Mozart

by Paul Johnson

Eminent historian Paul Johnson dazzles with a rich, succinct portrait of Mozart and his music

As he’s done in Napoleon, Churchill, Jesus, and Darwin, acclaimed historian and author Paul Johnson here offers a concise, illuminating biography of Mozart. Johnson’s focus is on the music—Mozart’s wondrous output of composition and his uncanny gift for instrumentation.

Liszt once said that Mozart composed more bars than a trained copyist could write in a lifetime. Mozart’s gift and skill with instruments was also remarkable as he mastered all of them except the harp. For example, no sooner had the clarinet been invented and introduced than Mozart began playing and composing for it.

In addition to his many insights into Mozart’s music, Johnson also challenges the many myths that have followed Mozart, including those about the composer’s health, wealth, religion, and relationships. Always engaging, Johnson offers readers and music lovers a superb examination of Mozart and his glorious music, which is still performed every day in concert halls and opera houses around the world.

Genres: Biography, Music, Nonfiction, History, Biography Memoir, Audiobook, World History

176 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2013

About the author

Paul Johnson works as a historian, journalist and author. He was educated at Stonyhurst School in Clitheroe, Lancashire and Magdalen College, Oxford, and first came to prominence in the 1950s as a journalist writing for, and later editing, the New Statesman magazine. He has also written for leading newspapers and magazines in Britain, the US and Europe.

Paul Johnson has published over 40 books including A History of Christianity (1979), A History of the English People (1987), Intellectuals (1988), The Birth of the Modern: World Society, 1815—1830 (1991), Modern Times: A History of the World from the 1920s to the Year 2000 (1999), A History of the American People (2000), A History of the Jews (2001) and Art: A New History (2003) as well as biographies of Elizabeth I (1974), Napoleon (2002), George Washington (2005) and Pope John Paul II (1982).

Reviews

[Dale Jr. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've loved Mozart for many years and he continues to be one of my top favorite composers. His work has always struck a chord within me whether it be his concertos, operas, or symphonies. What I wanted to know more about, however, was his life.

Hastily, I purchased a biography which seemed to get decent reviews. Decent enough to warrant a go at it. While Johnson's account of Mozart contains quite a bit of information (you'll be constantly struck with lists of compositions, dates of those compositions, and Johnson's opinions on those compositions)and a decent amount describing his personal life from birth to death, it also contains an exorbitant amount of, for lack of a better word, fanboyism.

Johnson is constantly praising the genius of Mozart. On more than one occasion, he compares Mozart to other composers and outright declares that those composers did not come close to touching Mozart. After a while, it gets tiring.

I'm by no means denying Mozart's obvious genius. However, those of us familiar with him and his music, are well aware of it and are in no need of constant reminders and affirmation to the fact.

Overall, Johnson's biography does a good job at outlining Mozart's constant work and his dizzying pace. It also contains a few tidbits of information on his personal life I had not known prior to reading it. That being said, I hope to find a better biography at some point.

[Rade · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received the free advanced copy through Goodreads givaway. I want to thank author and Goodreads for that.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (born on 27 January 1756 and died on 5 December 1791) was truly one of the greatest composers to ever live. From an early stage of his childhood, he began playing various instruments, composing various music, and even learning new languages with an ease.

Johnson really captured his life in one succinct book. Without going too much into it, this book mostly talked about Mozart and his music, his ability to write music, compose music for operas, and his ability to create emotional music that was loved all over the Europe by royal people. His life was not always great. He had a lot of debt, he lost some children (four if I am not mistaken), he had some health problems, and he had times where he had to beg for money from friends that is evident in many letters he sent them. These things were common during his time, even with upper class people. He also had tough time selling his compositions and he had a hell of a time finding something that will provide a steady income for him and his family.

During this time (late 1700s), the way to earn a good money or enough to live a very comfortable one was to be employed by the upper class people. Even with his talent, Mozart many times had to rely on teaching and selling his music to various people.

