The greatest mind in Western music is examined by a National Book Award–winning writer on culture and psychology in this concise account of the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The composer’s unshakable hold on the public’s fascination can only be strengthened by the historian and biographer Peter Gay’s bold new perspective.
His passionate and painstaking research reveals truths more fascinating than the myths that have long shrouded the maestro’s life. Here is the archetypal child prodigy whose genius triumphed over early precociousness and who later broke away from a loving but tyrannical father to pursue his vision unhampered. This is the perfect biography for anyone who has ever wanted to know about Mozart but does not want to dig through massive tomes.
“[A] stunning portrait of the disparate sides of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.”—New York Times Book Review
One: The Prodigy
Two: The Son
Three: The Servant
Four: The Freelance
Five: The Beggar
Six: The Master
Seven: The Dramatist
Eight: The Classic
Notes Bibliographical Note
Peter Gay was a Sterling Professor of History, emeritus, at Yale University, the author of more than 30 widely respected books, and the winner of the National Book Award for The Rise of Modern Paganism, the first volume of his definitive work on the Enlightenment. Gay is also the author of Why the Romantics Matter, Modernism: The Lure of Heresy: from Baudelaire to Beckett and Beyond, Schnitzler's Century and many other titles.
View titles by Peter Gay
The greatest mind in Western music is examined by a National Book Award–winning writer on culture and psychology in this concise account of the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The composer’s unshakable hold on the public’s fascination can only be strengthened by the historian and biographer Peter Gay’s bold new perspective.
His passionate and painstaking research reveals truths more fascinating than the myths that have long shrouded the maestro’s life. Here is the archetypal child prodigy whose genius triumphed over early precociousness and who later broke away from a loving but tyrannical father to pursue his vision unhampered. This is the perfect biography for anyone who has ever wanted to know about Mozart but does not want to dig through massive tomes.
“[A] stunning portrait of the disparate sides of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.”—New York Times Book Review
Table of Contents
One: The Prodigy
Two: The Son
Three: The Servant
Four: The Freelance
Five: The Beggar
Six: The Master
Seven: The Dramatist
Eight: The Classic
Notes Bibliographical Note
Author
Peter Gay was a Sterling Professor of History, emeritus, at Yale University, the author of more than 30 widely respected books, and the winner of the National Book Award for The Rise of Modern Paganism, the first volume of his definitive work on the Enlightenment. Gay is also the author of Why the Romantics Matter, Modernism: The Lure of Heresy: from Baudelaire to Beckett and Beyond, Schnitzler's Century and many other titles.
View titles by Peter Gay
