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Penguin Lives
Mozart: A Life
A biography of the greatest musical mind in Western history.
Mozart's unshakable hold on the public's consciousness can only be strengthened by historian and biographer Peter Gay's concise and deft look at the genius's life.
'Mozart' traces the development of the man whose life was a whirlwind of achievement, and the composer who pushed every instrument to its limit and every genre of classical music into new realms.
Mozart's unshakable hold on the public's consciousness can only be strengthened by historian and biographer Peter Gay's concise and deft look at the genius's life.
'Mozart' traces the development of the man whose life was a whirlwind of achievement, and the composer who pushed every instrument to its limit and every genre of classical music into new realms.
177 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
31 people are currently reading
711 people want to read
About the author
Peter Gay
125books145followersPeter Joachim Gay was a German-American historian, educator, and author. He was a Sterling Professor of History at Yale University and former director of the New York Public Library's Center for Scholars and Writers (1997�2003). He received the American Historical Association's (AHA) Award for Scholarly Distinction in 2004. He authored over 25 books, including The Enlightenment: An Interpretation, a two-volume award winner; Weimar Culture: The Outsider as Insider (1968); and the widely translated Freud: A Life for Our Time (1988).
Gay was born in Berlin in 1923, left Germany in 1939 and emigrated, via Cuba, to the United States in 1941. From 1948 to 1955 he was a political science professor at Columbia University, and then a history professor from 1955 to 1969. He left Columbia in 1969 to join Yale University's History Department as Professor of Comparative and Intellectual European History and was named Sterling Professor of History in 1984.
Gay was the interim editor of The American Scholar after the death of Hiram Haydn in 1973 and served on that magazine's editorial board for many years. Sander L. Gilman, a literary historian at Emory University, called Gay "one of the major American historians of European thought, period".
Gay was born in Berlin in 1923, left Germany in 1939 and emigrated, via Cuba, to the United States in 1941. From 1948 to 1955 he was a political science professor at Columbia University, and then a history professor from 1955 to 1969. He left Columbia in 1969 to join Yale University's History Department as Professor of Comparative and Intellectual European History and was named Sterling Professor of History in 1984.
Gay was the interim editor of The American Scholar after the death of Hiram Haydn in 1973 and served on that magazine's editorial board for many years. Sander L. Gilman, a literary historian at Emory University, called Gay "one of the major American historians of European thought, period".
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January 13, 2020
From his childhood on, ardent admirers turned Mozart into a celebrity whose life was obscured by legends. Nor have the scholarly efforts of modern biographers dislodged the images that fond music lovers like to summon up when they hear his name: Mozart the wilful child unable to outgrow his infantile ways; the wizard so captivating that no one dared to question his credentials for a moment, the miracle worker who never needed to revise a single note in his lightning-quick impromptu inspirations; the exhausted volcano who took the mysterious commission to compose a requiem as a supernatural hint at his own impending demise; the derelict who was buried in a pauper’s grave.
Everyone familiar with the Amadeus film of Milos Forman will recognize some of these images. In this concise biography, the historian Peter Gay sketches a lively and nuanced portrait of Mozart. He illustrates that however ‘these tenacious caricatures by and large are distortions rather than fabrications, most of them contain a kernel of truth� and states that Mozart’s life in music is fascinating enough without embroidery � extraordinary talent doesn’t necessary imply living an extraordinary life but tempts music lovers to romanticising events.
He makes clear that portraying Mozart as an invariably gloomy person is just as much a caricature as that of the always childishly cheerful composer. Gay has a penchant for the psychoanalytic approach and looks at Mozart's personality (and opera’s) in the light of the conflict between father and son. He sees Mozart’s lifelong contest with his father as the principal source of Mozart’s bouts of depression, and refers copiously to the correspondence between Leopold and Wolfgang in the footnotes.
He speaks enthusiastically about the creation and reception of Mozart's oeuvre and sheds a light on the changing relationship between artist and patron in the 18th century. He also puts a number of current myths about the composer's life and death into perspective, for instance on the myth of non-revising showing that meticulous examination of Mozart’s autograph scores has disclosed that frequently the final drafts of this compositions were not the first ones and that he would discard abortive openings or revise his texts with a critical eye. Also on his funeral he declares the mythmaking around the anonymous pauper’s grave without substance, as Mozart died at a time when lavish and conspicuous funerals were severely discouraged and so a sober ritual not so uncommon.
This short book encourages further reading on Mozart (and listening to his music evidently) and as quite a few of the books that Peter Gay recommends happen to be on the shelf, I hope I’ll ever find the time to read a few of them.
(first review:)
Het portret van een onveranderlijk sombere Mozart is net zo goed een karikatuur als dat van de altijd kinderlijk opgewekte componist.
Een boek dat je er niet alleen toe prikkelt om verder te lezen, maar vooral om verder te luisteren! In deze beknopte biografie schetst de historicus Peter Gay een levendig en genuanceerd portret van Mozart. Gay koestert een voorliefde voor de psychoanalytische benadering en bekijkt Mozarts persoonlijkheid in het teken van de strijd tussen vader en zoon. Hij spreekt bevlogen over de totstandkoming en receptie van Mozarts oeuvre, belicht de veranderende verhoudingen tussen kunstenaar en broodheer in de 18de eeuw en relativeert tevens een aantal courante mythen over leven en dood van de componist.
Everyone familiar with the Amadeus film of Milos Forman will recognize some of these images. In this concise biography, the historian Peter Gay sketches a lively and nuanced portrait of Mozart. He illustrates that however ‘these tenacious caricatures by and large are distortions rather than fabrications, most of them contain a kernel of truth� and states that Mozart’s life in music is fascinating enough without embroidery � extraordinary talent doesn’t necessary imply living an extraordinary life but tempts music lovers to romanticising events.
He makes clear that portraying Mozart as an invariably gloomy person is just as much a caricature as that of the always childishly cheerful composer. Gay has a penchant for the psychoanalytic approach and looks at Mozart's personality (and opera’s) in the light of the conflict between father and son. He sees Mozart’s lifelong contest with his father as the principal source of Mozart’s bouts of depression, and refers copiously to the correspondence between Leopold and Wolfgang in the footnotes.
