Mozart: A Cultural Biography [Paperback]

Solomon's book should be read by any serious Mozartian for his interesting new material on and interpretations of issues such as the Mozart family finances and the complex varieties of late 18th century Freemasonry. But his biography is vitiated by his Freudianism and his relentless demonising of Leopold Mozart. In Gutman's book, by contrast, Leopold emerges as a much more interesting and complex character than Solomon's monster. Some of the best parts of the book are the extracts from Leopold's letters during his trips with the boy prodigy. Leopold was an intelligent, humane, tolerant and well-educated man, with shrewd powers of cultural and social observation. (His description of Naples in the 1760's is priceless.) But Gutman's Leopold is no saint either. Gutman convincingly portrays him as a man who was often socially out of his depth and whose maladroit plotting on his son's behalf did Wolfgang more harm than good. He also accuses Leopold of ultimately cheating his grown son out his boyhood earnings - a charge I felt Gutman did not quite prove.

In the early chapters of the book I also found it a bit tiresome how often Gutman felt he had register his disapproval of absolute monarchs. Personally, he prefers democracy. Thank you Mr Gutman, we get the point. For some Americans, it seems, it's always 1776.

Gutman's musical judgements do not quite accord with my own. I thought he was far too dismissive of the compositional skill of the young Mozart. But I must admit he did cast the famous Allegri Miserere and Padre Martini stories in very different light. Gutman also tended to damn with faint praise Mozart's great opera seria, La Clemenza di Tito. On the plus side, he showed an all-too-rare understanding of the aesthetic and religious seriousness of Mozart's church music.

As someone who has been reading Mozart biographies for over thirty years, I was constantly amazed at some new fact or anecdote Gutman had unearthed. Finally, his description of the young genius's death was almost unbearably moving.

If you only buy one Mozart biography (and I suppose there are such people) this should be the one.

This book is far from an introductory selection. This is more like a textbook. It is very thorough, very dry and, even at well over 700 pages, it reads longer than its page count. Gutman's incessant footnoting (average of about two footnotes per page, each footnote averaging probably three or four sentences in length) make a long book much longer.

I came into this book thinking I had a decent a decent vocabulary, but the author left me with the impression I am a slack-jawed buffoon. Gutman has an interesting habit of never using a word when a longer one will suffice. As a quick example: not once were the words "happy" or "pleasant" used. Everything was "felicitous". To the point of the felicities being felicitous in their felicitousness. Thus, this book is an excellent investment in that it contains much more than its asking price in fifty-cent words. Gutman obviously has a firm grasp of his dictionary, but someone really needs to buy him a thesaurus.

However, despite the shortcomings of the actual prose, this book has everything you will ever need to know about Mozart. A precise and detailed analysis of where he was, what he was doing, what was possible for him to do, how he went about it, his genius, his vulgarity and everything in between. Starting with Leopold Mozart and Anna Maria Pertl and finishing with Constanze Mozart and her management of Wolfgang's library, this book covers everything that happened to and around the composer in exhaustive detail. As well as a biography of the man, it explains the what, why and how of everything that happened in late 18th century Europe, providing the backdrop that, much like a Renaissance portrait, provides excellent information explaining the character in the foreground. Gutman doesn't introduce the reader to the places and times of Mozart went, he immerses the reader in them by leaving no important, and often no minor, detail out of his descriptions.

This is not a book for reading on a beach in order to learn more about "some famous composer". This is a scholarly tome for people who want to know and try to understand arguably the greatest musical mind to ever live. Does this book let us understand the nature of genius itself? No. But it lets us be a contemporary and familiar with a genius. And, if you are willing to put in the time necessary to dive into a life as deeply lived as Mozart's, you will be well rewarded by this selection.

I read this work over a lengthy period of time as the material is very dense, and the book is more like a collection than a single volume. This is a Biography of Mozart, and also biographies of those who were Family, his peers, and The Monarchs who ruled during his short life. It is a work of History as well. For Mozart the person, throughout the book is always placed within the context of the events surrounding him. Politics would influence where he could play, as would religion, all forms of civil disobedience, and war. In this sense the work has as an element Political Science as well. The Author includes detailed economic facts from the smallest of costs that were included for a concert tour, to the largesse that was or was not handed to Mozart by a variety of Royal Courts. These latter two issues were obsessions with his Father. Mozart Sr. not only micro-managed the lives of his children, but also was constantly vying for the good graces of the wealthy, The Nobility, as well as The Royalty, and dealing with all manner of court intrigue in hopes of his personal advancement.

For any who became interested in Mozart after seeing, "Amadeus", this book, as others do, portrays the composer as at times a colorful individual, but not the debauched character that was seen in the film. His writings at times are colorful in the extreme; his ego and his expressions of his self-importance do not always commend him. However his genius cannot be denied, and while not as raucous as the movie version, Mozart would never be accused of being a bore at gatherings.

I am glad that I read this book, and it will certainly serve as a reference source. I would not recommend this as the first book to read on Mozart unless Music is your field of study. To truly appreciate what the Author has created, and to gain all the knowledge the book contains, an individual must have much more than a passing interest in Mozart. Mr. Gutman has created a scholarly work that would seem to set a standard that will be hard to surpass.