... admirable ... The central figure in Swafford’s book is Mozart, of course, but the author is a skilled enough storyteller to create the world he lived in. For those of us given to looking back on other times as tidy, aristocratic and pretty much everything that the 21st century isn’t, Swafford offers a sharp corrective ... This is an excellent book on Mozart for both musicians and the general reader. The story is told in a lively, knowing style, without written-out musical examples but shot through with unfailingly erudite and impassioned discussion of the composer’s work. Only toward the end do we feel the huge absence that would be left by Mozart’s death — and Swafford’s evocation of the moment the composer knew he was dying is appropriately terrifying.
Mr. Swafford delights in repeating these stories—it’s one of the pleasures of this comprehensive and engaging biography. He is thoroughly up-to-date on the latest information and controversies, debunking the still commonly held mythology about the composer, and he continually reminds us of what astounding music Mozart wrote ... Mr. Swafford vividly places the whole story in the context of the social and artistic life of the period, including the appalling medical conditions that surely hastened Mozart’s demise ... With the eye of an omniscient novelist, Mr. Swafford tells Mozart’s story looking both forward and back, knowing too well how it will end ... The narrative is both more plain-spoken and more eloquent than the controversial Freudian version of Mozart’s life that some (but far from all) readers admired in the late Maynard Solomon’s 1995 Mozart: A Life ... He treats each score with a sense of anticipation, suspense and dramatic resolution ... When he’s describing music, Mr. Swafford the novelist often becomes Mr. Swafford the poet, finding the impeccable image or unforgettable turn of phrase ... Mr. Swafford keeps returning to convincing central observations that are not so much psychoanalytical as thoughtful, sensible ways of understanding human behavior, showing us how the biggest picture emerges from the smallest gesture—the same way he leads us through Mozart’s music ... This is not a hagiography; Mr. Swafford is thoroughly cognizant of Mozart’s personal shortcomings—his irresponsibility, his self-absorption ... Mr. Swafford succeeds in laying to rest the persistent Mozart myths ... I regret that Mr. Swafford doesn’t touch on some of my own favorite Mozart moments...Not that I think this book needs more details or examples, just that I’d have liked to know Mr. Swafford’s take on passages to which I myself have given particular thought—to continue, as it were, the conversation he so irresistibly invites us to join.
... outstanding ... Mr Swafford, himself a composer and a programme-writer for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, offers an updated, accessible and authoritative life, beautifully written and full of astute critical judgments and incisive notes on the works.
[Swafford] presents not only a lively, accessible, and richly detailed account of his subject’s life and times, but also takes a crack at debunking the 'hoary corpus of myths about Mozart' ... in addition to prodigious research, he offers up well-informed appraisals and insights into Mozart’s work. He also makes good use of a vast trove of letters written by Mozart, his family members, and many others. Mozart’s letters give the reader a first-hand glimpse at his intelligence, his playful, often bawdy, wit and his caustic scrutiny of people and their many foibles.
Without resorting to technical terminology or offering musical illustrations, Swafford traces Mozart’s development from prodigy to mature composer, weaving together the events of Mozart’s life and the cultural milieu in which he worked ... The copious detail will appeal to musicologists, while the flowing, conversational style will draw in general readers who’d like to learn more about the composer. Heartily recommended to everyone with an interest in the subject.
It is a great pleasure to read about Mozart as a working composer in a narrative written by a working composer ... a biography that has an immediacy, a wholly thrilling 'you are there' impact.
... amazing ... Like his precursors from the early 19th century to the past decade, Swafford also could have milked the hypothetical 'future Mozart' idea, but gives it an elegant pass every time it comes up ... Instead of hypothesizing, or further mythologizing a life whose true facts are far more interesting than popular fiction, Swafford dug deep into every conceivable fragment and tidbit of the Mozart family’s life and times, along with those of their friends, relatives, employers, rulers and influencers ... But what makes Mozart yet another milestone in Swafford's series of substantial composer biographies is his unique fusion of raw data with truthful storytelling and thoughtful extrapolation. Orchestrating words and themes as deftly as any of the composers he so vividly has revealed to date (who will be next, we wonder?), Swafford transforms a deluge of available information into imaginative yet fact-based contexts that reveal Mozart’s talent in a down-to-earth and memorably human way ... In deft, empathic and knowledgeable prose, he treats a piano concerto here, an aria there, a string quartet or opera scene somewhere else, as lovingly as one might describe a dear friend: all as unique 'personalities,' entirely formed within the reader’s receptive imagination ... unsurpassed.
... is after something far more audacious than merely taking its place on the shelf alongside many hundreds of other books on the mercurial composer ... It aims to create a language capable of evoking the delight, pleasure and sexual buzz music can evoke, and to bring it to the level of discourse we usually save to describe 'serious' music ... This book is as much about his family as it is about the composer.
Swafford proves in his biography that nothing in the composer’s life needs to be uber dramatized, the simple facts are compelling enough ... Swafford paints a revelatory portrait of the man, his music, and his times ... The granular detailing all of the plots and characters can be heavy going, and weigh down the flow of the biography.
This book is not just Amadeus for aficionados. It is, as Mozart characterized two of his midcareer piano concertos, 'a happy medium between what's too difficult and too easy … there are passages here and there that only connoisseurs can fully appreciate—yet the common listener will find them satisfying as well' ... These wondrous early tales are a highlight of the book, but they are not just solo performances ... Swafford contextualizes Mozart's development as a composer with helpful historical primers but keeps it interesting with countless anecdotes ... The stories behind and between the music generally hold sway, but at times the musical theory can dominate the narrative ... A point Swafford hammers home is that Mozart, unlike artists of today or even his near-contemporary Beethoven, was not writing for posterity or 'trying to express [himself]' with his music; he simply wanted to make people 'happy with his notes.' Mozart provides numerous opportunities to reflect on how often Mozart the composer achieved his goal.
In this gigantic book devoted to a man who died at 35, the American composer and academic Jan Swafford has met that challenge head on and traces its source, with some conviction, to love ... Swafford’s prose flows beautifully and is often cheeringly informal ... This hefty book does have the occasional infelicity, such as Swafford’s speculation, not once but three times, that Casanova, in the audience for Don Giovanni (he had a hand in the libretto), would have been laughing ... Mozart was not a revolutionary artist and did not break especially new ground; he did, however, dig deeper and find unsuspected riches through his understanding of how to translate the human condition into the art of sound. Likewise, Swafford does not upend our vision of the composer, although he quashes myths with clear-sighted good sense. Instead, he too goes deeper, in his invocation of Mozart’s presence and what makes his music so special. For many his works are dear old friends. You can come away from this book feeling that he is too.
If tackling an 832-page biography of anybody seems daunting for the general reader, Swafford makes it almost effortless with Mozart, animating his genius, detailing the interpersonal dynamics with family, lovers, friends, rivals, and patrons that would drain him even as he pushed on to create more than 600 indelible works in his 35 years; drawing a visceral portrait of the cities where Mozart composed and performed ... and, as a composer himself, offering an astute yet thoroughly approachable analysis, almost piece by piece, of the composer’s entire canon, lingering fittingly on the composer’s major operas. A virtually indispensable volume for the music collection.
Composer and biographer Swafford brings expertise and insight to bear on a comprehensive, animated life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ... Drawing on many previous biographies, along with Mozart’s published letters, Swafford offers a thorough analysis of Mozart’s overwhelming oeuvre ... Swafford deftly captures that brilliance in a challenging narrative that is sure to thrill classical music fans but will leave many general readers in the dark. An admiring, authoritative biography.
