Waubonsee Community College

Mozart, Julian Rushton

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 295-297) and index

individual biography

illustrationsmusicplatesportraits

index present

non fiction

Mozart

bibliography

61162200

Julian Rushton

"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."

The master musicians

"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 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."--Jacket

Salzburg and the grand tour : 1756-1769 -- Works by an "almost supernatural talent" -- Italy and Salzburg : 1769-1773 -- Opera seria : "fitting the clothes to the figure" -- Salzburg : 1773-1777 -- Sacred music : "I have thoroughly acquainted myself with that style since my youth" -- Mannheim and Paris : 1777-1779 -- The "classical style" : Mozart and the keyboard -- Salzburg and Munich : 1779-1781 -- Orchestral music : "the glorious effect of a symphony with flutes, oboes, and clarinets" -- Vienna : 1781-1785 -- Singspiel : "music must never offend the ear" -- "Land of the clavier": piano concertos and piano chamber music -- Vienna and Prague : 1785-1788 -- Chamber music : "the greatest composer I know" -- Opera buffa : "most important is that it must be really comic" -- The last years : 1788-1791 -- The last works : "a rich possession, but even fairer hopes" -- Aftermath: "--de morte transire ad vitam."