograni is able to piece together a flowing narrative of his work and travels, and attempt to find the character of his relationships with family and friends.

Yet we are left with many holes and uncertainties. For example, we do not know for sure with whom Mozart had his first sexual encounter, however we are told that he probably--because of his infatuation with women--had many throughout his life. But since there is no real evidence of this, it is also possible (though unlikely) his wife Constanze was his one and only. We also do not know Mozart's feelings for his father and sister. Did he despise them? Did he truly love them deeply as he attests in his letters? Did he resent his father for making him a child star? For sure, we cannot say. And what about his wife and children? What was it like having Wolfgang for a husband or a father? And his work--did he love music or was it something he felt he just had to do to make a living? What was his writing process like? What inspired him as he was putting it all together?

The bulk of this book has to do with Mozart's anxiety about making a living--indeed it was almost the only thing he wrote about in his letters. His father was obsessed with money and success, forever in fear of losing it all. As a result Mozart grows trying to convince himself and those around him that he was a good composer, not so much because of the music but rather because of the reception to it, which in comparison to his popularity today, was nothing. It should sadden us I think, because we know that he was capable of incredible beauty but we don't know the story behind it. Much of his music was light and fun, and some of it was dark and tragic. Were these works a reflection of the man himself, or a result of a robotic desire to please his father and by extension, nearly everyone he came in contact with? Did Mozart truly relish the power of his symphonies and the joy of his sonnatas or the passion of his operas as we do?

I prefer to think that he did, although it is hard for us to know for sure. This book has taught me that the greatest source for knowing this man would be, of course, the music itself, and that while certain facts are known, much shall remain mysterious.

Summary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: A Biography

Piero Melograni here offers a wholly readable account of Mozart?s remarkable life and times. This masterful 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.
     ?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

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