He speaks enthusiastically about the creation and reception of Mozart's oeuvre and sheds a light on the changing relationship between artist and patron in the 18th century. He also puts a number of current myths about the composer's life and death into perspective, for instance on the myth of non-revising showing that meticulous examination of Mozart’s autograph scores has disclosed that frequently the final drafts of this compositions were not the first ones and that he would discard abortive openings or revise his texts with a critical eye. Also on his funeral he declares the mythmaking around the anonymous pauper’s grave without substance, as Mozart died at a time when lavish and conspicuous funerals were severely discouraged and so a sober ritual not so uncommon.
This short book encourages further reading on Mozart (and listening to his music evidently) and as quite a few of the books that Peter Gay recommends happen to be on the shelf, I hope I’ll ever find the time to read a few of them.
(first review:)
Het portret van een onveranderlijk sombere Mozart is net zo goed een karikatuur als dat van de altijd kinderlijk opgewekte componist.
Een boek dat je er niet alleen toe prikkelt om verder te lezen, maar vooral om verder te luisteren! In deze beknopte biografie schetst de historicus Peter Gay een levendig en genuanceerd portret van Mozart. Gay koestert een voorliefde voor de psychoanalytische benadering en bekijkt Mozarts persoonlijkheid in het teken van de strijd tussen vader en zoon. Hij spreekt bevlogen over de totstandkoming en receptie van Mozarts oeuvre, belicht de veranderende verhoudingen tussen kunstenaar en broodheer in de 18de eeuw en relativeert tevens een aantal courante mythen over leven en dood van de componist.
July 20, 2020
Summary of the Review:
This review is unnecessarily long for such a short book. You can read this short summary and skip the rest if you wish:
I don't think this book serves as a beginner's guide to the life of Mozart, nor as a comprehensive analysis for those who are already knowledgable on the subject. It's a fun and short read, some parts of it are subjective speculations from the author, but most of it is nuanced and fair. If you already know a bit about Mozart, this is a nice book for its length that can encourage you to read (and hopefully listen to) more of Mozart. The bibliography in the end provides a list of various books and biographies on Mozart, which can serve as a very nice guide to further reading about him.
The Actual Review
Mozart, the man who was able to thoroughly dominate his listeners and fill them with sheer delight, to produce sublime music with uncanny speed, and at the same time, to write impolite jokes to his sister, pull pranks on his friends; the man who always found time to play cards and billiard, and frequently invented new variations on anality, his persistent preoccupation.
Mozart's life and character have been fictionalized with far too many stereotypes. He is usually regarded as an ever-cheerful genius manchild, or an impoverished drunkard writing music while brooding in melancholy. While they have a hint of the truth, both of these pictures are caricatures. Mozart's character was as complex and multi-dimensional as anyone, and his life, though short, was far from boring.
I've been meaning to read a good Mozart biography for a long time, but I was too lazy to approach the vast array of Mozart biographies, most of them at least 500 pages long. Mozart: A Life is short, readable, interesting, and it treats his character fairly. Peter Gay is not a Mozart scholar or even a music historian, but I think he has done a fairly good job of writing a short and concise biography on the life of the legendary composer.
The Structure of the Book:
The Book has eight chapters. Each chapter explores one aspect of Mozart's life. The child prodigy, the son (to explore his relationship with his father), the dramatist (to explore all of his operas), the master (to explore the last phase of his musical compositions except the operas), etc.
So even though the book as a whole maintains a generally chronological order, it's not always the case within each chapter, so it's advisable to take notice of the dates and years mentioned to avoid any confusion.
What the book does and does not deliver:
Considering its short length, the book does Mozart justice and I think it's well-written. But it doesn't quite serve as an introductory book about Mozart's life. If you don't know anything about him and aren't already somewhat familiar with his music, this book might confuse you. On the other hand, if you're already well-versed in Mozart's life and musicology, the book doesn't offer anything new to you, either.
The book doesn't offer much technical musical information, so if you're looking for a book on Mozart's musicology and analysis of his work, this isn't it. But again I'm afraid, if you have absolutely no knowledge of classical music vocabulary, you'll have to skim the occasional parts where Gay talks about musical form and Mozart's oeuvre. (But I wonder why would someone want to bother with a Mozart biography if they're not interested in his music at all.)
The audience who would enjoy reading this book:
I think the people who'd enjoy this book the most and benefit from it are those who are already familiar with Mozart's life (or at least his main life events) and who enjoy reading a short analysis and exploration of his character. Also, if you want a small guide about Mozart's later (and most famous) operas, the seventh chapter of this book "The Dramatist" can serve that purpose, even if you don't know much about the operas.
On Mozart’s Music
The book does a fair job of praising Mozart's music, and it's evident that Gay is quite fond of Mozart: “It remains one of the achievements of which the dismal twentieth century can rightfully boast: it has raised Mozart‘s music � all of it � to the eminence it deserves.�
It's not possible to adequately describe music in words, it has to be listened to and the author acknowledges that, but if you, like me, are already an admirer of Mozartian music then you'll probably find his heartfelt descriptions of it a joy to read.
Psychological Suppositions
Gay, unlike me, is interested in psychoanalysis and really likes to explore Mozart's relationship with his father and the negative impact it had on the composer's later mental torments. His assumptions aren't outrageously unbelievable, but I still think it's something you cannot speculate based on modern ideas of psychology. There simply isn't enough historical evidence to back up all of Gay's assumptions about Mozart's mental well-being. I didn't mind this part too much, as Gay manages to deliver a very nuanced and fair portrayal of Mozart and I'm happy to give him a pass on not-quite-scientific psychological suppositions.
On Women:
Gay also takes the time to praise female characters in Mozart's operas, most of whom were interesting, strong, bold, and witty women, and they are some of the strongest females in the operatic repertoire.
He also praises Mozart's amazingly talented sister Nannerl (which she deserves), and acknowledges that she, too, was a child prodigy. Maybe not as virtuosic as her little brother, but she was a competent player of the clavier, she was trained in singing, and also tried her hand at composing (her brother loyally cheered her on). She finally had to succumb to the traditional role of housewife in the patriarchal society in which she lived; she never managed to make a living from her music. I really like the fact that the book mentions and acknowledges all of this.
