Mozart: A Life

Maynard Solomon

Editions

Review

It is a pity this landmark biography is not currently available in hardback.  This account is utterly gripping, and, in the picture it gives of a life whose ups and downs have been wildly exaggerated, it is also extremely convincing.  Constanze, Pushkin, Peter Shaffer and the passage of time have in their different ways turned Mozart into a shadowy figure whose motivations and experiences have seemed unknowable.  Solomon goes a long way towards correcting that view, dispelling with great elegance the more extravagant myths (his poisoning at the hands of Salieri, for example) and successfully refuting more deep-rooted misconceptions regarding Mozart’s lack of financial or critical success during his lifetime. In bringing to life Mozart the man, and also in analysing many musical examples, Solomon leaves the reader all the more in awe of Mozart the composer. - review by Dan Fenton