Mozart Bios

[Amalie]

Calling on Mozart lovers!

Can anyone recommend a good biography on 'Mozart' please.
What is the best modern biography combining a compelling story of his life and his musical development?

Many thanks.

[Gurn Blanston]

Amalie,
Really, I hate to tell you because of the antipathy aroused by his Beethoven work, but Solomon is an excellent Mozart bio. As for his works, the marvelous "Compleat Mozart" by Zaslaw has a discussion of even the most obscure works, something that B could really use to have.


------------------
Regards,
Gurn
PS - The inimitable H.C.Robbins Landon has an especially excellent tome called "1791, Mozart's Last Year", which, while it doesn't cover the whole life, obviously, is great for that pivotal year in music history
(not just WAM's death, but Haydn to London and B preparing for Vienna!!)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That's my opinion, I may be wrong.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[This message has been edited by Gurn Blanston (edited January 03, 2004).]

[Steppenwolf]

There is a fairly recent biography of Mozart by Robert Gutman, about which I have read some favourable reviews. I myself was put off the author when I read his biography of Wagner, which, although scholarly and well written, was very biased. But I see no reason why there would be any bias in a biography of Mozart. Unless, of course, he falls into the trap of going swinging like a pedulum to the other extreme of the depiction in the film (and play) Amadeus, as a "giggling dirty-minded creature" as Salieri put it, and makes him out to be a pious saint. But I don't know, I haven't read it, but I think it would be worth checking out at least.

Click here! -
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/01 5100482X/qid=1073162081/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-3508873-3621710?v=glance&s=books

[This message has been edited by Steppenwolf (edited January 03, 2004).]

[Amalie]

Thanks Gurn and Steppenwolf,

It is for Keith's birthday present.
I shall certainly be looking at Solomon on Mozart, Zaslaw also should be good.
Interestingly, Steppenwolf, my husband has also been looking for a good biography on 'Wagner', The acknowledged biography was by 'Newman' in the 1940's, 4 volumes.
But I am sure the scholarship in the important areas in Wagners life has been updated.
Thankyou for the links into the Wagner site,on a previous post, my husband finds it very interesting.

Amalie.


[This message has been edited by Amalie (edited January 03, 2004).]

[Steppenwolf]

Originally posted by Amalie:

Thanks Gurn and Steppenwolf,

It is for Keith's birthday present.
I shall certainly be looking at Solomon on Mozart, Zaslaw also should be good.
Interestingly, Steppenwolf, my husband has also been looking for a good biography on 'Wagner', The acknowledged biography was by 'Newman' in the 1940's, 4 volumes.
But I am sure the scholarship in the important areas in Wagners life has been updated.

Amalie.

The Newman biography is the acknowledged scholarly classic in Wagner studies. I personally however, despite being a keen Wagnerian, cannot imagine myself sifting through four whole volumes! But that's just me.
As a good, modern, up-to-date, original and highly readable bio of Wagner I would recommend the one by Michael Tanner. Your husband may also be interested in 'Wagner and Philosophy' by Brian Magee, which places special emphasis on Schopenhauer's influence on his works, and Magee's enthusiasm for Wagner is infectous. He also deals very well and very fairly with the problem of anti-semitism and Nazism, etc.
But whatever you do, DON'T get the Wagner bio by Gutman. It is notoriously biased. Wagner was far from being a saint, we all know that, but he was a complex and contradictory character with many redeeming features. But he emerges from the poisoned pen of Gutman as some sort of apocalyptic beast.



[This message has been edited by Steppenwolf (edited January 04, 2004).]

[Amalie]

Thankyou for your good advice Steppenwolf,
Do you know whether the Newman's bio has been updated, because it was written during the second world war in Germany, and there has presumably been a lot of updated scholarship since.
Keith has read Brian Magee's Wagner and Philosophy, and he can spend hours discussing it. But I might add, though it is fascinating, it can be a bit above my head.
We shall certainly be looking a Michael Tanner's biography.
For out of print books I use Beaverbook search, and it amazes me what they find sometimes.

Amalie.



[This message has been edited by Amalie (edited January 04, 2004).]

[Tegan]

Gurn, what antipathy about Solomon's Beethoven? I read Solomon's biographies of Mozart and Beethoven, and I must confess, I disliked both. Solomon is overeager and tediously detailed about any hint of scandal in the composer's life, which makes for rather strained reading. I disliked both Solomon and Mozart for years (I like Mozart again, but I still don't like Maynard Solomon.).

[Gurn Blanston]

Originally posted by Tegan:
Gurn, what antipathy about Solomon's Beethoven? I read Solomon's biographies of Mozart and Beethoven, and I must confess, I disliked both. Solomon is overeager and tediously detailed about any hint of scandal in the composer's life, which makes for rather strained reading. I disliked both Solomon and Mozart for years (I like Mozart again, but I still don't like Maynard Solomon.).