The Fun Part:
The part that I really like about the book is that Gay takes the time to fully illustrate the quirky side of Mozart's character that I find most amusing: his obsession with smutty jokes and scatology.
Gay uses his most humorous language for these parts. He remarks that “Mozart invented new variations on anality, his persistent preoccupation�. Later on, he recounts a little anecdote about when Mozart found himself rejected by a woman he liked: “She treated him as though she did not know him whereupon he sat down at the piano and sang in a loud voice: “The person who doesn‘t want me can lick my ass.”�
Even when recounting the final months of Mozart's short life, Gay draws a very human picture:
I knew about this and always thought it was hilarious, something that gave a mischievous and human trait to the legendary genius, but many sophisticated Mozart admirers shy away from talking about it because it's too vulgar for them. I find it hilarious - a bit weird, but still hilarious - and I'm glad Gay included it. I certainly didn't have to recite all of it in this review, but I wanted to, because it's funny.
To do him justice, this wasn't the only interesting aspect of his personality. He was a smart and very serious man, even philosophical. He was sensible, attentive, very polite when the situation called for it, and he was a very dutiful man. He also had a strong sense of morality. He was playful, but by no means a buffoon he's been caricatured as. I just think the quirky side of his character is amusing and interesting, that's why I included it here.
I can't write about Mozart's musicology here, because neither does the book provide it, nor am I qualified or knowledgable enough to even think about doing any such thing.
In any case, I enjoyed reading this book and I will certainly read more about his life.
This review is unnecessarily long for such a short book. You can read this short summary and skip the rest if you wish:
I don't think this book serves as a beginner's guide to the life of Mozart, nor as a comprehensive analysis for those who are already knowledgable on the subject. It's a fun and short read, some parts of it are subjective speculations from the author, but most of it is nuanced and fair. If you already know a bit about Mozart, this is a nice book for its length that can encourage you to read (and hopefully listen to) more of Mozart. The bibliography in the end provides a list of various books and biographies on Mozart, which can serve as a very nice guide to further reading about him.
The Actual Review
Mozart, the man who was able to thoroughly dominate his listeners and fill them with sheer delight, to produce sublime music with uncanny speed, and at the same time, to write impolite jokes to his sister, pull pranks on his friends; the man who always found time to play cards and billiard, and frequently invented new variations on anality, his persistent preoccupation.
Mozart's life and character have been fictionalized with far too many stereotypes. He is usually regarded as an ever-cheerful genius manchild, or an impoverished drunkard writing music while brooding in melancholy. While they have a hint of the truth, both of these pictures are caricatures. Mozart's character was as complex and multi-dimensional as anyone, and his life, though short, was far from boring.
I've been meaning to read a good Mozart biography for a long time, but I was too lazy to approach the vast array of Mozart biographies, most of them at least 500 pages long. Mozart: A Life is short, readable, interesting, and it treats his character fairly. Peter Gay is not a Mozart scholar or even a music historian, but I think he has done a fairly good job of writing a short and concise biography on the life of the legendary composer.
The Structure of the Book:
The Book has eight chapters. Each chapter explores one aspect of Mozart's life. The child prodigy, the son (to explore his relationship with his father), the dramatist (to explore all of his operas), the master (to explore the last phase of his musical compositions except the operas), etc.
So even though the book as a whole maintains a generally chronological order, it's not always the case within each chapter, so it's advisable to take notice of the dates and years mentioned to avoid any confusion.
What the book does and does not deliver:
Considering its short length, the book does Mozart justice and I think it's well-written. But it doesn't quite serve as an introductory book about Mozart's life. If you don't know anything about him and aren't already somewhat familiar with his music, this book might confuse you. On the other hand, if you're already well-versed in Mozart's life and musicology, the book doesn't offer anything new to you, either.
The book doesn't offer much technical musical information, so if you're looking for a book on Mozart's musicology and analysis of his work, this isn't it. But again I'm afraid, if you have absolutely no knowledge of classical music vocabulary, you'll have to skim the occasional parts where Gay talks about musical form and Mozart's oeuvre. (But I wonder why would someone want to bother with a Mozart biography if they're not interested in his music at all.)
The audience who would enjoy reading this book:
I think the people who'd enjoy this book the most and benefit from it are those who are already familiar with Mozart's life (or at least his main life events) and who enjoy reading a short analysis and exploration of his character. Also, if you want a small guide about Mozart's later (and most famous) operas, the seventh chapter of this book "The Dramatist" can serve that purpose, even if you don't know much about the operas.
On Mozart’s Music
The book does a fair job of praising Mozart's music, and it's evident that Gay is quite fond of Mozart: “It remains one of the achievements of which the dismal twentieth century can rightfully boast: it has raised Mozart‘s music � all of it � to the eminence it deserves.�
It's not possible to adequately describe music in words, it has to be listened to and the author acknowledges that, but if you, like me, are already an admirer of Mozartian music then you'll probably find his heartfelt descriptions of it a joy to read.
Psychological Suppositions
Gay, unlike me, is interested in psychoanalysis and really likes to explore Mozart's relationship with his father and the negative impact it had on the composer's later mental torments. His assumptions aren't outrageously unbelievable, but I still think it's something you cannot speculate based on modern ideas of psychology. There simply isn't enough historical evidence to back up all of Gay's assumptions about Mozart's mental well-being. I didn't mind this part too much, as Gay manages to deliver a very nuanced and fair portrayal of Mozart and I'm happy to give him a pass on not-quite-scientific psychological suppositions.
On Women:
Gay also takes the time to praise female characters in Mozart's operas, most of whom were interesting, strong, bold, and witty women, and they are some of the strongest females in the operatic repertoire.
He also praises Mozart's amazingly talented sister Nannerl (which she deserves), and acknowledges that she, too, was a child prodigy. Maybe not as virtuosic as her little brother, but she was a competent player of the clavier, she was trained in singing, and also tried her hand at composing (her brother loyally cheered her on). She finally had to succumb to the traditional role of housewife in the patriarchal society in which she lived; she never managed to make a living from her music. I really like the fact that the book mentions and acknowledges all of this.
