Mozart: A Cultural Biography
by Robert W. Gutman
List Price:
Our Price: $6.25
You Save: $18.75 (75%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $6.20 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Robert W. GutmanEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2000-11-02
ISBN: 0156011719
Number of pages: 864
Publisher: Harvest Books
Book Reviews of Mozart: A Cultural Biography
Book Review: Mozart complete
Summary: 5 Stars
I am 260 pages into this 839 page book and my impression is that this has to be the definitive Mozart biography. It is heavily leaden with pertinent footnotes, asides and culturally important context; what is more important is that Mozart is given the respect due to a grown man, to a blessed genius, to a cultural icon second to no one.
When the movie "Amadeus" came out those many years ago, I watched it and was horrified at how Wolfie was depicted. Worse than a comic book character, he was reduced to a sexually perverse adolescent who just so happened to have music poring through his dim-wit brains. Gutman has burned away all the disappointment and distortion that the admitedly bogus Shaffer play/movie created and what remains is a fantastic story that grips from beginning to end. One of the most impressive bits of trivia, by the way, is just how often Wolfie (and his entire family) was deathly sick and how he lived as long as he did. I simply could not fathom how he survived those many illnesses as a child; perhaps (what we term his immune system) was so demolished as a child that as an adult, facing more sickness, his body simply could not take any more?
A really great book that I am savouring every day.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Have finally finished the book. Totally worth the effort to read such a huge book (note: the footnotes although so many are worth reading). This is a book that has the depth that Mozart deserved. What I found outstanding was the richness of knowledge, of the labor of research the author put into arriving at clarity, at dispelling of myths. This later issue for me was the antidote I had always been craving since watching "Amadeus" for the first time. There have been many silly and inaccurate things said about him; this book just about covers each and every myth. The wisdom we absorb in the process makes Woolfy so much more human. How much more can we love this man who was at the peak of his creative energies, his public success, his power as a husband and father.
A word must be said about his father. Although it is tempting to judge Leopold in a harsh way, he was a product in many ways of his times; his character was wracked with insecurities and paranoia. That he took advantage of Mozart and in the end by disinheriting him made him look like a nasty and bitter man, we still have to admit that he encouraged and taught Mozart as best he could. That he could stoop to very low levels (accusing Mozart of being the cause of his mothers death, is but one of many examples) must be seen in contrast to how far Mozart evolved away from those clutching and grasping hands. Sad too is the polluting mindset his sister absorbed from their father. However, we might not have done any better given the tumultuous times they all lived in.
His final sickness came out of nowhere and took him very rapidly. With his wife at his side he slipped into a coma and died. We are only left to ponder what sort of music he would have made had he lived, living as he did as Beethoven was emerging out of his own chrysalis. Imagine the clashes of styles and musical agendas as the two would have vied for space. Perhaps Mozart had done all he needed to do? Finally, it should be pointed out that he and Constanze lived in a lot of luxury and although always at a certain level of debt, he always managed it because he kept on writing for lucrative commissions. The world was left with a brilliant addition to it's culture; we would have been so much less without his music. A great book for those who really want to know the real Mozart. A tour de force.
Entertainment Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Music Book Suggestions
Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musicianby Christoph Wolff
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2001-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.78
Price in other shops:
Jazz in American Cultureby Peter Townsend
University Press of Mississippi; Published: 2001-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops:
Swingin' the Dream: Big Band Jazz and the Rebirth of American Culture (Chicago Studies in Practices of Meaning)by Lewis A. Erenberg
University Of Chicago Press; Published: 1998-05-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $17.99
Price in other shops:
Swing Changes: Big-Band Jazz in New Deal Americaby David W. Stowe
Harvard University Press; Published: 1996-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $25.00
Price in other shops:
Deep River and The Negro Spiritual Speaks of Life and Deathby Howard Thurman
Friends United Press; Published: 1975-05-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.97
Price in other shops:
Jazz Consciousness: Music, Race, and Humanity (Music Culture)by Paul Austerlitz
Wesleyan; Published: 2005-10-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $24.95
Mozart: A Cultural Biographyby Robert W. Gutman
Harvest Books; Published: 2000-11-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.25
Price in other shops:
Jazz Modernism: From Ellington and Armstrong to Matisse and Joyceby Alfred Appel
Yale University Press; Published: 2004-03-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.78
Price in other shops:
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: A Biographyby Piero Melograni
University Of Chicago Press; Published: 2008-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.34
Price in other shops:
Beethoven: The Music and the Lifeby Lewis Lockwood
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2005-01-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.99
Price in other shops:
The Enlightenment: A Brief History with Documents (The Bedford Series in History and Culture)by Margaret C. Jacob
Bedford/St. Martin's; Published: 2000-10-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.00
Mozart: A Lifeby Maynard Solomon
Harper Perennial; Published: 1996-02-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $24.27
Mozart: His Character, His Work (Galaxy Books)by Alfred Einstein
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1965-12-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.93
Price in other shops:
Mozart's Women: His Family, His Friends, His Musicby Jane Glover
Harper Perennial; Published: 2007-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.65
Price in other shops:
Mozart's Letters, Mozart's Lifeby Robert Spaethling
W. W. Norton; Published: 2005-12-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.88
Price in other shops:
Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musicianby Christoph Wolff
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 2001-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.77
Price in other shops:
The Compleat Mozart: A Guide to the Musical Works of Wolfgang Amadeus MozartW. W. Norton & Company; Published: 1991-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $19.35
Price in other shops:
1791: Mozart's Last Yearby H. C. Robbins Landon
Thames & Hudson; Published: 1999-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.95
Price in other shops: