Mozart: The Reign of Love

This author provides top notch information about the life of Mozart. He references plenty of primary sources (including a good number of Mozart's crass lunatic letters) and brushes aside some of the inaccurate melodramatic Victorian flourishes that made their way into earlier biographies. The portrait of Mozart that emerges seems to be more true-to-life than the unbelievable genius and/or miserable tragedy that are laid on so thickly by some treatments (I'm looking at you, Amadeus) - though there is still plenty of both genius and tragedy.

If I were a musician or composer (as this author is), I would probably give the book 5 out of 5 stars. However, I'm not one and have a pretty basic understanding of musical theory, so the endless show more descriptions and analyses of Mozart's various compositions (instruments, mood, keys...soooo much about keys) became quite tedious. I'm not sure how much of the book this aspect takes up but my guess would be at least a third - though that might just be my boredom talking.

Overall, I'm glad that I read this, but I don't think that I would recommend it unless you are fairly music savvy and just as interested in hearing Mozart's music described and analyzed as you are in learning about his life. show less

I had mixed feelings about this book. The author offers a scholarly biography of Mozart. It is well written and mostly accessible. You get to know Mozart, his family, his friends, and his times. Bravo! But the part that was the least accessible was the descriptions of Mozart's music. I am a musician, but I felt the very detailed description of key musical selections was very difficult reading-just not interesting to read in print. I have come to read many books by alternating the actual reading with listening to audio book, depending on whether I am reading in bed or traveling by car. I couldn't help imagining an audio book version that would play the music being described. I ended up doing this myself. While reading the book, I played show more the described music in the background. The book, already rather long, became much longer! (and more enjoyable).

I also read Swafford's biography of Beethoven, written in the same style. Everything I said in this review applies to that book as well. show less