Mozart: The Golden Years

"Telling the story with wit, verve, and a fine eye for the by-ways of Viennese society…will draw readers into Mozart's personality and attract them to the eternally ambiguous music."—The Observer

The last decade of Mozart's short but amazingly prolific career counts as one of the most remarkable periods—truly golden years—in the history of Western music. Richly illustrated with contemporary paintings and engravings and authoritatively written, this book provides a vivid account of the composer's life in the European music capital, Vienna, from 1781 to 1791. This creative yet turbulent decade witnessed a crescendo of activity. Mozart married Constanze Weber in 1782, and in the ensuing years produced an astonishing wealth of new music, rich in quality as well as quantity.

A host of immortal works belong to this period, among them the great trilogy of symphonies (numbers 39, 40, and 41), operatic masterpieces—The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte, and The Magic Flute—and the Clarinet Concerto of 1791.

Through a close examination of Mozart's public successes and failures; his relationship with his father, Leopold; his devotion to his wife, Constanze; his Masonic associations; and his friendship with Franz Joseph Haydn, H. C. Robbins Landon provides an intimate and eminently readable portrait of an extraordinary musical genius. 242 illustrations, 32 in color.