Product Description
Born in Austria in 1756, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed his first piece of music, a minuet, when he was just five years old! Soon after, he was performing for kings and emperors. Although he died at the young age of thirty-five, Mozart left a legacy of more than 600 works. This fascinating biography charts the musician's extraordinary career and personal life while painting a vivid cultural history of eighteenth-century Europe. Black-and-white illustrations on every spread explore such topics as the history of opera and the evolution of musical instruments. There is also a timeline and a bibliography.

Illustrated by Carrie Robbins.
Cover illustration by Nancy Harrison. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Great History Series For Kids!
The "Who Was..." series is a wonderful way to get kids to read about history.They'll learn different & interesting things in these books they won't get anywhere else.My children asked for them for Christmas!They can't put them down.I homeschool and these are a great tool for learning.My 11 year old reads them on her own very well and my 7 yr. old reads them with a little help.Highly recommend.

Great Who Was Books
My 10 year old daughter loves reading these "Who Was..." books.They are fun and very informative.She would buy the whole series if she had the money!

inaccurate illustrations
The drawings in this book are inaccurate (instruments, the way they are held/they open, maps etc.). The artist did an awfully poor job on just about every illustration. It makes you wonder about the text! I was happy to buy this book as I thought the whole series was a great idea! But I wish the authors put more effort into this project and more responsibility.

Great book!
My daughter finally got interest in reading when she got this book as a present. I'm going to buy more books from this series for her.
Great for children over 8 years.

Great subject for a children book.
Great subject for a children book. I got this series of books for my daughter and she really enjoyes reading them. Great read and educational too.

... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (12)

Biography of Mozart
I thought this was a very good example of "How To Not Write" a biography.It lacked color and depth.I would notrecommend this book to anyone.

An excellent introduction to Mozart
While reading one day, I put on a Mozart CD only to find that I was constantly distracted by the music. Why distracted? Because not only did I like it, but this is certainly not background music. This is music that is meant to be listened to and appreciated. After listening to more works by this musical genius, I looked for and found Piero Melograni's biography on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Except for some liner notes that I have read on Mozart and of course the movie version of Mozart(which as usual, hollywood gets wrong), I needed to find a book that had the right balance in terms of both his personal as well as his professional life. Melograni offers such a book. If like me, you are reading your first book on Mozart, this is an excellent introduction to the man and his music.

What I found most intriquing about Mozart was his transformation from child prodigy to a mature and musical genius in his adult years. And what was equally impressive was the long hours and days he laboured at writing down his music. As incredible as it may seem, most of the time the music was already written. He just needed to put it down on paper. Unfortunately, records back then are few, as one reviewer pointed out, so to get a real depiction of Mozart is downright impossible. His complex relationships with his father Leopold, his sister Nannerl and his wife Constanze, are echoed in his letters to his family. Unfortunately there too, many of the letters have been either lost or destroyed.

In the end though, it is Mozart's music that matters. Listen to symphonies 25, 29, 40 and 41. Listen to piano concertos 22, 23 and 24. If you are not moved by these works alone, you are not human. Mozart put his volume of music down on paper for all of us to enjoy. And that is what matters most.

A fascinating man, interesting information, yet still a mystery
After reading Piero Melograni's biography of Mozart, I am left with the impression that ultimately we don't know much about the man who created some of the world's most beautiful music.We know things based on his letters to family and friends and on his catalog of music, the things he left behind.What we don't have a lot of, sadly, is eyewitness testimony, probably because Mozart was the most underrated and underappreciated artist in history both during his life and for many years after his death--in other words, a semi-famous composer no one thought was particularly important.The result is that Melograni is able to piece together a flowing narrative of his work and travels, and attempt to find the character of his relationships with family and friends.

Yet we are left with many holes and uncertainties.For example, we do not know for sure with whom Mozart had his first sexual encounter, however we are told that he probably--because of his infatuation with women--had many throughout his life.But since there is no real evidence of this, it is also possible (though unlikely) his wife Constanze was his one and only.We also do not know Mozart's feelings for his father and sister.Did he despise them?Did he truly love them deeply as he attests in his letters?Did he resent his father for making him a child star?For sure, we cannot say.And what about his wife and children?What was it like having Wolfgang for a husband or a father?And his work--did he love music or was it something he felt he just had to do to make a living?What was his writing process like?What inspired him as he was putting it all together?

