Mozart A Musical Biography [Hardcover]

Although there are many accounts of Mozart's life, and countless descriptions and analyses of his music, this is the first attempt to portray Mozart's creative life as a composer. K?ster selects forty works or groups of works covering virtually every important stage in Mozart's career, from the first keyboard works of the youngWunderkindto Mozart's final days and the composition of theRequiem. Each chapter deals with the developments and events in the lives of the Mozarts as associated with or highlighted by a particular work or constellation of works. The bulk of the book--the is concerned with Mozart's life and compositions from his arrival in Vienna in 1781 to his death there some ten years later.

Drawing on the tremendous advances in Mozart research over the last thirty years, and the publication of the New Mozart Edition, K?ster's book makes a major contribution to our understanding of the creative development of the composer who represents for most musicians and music lovers the highest pinnacle of musical achievement.

Full of original and challenging observations. --Choice

Konrad K?ster is Lecturer in Music at the University of Freiburg in Germany. He is a contributor to the forthcomingWolfgang Amade Mozart: Essays on his Life and Music(OUP, 1995), ed. Stanley Sadie, and author ofBeethoven(Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1994).