The fact that he could play many of their instruments & so demonstrate what he wanted must have helped. Johnson writes well about Mozart’s love of musicians & singers & the trouble he took to direct & help them play his music. Maybe an idea for the next generation of ereaders? It would be wonderful if I could have tapped on my Kindle & heard the work as it was being described. That’s probably why I don’t read much about composers. Apart from a few famous works like the Clarinet Concerto & the Piano Concertos, I don’t know the work until I hear it, the catalogue (K) number doesn’t help me. Johnson goes into some detail about the work but I have to admit that I couldn’t really follow him there. The family traveled around Europe playing to royalty & nobility in Germany, France & England.Īmadeus was lauded for his talent & he continued to write an enormous amount of music in every conceivable form – operas, symphonies, concertos & sonatas. His father, Leopold, was a musician & encouraged Amadeus & his sister, Nannerl, in their music. Born in Salzburg in 1756, young Amadeus was a prodigy, composing from a young age & proficient in several instruments, including piano & viola. Many myths have grown up around his life & Paul Johnson refreshingly dismisses most of them. Mozart’s life was short but full of incident.

So, the opportunity to read this short biography of Mozart was too good to miss.

I love classical music but I haven’t read much about the lives of my favourite composers.

Mozart by Paul Johnson