To say that he was smart would be an understatement. He composed music, played music, taught music, and had a simple natural talent to create magnificent and later, highly popular pieces of work. He was so good that he could not only distinguish between pitches of instruments, but he also composed music for instruments that were barely starting to get recognition. He was very popular when it came to operas. Two of his most famous were Don Giovanni and Le nozze di Figaro. La Clemenza di Tito was also very popular. He worked day and night, composing some of the greatest pieces ever. He loved improvising and was loved by all people, including those that performed his pieces because he was not only talented but fun to work with. Ever opera or composition was different but they all reflected either something religious or had a moral behind it where the character realizes his wrong doings and he looks for ways to better himself.

Mozart was always popular with the ladies too. While he was shorter in stature, that never stopped him from having a fun time with woman.

The author did an overall great job with this. It is short and to the point. It has a lot of terms that are associated with music and operas. I did not understand a lot of them, but that didn't stop me from enjoying this nice little mini-biography. I wish there was more about Mozart and his lifestyle, like what he wore, what he did in free time (besides playing billiards and writing/composing/thinking about music), what he ate, and things like that, but for what it is, this book was great. Mozart's kids turned out alright, but none of them had a talent like their father. Mozart truly was brilliant person and I think we should all appreciate and love his talent, whether you have some yourself or not.

[Douglas Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick and enjoyable read. Mozart was a phenomenal genius, and this short book -- short just like Mozart's life -- gives a marvelous sense of that genius. For those who don't know much about Mozart's life, and don't know whether or not he was a founding member of the Dave Clark Five, this is the book for you. If you know enough about Mozart to think that joke wasn't funny, this is also a book for you.

[Shh · Rating 5 out of 5]

My thirty plus year love affair with Mozart is in no uncertain terms insatiable. My quest to attend all of his operas and to hear as many of his other musical compositions performed live continues and my next step, as the world’s biggest Mozart fan, is to share my love of everything Mozart with my children, so when I realized that a new biography on Mozart was being published by Penguin Group: Viking I had to get my hands on a copy...pronto. I was not disappointed. Mozart: A Life by Paul Johnson is a great compliment to any Mozart aficionado's collection of biographies of this great composer.

Coming in at 176 pages this work of nonfiction does not overwhelm the new to Mozart biography reader or disappoint a reader who gobbles up everything Mozart. The book focuses on Mozart and his music. Specifically the biography focused on Mozart’s ability to write music, compose music for operas, and his ability to create emotional music that captured the hearts of the common man and royals alike. His was a life filled with financial debt, loss of children, and health problems. Many may be surprised to learn that he frequently had to beg for money from friends. Let me say that these were not uncommon problems for even upper class folks of Mozart’s day. but it is always surprising to me that he also had a tough time selling his compositions, which means a steady income for the Mozart family was a constant challenge. With all the ups and downs of Mozart’s life his talent never faded.

Sadly he died too young at just thirty-five, but through his music he still lives in the hearts of all classical musical lovers everywhere. This book will definitely whet your appetite for more about this remarkable child prodigy.

Thank you Net Galley and Penguin Group Viking for the advance reader’s copy of Mozart: A Life by Paul Johnson.

[Leftbanker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used to be a bigger fan of Mozart until I started playing piano again. I can only count a couple of his works among the things that I play. However, one piece that led me to begin learning how to play the piano the first time around was the middle, andante movement of his first piano sonata (Kv. 279). I really need to dust that off and start playing it again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBXBU...

Unfortunately, Mozart didn’t really write stuff specifically for his students as did Bach and other composers, namely Oscar Peterson in my case--love that guy. I could probably manage some of Mozart's stuff now. I’ll get around to it.

I've read s few biographies of Mozart, but this had a different approach. The author concentrates primarily on the music. I especially like how this biography pointed out how adept Mozart was on many instruments and how this directed his compositions. I always wondered about that, about how a composer could write for so many instruments as is necessary in symphonies and the opera.

[Bandit · Rating 3 out of 5]

This slender volume was fairly informative as far as nonfiction works go. I certainly feel like I've learned a good amount about Mozart, some factual and some through author's conjecture. I haven't read a great deal of biographies, but the one that really stood out (and is of similar size) was Bill Bryson's charming witty biography of Shakespeare, so through an unavoidable comparison I'd have to say Paul Johnson's work is a great deal less charming and witty and much more technical one, although undeniably erudite and well informed. In other words this biography is very much of Mozart as a musician more so than Mozart the man. Plenty of technical musical terms. Nevertheless it is a accessible read and Mozart here is portrayed as not just a child prodigy and a genius but also as a happy man who has a relatively happy, albeit tragically brief, life. I really enjoyed the essay at the end of the book detailed Mozart's stay in London. That was much more in vein of what I look for in a book like this, extensive sociopolitical dynamics of the time, history as a setting for the event. Not the liveliest of biographies quite possibly (don't expect the Mozart/Salieri melodrama or any particularly sordid tales), but well written, educational and concise. And turns out Mozart was quite a fan of scatological humor. Now that's noteworthy.