Tegan,
Well, your letter answers your own question far better than I can. I looked to Solomon to provide facts to me in order to draw my own conclusions about the people he was writing about. Thus, I liked his books because they brought together the most recent as well as the classic facts. If you rely on an author to draw your conclusions for you, then I think you will have gone off the mark with Solomon, as he is guilty of all you say. Although I will add this in rebuttal, authors of past times, and some writers in the here and now, have gone to great pains to gloss over any sign of humanity in their "hero", and I think this is to their detriment. What you portray as scandal mongering may only be an effort to inject some balance. Personally, I think we can all use a bit of balance now and then, no?



------------------
Regards,
Gurn
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That's my opinion, I may be wrong.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[v russo]

Hi Gurn:

I remember Solomons Beethoven to have been well written, insightful and very psycological. It has been a while since I read the book but, I will refer to it now and again.

------------------
v russo

[This message has been edited by v russo (edited January 04, 2004).]

[This message has been edited by v russo (edited January 04, 2004).]

[SR]

For good easy reading material go with Stanley Sadie or HC Robbins Landon. "1791 Mozart's Last Year" by Landon is wonderful, as is his "Golden Years". I also like his "Mozart Essays" and his "Mozart Compendium". Gurn mentions the Zaslaw book, "Compleat Mozart" which is a very nice basic reference to the music but not a bio
"Compleat Mozart" is actually just a collection of record jacket info.

The finest single book IMO is the Gutman Mozart: A Culteral Biography. Gutman is not easy reading as he stretches vocabulary and does an in depth analysis of the era surrounding Mozart as well as the story of Wolfgang. Gutman explains very convincingly the reasons Mozart failed in his efforts to land the jobs which it seems should have been his based on talent.

I really don't care for the Soloman. I haven't read his Beethoven, but frankly his Mozart sucks. Soloman delves heavily on psychoanalysis of the relationships of Mozart and comes to some odd conclusions not substaniated in fact. It is hard enough to do analysis of living people you've interviewed. To come to his detailed conclusions about long dead people is rather absurd.

Here is a link to a Mozart site that offers several book reviews.

Steve

http://www.openmozart.net/jsp/bibliography.jsp

[This message has been edited by SR (edited January 04, 2004).]

[Amalie]

Thankyou for the comprehensive list Steve,
It just shows how difficult it is to get the balance right. I think the 'Gutman' Historical and cultural bio looks good.

[Gurn Blanston]

Originally posted by v russo:
Hi Gurn:

I remember Solomons Beethoven to have been well written, insightful and very psycological. It has been a while since I read the book but, I will refer to it now and again.

v.
Oh yes, I liked it too, as you probably can't tell from my previous posts ;-)) I was just responding to the criticisms, which I have heard voiced here quite often. Just because I don't necessarily agree with all of the conclusions put forth by an author, this does not mean that I don't like the book. I think Solomon was well researched, and iconoclastic in large degree because he had the guts to challenge some entrenched beliefs. Even if he was wrong, he said his say and gave his reasons, and the wise person then decides from him/herself.



------------------
Regards,
Gurn
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That's my opinion, I may be wrong.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Tegan]

Originally posted by Gurn Blanston:
Tegan,
Well, your letter answers your own question far better than I can. I looked to Solomon to provide facts to me in order to draw my own conclusions about the people he was writing about. Thus, I liked his books because they brought together the most recent as well as the classic facts. If you rely on an author to draw your conclusions for you, then I think you will have gone off the mark with Solomon, as he is guilty of all you say. Although I will add this in rebuttal, authors of past times, and some writers in the here and now, have gone to great pains to gloss over any sign of humanity in their "hero", and I think this is to their detriment. What you portray as scandal mongering may only be an effort to inject some balance. Personally, I think we can all use a bit of balance now and then, no?

I think that Solomon has done a tremendous ammount of research for his biographies, and I agree that a book which had no personal interest at all would be very dull indeed. However, when Solomon starts talking about how Beethoven probably had an affair with his brother's wife because he looked on his nephew as his son, it gets a bit too dramatic for my taste. It seems to me that it would only be natural for Beethoven to look upon Karl as a son. I like Lewis Lockwoode's biography better, but even so, it is very helpful to have Beethoven's actual letters in front of you so you can draw your own conclusions.-Tegan

[v russo]

His letters are the most insightful! You get a better feel for a man through his own words, rather than an interpreter.

------------------
v russo

[Joy]

Originally posted by v russo:
His letters are the most insightful! You get a better feel for a man through his own words, rather than an interpreter.

If you're interested in reading any of Beethoven's letters there's a good book called 'Beethoven's Letters' by Dr. A.C. Kalischer. It has over 400 of his letters.
An interesting read.


------------------
'Truth and beauty joined'