| Abstract |
What was Mozart really like -- wild? sublime? responsible? fun-loving? bright? foul-mouthed? Reading these sparkling new translations of Mozart's letters, we learn in his own words that he was all of these and much more. Here is the composer at his most intimate and unguarded, expressing his feelings about life, love, music, and the world around him. For this collection, the editor has carefully chosen more than 275 letters and post-scripts written by Mozart over a span of almost twenty-two years -- from his first journey to Italy, when he was just shy of fourteen, to the final months of his life in Vienna. The letters are supplied with introductions and annotations to place them within a biographical context and to offer a chronicle of the composer's life, personal development, and artistic growth. These new translations into English, the first in more than sixty years, are faithful to the original German even to the point of misspellings, which abound in the early correspondence. The editor has spared no effort to capture the flavor of the writing, transmit its every nuance, and render every thought accurately, in language as closely equivalent to Mozart's as any translation can be. Copious annotations identify the individuals named (and misnamed) by Mozart, supply necessary details. For understanding his references to places and events, and provide linguistic details about the originals that would otherwise pass unnoticed. This is a book for anyone who has ever loved a work by Mozart, from the deceptively simple Eine kleine Nachtmusik to the complex and towering Requiem. |
