Although there are many accounts of Mozart's life, and countless descriptions and analyses of his music, this is the first attempt to protray Mozart's creative life as a composer. Kuster selects forty works or groups of works covering virtually every important stage in Mozart's career, from the first keyboard works of the young Wunderkind to Mozart's final days and the composition of the Requiem. In between, each chapter deals with the developments and events in the lives of the Mozarts as associated with or highlighted by a particular work or constellation of works. The bulk of the book - the last 25 out of 40 chapters - is concerned with Mozart's life and compositions from his arrival in Vienna in 1781 to his death there some ten years later. Drawing on the tremendous advances in Mozart research over the last thirty years, and the publication of the New Mozart Edition, Kuster's book makes a major contribution to our understanding of the creative development of the composer who represents for most musicians and music lovers the highest pinnacle of musical achievement.

About the Author
Konrad Kuster is Lecturer in Music at the University of Freiburg in Germany. He is a contributor to the forthcoming Wolfgang Amade Mozart: Essays on his Life and Music (OUP, 1995), ed. Stanley Sadie, and author of Beethoven (Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1994).

Reviews
A warm welcome to the elegant volume that Oxford University Press has produced, in Mary Whittall's stylish translation. It reads very well ... This will for many readers prove to be the ideal single-volume study of Mozart's life and works: reliable, stimulating, easily handled, uncantankerous ... This is a valuable publication, very different from, yet in its own way quite as useful as, Agnes Ziffer's Kleinmeister zur Zeit der Wiener Klassik (Tutzing, 1984). * Peter Branscombe, Austrian Studies *
Kuster's approach is refreshingly new. A study of the artist, not the man, it keeps the music in the forefront...a wealth of insights that have eluded previous commentators...a study as widely researched and deeply considered as this one has much to offer * Opera *
It's good to observe that Konrad Kuster in his new book pays tribute to the most important original work done on the Mozart archive in years. * The Guardian *
there is some method in the apparently erratic approach, and in a kaleidoscopic way the book builds up a varied picture that may be more effective than a more apparently systematic one ... it is a stimulating one * Early Music Review - 21 - June 1996 *
this English translation is very welcome ... a fascinating set of essays that throw new light on many aspects of Mozart's life and works ... it can be highly recommended ... It more than lives up to its title and is innovative in its approach and illuminating in its observations.



Book Information
ISBN 9780198163398
Author Konrad Kuster
Format Hardback
Page Count 428
Imprint Clarendon Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 734g
Dimensions(mm) 223mm * 144mm * 29mm