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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.