The Fun Part:
The part that I really like about the book is that Gay takes the time to fully illustrate the quirky side of Mozart's character that I find most amusing: his obsession with smutty jokes and scatology.
“The Mozarts indulged in a good deal of banter, with the son taking the lead. His messages to Nannerl [his sister] were unbridled explosions of primitive humor. He wrote her letters switching, sometimes in a single sentence, from Italian to German, English, and French, even to Latin; he made dreadful forced puns, sounded a keyword innumerable times as a kind of humorous punctuation; he invented words to make nonsense rhymes, sarcastically praised Nannerl‘s wisdom, wrote alternate lines upside down, and dwelt on intimate bodily functions. In fact, Mozart‘s preoccupation with the anus and anal products never waned.�
Gay uses his most humorous language for these parts. He remarks that “Mozart invented new variations on anality, his persistent preoccupation�. Later on, he recounts a little anecdote about when Mozart found himself rejected by a woman he liked: “She treated him as though she did not know him whereupon he sat down at the piano and sang in a loud voice: “The person who doesn‘t want me can lick my ass.”�
Even when recounting the final months of Mozart's short life, Gay draws a very human picture:
“The last year of Mozart‘s life has often been described as one long preparation for death. But in that time, Mozart wrote two operas, a piano concerto, a large number of minuets and contradances, a clarinet concerto, a Masonic cantata, two quintets, and most of the Requiem. His creativity was still working at full speed. In June 1791, he told his wife that he had written an aria “from sheer boredom.�7 He traveled; he conducted; he went to the opera several times a week. He still made scatological jokes; he delighted in news from Prague that Tito had been performed with “extraordinary applause�; he attended performances of Die Zauberflöte in Vienna, vividly enjoyed having numbers repeated and, best of all, “the silent applause.�
I knew about this and always thought it was hilarious, something that gave a mischievous and human trait to the legendary genius, but many sophisticated Mozart admirers shy away from talking about it because it's too vulgar for them. I find it hilarious - a bit weird, but still hilarious - and I'm glad Gay included it. I certainly didn't have to recite all of it in this review, but I wanted to, because it's funny.
To do him justice, this wasn't the only interesting aspect of his personality. He was a smart and very serious man, even philosophical. He was sensible, attentive, very polite when the situation called for it, and he was a very dutiful man. He also had a strong sense of morality. He was playful, but by no means a buffoon he's been caricatured as. I just think the quirky side of his character is amusing and interesting, that's why I included it here.
I can't write about Mozart's musicology here, because neither does the book provide it, nor am I qualified or knowledgable enough to even think about doing any such thing.
In any case, I enjoyed reading this book and I will certainly read more about his life.
May 27, 2021
Nice biography of Mozart, confronting the popular myths. (rating 2.5 stars)
December 20, 2009
This biography of Wolfgang Mozart is short but not sweet. The opening chapters provide a good overview of Mozart's childhood, family life, and early musical influences and training, and the final chapter does a good job dispelling the myths surrounding Mozart's death and burial. Even nonmusical readers will be able to understand the development of Mozart's musical talents and composition. Unfortunately, these accomplishments as overshadowed by the book's flaws.
The book is organized so that each chapter shows a different role played by Mozart, which results in a nonlinear chronology that can be confusing at times if the reader isn't paying close attention to all the dates. The author doesn't feel inclined to provide exact dates for important events in Mozart's life. This same stinginess applies to the events themselves, and the author glosses over things that deserve more than a single sentence.
Much time is spent analyzing Mozart's relationship with his father, but this is done from a modern point of view, so the intrepretation is skewed rather than set in its historical context. The author also goes into great detail regarding Mozart's amusingly smutty letters to his first love interests although they have no relevance to his later life, relationships, or musical compositions.
Readers looking for a good solid biography of Wolfgang Mozart best look elsewhere, but does have its good points for those willing to spend their time on something that hits as often as it missed.
The book is organized so that each chapter shows a different role played by Mozart, which results in a nonlinear chronology that can be confusing at times if the reader isn't paying close attention to all the dates. The author doesn't feel inclined to provide exact dates for important events in Mozart's life. This same stinginess applies to the events themselves, and the author glosses over things that deserve more than a single sentence.
Much time is spent analyzing Mozart's relationship with his father, but this is done from a modern point of view, so the intrepretation is skewed rather than set in its historical context. The author also goes into great detail regarding Mozart's amusingly smutty letters to his first love interests although they have no relevance to his later life, relationships, or musical compositions.
Readers looking for a good solid biography of Wolfgang Mozart best look elsewhere, but does have its good points for those willing to spend their time on something that hits as often as it missed.
February 15, 2021
I really enjoyed this book. It was very accessible and a great introduction to Mozart as well as the composers around his time (Bach and Haydn). I like the commentary his symphonies, operas, etc because they give me a great reference for what I should start listening to. My only complaint is there were a lot of big words that I had to lookup the definitions for and I think in many cases the big words were unnecessary and could be replaced by more “accessible� words.
Overall a great option for anyone who wants to get into classical music.
Overall a great option for anyone who wants to get into classical music.
December 23, 2013
I didn't know much about Mozart coming into this book, and I'm not sure I know a whole lot more upon finishing it. It's so short that I guess you can't expect everything, but some of the things you end up finding out are kind of odd. Like Mozart's fascination with excrement. Who knew? And that he wrote extremely dirty letters to girlfriends and his wife. And that his father was like a modern day stage mother a la Mama Rose from Gypsy. Gay's book starts out as a fascinating read, but it lost the narrative arc somewhere in the middle and I was kind of glad to be finished with the whole thing by the end.
July 17, 2011
This is a great book to read if you want a nice quick and very easy to read account of this great man. As the other reviews state its not a deep searching biography but its size does not detract from an excellent account of this man and his times.
From page one I was drawn into the narrative and learnt quite a few interesting pieces of information about Mozart, his music and his personality. This book wets your appetite for more information about Mozart and his music and any book that can do that much then the author has done a decent job. Read it and enjoy!
