Piero Melograni here offers a wholly readable account of Mozart's remarkable life and times. This masterly biography proceeds from the young Mozart's earliest years as a wunderkind - the child prodigy who traveled with his family to perform concerts throughout Europe - to his formative years in Vienna, where he fully absorbed the artistic and intellectual spirit of the Enlightenment, to his deathbed, his unfinished Requiem, and the mystery that still surrounds his burial. Melograni's deft use of Mozart's letters throughout confers authority and vitality to his recounting, and his expertise brings Mozart's eighteenth-century milieu evocatively to life. Written with a gifted historian's flair for narrative and unencumbered by specialized analyses of Mozart's music, Melograni's is the most vivid and enjoyable biography of Mozart available.

Translated by: Lydia G. Cochrane