[Mark Congdon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Succinct yet thorough story of the greatest composer, and one of the most fascinating human minds, who ever lived.
Johnson especially excels at dispelling common misconceptions (thank you, Hollywood) regarding Mozart's financial situation and lack of Christian faith.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Johnson as usual writes an absolutely fantastic book. His flowing style, his understanding of his topic, and his no nonsense prose always leads to something enjoyable. Specifically, his love for Mozart and his understanding of his work shines through, helping me understand more of the complexities, birth of Mozart's music and of his intriguing life. I'm now even more a fan of both, Johnson and Mozart.

[Sol Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book on the way to, in, and on the way from Vienna. It was a good idea to do so, as it helped to anchor me in the history and characters of the place. Long one of my favorite composers, you cannot read about Mozart without becoming more in awe of him. This book is best read slowly, and with access to the pieces being discussed close by. At times, long strings of symphonies and concertos are listed and it gets very dull if you are not familiar with the works. The biggest downfall of this book is the extraordinary time spent talking about what Mozart was NOT; far too much time dispelling there myths of his poverty and of his wife’s failure as a book keeper. Honestly, a short chapter would have done, but these themes return over and over to haunt us. Overall, it is a short and punchy book about one of the most talented people that can be imagined; in that way, it resembles Mozart’s compositions

[Charlene]

Very short, entertaining biography of Mozart. Paul Johnson is a historian not a musician but there's plenty of musical details in this. Mozart's body of work all the more impressive when one realizes he died at age 35. Johnson makes a good case that Mozart was a musical genius (with other talents, too, in languages and mathematics) and that he had a happy, charming disposition; did not die the tragic death that movies and fiction often give him.

[Peter Wolfley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been hearing about these Paul Johnson biographies for awhile now and I finally got my hands on one. This biography was unusual because it focused almost entirely on Mozart's musical output and avoided any of the things you typically see in biographies like motivations for actions, assessments of character, etc.

Most of what I had known about Mozart's life came from my favorite movie, Amadeus. It's good now to have much more balanced view of who he was.

If you read this book you should have Spotify pulled up so you can listen to the compositions as they are mentioned in the narrative.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

A concise but satisfying bio. It was, in fact, exactly what I was hoping for in a Mozart biography: it gave enough information that I learned about both the "real" Mozart (the book feels very objective, and on the occasions when Johnson is venturing an opinion, guess, or personal preference, he's always upfront in letting the reader know that such is the case; furthermore, it sifts through a lot of the utter non-history that was committed to film in the outstanding, if quite inaccurate, Amadeus) and the phases through which Mozart's music evolved (he, like most artists, went through phases when he was more obsessed with the violin, the bassoon, the clarinet, etc, and despite his unbelievable output--Johnson points out that just in top line scoring Mozart wrote over 5 million bars of music, and with full orchestration that total stretches into the scores of millions). There is a nice bit of historical context for those not familiar with what life might have been like for one of Mozart's social stature and popularity living in late 18th Century Vienna, and there's enough information about the technicalities of Mozart's music to have interested me and educated me as a layman (whereas with many music bios, particularly rock and roll bios like the recently released ones by Keith Richards and Pete Townshend, tend to go WAY too deep into the technical side of playing/recording/writing music to the detriment of the actual historical narrative...while I needed to look up a few bits of info as I read Johnson's book, I never once felt that he was writing to an audience of accomplished musicians and/or conductors)...This book is perfect for anyone wishing to begin an exploration of Classical music as a genre, or who--like me--find themselves with a small-but-keen interest in learning about the life and work of Mozart without having to sift through Hollywood fictions or wade through a much more comprehensive (and potentially biased) biography.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh man. Somebody had a serious Toner for Wolfie.