January 28, 2025
Mozart: is there any musician who isn't a fan? I have loved his fancy, fingers-flying piano pieces since childhood, and in college I loved the film "Amadeus." In high school, I somehow heard his oboe concerto (probably from a library record) and made a goal of learning it. I did, playing it at ISSMA district and state. Beautiful piece! I think his Fantasia in D Minor was the first piece I played at Federation Piano contest, and at my first "me only" piano recital I played Concerto #17 in G Major by Mozart. Gorgeous stuff.
So, when a friend gave me a copy of "Mozart: A Life" that the school had discarded, I thought it would be fun to read. This is a biography of Mozart, but I despite it being in the high school library, I wouldn't classify it as a child's or young person's book. Despite being "just" 163 pages, the writing was pretty dense and it took focus (for me at least) to read it. I was reminded of my goal in writing my biography of King Ludwig II, where I tried to focus on all the interesting parts and write them in a compelling way. Peter Gay didn't seem to try this. Not that either my way or his is "right," they're just different.
Some things about Mozart that I found interesting in this book:
* Mozart was one of 7 children born to his parents, and just 2 survived. This was typical of the 1700s time period; the author tells of parents who gave each of their six sons the name Edward, hoping one would live to pass it on. It was a wise decision since indeed only one survived.
* In Mozart's time, music was seen as entertainment in that often while artists were playing, the audience did not sit quietly listening as they do today. Instead, they talked, ate, etc.
* Mozart loved to travel, saying, "Without travel, at least for people from the arts and sciences, one is a miserable creature! ... A man of mediocre talents always remains mediocre, may he travel or not--but a man of superior talents, which I cannot deny myself to have without being blasphemous, becomes--bad, if he always stays in the same place." Interesting observation.
* Gay contends that the stereotype of Mozart being poor throughout his adult life is not really accurate; he earned enough that he should have been able to make a decent living based on that. However, similar to Wagner and some other musicians, he had an issue with spending beyond his means.
* Mozart definitely had periods of depression, but his music has many happy interludes, unlike, say, Tchaikovsky, "who virtually invited his listeners to recognize, if not quite share, his deep depressions." Ha
* Gay writes about Mozart's love of opera; he may have been at his happiest when writing operas. "I only have to hear people discuss an opera, I only have to be in a theater, hear tuning up--Oh! I am quite beside myself right away," he told his father. I must say, having watched so many operas now, that Mozart's are some of the least interesting to me--sadly. The music is great, but many of the plots are "lite"/comedic, etc. Gay goes into particularly "The Magic Flute," an opera with a truly weird plot and strange characters. He points out that there is a lot of Masonic symbolism in this opera, which makes sense since Mozart was a Mason. "The listener must struggle to understand--or, perhaps better, to set aside--the plot for the sake of the music." Agreed!
You may enjoy this book on Mozart if you're interested in classical music.
So, when a friend gave me a copy of "Mozart: A Life" that the school had discarded, I thought it would be fun to read. This is a biography of Mozart, but I despite it being in the high school library, I wouldn't classify it as a child's or young person's book. Despite being "just" 163 pages, the writing was pretty dense and it took focus (for me at least) to read it. I was reminded of my goal in writing my biography of King Ludwig II, where I tried to focus on all the interesting parts and write them in a compelling way. Peter Gay didn't seem to try this. Not that either my way or his is "right," they're just different.
Some things about Mozart that I found interesting in this book:
* Mozart was one of 7 children born to his parents, and just 2 survived. This was typical of the 1700s time period; the author tells of parents who gave each of their six sons the name Edward, hoping one would live to pass it on. It was a wise decision since indeed only one survived.
* In Mozart's time, music was seen as entertainment in that often while artists were playing, the audience did not sit quietly listening as they do today. Instead, they talked, ate, etc.
* Mozart loved to travel, saying, "Without travel, at least for people from the arts and sciences, one is a miserable creature! ... A man of mediocre talents always remains mediocre, may he travel or not--but a man of superior talents, which I cannot deny myself to have without being blasphemous, becomes--bad, if he always stays in the same place." Interesting observation.
* Gay contends that the stereotype of Mozart being poor throughout his adult life is not really accurate; he earned enough that he should have been able to make a decent living based on that. However, similar to Wagner and some other musicians, he had an issue with spending beyond his means.
* Mozart definitely had periods of depression, but his music has many happy interludes, unlike, say, Tchaikovsky, "who virtually invited his listeners to recognize, if not quite share, his deep depressions." Ha
* Gay writes about Mozart's love of opera; he may have been at his happiest when writing operas. "I only have to hear people discuss an opera, I only have to be in a theater, hear tuning up--Oh! I am quite beside myself right away," he told his father. I must say, having watched so many operas now, that Mozart's are some of the least interesting to me--sadly. The music is great, but many of the plots are "lite"/comedic, etc. Gay goes into particularly "The Magic Flute," an opera with a truly weird plot and strange characters. He points out that there is a lot of Masonic symbolism in this opera, which makes sense since Mozart was a Mason. "The listener must struggle to understand--or, perhaps better, to set aside--the plot for the sake of the music." Agreed!
You may enjoy this book on Mozart if you're interested in classical music.
September 4, 2022
Muy buena biografía!!
3.5
3.5
June 1, 2014
Peter Gay has written a survey of Mozart’s life for those interested in an accurate, well-written, and quick account of his life. In all of these items, he has succeeded. While not enthralling, it is an interesting portrait.
There is no debating that Mozart was a musical genius, and a child prodigy. “A child prodigy is, by its nature, a self-destroying artifact: what seems literally marvelous in a boy will seem merely talented and perfectly natural in a young man. But by 1772, at sixteen, Mozart no longer needed to display himself as a little wizard; he had matured in the sonata and the symphony, the first kind of music he composed, and now showed his gifts in new domains: opera, the oratorio, and the earliest in a string of superb piano concertos.� (20) What is truly remarkable about Mozart was that he didn’t develop his full talents to maturity at a young age, as is implied about most child prodigies in Gay’s passage above. What is remarkable is that he matured early…and kept going. He was crude and vulgar, and this frankly surprised me to a large degree. He sang to Georg Niklaus Nissen loudly at the piano that “The person who doesn’t want me can lick my ass.� In writing to Basle, he asked her to join him and writes, “If you have as much pleasure in seeing me as I have in seeing you, then come to Munich, to that esteemed town—see that you get to it before the New Year, then I’ll take a look at you in front and behind…be sure to come, otherwise it’s a shit; then I shall, in my own high person, compliment you, put a seal on your ass, kiss your hand, shoot off the rear gun, embrace you, clean you behind and in front, pay to the last penny whatever I owe you, and sound out a solid fart, and perhaps let something drop.� Say what? Mozart, the master composer of classical music, wrote what? Clearly enlightened music does not necessarily make for enlightened thinking.