The bulk of this book has to do with Mozart's anxiety about making a living--indeed it was almost the only thing he wrote about in his letters.His father was obsessed with money and success, forever in fear of losing it all.As a result Mozart grows trying to convince himself and those around him that he was a good composer, not so much because of the music but rather because of the reception to it, which in comparison to his popularity today, was nothing.It should sadden us I think, because we know that he was capable of incredible beauty but we don't know the story behind it.Much of his music was light and fun, and some of it was dark and tragic.Were these works a reflection of the man himself, or a result of a robotic desire to please his father and by extension, nearly everyone he came in contact with?Did Mozart truly relish the power of his symphonies and the joy of his sonnatas or the passion of his operas as we do?

I prefer to think that he did, although it is hard for us to know for sure.This book has taught me that the greatest source for knowing this man would be, of course, the music itself, and that while certain facts are known, much shall remain mysterious.

Mozart brought to life!
Melograni describes the kinds of accommodation and travel conditions of the eighteenth century and brings to life Wolfgang and his family. The author takes time to look at Mozart's family relationships (eg was Nannerl jealous at Wolfgang's early success and travels?) and their attitudes, and he explores possible reasons for Mozart's difficulties achieving proper recognition after his 'wunderkind' years. Melograni seems to have carried out thorough research but he has avoided presenting a dry list-of-facts in his biography. I was excited reading this - not too strong a word, the descriptions make one appreciate the actual situations the Mozarts lived through. Best biography I've seen.

informative, but..........
While I trust the other reviews that this is a thorough biography,and I am finding it interesting in general, I do find the writing a bit dry.Perhaps too much minutiae - well, at least for me.My hope is to finish it, but I have only got to page 45 after well over a week since I checked it out of the library.I recently read a biography of Beethoven and couldn't wait to pick it up every chance I got.Mozart is every bit as compelling a subject, but the writing in this has kept me from having that same experience with this book. ... Read more

Product Description
An essential new edition for every singer and voice studio! This is the most comprehensive multi-volume collection of Mozart opera arias ever published, with 31 to 41 arias per volume. Includes historical and plot notes about each opera and aria, and English translations for study. The most familiar arias, of course, are found in the collections, along with many masterful, vocally gratifying, but less familiar selections. Operas represented: Apollo et Hyacinthus; Ascanio in Alba; Bastien und Bastienne; La Clemenza di Tito; Cosi fan tutte; Don Giovanni; Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail; La finta giardiniera; La finta semplice; Idomeneo; Lucio Silla; Mitridate, re di Ponto; Le nozze di Figaro; L'oca del cairo; Il re pastore; Der Schauspieldirektor; Il sogno di Scipione, Zaide, Die Zauberflote. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Song List


This book contains the following arias:

Si, Ma D'un Altro Amore

Deh, se piacer mi vuoi

S'altro che lacrime

Non Piu Di Fiori

In uomini, in soldati

Come scoglio

Una Donna A Quindici Anni

Per pieta, ben mio, perdona

Ah, fuggi il traditor!

Or sai chi l'onore

Batti, batti, o bel Masetto

Vedrai, Carino

Mi Tradi quell'alma ingrata

Non Mi Dir

Ach, ich liebte, war so glucklich

Durch Zartlichkeit Und Schmeicheln

Martern aller Artern

Welche Wonne, welche Lust

Noi donne poverine

Geme la tortorella

Crudeli, fermate, oh Dio!

Senti l'eco ove t'aggiri

Tutte nel cor vi sento

Se il padre perdei

Zeffiretti lusinghieri

Ah, se il crudel periglio

Pupille amate

Porgi, Amor

Un moto di gioia

Dove Sono I Bei Momenti

Deh, vieni, non tardar

Al Desio Di Chi T'adora

Alla selva, al prato, al fonte

L'Amero, Saro Costante

Da schlagt die Abschiedsstunde

Bester Jungling!

Ruhe sanft, mein holdes Leben

Tiger! wetze nur die Klauen

O Zittre Nicht, Mein Lieber Sohn

Der Holle Rache

Ach, ich fuhl's
... Read more

Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Composers; Biography ... Read more

Product Description
The letters of one of the world’s greatest composers

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart—seen variously as a child prodigy, musical genius, tragic Romantic artist, and cultural icon—is among the most written-about of all composers. This fascinating set of his letters offers a new understanding of his life story—his marriage, compositions, performances, occasional money worries, opinions of fellow musicians, and complex relationship with his father—and a revealing portrait of both the man and the musician. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Who edited this?
While I'm finding the book very interesting, I just have so say that the editing is TERRIBLE!I've found several typos just in the foreward.No one should have to decipher a book's true meaning because of bad typeset.

