Mozart: Letters

Mozart's remarkable life was well and richly documented in letters: his own and those concerning him written by others. Here are letters to and from Mozart's domineering father, Leopold, the earliest of which describes his six-year-old son's accomplishments.

There are letters from the 12-year-old Mozart to his mother and sister; adoring, protective missives to his wife; and, from his later years, letter after letter to friends, family, former patrons and fellow musicians, begging for financial help. Finally, in a letter written by Mozart's sister-in-law, this splendid epistolary portrait of the great composer is completed with a deeply moving account of his last hours.

Mozart's correspondence is full of details that illuminate the quotidian aspects of his days; reveal the great joys and burdens of his musical genius; and provide us with a lively account of musical politics in the courts and opera houses of l8th century Europe.