Gay spends some time discussing the relationship with Salieri, as is appropriate. He dispenses with the rumor that Salieri somehow poisoned Mozart out of jealousy. He pursued money with a dedication only second in his priorities to his health, and wasn’t terribly successful at either. Despite this, he always was moments away from “childish exuberance.�
Gay is not trying to introduce novel theories into our understanding of Mozart’s life. He presents the narrative in straightforward prose, concisely presenting Mozart as he was. This is a good book that can be understood by music lovers and non-music lovers alike.
There is no debating that Mozart was a musical genius, and a child prodigy. “A child prodigy is, by its nature, a self-destroying artifact: what seems literally marvelous in a boy will seem merely talented and perfectly natural in a young man. But by 1772, at sixteen, Mozart no longer needed to display himself as a little wizard; he had matured in the sonata and the symphony, the first kind of music he composed, and now showed his gifts in new domains: opera, the oratorio, and the earliest in a string of superb piano concertos.� (20) What is truly remarkable about Mozart was that he didn’t develop his full talents to maturity at a young age, as is implied about most child prodigies in Gay’s passage above. What is remarkable is that he matured early…and kept going. He was crude and vulgar, and this frankly surprised me to a large degree. He sang to Georg Niklaus Nissen loudly at the piano that “The person who doesn’t want me can lick my ass.� In writing to Basle, he asked her to join him and writes, “If you have as much pleasure in seeing me as I have in seeing you, then come to Munich, to that esteemed town—see that you get to it before the New Year, then I’ll take a look at you in front and behind…be sure to come, otherwise it’s a shit; then I shall, in my own high person, compliment you, put a seal on your ass, kiss your hand, shoot off the rear gun, embrace you, clean you behind and in front, pay to the last penny whatever I owe you, and sound out a solid fart, and perhaps let something drop.� Say what? Mozart, the master composer of classical music, wrote what? Clearly enlightened music does not necessarily make for enlightened thinking.
Gay spends some time discussing the relationship with Salieri, as is appropriate. He dispenses with the rumor that Salieri somehow poisoned Mozart out of jealousy. He pursued money with a dedication only second in his priorities to his health, and wasn’t terribly successful at either. Despite this, he always was moments away from “childish exuberance.�
Gay is not trying to introduce novel theories into our understanding of Mozart’s life. He presents the narrative in straightforward prose, concisely presenting Mozart as he was. This is a good book that can be understood by music lovers and non-music lovers alike.
July 17, 2013
Though he pulls it off well enough, I don’t envy Peter Gay’s task in writing this little book. Writing a biography of a famous writer must be easier, since you can easily quote from the author’s works, but writing about a famous composer is like writing an un-illustrated biography of a painter. I myself never learned to read music (my son has one up on me in that regard), but it feels like a book of this sort ought to include an entire chapter, at least, of nothing but musical notation. At least we’re not in the position of our ancestors before the invention of the phonograph, when you had to hear something like the ‘Jupiter� symphony performed live, or not at all.
June 20, 2017
Lively and well-written short biography of Mozart (1756-1791) and his hectoring father, interleaved with much less successful critical commentary on Mozart's works. The latter may just be me, as I generally don't much care for music criticism -- I'd rather just listen to the music and form my own opinions. As the whole book is just 163 pages (plus endnotes), this left maybe 120 pp of biography. 4 stars for that, 2 (or less) for the criticism. So if you like reading about music, you're may like the book more than I did.
September 3, 2020
A concise, academic, tight little biography. Very informative, especially as a classical music admirer and listener and as a longtime fan of the fictionalized biopic "Amadeus." I knew the basics of Mozart's life before, but Gay clarified a few important parts of his life within the context of his times - his rocky relationship with his father Leopold and the influence of his travels, his supposed frivolousness and lifestyle, his death and burial especially. I would like to check out more Penguin Lives bios in the future.
April 12, 2015
Non-Fiction - Biography
Solid bio of Mozart for a 150 page book. While being a big fan of Mozart's music, he is the only classical musician whose music I identify with. This was a very good book about Mozart from childhood thru his life. His demanding father, who felt resentful of his son's success, held Mozart on an emotional leash throughout his life, leading to much unhappiness and emotional distress for Mozart.
Solid bio of Mozart for a 150 page book. While being a big fan of Mozart's music, he is the only classical musician whose music I identify with. This was a very good book about Mozart from childhood thru his life. His demanding father, who felt resentful of his son's success, held Mozart on an emotional leash throughout his life, leading to much unhappiness and emotional distress for Mozart.
May 30, 2016
Excellent biography of whom many believe to be the greatest composer who ever lived, focusing on his turbulent relationship with his mercenary father and the sublime music which resulted.
January 26, 2023
The Penguin Lives series is/was a series of short biographies, published about famous people written by respected authors. The late German American Historian Peter Gay's biography of Mozart fits the mission of The Penguin Lives series well. The biography was published in 1999. I read the book on the Kindle. The book includes notes for each of the book's eight chapters along with a “bibliographical note� (Gay 134-138) at the end of the book. The book does not have an index. Each of the eight chapters of Gay’s book covers a different theme in Mozart’s life, which also follows his life more or less chronologically, this includes chapters on his childhood and on his death. For example, in May 1787, Mozart’s father died (Gay 73). Gay includes this event in chapter 5 which is called “The Beggar� (Gay 67-74) which is mainly focused on Mozart’s relationship with money. Gay is able to weave together the story of Mozart’s life along with the themes of the chapters. Mozart’s father still appears in the following two chapters which focus on Mozart as the “mature� composer of non-operatic music (Gay 75) and the following chapter focus on the operatic music that Mozart wrote (Gay 75). I thought that Gay’s organization worked for a short biography. Peter Gay writes in his chapter on Mozart’s childhood that he wants to cut through the myths around Mozart and give the reader a clear-eyed short biography of Mozart (Gay 7-8). I believe that Peter Gay succeeds in this goal in his short biography of Mozart.
