Customer Reviews

Mozart: A Life

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This book should be titled "Mozart - A Psychoanalysis"

The book has some strong points - a good analysis of musical style with many examples (if you can't play them on a piano at least tap out the rhythms to get an idea of what he was trying to do) and details about Mozart's dirty letters and fondness for writing backwards. He also makes a good case for Mozart having good earnings. Some of these things are probably difficult to find elsewhere.

However it leaves out some extraordinary things, including Mozart's attitude toward Salieri - and vice-versa, meeting Voltaire and Beethoven, and much of the political climate.

The author drones on with page after page of psychobabble that serves to over-exhaust both the subject and the reader. For example, the following run-on sentence (one of many in the book) occurs five (!) pages into a continuous set of statements about musical imagery:

"An argument can be made, however, that in the last analysis we bring to the entire continuum of such (anxious mental) states derivatives of feelings having their origin in early stages of our lives, and in particular the preverbal state of symbiotic fusion of infant and mother, a matrix that constitutes an infancy-Eden of unsurpassable beauty but also a state completely vulnerable to terrors of separation, loss, and even fears of potential annihilation, a state that inevitably terminates in parting, which even under the most favorable circumstances leaves a residue of grief and melancholy, engendering a desire - wrapped in the likelihood of further disillusionment - to rediscover anew the sensations of undifferentiated fusion with a nurturing caretaker."

That was just ONE sentence! The author then appears to summarize the argument, at which point the reader emits a sigh of relief then turns the page: only to be confronted by two more pages of psychology before the author then spends several more pages applying the argument to several musical works.

The reader gets treated to several whole chapters of analysis of Mozart's emotional mind, emotional relationships with relatives, physical attributes - and what emotions they cause. There is a WHOLE chapter devoted to the fact that Mozart temporarily altered his middle name to "Adam" when he signed his marriage documents! I'm not kidding. The Chapter is entitled, "Adam" and it analyzes the emotional states that caused Mozart to change Amade(us) to Adam. Then, when the reader finally arrives at a chapter that actually describes historical events in Mozart's life (and their emotions), the events are often not played out in chronological order.

The names of Mozart's major works are most often NEVER written in English and the author often uses German, French, or Italian to make major points without bothering to let the reader in on the English translation: Mozart said of his pet starling "Das war schon." The motto of some riddlers was "Honi soit qui mal y pense." It's frustrating not knowing what those sentences mean in English.

I faithfully read the first 344 pages of this book then could no longer bear it - I skimmed the rest, then started reading Gutman's "Mozart - a cultural biography" which appears to present Mozart more idealistically than was the case, but at least I'm getting a feel for what was happening around Mozart during his lifetime.

I hope I wasn't too emotional.

If you ever wondered how Mozart -- using just the same materials and structures as Haydn -- could create works of excruciating beauty instead of merely works of elegant formality, you MUST read this book.

The book is organized thematically instead of strictly chronologically; reading it is like watching a beautiful opera about Mozart's life from the best seat in the house. The immense scholarly apparatus never clanks, wheezes, or whirrs -- yet you can go backstage at any time and see exactly what's supporting the stunning performance.

Without any psychobabble, Solomon leads you to the most profound psychological insights into Mozart's life and achievements. After he marshals all the facts, he reveals the most astonishing -- and eminently plausible -- insights that you slap your forehead and say "of course -- why didn't I see that!?"

Easily the best biography I have ever read.

Solomon's books have obvious strengths--the depth of his research and his analysis of the music. What seems to divide readers is his use of psychoanalysis. I'm on his side, as his book created a thought-provoking examination of a great figure whose art was a tonic for the fraught relationship he had with his father. But Solomon also shows us that Mozart was neither an idiot savant nor a psychological mess--in his relationship with his wife and his ability to manage a successful career he was remarkably normal. Rather than the center of the book, the psychoanalysis is a useful contextual tool. This really is the best single book on Mozart.

Solomon's book was my first foray into a major biography about a classical composer. I chose it because it came highly recommended, and Mozart was the first composer that I felt I needed to study in depth. I entered into it hoping to find factual information as well as some interpretation.

While I think that Solomon's writing overall is very enjoyable (we aren't bothered with descriptions of furniture layouts, as in A. Scott Berg's "Lindbergh") what troubles me about this book is his use of Freudian psychoanalysis. Now, I have studied Freud, and I find many of his ideas very interesting, but I have been consistently disappointed with efforts to impose some of these concepts where they do not belong. Solomon does this to Mozart, and I just didn't buy it at all. What particularly troubled me was the fact that Solomon never explains what he's doing. It would make sense for him to define the critical tools he's going to use on Mozart, and explain WHY he thinks it is valid or important to examine Mozart this way. Instead, he just launches into it, expecting that the reader takes these concepts for granted. I'm sorry but I do not believe that a primary instinct of any given male from any place and period in time is an overwhelming desire to return to his mother's womb. If you do- then you will enjoy Solomon's book. Rather labored, I think, is his definition of the "adagio/andante archetype," in which a large number of Mozart's slow movements can be read as a need to resolve tension. Solomon defines this tension as a feeling of loss, of being ousted from paradise, in short, of seperation from one's mother. Ugh.

I respect Solomon's efforts, certainly, and don't blame him for expressing his feelings about Mozart's music this way, but when I studied his examples and his arguments it didn't follow through. They can be made, but I don't think there's any more truth to his theory than there is to my abstract, subjective experience of music that I find beautiful or moving.