(I mean, if you're a biographer, yeah, you had better at least admire who you're writing about, but man.)

This was a nice, brief listen (less than a day), and included lots of musical information that I either never knew or had forgotten in the days since I was last took music history. Johnson is good with words, though I probably missed some of the detail due to a bit of drifting during exclamations of grandeur and long lists of various K. number number numbers that he might have done in a year, or that include the clarinet, or were particularly loved by a prince or family member.

But one thing that it does make me think: there really needs to be a good, REAL Mozart movie. No offense to Tom Stoppard, but I sort of hate watching Amadeus anyway.

[Paul Bard · Rating 5 out of 5]

A splendid life of Mozart with a delightfully personal and intimate style.

I used this book to dramatically deepen my appreciation for Mozart's music by following the authors suggestions.

Best of all the book sets right many false narratives about the man and shows him as the joyful creature he really was, enabling one to better enjoy his music.

Highly recommended!

[Lukasz Pruski · Rating 3 out of 5]

" [...] Mozart creates an apotheosis of melody, in which one tune seems to flow out of another naturally, spontaneously, organically, as though the melodic material were breeding within the tissue of the work. "

Five years ago I reviewed here Peter Gay's biography of the composer ( Mozart: A Life ). Now another biography, interestingly enough under the exact same title: Paul Johnson's Mozart. A Life (2013). I don't remember much of the book that I had read earlier, but judging from my review I must have liked it a bit better than the current one. Still, Johnson's work is very readable too and I recommend it.

I will not recap Mozart's life here and will focus on the biography instead. I love the clever and descriptive titles of the five chapters: The "Miracle" Prodigy, Master of Instruments, A Married Composing Machine, Mozart's Operatic Magic, and A Good Life Fully Lived.

The author makes a strong point in contradicting many popular perceptions about Mozart's life, such as that he was poor, that he was poisoned, and that Antonio Salieri was his mortal enemy. Obviously, I have no way to conclusively decide who is right, but my natural instinct is not to believe any biographies fictionalized in the movies, even great movies, such as Amadeus, made by great directors, such as Miloš Forman. So, I would rather tend to assume that the whole Salieri's intrigue story shown in the movie is a fabrication.

The author also strongly objects to vilification of Mozart's wife, Constanze, and makes a convincing argument to explain his position. I find quite fascinating the passages that focus on indebtedness habits among married couples in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

I learned many new facts about Mozart from the biography, some of them rather insignificant trivia, for instance, that he was an avid billiards player or that there are over 2,000 books written about the composer. Some others facts are quite illuminating, like the greatly negative influence of archbishop von Colloredo on Mozart's life. Totally captivating is the extended passage on Mozart's use of percussion instruments, especially timpani, in his compositions!

Mr. Johnson has quite distinctive turn of phrase. Many passages in the biography can be enjoyed just for the language. How about "natural effervescence" of Mozart? Or the powerful statement

"Mozart's beauty prevents one from grasping his power."

I also love the ending paragraph:

"[...] his warm spirit always bubbled. He loved his God, his family, his friends, and above all, his work - which he equated with God-service - and that was all a reasonable man, or an unreasonable one, for that matter, could wish for. God bless him!"

The biography concludes with the Appendix Mozart in London, written also by a Mr. Johnson, but it is Daniel Johnson, the author's son, a journalist and a faculty member at Queen Mary University, London.

Three stars.

[maya · Rating 3 out of 5]

okay guys here's some information:

- mozart liked to play silly funny pranks on musicians by making parts of his music impossible to play

- also a lot of his music was written for specific people/with them in mind

- the mozart fam liked writing long and vaguely vulgar letters to each other

- mozart was too short to play the violin well 😢

- he liked fruity violas

- he was acc a genius tho

- he was super speedy no writer's block here. like guys he was literally 35 when he died but that's also basically how long his career was think about that. were you composing mature sonatas when you were 5 i don't think so

- there are a lot of silly tricks for playing the horn like waggling your thumb and holding it above your head & mozart is basically carrying horn repretoire because nobody wants to write horn music yk

- he had a fetish for smooth balls or something

- musicians loved working with him cuz he thought from their pov & made adjustments on the spot - whether it was to fit a specific performer better or even to anticipate how the instrument might react to the weather on any particular night

