What to Listen for in Mozart
Books / Hardcover
Books › Music › Instruction & Study › Appreciation
ISBN: 0671750925 / Publisher: Simon & Schuster, August 1991
Explores the essentials of Mozart's music, examining his place in the aristocratic society of the late eighteenth century and discussing his life and death
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Two centuries after his death, our fascination with the brief life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the greatest musical genius in history, has never been greater.A man of immense contradictions, Mozart astonishes with the number and variety of his compositions: forty-one symphonies, twenty-seven piano concertos, twenty-five string quartets, seventeen operas, and more. Virtually every major piece he wrote in the last ten years of his life is still in the active repertoire; virtually every piece he created in the last five is a towering masterpiece. He is the most frequently performed composer in concert halls worldwide, and the recent bicentennial observances of his death as well as Hollywood's adaptations of his musical creations have made them familiar to millions.What to Listen for in Mozart is the essential introduction to the world's most beloved composer and to the pleasures of classical music, written in a witty, exuberant, and engrossing style. Robert Harris leads readers on an exploration of Mozart's music and his extraordinary life, examining his achievements within the context of the aristocratic society in the late 1700s hovering on the brink of revolution.Mr. Harris concentrates especially on seven of Mozart's greatest works and briefly analyzes another fifty of Mozart's compositions in a final chapter. He effortlessly guides readers to an appreciation of Mozart's distinctive style, identifying the clues to his genius, and noting the dazzling innovations that give Mozart's works their universal and enduring appeal.
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