April 11, 2019
Read this with my friend for our book club, which is just the two of us... anyways, a pretty nice biography, not too long. I enjoyed the aspects discussing Mozart's musical trajectory over his life, how his works seem to simplify and focus later in his life. Amadeus also had a strained relationships with Leopoldo, his father/business manager. Being a musician of that caliber in the 1700's was no easy task, as most of his music and life was determined by the dukes or whatever who employed him. Also, it was surprising to learn about Mozart's immature and dirty sense of humor; his letters are enlightening, hilarious, unbelievable. The slang of those times does not carry well.
I listened to the Jupiter Symphony after finishing this, Mozart's pretty good.
I listened to the Jupiter Symphony after finishing this, Mozart's pretty good.
March 23, 2020
Mozart: A Life, by Peter Gay (pp 177) Published 1999. This Penguin Lives book is a nice introduction in the life of arguably the best Western composer in the world. It covers his childhood as a father-dominated prodigy, his usefulness as an income producer to his family, his eventual attempt at independence, and his mostly but not entirely successful life as an adored composer. I had no idea of his attraction to scatalogical humor and, frankly, a biography this brief would have been nine the worse for imitating it. I was also unaware of how musicians and composers, including geniuses, were thoroughly dependent on the largesse of money-granting nobles. It was quite difficult for them to exist without patrons, especially if an artist was addicted to a rich lifestyle. Details of his life aside, this brief biography points me toward some of his better appreciated works, many of which I should be able obtain through my dear electronic friend Alexa.
May 13, 2018
I've read several biographies in the "Penguin Lives" series . . . they are all very short, under 200 pages, and aim to give an introduction, rather than be a comprehensive biography. Mozart was a fascinating person & I enjoyed just following along with his genius accomplishments. Author concentrates on the relationship between Mozart and his father but I think perhaps he was looking at it from a modern viewpoint, rather than how it must have seemed to Mozart himself.
Good to read this right after watching movie Amadeus to be reminded of the actual facts of Mozart's death.
Good to read this right after watching movie Amadeus to be reminded of the actual facts of Mozart's death.
November 26, 2019
I agree with the Boston Book Review's comments that Gay's biography of Mozart "provides valuable historical and familial perspectives through with to view the composer's life." I found the several chapters about the genres of music Mozart explored a bit tedious; perhaps a sophisticated musicologist would enjoy them more. The final chapter dispels many of the myths surrounding Mozart's last year of life and the events surrounding his death.
March 8, 2022
The Penguin Lives series has featured a number of short (typically under 200 pages) of great men and women throughout history. It's including biographies of as diverse personages as James Joyce, Winston Churchill, Saint Augustine, and Rosa Parks. (There is a similar series from Harper Collins called Eminent Lives.) I love Mozart's music, but only knew highlights of his life, and wanted to know at least a bit more. Mozart: A Life was a good, short overview.
June 25, 2018
This short, highly readable musical biography of Mozart struck just the right balance between recounting his life and explaining his musical compositions. Peter Gay lays to rest many of the myths you may have seen in the entertaining movie "Amadeus", while still highlighting Mozart's ever-playful character and energetic reach for life's experiences.
July 7, 2020
A succinct, readable and instructive picture of a life, the times, the influences and the sponsors of one of the all time greats. Anyone interested in knowing something about Mozart is recommended to read it.
March 3, 2019
A prodigious composer, who happened to be a genius. What else can one say? I like the author’s approach in humanising Mozart, and his childlike humour.
February 17, 2022
Me resultó un poco aburrido Esperaba que se centrase más en su personalidad pero los datos que da son sorprendentes
January 4, 2024
He liked ass and wrote lots of great music.
January 23, 2025
This is another Penguin Lives book. It is a nice succinct biography, which complimented the Solomon tomb to some extent.
January 1, 2021
I looked at Mozart, a short biography of the composer by Peter Gay.
January 27, 2015
Years and years ago, I read Alfred Einstein's biography of Mozart. It must have been some time in the early 1970s as it was then that I began listening to classical music (and serious jazz) in addition to my usual rock, punk, and "alternative" diet. By the phrase "I read Einstein's biography", I mean skimming through it; my knowledge of music theory is nil and I probably did not understand 95% of terms the author was using. So I am happy that I have found Peter Gay's short biography "Mozart" (1999) that focuses on the composer's life, and deliberately avoids musicological jargon. The author, born in 1923, is a famous German-American historian. He writes very well, and "Mozart" is a pleasure to read.
The book chronicles Mozart's life and music from his first attempts at the harpsichord at the age of three, through the triumphant European tour with his father and sister (the tour began when he was seven and ended when he was 10), composing an opera at 14, which was so successful that the prima donna had to repeat an aria at the premiere in Milan, to his mature years and the peaks of his creativity: the late symphonies, piano concertos, string quartets, and phenomenal operas - "Don Giovanni" and others.
The first sentence of the book is magnificently crafted: "The life of Mozart is the triumph of genius over precociousness." Millions of kids are precocious at three, thousands at 10, but there are only a handful of geniuses in the history of music. The main focus of the biography is the constant conflict between Mozart and his father, Leopold, himself quite a gifted musician. The young Mozart is aware of his own incredible talent and wants to do anything possible to develop it, while Leopold just wants his son to make money. In fact, the biography makes it clear that Mozart the son was also quite interested in money, but was rightly thinking long term, while the father was only able to see the short-term gains. Great thanks to Wolfgang Amadé (Mozart's preferred middle name) for not following his father's advice! Leopold's death ends the conflict, but Mozart has frequent bouts of depression caused by not having reconciled with his father.
This short book portrays Mozart as a full-bodied human being, not just a giggling overgrown child, as he is shown in the movie "Amadeus". The author also dispels several myths that have been common for over 200 years: the myth of Requiem as being composed for Mozart's own death, of Salieri as the archenemy, and of Mozart having been poisoned.