- in that same vein he was a big improv guy - he wasn't finnicky or posessive or anything about the way his music was played. he was super down to make changes or let performers make changes on the spot. which is why hearing his music nowadays can never be quite as good as when he was around

- one time mozart was having a tough time with an orchestra so he prayed to god and got ice cream after the performance (tutti fruitti)


basically the author of this book is a huge mozart fanboy like hello. omg he was literally a genius!! he was sooo amazing sir chill out we get it. there are parts where he just starts listing songs mozart composed. i was waiting for the k545 cuz that's a cute lil piece i can still play & i'm not sure if it was mentioned. but he also said that sonatas are for kids so um 😐 thanks.

[Arvind Radhakrishnan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mozart's achievements were truly phenomenal and this book does justice to the great man's exceptional talent.Mozart combined intelligence with emotion,technical wizardry with unbridled passion.No composer knew all the orchestral instruments like he did.No one could compose tunes or improvise them with the ease he displayed.His compositions continue to enthrall us with their unsurpassable beauty. He also dared to go where other composers would dread.For instance he composed five violin concertos (a very complex feat) when most great composers including the likes of Beethoven and Brahms could only compose one.The book also examines his relationship with his father Leopold,who was a gifted violinist and composer himself.There is the right blend of biographical details with his musical achievements.It also dispels a lot of rumours about Mozart,like the malicious ones that hold Salieri responsible for his death or the ones that maintain that he was in a constant state of penury and his funeral was a miserable one that was largely unattended.All these rumours are disproved by the writer with the aid of painstaking research.More importantly it captures the extraordinary spirit of his music.It is a well written book.I really enjoyed it.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

First, the good. Mozart: A Life is pretty short, but packed with analysis of Mozart’s music and some information about his life. The author clearly absolutely loves Mozart and his works. His passion comes through in the writing. You can’t help but really like Mozart, too, while reading it. But, then there’s the not so good. Even though the title indicates the book is a biography of Mozart, it is really more about his works. The author’s intense love of Mozart makes it so you would think he was practically a saint. Anything negative was glossed over. The writing was rather dull most of the time. I would not recommend this book if you want to know about Mozart the person, but it is good if you want to read about his works.

[KayKay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd not call this a complete biography of Mozart. There were certainly interesting information but the flow of the book was, umm, unconventional. For readers who have some basic knowledge about the composer, I'd say this wasn't a bad read. For readers who know little about Mozart but would love to learn more about him, this book would be too confusing.

While the author was able to draw a vivid image of who Mozart was, but information was all over the place. I didn't have any difficult following the flow of the book, but I wouldn't say it was an excellent read. To me, the book was a slightly above average biography, a 3.5 star book, rounded up to 4. I'll sure look into other biography of Mozart.

[Christopher Blosser · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm what you probably call mostly illiterate when it comes to classical music -- I an't read a sheet of music; never learned to play a musical instrument, have no appreciation beyond whether I personally enjoy it or not. So when it comes to reading a book like Johnson's "Mozart" I was not prepared to enjoy this book as much as I did.

One is naturally informed that "Mozart was a genius, yadda yadda yadda ..." -- the strength of Johnson's biographical portrayal is that, in the brief space he has (the book is only 162 pages), he effectively communicates an understanding of precisely WHY Mozart is considered a genius -- and why people love his work. Some impressive observations:

-- Mozart's earliest compositions were done when he was five
-- His musical personality began to emerge at the age of eight; by eight or nine he "played all keyboard instruments, reading at sight, even including the organ, though his small size raised difficulties with the foot pedals";
-- by ten or eleven he was already an accomplished musician with an admirable familiarity with most orchestral instruments. (One notable exception was the harp, which he could not play).
-- By the age of twelve Mozart was a mature composer -- from which point on there was "never a month, scarcely a week, when he did not produce a substantial score"
-- The sheer volume of his work is phenomenal. Franz Liszt once remarked the Mozart actually composed more bars than a trained copyist could write in a lifetime


Mozart "had a highly personal approach to music. He associated each instrument with particular people he knew who were especially good at playing it, and wrote with them -- or often one of them -- in mind. Nothing pleased him more than an intimate talk with a player about his instrument, what it could do or not do, and what it could be MADE to do by a masterful player." Johnson ventures into great detail regarding the nature and challenges of the instruments that Mozart worked with, such as the organ, the violin, the viola, the flute, the clarinet, and other horned, reed and timpany instruments. (The most fascinating for me being the bassoon, as I had no idea just how delicate it was).