The rest of the book, though, is very good. I don't mind where Solomon speculates about things, because he's usually forthcoming about the lack of proof. For instance, it is suggested that Franz Anton Mesmer (inventor of the glass harmonica!) had offered Mozart a good position in Vienna several years before Mozart actually went (when he was trying so hard to attain a good position), but that Leopold had buried the letter so his son wouldn't leave Salzburg. That's really interesting to think about, and there's more where that came from, not to mention a complete list of Mozart's works by K. number.

I'd recommend getting yourself a nice collection of good recordings, and Neal Zaslaw's "Compleat Mozart" to start off with. Give this book a try, but be warned. While not as preposterous as "Amadeus," it shares some of that film's creative license. Both have their good points. And if you do buy into Solomon's theories, then you will enjoy this book.

after reading several biographys about a non-human. This presents an all-to human Mozart with issues that we all must deal with in life: overbearing parent, stratified social hierarchy, grief, fear, love, death, debt, social issues, finding a place for one's self in this world. This is the only biography I've read, concerning Mozart, that presents a believeable human with faults, and tremendous talent, abilities, and self-responsibility.

I have never been really interested by biographies, but this one is different. This book has the power, above all, to make you feel the humanity of the man. Sure, Mozart was a genius decended from above (so to speak), yet through the author's in-depth analysis, we realize that the composer was perfectly "normal" in any other respects - with a common man's anxieties and desires. And for the musicians, this book is a must. This book tells you why there is something deeper behind that sparkling surface of Mozart's music, and as a bonus, it explains why Mozart was a subversive artist as far as sentimental values are concerned. I especially enjoyed the chapter "Fearful Symmetries" for its discussions on beauty, and its brave attempts to illustrate what makes Mozartean beauty unique. I would recommend anyone who have enjoyed the movie 'Amadeus' to read this book for many contrasting views which are richly supported by evidence such as personal letters.

During the past few years, I have become increasingly interested in the music of Mozart, listening to numerous CDs of his works. I decided to find out more about the man himself, so I read "Mozart: A Life" by Maynard Solomon.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Mozart in this well-written biography. It was immediately clear to me that Solomon had done extensive research into Mozart's past, with excerpts of the letters between Mozart and his father, as well as tabulations of Mozart's earnings during his life. The chronological layout, from child to man, allowed me to trace the development of Mozart's character, personality, and music. I was particularly captivated by the description of the relationship Mozart had with his father, Leopold.

The amount of detail present in some of the chapters was exhausting, yet remained interesting at the same time. The reading did become dry, however, when Solomon began giving his personal glimpses into Mozart's music itself. He has a tendency to use "flowery" words, but if you have decent command of the English language you should have no trouble understanding the biography.

Overall, I was impressed by this account of Mozart's life and recommend it for any music lover, whether you like Mozart or not. The biography places a great emphasis on Mozart's actual life (other biographies primarily discuss his music) and this serves to enlighten the reader as to who Mozart was as a man, not just as a composer. A must-read for any Mozart lover.

This book was extremely well written. It hits on all facets of Mozart's life, and provides in-depth analysis of his personality as well as of those Mozart came in contact with during his life. Solomon brings an interesting twist to the story by doing this . If you are looking for a Mozart book for only facts, this is not the book you are looking for. If you are serious about discovering almost all details of his life and thinking about why his life occurred the way it did, this is a perfect read.

An enjoyable read but not without some rather large flaws. Much easier to digest than Guttman's biography of Mozart in this regard. Certainly a readable and sometimes exciting chronology of Mozart's life. One gets a feeling of what Mozarts life was like but something in Solomon's psychological and cultural portraint seems to be missing. When I was finished I was left with as many questions about the life and times of Mozart as I had when I begun.

A very dissapointing discussion of Mozarts works, in fact there is no systemic evaluation on his output. Nothing on the piano concertos, chamber music, symphonies, or operas. Instead we are left with a few chapters superimposed into the text (Solomon admits they where used earlier as lecture material) that try to relate some adagio and concerti to outdated and apsychological theories of aesthetics. One should refer to Swafford's biograpy of Brahms as a model for an integrated discussion of a composers life and works.

Most annoying of all is Solomons incessant need to Psychoanalyze. More time is spent trying to pigeonhole Mozart's relation with his father into a Freudian model than is discussing the musical culture of Viena, or for that matter Mozarts sources of creativity. Dare I say, most of Solomons charachter analysis amounts to little more than psychobabble. This takes special crecedence when one considers how dubous and now abandoned Freudian theory is today in general.

This is a comprehensive work about not only Wolfgang, but also his entire family: especially his father, Leopold. It contains an excellent classification list of Mozarts' works by category and also a numerical list by Kochel Numbers. Each chapter has a sizeable list of related notes in the back of the book and the bibliography is also extensive.

Although the book is informative and easy to read, I found it a bit repetitious at times (i.e. discussion of Leopold's prolonged influence over Mozart, and also, the ever present preoccupation with money). There were a couple chapters on the meaning of Mozart's music as to how it was affected by events of the time that seem to me to contains a lot of subjective conjecture.

On a personal note, I was hoping for some detailed accounts of Mozart's relationship with Saleri and especially, his librettist, Lorenzo Da Ponte (who did the libretto for Cosi, Figaro and Don Giovanni). However, although both men are mentioned in this work, there is sparse information on their involvement with Mozart.

All in all and enjoyable work.