I am happy that the author spends some time writing about Sinfonia Concertante K. 364, which is one of my favorite works by Mozart. I wish he also mentioned Adagio & Fugue K. 546 and Mass in C minor, K. 427. Anyway, I am putting some other books by Peter Gay, on the Enlightenment, Freud, and Nazi Germany, in my reading queue.
Four stars.
The book chronicles Mozart's life and music from his first attempts at the harpsichord at the age of three, through the triumphant European tour with his father and sister (the tour began when he was seven and ended when he was 10), composing an opera at 14, which was so successful that the prima donna had to repeat an aria at the premiere in Milan, to his mature years and the peaks of his creativity: the late symphonies, piano concertos, string quartets, and phenomenal operas - "Don Giovanni" and others.
The first sentence of the book is magnificently crafted: "The life of Mozart is the triumph of genius over precociousness." Millions of kids are precocious at three, thousands at 10, but there are only a handful of geniuses in the history of music. The main focus of the biography is the constant conflict between Mozart and his father, Leopold, himself quite a gifted musician. The young Mozart is aware of his own incredible talent and wants to do anything possible to develop it, while Leopold just wants his son to make money. In fact, the biography makes it clear that Mozart the son was also quite interested in money, but was rightly thinking long term, while the father was only able to see the short-term gains. Great thanks to Wolfgang Amadé (Mozart's preferred middle name) for not following his father's advice! Leopold's death ends the conflict, but Mozart has frequent bouts of depression caused by not having reconciled with his father.
This short book portrays Mozart as a full-bodied human being, not just a giggling overgrown child, as he is shown in the movie "Amadeus". The author also dispels several myths that have been common for over 200 years: the myth of Requiem as being composed for Mozart's own death, of Salieri as the archenemy, and of Mozart having been poisoned.
I am happy that the author spends some time writing about Sinfonia Concertante K. 364, which is one of my favorite works by Mozart. I wish he also mentioned Adagio & Fugue K. 546 and Mass in C minor, K. 427. Anyway, I am putting some other books by Peter Gay, on the Enlightenment, Freud, and Nazi Germany, in my reading queue.
Four stars.
April 11, 2015
I have a confession to make: while I have long regarded Mozart as sublime, I was not really that familiar with him, only owning a bog-standard "greatest hits" collection and La Finta Simplice. After reading this book, suddenly I want to hear nothing else and have begun to acquire the greatest works identified within.
I am already an admirer of Pater Gay based on his monumental 2-volume work on the Enlightenment, and I must say, the light touch revealed in this small book is, well, a revelation. Gay is not merely the biographer of Mozart, but also the Mozart of biographers. Sometimes I wish that such short books were longer, but for Mozart this was just right. Mozart is in the music, after all.
Gay does not explain this enigmatic genius, but he does make him accessible and give an impression of the depth of his genius - for as a sometime bedroom rock guitarist and still listener I have no doubt that much of that genius evades my ear as it stands. Scatological of wit and irresponsible of money, Mozart was still a genius of unique standing and reputation, being known as a child prodigy at an age when most of us in today's world would have only the vaguest portents of our adult career. Moreover, he never stopped developing, neither as a prodigious child nor as a grown man. Who knows what could have come of him had he had the opportunity to die in his dotage. Alas, it was not to be. A mere decade after finally shaking free of the bondage of his controlling father, he was in his grave.
That bondage followed him even after his father's death, but musically Mozart was always his own man. That grave, recorded in popular memory as a pauper's, might not have seemed so unfitting to Mozart as to us. With the French revolution still drying to black crust on the baskets of Paris's squares, the nobility were not in the mood for ostentation and the Emperor had quashed lavish funerals. Mozart went into a grave typical of his time, his music to fall into contention and bowdlerisation for a little time to come. Mozart, a Catholic but not an especially pious figure, scathing of Voltaire but a freemason of the Age of Reason, would probably have found it fitting. Mozart took lovers and a wife, with an appealing affection for women, travelled, learned languages and was not averse to a party. Truly, this would not have been a wasted life even were it not for his exquisite legacy.
Gay's work is wonderfully light reading, devoured in a rush. I have heard the Beatles referred to as the Mozart of pop. Now biography has its own exemplar.
And no, Salieri didn't poison him.
I am already an admirer of Pater Gay based on his monumental 2-volume work on the Enlightenment, and I must say, the light touch revealed in this small book is, well, a revelation. Gay is not merely the biographer of Mozart, but also the Mozart of biographers. Sometimes I wish that such short books were longer, but for Mozart this was just right. Mozart is in the music, after all.
Gay does not explain this enigmatic genius, but he does make him accessible and give an impression of the depth of his genius - for as a sometime bedroom rock guitarist and still listener I have no doubt that much of that genius evades my ear as it stands. Scatological of wit and irresponsible of money, Mozart was still a genius of unique standing and reputation, being known as a child prodigy at an age when most of us in today's world would have only the vaguest portents of our adult career. Moreover, he never stopped developing, neither as a prodigious child nor as a grown man. Who knows what could have come of him had he had the opportunity to die in his dotage. Alas, it was not to be. A mere decade after finally shaking free of the bondage of his controlling father, he was in his grave.
That bondage followed him even after his father's death, but musically Mozart was always his own man. That grave, recorded in popular memory as a pauper's, might not have seemed so unfitting to Mozart as to us. With the French revolution still drying to black crust on the baskets of Paris's squares, the nobility were not in the mood for ostentation and the Emperor had quashed lavish funerals. Mozart went into a grave typical of his time, his music to fall into contention and bowdlerisation for a little time to come. Mozart, a Catholic but not an especially pious figure, scathing of Voltaire but a freemason of the Age of Reason, would probably have found it fitting. Mozart took lovers and a wife, with an appealing affection for women, travelled, learned languages and was not averse to a party. Truly, this would not have been a wasted life even were it not for his exquisite legacy.
Gay's work is wonderfully light reading, devoured in a rush. I have heard the Beatles referred to as the Mozart of pop. Now biography has its own exemplar.
And no, Salieri didn't poison him.
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