# Good Mozart biographies?



## LarryShone (Aug 29, 2014)

There are quite a few out there aren't there, and looking for a good one is a minefield. 
Which one do people recommend as the definitive Mozart? I know there's a John Suchet one, but well, its published through Classic FM so is probably light and fluffy (he's also just released a Beethoven one. Also Strauss and Tchaikovsky. I don't think he 'writes' the books per se, I suspect he simply gathers existing information, and a lot of that is potentially iffy)
I'd like biographies on a lot of different composers, so there's a long list of biographers to look for (I had a rather in depth bio of Tchaikovsky by David Brown)


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

Last year, I communicated with Jan Swafford, who has authored very highly praised works on Brahms and Beethoven. I asked him if he had any plans to produce a work on Haydn. Though he replied in the negative, he did indicate he was working on what he anticipated would be his last biography of a composer---Mozart. He gave no approximation regarding completion. Keep your eyes open, as will I. Based on my having greatly enjoyed his Brahms bio, I'm expecting good things from his Mozart publication.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Have you seen this thread?

Music Books - A Quick Reference


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## LarryShone (Aug 29, 2014)

What do we think about The New Grove Mozart by Stanley Sadie?


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## LarryShone (Aug 29, 2014)

Scrap that, I ordered Mozart: A Life by Maynard Solomon from Abe books!


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Hildesheimer and Norbert Elias are also considered classics.


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## Axiomatic (Sep 13, 2020)

The definitive Mozart? I assume there is none. I'm glad to see OP reading Solomon's landmark work, but you'd have to be a pretty serious acolyte of a certain brand of Freudian analysis to see it as definitive. There's quite a literature on the topic, such as Matthew Head's "Myths of a Sinful Father," _Music & Letters_ [OUP], Feb. 1999. For those with JSTOR access, it's https://www.jstor.org/stable/854666

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Swafford's _Mozart: The Reign of Love_ (mentioned in an earlier post) to anyone looking for a place to start. The Kindle sample includes the Introduction and first four chapters, a good taste of what's in store. As Paul Griffiths wrote in an admiring review (_TLS_ 18 June 2021), Swafford's biography "will become a first port of call, for readers of all kinds, and his views, on the man and on the music, will be necessary spindles around which our minds will turn."

The advantage of reading both, of course, is that you can then appreciate Swafford's debts to Solomon (shedding light on some of Swafford's unstated assumptions) as well as their points of disagreement. The more ports of call, the merrier!


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Axiomatic said:


> The definitive Mozart? I assume there is none. I'm glad to see OP reading Solomon's landmark work, but you'd have to be a pretty serious acolyte of a certain brand of Freudian analysis to see it as definitive. There's quite a literature on the topic, such as Matthew Head's "Myths of a Sinful Father," _Music & Letters_ [OUP], Feb. 1999. For those with JSTOR access, it's https://www.jstor.org/stable/854666
> 
> _I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Swafford's Mozart: The Reign of Love (mentioned in an earlier post) to anyone looking for a place to start. The Kindle sample includes the Introduction and first four chapters, a good taste of what's in store. As Paul Griffiths wrote in an admiring review (TLS 18 June 2021), Swafford's biography "will become a first port of call, for readers of all kinds, and his views, on the man and on the music, will be necessary spindles around which our minds will turn."
> _
> The advantage of reading both, of course, is that you can then appreciate Swafford's debts to Solomon (shedding light on some of Swafford's unstated assumptions) as well as their points of disagreement. The more ports of call, the merrier!


Very interesting , thank you very much for sharing.


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## Josquin13 (Nov 7, 2017)

I've enjoyed H.C. Robbins Landons books on Mozart's life. But I've not read the Solomon or Swafford's biographies. Next up is Stanley Sadie's book, which exhaustively covers "The Early years"--1756-1781: https://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Early-1756-1781-Stanley-Sadie/dp/0393061124. While Robbins Landon's series covered 1781-1791, or "The Golden Years", & his other book, the final year of Mozart's life, 1791, in detail. So, I've been unintentionally reading about Mozart's life backwards, since Robbins Landon's 1791 book was the first book to be published & Sadie's is the most recent.

https://www.amazon.com/Mozart-1781-...6573e&pd_rd_wg=7iJJQ&pd_rd_i=0028720253&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/1791-Robbins...efix=robbins+lndon+mozrt,stripbooks,86&sr=1-1

There's also "The Mozart Compendium: A Guide to Mozart's Life and Music" by Robbins Landon: https://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Compe...826cf&pd_rd_wg=GNMyF&pd_rd_i=0028713214&psc=1.


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