Mozart

by Julian Rushton

Overview

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is one of the great icons of Western music. An amazing prodigy—he toured the capitals of Europe while still a child, astonishing royalty and professional musicians with his precocious skills—he wrote as an adult some of the finest music in the entire European tradition.
Julian Rushton offers a concise and up-to-date biography of this musical genius, combining a well-researched life of the composer with an introduction to the works—symphonic, chamber, sacred, and theatrical—of one of the few musicians in history to have written undisputed masterpieces across every genre of his time. Rushton offers a vivid portrait of the composer, ranging from Mozart the Wunderkind—travelling with his family from Salzburg to Vienna, Paris, London, Rome, and Milan—to the mature author of such classic works as "The Marriage of Figaro", "Don Giovanni", and "The Magic Flute". During the past half-century, scholars have thoroughly explored Mozart's life and music, offering new interpretations of his compositions based on their historical context and providing a factual basis for confirming or, more often, debunking fanciful accounts of the man and his work. Rushton takes full advantage of these biographical and musical studies as well as the definitive New Mozart Edition to provide an accurate account of Mozart's life and, equally important, an insightful look at the music itself, complete with musical examples.
An engaging biography for general readers that will also be an informative resource for scholars, this new addition to the prestigious Master Musicians series offers an authoritative portrait of one of the defining figures of European culture.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195388251
Publisher:	Oxford University Press, USA
Publication date:	09/04/2009
Series:	Master Musicians Series
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Julian Rushton is Emeritus West Riding Professor of Music at the University of Leeds. He has published widely, especially on Gluck, Mozart, Berlioz, and Elgar. He was President of the Royal Musical Association 1994-9, editor of Cambridge Music Handbooks, and is Chairman of the Editorial Committee of Musica Britannica.

Table of Contents

Contents
1. Salzburg and the Grand Tour: 1756-69
2. Works by an 'almost supernatural talent'
3. Italy: 1769-73
4. Opera seria: 'Fitting the clothes to the figure'
5. Salzburg: 1774-7
6. Sacred music: 'I have thoroughly acquainted myself with that style since my youth'
7. Mannheim and Paris: 1777-9
8. The 'Classical Style': Mozart and the keyboard
9. Salzburg and Munich: 1779-81
10. Orchestral music: 'the glorious effect of a symphony with flutes, oboes, and clarinets'
11. Vienna: 1781-5
12. Singspiel: 'music must never offend the ear'
13. Piano concertos and chamber music in 'the Land of the Clavier'
14. Vienna and Prague: 1786-8
15. Chamber music: 'The greatest composer known to me':
16. Opera buffa: 'Most important is that it must be really comic'
17. The last years: 1788-91
18. The last works: 'A rich possession, but even fairer hopes'
19. 'de morte transire ad vitam'
Appendices
A Calendar / B List of Works / C Personalia / D Select Bibliography /
Index

Editorial Reviews

"An achievement of real distinction.... Rushton unfailingly captures the right tone, rendering his book accessible to the general Mozart lover and at the same time satisfying to the Mozart scholar.... This is a book to relish."—John Irving, Eighteenth-Century Music

"An exceptional book. Rushton's Mozart is a practical guide for both the general reader and scholar. The biography is fluent, easy to understand, and supplies many updated resources. He offers a concise and up-to-date biography while meeting his objective of supplying an introduction and guide to the works.This is a well researched book that will serve as a practical guide for both the general reader and scholar."—Jonathan Ng, Choral Journal

"Crisp, learned."—Alex Ross, The New Yorker

"The finest short biography of Mozart that I know—incisive, insightful, and elegantly written. If I had to recommend one book that explained the man and his music, this would be it."—Cliff Eisen, Department of Music, King's College London

"A crisp account of the composer's career, with many musical examples.... Rushton is direct, impersonal and authoritative, as befits a brief but learned introductory life. Not that he doesn't offer anecdotal material to keep the more casual reader entertained."—Michael Dirda, Washington Post

"Always sensitive, judicious, and stimulating. It is too short—not too short for Mozart but for Rushton, who has certainly much more to say that would be of interest."—Charles Rosen, The New York Review of Books

"A splendid introduction to Mozart's life and works—carefully organized, sensibly argued, and lucidly written. Rushton brings his vast knowledge of Mozart into the biographical arena and succeeds admirably in writing for both the layman and the connoisseur of Mozart's music." —Simon P. Keefe, Professor of Music at City University London, and editor of The Cambridge Companion to Mozart and The Cambridge Mozart Encyclopedia

"A valuable addition to the ever-growing literature on Mozart."—Library Journal

"Rushton has pulled off something as brilliant as it is implausible: a perfectly judicious account of the life of the composer." —Bookpage

"Rushton's account is succinct yet thorough, covering key areas such as the composer's relationship with freemasonry and his attitudes toward his contemporaries."—Andrew Farach-Colton

"Elegantly straightforward, engaging and informative, thought-provoking and enlightening, and informed by a lifetime's scholarship and love, this is perhaps the finest concise study of Mozart and his music yet written." —Piano Magazine

From the Publisher