From the distinguished composer and biographer Jan Swafford comes the definitive biography of one of the most brilliant musical geniuses in history, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. From his early years, it was evident that Wolfgang Mozart's unique imagination was constantly at work. He hated boredom and idleness, countering these threats with a rich repertoire of antidotes, both intellectual and physical, claiming every part of his life with immense vitality.

His circle of friends and patrons was wide, including anyone who inspired him with his unceasing appetites for music and all things pleasant and entertaining. As a person, Mozart was an incomprehensible force of nature who could rise from a brilliant improvisation on the keyboard to meow like a cat and leap over furniture. He often beat rhythmically on various objects, tapping his feet, appearing both present and distant simultaneously.

But he could also take your hand and look at you with a deep, searching, and melancholy gaze in his blue eyes. It was as if Mozart lived on stage and outside of it simultaneously, a character in the tragicomedy of life, but also outside it, watching, studying, gathering material for the canvas of his art.

Like Swafford's biographies of Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, and Charles Ives, Mozart's biography is both broad and intimate in exploring a genius's life and environment: a man who emerged from a specific time and place whose art will enrich the world for centuries, profoundly shaping the future of classical music. As Swafford reveals, to understand the evolution of music, it is vital to understand this unique genius as a person and artist.

Pages: 832, Dimensions: 15.3x15.3cm