On Mozart

Book Overview

On Mozart is an attempt to suggest how much more complicated a figure Mozart was than popular legends and media portrayals would have us believe. He was certainly a genius--in that, the legends are correct, and the evidence abounds--but he was also a working composer in a society crowded with other working composers, and he had to make a living at his craft to maintain the style of living to which he and his family had become accustomed. By observing a realistic and human genius, the collection of essays portrays a more complex individual than the divinely inspired Mozart of myth, who took his notes directly from God.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B00APY9WMS
• ISBN13: 9780521476614
• Release Date: November 1994
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Superb book debunking many Mozart myths.

This wonderful book consists of a series of essays by noted scholars. However, the book is very readable for a layperson. It debunks such myths as: 1) Mozart worked everyhing out in his head, and just had to find the time to write it down. Wrong. 2) Mozart never had much money. Totally wrong. 3) Only his widow and one or two others accompanied his casket to the cemetary. True, but the book explains why that happened. Many other essays in here, and all wonderfully written. A great book.