Couldn't put it down!
Who knew that a primary source would be so much better than any biography?This is a surprisingly fascinating and easy read.The translator does a fantastic job with the letters, even getting one of Mozart's silly poems to rhyme in English.You get the real story told from the point of view of the Mozarts themselves.You really feel bad for Leopold as his rather flighty son traipses around Europe running up debts.

Cons: I know the letters were voluminous, but I wish there were even more letters included here.Maybe they will come out with an unabridged edition.I know the footnotes were difficult to do, as the Mozarts drop tons of names, but I also wish there was more information included on some of the people referenced in the letters.

That said, I highly recommend this.

A fascinating window into Mozart's world.
I must confess I'm still reading this wonderful compilation of correspondence; but I can confidently state that it vividly draws you into the daily lives of Mozart and his family.Ever wonder what day-to-day life was like in Mozart's time?There's no better way to experience it than to read these letters and their descriptions of the mundane and the extraordinary, the aggravations of travel, the rewards (monetary and otherwise) of performing for royalty, and all of the other details that would fascinate anyone who has ever wondered what Mozart's life was really like.Highly, highly recommended. ... Read more

Product Description
Mozart's remarkable life was well and richly documented in letters:his own and those concerning him written by others.This volume brings together a fascinating selection, giving us a detailed portrait of the composer's life and times.

Here are letters to and from Mozart's domineering father, Leopold, the earliest of which, addressed to a friend, describes the six-year-old Mozart's accomplishments.There is also a letter sent to the Royal Society in London from one of its members describing an astonishing encounter with the eight-year-old prodigy.Here are letters from the adolescent Mozart to his mother and sister; adoring, protective missives to his wife; and, from his later years, letter after letter to friends, family, former patrons, and fellow musicians begging for financial help.

Mozart's correspondence is full of details that illuminate the quotidien aspects of his days, reveal the great joys and burdens of his musical genius, and provide us with a lively account of the musical politics in the courts and opera houses of eighteenth-century Europe.Finally, in a letter written by Mozart's sister-in-law, this splendid epistolary portrait of the great composer is completed with a deeply moving account of his last hours. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

a perfect gift for a classic music lover!
I purchased this for my husband, who absolutely loves everything Mozart.I ended up reading it myself and it is so endearing.There are letters from Mozart's crazy father and other letters from Mozart to his mother and sister.(And many others). My favorite, however, are the letters from Mozart to his wife.His personality in these letters is so jolly and upbeat, yet you can tell that there were underlying problems.

This is such an interesting, personal peek into the life of a musical genious packaged in a small, hardcover package.A perfect gift for someone else or for yourself. ... Read more

Product Description
Published within the 'Signature' Series, a series of authoritative performing editions of standard keyboard works, prepared from original sources by leading scholars. Including informative introductions and performance notes ... Read more

Product Description
A masterpiece of vocal composition, Mozart’s final work majestically combines the voices of orchestra, chorus, and four soloists into a deeply moving, elegiac work of glowing intensity. This miniature score version, reprinted from the authoritative Breitkopf & Härtel edition, offers a conveniently sized version of one of the most recorded and performed standards of the repertoire.
Amazon.com Review
Contrary to popular fiction (Peter Shaffer's fanciful playAmadeus), there is no particular mystery surrounding thecommissioning of Mozart's Requiem. A Viennese musical dilettante whowas fond of ordering up music from established composers and thenpassing (or trying to pass) it off as his own work originallycommissioned it. There's more question about how much of it Mozartcomposed in full or left sketches for, and how much his colleagueFranz Sussmayer--asked by Constanze Mozart to complete the work--wroteon his own. Sussmayer, unsurprisingly, claimed a great deal forhimself; Constanze averred that her husband had virtually completedthe piece before his death and simply left the detail work to be doneby another. Many later musicians have been highly critical ofSussmayer's additions, and several other notable composers, includingBenjamin Britten, have tried their hands at finishing up and fillingin Mozart's musical ideas.

Readers can play musical detective and decide for themselves just whatSussmayer contributed to the work--and how well he did it--with theaid of this full orchestral score from Dover, part of its new seriesof pocket-sized scores that offer convenient size and affordableprices. As is customary with Dover, this is a reprint of anout-of-print original from another publisher (in this case Breitkopf &Hartel), so it does not contain the most up-to-date musicalscholarship, nor does it offer much in the way of informative notes onthe music. Despite that, it remains a very useful tool for studentsand music lovers alike. --Sarah Bryan Miller ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Too small to use
Too small to use/read, compounded by the fact the print paper is low quality, as is the printing itself.

Really, Amazon should not be selling this.

Mission Accomplished
This product is exactly what it says it is: the complete score to the most commonly performed version of Mozart's Requiem, the one finished by his pupil, Franz Xaver Sussmayr.My favorite thing about this score is that it includes notes on who wrote what!We're not positive who did how much precisely, but these sound to me reasonably accurate.

Unbelievable writing, this piece.

Includes translation of Latin.

Definitely a miniature score!
I bought this score from Amazon and had to send it back as soon as it arrived. I had tried to find out more about it before purchasing it but couldn't find a description anywhere so I'm writing this review to help others in the same situation.

Firstly this is a score of Mozart's Requiem, surely one of the most beautiful and profound pieces of music there is. A fantastic piece of art by an amazing composer.

This particular score is part of the Dover Miniatures series and, believe me, these things are miniature! They seem barely larger than an A5 page and consequently the notes are absolutely tiny. I found it hard enough reading the Novello score of Requiem that my library stocked - and this is much harder. If your eyesight isn't absolutely spot on then give this one a miss.

And the other big problem with this score - I hadn't realised that it's the full score which means a line of music for each instrument and no separate piano score. The version I had previously used had SATB and the piano part - this had the strings and woodwind and brass and stuff like that so wasn't what I needed. If you need to buy a score of Requiem as you're playing it in a concert then you're probably going to find this too small again. I suppose it's really aimed at those singing as they need less concentration on the notes once knowing them and the book is nice and small to hold during practises but I don't think it's suitable for musicians and, for a pianist like me, it was the wrong buy altogether.

Not bad
Mozart's Requiem, is probably the most moving work in the history of music.This score is very simple because it is unabridged.This score also contains the intrumentation, the movements, and the parts in which Sussymar (the person who completed the requiem) and the score is very good. I would rate this about 3 out of the requiem scores I have seen. ... Read more

Product Description
42 of his finest works for piano complete with illustrations of the inimitable composer. Titles include: Adagio in B Minor * Aria from Don Giovanni * Eine Kleine Nachtmusik - Nos. 1-4 * Glockenspiel from The Magic Flute * Minuet from Don Juan * seven sonatinas * Turkish Rondo * and more. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

MozartWould Smile
Thisbook,MOZART, VERY BEST FOR PIANO,wasjustwhatmyhighestlevelstudentneededaftercompletingallthelevelsofthe piano series Iuseformypi anostudents.Shetookithomewith whatseemedtobesimilartoanticipationofgettinganew toy.Thepieces inthisbookwill beappealing and familiar. Shewill beexposedtomusicthatis playablesoit isgoingto bepleasant forher. ... Read more

Product Description
Latin. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

One of the Great works but Schirmer's printing always has some issues
The Mozart Requiem is on the top 20 pieces ever written according to many people I know, and with good reason -- its mixture of darker and relfective themes make for a stunning presentation.The piece's only weaknesses (mostly too much re-use of thematic material across movements) are usually attributed to Mozart's not having lived to finish the piece (the piece was finished by Mozart's student Suessmayr and published posthumously).

The Schirmer editing is quite good as well, with sane dynamic markings, etc..The same cannot be said of the print quality -- there were several stray printing marks, including one unforunate one that was in the perfect place to be (mis)-interpreted as a dotted note.Sadly, Schirmer is notorious for both such errors and flimsy bindings (although in this case the binding is solid).

All in all, this is a very good piece of sheet music, with a few minor technical flaws. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (1)

Serenades, incEine Kleine Nachtmusik
This full score contains the serenades, which was music that he composed for occasions like, garden parties etc. It contains the following, music:

Serenade in D Major k203/189b Notturno in D Major k286/269a Posthorn Serenade k320 Serenade in B- Flat k361/370a Serenade in E flat Major k375 and the Best of them all- Eine Kleine Nachtmusik K525

It has 236 pages of good quality music and the pages are sewn.! ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more