One gets a genuine sense of Mozart's personality. He could treat with utmost seriousness those things one ought to treat with gravity (his Catholic faith and the Last Things, writing to his father: "I thank my God for graciously granting me the opportunity (you know what I mean) of learning that death is the key which unlocks the door to our true happiness") but also possessed a robust sense of humor and a joy in life.

"Gay himself by nature, he saw no reason why people should not enjoy a little innocent pleasure, or not-so-innocent pleasure, for that matter. He might conduct a Stations of the Cross in the morning [...], or a Stabat Mater, a similar service centering on the Virgin Mary, or even a requiem, then turn to and arrange a riotous set of German dances in the afternoon.

Mozart loved and appreciated jokes, and was fond of inserting into his works segments that were literally impossible for instrumentalists to play.

What is beneficial is his sympathetic treatment of various figures in Mozart's life, particularly his father, his sister, and his friendships with other composers of his day (Bach, Hayden). Thankfully, Johnson also address various historical myths that have sprung up regarding Mozart's life, from what are relatively benign (ex. that he "disliked the flute") to those that are more pernicious. Concerning the unfavorable portrayals of his wife, Constanze he concludes the following:

The truth, so far as I can judge, is that Constanze was always a good wife and mother, ran the household well, but was out of action a large part of the time, either pregnant or nursing or in Baden in desperate attempts to regain her health and strength. Nor was Mozart a bad husband.

and of their financial difficulties, a subject which it seems is often over-emphasized:

Indebtedness was almost a universal habit among married couples in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries ... [despite being in debt] his total liabilities never exceeded his assets. At his death, his debts were small by prevailing standards and were rapidly cleared from current income.

and of the negative portrayals of his father, Leopold Mozart:

We have been taught to see Leopold Mozart as a bossy, overpossessive and tyrannical figure, eager to control every aspect of his son's life down to the smallest detail.. There is something to this, but in may ways he was an admirable father, who sacrificed his own promising career as performer and composer entirely in order to promote his son's and who behaved in many ways with heroic unselfishness.

and of course Salieri, greatly villified in Peter Shaffer's play and later 1984 cinematic adaptation Amadeus:

The story that he was poisoned is a complete fantasy, and the naming of Salieri as the murderer is a gross libel on that hardworking and innocent man."

Johnson's own appreciation of classical music is on display, as he employs a number of musical terms that had me thumbing the dictionary, though not overwhelmingly so. Had I a better grasp of musical terminology I would have better understood certain segments of this book, but my own personal impediments aside, I found this one of the most thrilling books I've read this year. To such an extent that I'm now motivated to spend the coming year to seriously investigating Mozart's many works (and not just those I'm familiar with).

[Karol · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a decent biography, but probably more for music historians who want a better understanding of the context in which Mozart's works were composed. Not necessarily the context of his life, although there is some of that, but the context of musical innovation, instruments that were available at the time and how they changed during his life, and some of the performers who had impressed Mozart and what he wrote for them.

The appendices gave more information about Mozart's personal life than the main part of the book did. Thus, the author's main intention was not a biography of the man personally, but more along the lines of what he accomplished musically.

[Alan Murchie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent brief biography. Johnson is a fan, and just a bit of an apologist for Mozart, and so at times he does seem to wave away unpleasantness or controversy from the "Mozart story" as it's usually been told. Yet on the whole, the book reads less as apology or hagiography than as a clear-headed attempt to bring balance and clarity to a story that's too often been mined for its salacious bits. Johnson, for example, acknowledges Mozart's fondness for scatological humor without needing to turn him into a perpetual adolescent. And so on. Nicely done.

[Lady An ☽ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Happy Birthday Amadeus 🎶🎼🎹

[Ties · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read about the highlights of Mozart's life. I enjoyed the author's opinions, insights and considerations and his fascination with Mozart was especially appealing. After reading I feel like I know all about Mozart.

