Customer Reviews

The Cambridge Mozart Encyclopedia

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For those brave souls who are willing to see this beautifully written and designed volume as a major investment for the library, the treasures in store here are plentiful. As the title suggests this is a compendium of all that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote - operas, chamber works, choral works, symphonies, overtures, concerti - they are all here.

Wisely Editors Cliff Eisen and Simon P. Keefe did not venture to write all the entries themselves, but instead solicited some superb essayists, historians, musicologists, and academicians to take us through not only the various works Mozart composed, but also the bits and particles of his life and legacy (e.g. the Salieri Scandal, his medical history, even the omnipresent Austrian Mozartkugeln!) that contribute to the readability of this volume.

Plan to spend time as you wish to pick up this heavy tome and turn to any page at all. Whether analyses of his opera plots and characteristics or performance practices or various composer's plagiarisms or just good gossip suit the tone of the time allotted, there is something to treasure on every page. This is a very fine book, well bound to support a long shelf life of repeated readings, and certainly worthy of inclusion in every Mozartean's library! Highly recommended. Grady Harp, July 06

This excellent book proves to be a most valuable resource for the research required in writing program notes. And in paperback form, it is quite a bargain. Though its information is scattered into an impressively wide range of topics appropriate to an encyclopedia, the thorough index provides all the cross-references to any chosen topic one could desire. The coverage is both accurate and up-to-date (published 2006), so far as the present musicologist can tell. It reads well, fascinatingly so. I recommend it highly for anyone with a deep interest in Mozart and his music. Though it may well be found in any good music library, it is also a most worthy addition to one's home library, where it will also provide compelling reading.

Just opened the book for the first time and already found 2 mistakes. Under piano sonatas: k. 279, 2nd movement is in the parallel minor, not subdominant as the text implies. Also, k. 310 2nd movement is not in the relative major, but is in the major VI of A-minor. Hardly a reliable source for program notes or research. I'm wary as I read any more of that book.

I would definitely recommend this book. It is clear and concisely written and very informative. It is also well laid out and sticks to the facts, not conjecture.

I shall need time to appreciate the book. Entries already read are excellent.