Second. Book from Johnson and I'm bound to read more.

[Steven Soto · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you’re looking for a baseline introduction to the life of Mozart, this book is a good starting point; it’s a fairly short and concise read. I thought the author did a great job at balancing the personal side of Mozart with his artistic persona.

[Glen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since the moment I read the opening lines of Modern Times, Paul Johnson has ensconced himself as a first rate historian for me personally. His command of details balanced by the nimble ways he weaves a captivating mosaic heightens the reading experience. As a writer, Johnson excels in composing paragraphs full of information while still retaining a sense of tonal rhythm.

Having read previous biographies written by Johnson, I would concur with some reviews portraying this work as unusually complimentary (even defensive) of the composer, his father, Leopold and aspects of Mozart's personal life that have often been fodder for movies. For those of us who read Johnson on a frequent basis, he is not given to suspended judgement of his subject matter so I accept his celebration of the musical genius as an authentic personal conclusion to his research. After all, negativity is not the benchmark for good historical narrative any more than blind loyalty provides a reliable interpretation.

The unique qualities of this work are found in the intimate familiarity with which Johnson blends knowledge on musical instruments, the intricacies of musical composition and the personal correspondences of the composer's friends and family to create a narrative that nearly poses as an eyewitness account. This feature is something I have come to expect in any book written by Johnson, yet the particular quality of his research in this book is admirable for its breath and application.

As a Mozart fan, this rendering of his life helps to construct the historical context for his various achievements. Learning that his operatic compositions come at the close of his career and are widely held as his crowning achievement adds nuance to my listening of those works. Again, the extensive cataloguing of Mozart's concertos, piano composition, sonatas, etc. adds weight to a key assertion in the book. Namely, that while Mozart's life was unfortunately short, his prodigious work ethic actually meant that he outperformed many of his contemporaries who enjoyed lengthier professional lives.

All these reasons when added to the extraordinary life of a supreme composer makes this a well deserved reading from the hand of a wonderful historian.

[John Behle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of what I know about this uber talented rocker came from the 1984 film Amadeus. I remember thinking how much I enjoyed a modern perspective on an oft quoted historical artist. I viewed the film last winter and still liked it. Thus, I wanted to see what biographies were out there.

My selected book by Paul Johnson, disappointed. Johnson drones on, rhapsodizing and gushing about Mozart's music. Pages, entire chapters, go by in gilded catalog style. The writer pleads with the reader to be nice on the history on Mrs. Mozart, Constanze. Widowed, she settled, to the last gulden, all the debts her freewheeling hubby had lavishly racked up.

My take on this work: it makes a diligent weekend "Great Artist" course. If one wanted to brush up for a college 101 class test on the Mozart clan, go for it.

[King Haddock · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars, being nice because I like being nice. I could roll it up to 3 for light and fluffy enjoyment - I mean, it was a breeze enough I FINISHED a book this year. But I'd roll down a 2 for its level of usefulness.

At first, this book perplexed me. I don't mind the hagiographic ebullience in this biography. Its over-praising style is something I'd associate with, say, the 1940s, and I'm used to reading older books. But it's peculiar to find this in a book from the 2010s. The way in which Johnson had to buoy up Wolfgang and Leopold and everyone else dampens credibility and adds questions about the author's mindset. He was coasting in with his own elevating assumptions, and it shows. How was this published in 2013?

Then on p. 130 the author mentioned being in school in the 1940s, and it suddenly made sense.

At first, this book perplexed me. With a title like "Mozart: A Life," one would assume it focused on Mozart's life events. Instead, it was a wash of pseudo-'journalistic' informationlessness. You know those articles that ramble to take up space and sound artistic but don't cover much hard data? It wasn't exactly that, but the relationship didn't cross my mind for nothing.

For most chapters, we got vague mentions of events in Mozart's life, but I wouldn't be able to piece together the big hits of Mozart's life from this book, even in a skeleton outline. You get the impression of different eras of Mozart's life, sorta, I guess.

The book moreso highlighted Mozart's flurry of compositions. That's fine, and the book gave me a number of pieces and topics from which I can expand my research. But the unnecessary material in here is monumental. For instance, we had the chapter "Master of Instruments" about Mozart's compositional relationship with every instrument. Each instrument was introduced with elegant descriptors of how they (allegedly) work. As a musician myself... there's some... hmmmm... stuff there that wouldn't be said by a musician.

Elswhere in the book, the author decided to wax eloquent about Egyptian armies and Aeschylus's plays before discussing Mozart's contributions to concerto form.

As I said, pseudo-journalistic fluff vibe.

This is a case where I should've researched the author before picking up the book. Paul Johnson has written biographies on everyone from Napoleon to Jesus, so that's a red flag we wouldn't be handling Mozart from a music expert's eye.

Ahhhhhhhkay. I geddit. I get why this book is the way it is. In the wise words of Kronk, "It's all coming together."

It's a short book, but Johnson found other ways to take up space. On multiple occasions, we receive whingings (I can't believe I'm using that word) of how the author feels about something in Mozart's life. That on its own can be interesting - if the take is good. But sometimes it's just, "Mozart's the best! Mozart's the best!" It's indisputably useless puffery.

On the contrary, many takes aren't good. Johnson can come off as oblivious, providing apologetics for why Leopold Mozart pushed his son so hard, as if these two brilliant men must have been on the correct path because it brought elevated music to humanity. He suggests that because Mozart never wrote about his relationship with his father, maybe it was something he didn't consciously think about. At one point he argued Mozart couldn't have been distressed about debts because he composed triumphant pieces of music at the same time. As a composer myself, That's Not How Composition Works. I'm in a gallant mood and am currently writing a stormy, angry piece. C'mawn.

This means that, even when the author makes a fascinating case, you second-guess whether he could be right. Some of the most engaging material is reassessing Mozart's debt situation. Johnson goes into the cultural norms at the time and demonstrates how other factors, such as shortage of specie, the constancy of everyone having debt, and Mozart paying his debts off quickly, suggest the long-ingrained idea Mozart had major financial troubles could be wrong. He points out how Mozart's mass grave burial wasn't a bad sign, but what was mandated by authorities and normative at the time. But because this is also the same man that acted like he could read Mozart's mind while composing the Jupiter Symphony means I have to crunch into other books to see if his stance is grounded.

The appendix was a wild shift. You could tell Johnson had delved into Mozart sources to write this book based on his off-handed mentions of obscure references or primary source material. And yet you didn't get much benefit of his research until the appendix, when suddenly we were able to talk in depth again about minute details. The appendix was specifically about Mozart's relationship with England, though, with a nationalistic drive to show readers how important England was to Mozart and how much good there would've been if Mozart had made it back. I'm not from the United Kingdom, so I'm not the targeted audience, but it's sorta wild for this guy to go on so when Mozart was not an Englishman and spent only a short time in the country when he was a child. So we barely cover any concrete details about Mozart's day of death, but we spent an entire chapter in a short book discussing how much the world could've changed for the better if Mozzy resided longer in England? Welp. Okay. Yeah. Hmh. Okay. But at least it gave me details!

The book is enjoyable, though, if you don't mind pontifications. It's a quick breeze of a book and sometimes that's nice. The usefulness of this book is a quick brush over Mozart. It was a good book for me to start my intended deep-dive of the Mozzy Man.

But it's such a quick brush you might be better getting resources elsewhere.

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another in the series of short biographies by the incomparable Paul Johnson, this life of Mozart is deliciously readable and focuses on his huge corpus of musical works. The composer was also able to play just about every instrument in the orchestra, danced beautifully and lived a life of exemplary pious behavior. So many superlatives have been expended on the genius that was Mozart that I won't repeat them, but he is well-served by Johnson's book, as Paul Johnson has an unmatched talent for writing about art and artists of every stripe. Any of his works are worthwhile, and this one certainly rewards the time taken to read it. First rate.

[Mohamed Shehab · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't known that Paul Johnson was a classical author !! He used very obsoulete idioms to enhance his expresions in addition to the way he chose to write the book. 

The book does not concentrate on the Mozart's biography as his biography through his musical masterpieces. 

The main axes of the story are Mozart's concertos , sonatas and quartets.

Mozart's personal life was exposed along side with his musical proceedings. To build up a holistic life story of Mozart you have to highlight from each chapter some paragraphs to make at the end a full picture for his life.