Rating: 
Summary: Readable and Informative
Review: Noted cultural historian and Freud scholar Gay, author of the autobiographical My German Question (LJ 8/98), here presents an intriguing psychological exploration of the life and music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Using copious excerpts from Mozart's family's letters and drawing on a variety of secondary sources, Gay constructs a portrait of a developing genius who appears obsessed with the scatological and financial aspects of his existence. Gay traces the artist's maturation in his relations with his father and other authority figures while describing the culminating musical masterpieces of Mozart's later years. Gay is an eloquent advocate for Mozart's place in the very highest echelon of composers. He performs a valuable service in debunking several myths, and his exemplary bibliographic essay directs readers to other relevant titles. Recommended as an illuminating guide to Mozart's psyche; seek elsewhere for musical analysis or straightforward biography.
Rating: 
Summary: Readable, Informative, Brief
Review: Peter Gay's biograghy of Mozart is a nice additon to the Penguin Lives series. It is short and readable and captures all the salient facts of both Mozart's life and his works. This is the perfect book for those who want a short read to enhance their listening and understanding pleasure. There are better, more thorough accounts of Mozart's life but this volume dances over much of the same territory while nicely peeling away the mythology clinging to Mozart through the centuries. A bibliograhical note at the back will lead the readers who have become interested further down the garden path. The other readers will be quite satisfied with what they have read in this compact, delightful book.
Rating:
Summary: Readable, Informative, Brief
Review: Peter Gay's biograghy of Mozart is a nice additon to the Penguin Lives series. It is short and readable and captures all the salient facts of both Mozart's life and his works. This is the perfect book for those who want a short read to enhance their listening and understanding pleasure. There are better, more thorough accounts of Mozart's life but this volume dances over much of the same territory while nicely peeling away the mythology clinging to Mozart through the centuries. A bibliograhical note at the back will lead the readers who have become interested further down the garden path. The other readers will be quite satisfied with what they have read in this compact, delightful book.
Rating:
Summary: A delightful gem of a biography, compact yet informative
Review: Peter Gay's brief biography of Mozart is the third of the new Penguin Lives which I have read, but only the first to offer a reasonably complete portrait. (The others were "Mao Zedong" by Jonathan Spence, which seemed disappointingly incomplete, and "Woodrow Wilson" by Louis Auchincloss, which seemed terribly superficial.) As an eminent cultural historian of Europe since the Enlightenment and a native of German-speaking Europe himself, Gay is more than qualified to write a superior life story of Mozart and certainly rises to the occasion with a captivating style that made reading this book a pleasure.For a book that is only 163 pages long, exclusive of endnotes and bibliographic essay, this volume offers an unusually full picture. It depicts Mozart as man and musician, while placing him and his art in the context of his times. Gay delves into Mozart's complex relationship with his autocratic father, describing his evolution from docile Wunderkind to assertive mature artist. He also explores Mozart's unusual personality, including his often juvenile sense of humor, his devoted commitment to his wife, his tendency to constantly live beyond his means and the resulting sometimes obsequious dependency on his patrons, and his interactions with contemporary composers, particularly Johann Christoph Bach and Franz Josef Haydn. Gay is especially good at explaining Mozart's major contributions to the development of classical music in terms that even someone who lacks a technical understanding of music can fathom, showing how he contributed to chamber music, the symphony, and opera. And he briefly points out what is distinctive about a number of the composers' major works. In short, this is a book that offers all the fun of "Amadeus," but a far more satisfying portrayal of Mozart and a fuller explication of why he is an icon of Western civilization. For readers who lack much knowledge about the composer, Gay does an artful job of tantalizing them into wanting to learn more, then pointing the way with a helpful and thorough bibliographical essay.
Rating:
Summary: A delightful gem of a biography, compact yet informative
Review: Peter Gay's brief biography of Mozart is the third of the new Penguin Lives which I have read, but only the first to offer a reasonably complete portrait. (The others were "Mao Zedong" by Jonathan Spence, which seemed disappointingly incomplete, and "Woodrow Wilson" by Louis Auchincloss, which seemed terribly superficial.) As an eminent cultural historian of Europe since the Enlightenment and a native of German-speaking Europe himself, Gay is more than qualified to write a superior life story of Mozart and certainly rises to the occasion with a captivating style that made reading this book a pleasure. For a book that is only 163 pages long, exclusive of endnotes and bibliographic essay, this volume offers an unusually full picture. It depicts Mozart as man and musician, while placing him and his art in the context of his times. Gay delves into Mozart's complex relationship with his autocratic father, describing his evolution from docile Wunderkind to assertive mature artist. He also explores Mozart's unusual personality, including his often juvenile sense of humor, his devoted commitment to his wife, his tendency to constantly live beyond his means and the resulting sometimes obsequious dependency on his patrons, and his interactions with contemporary composers, particularly Johann Christoph Bach and Franz Josef Haydn. Gay is especially good at explaining Mozart's major contributions to the development of classical music in terms that even someone who lacks a technical understanding of music can fathom, showing how he contributed to chamber music, the symphony, and opera. And he briefly points out what is distinctive about a number of the composers' major works. In short, this is a book that offers all the fun of "Amadeus," but a far more satisfying portrayal of Mozart and a fuller explication of why he is an icon of Western civilization. For readers who lack much knowledge about the composer, Gay does an artful job of tantalizing them into wanting to learn more, then pointing the way with a helpful and thorough bibliographical essay.
Rating:
Summary: A delightful gem of a biography, compact yet informative
Review: Peter Gay's brief biography of Mozart is the third of the new Penguin Lives which I have read, but only the first to offer a reasonably complete portrait. (The others were "Mao Zedong" by Jonathan Spence, which seemed disappointingly incomplete, and "Woodrow Wilson" by Louis Auchincloss, which seemed terribly superficial.) As an eminent cultural historian of Europe since the Enlightenment and a native of German-speaking Europe himself, Gay is more than qualified to write a superior life story of Mozart and certainly rises to the occasion with a captivating style that made reading this book a pleasure. For a book that is only 163 pages long, exclusive of endnotes and bibliographic essay, this volume offers an unusually full picture. It depicts Mozart as man and musician, while placing him and his art in the context of his times. Gay delves into Mozart's complex relationship with his autocratic father, describing his evolution from docile Wunderkind to assertive mature artist. He also explores Mozart's unusual personality, including his often juvenile sense of humor, his devoted commitment to his wife, his tendency to constantly live beyond his means and the resulting sometimes obsequious dependency on his patrons, and his interactions with contemporary composers, particularly Johann Christoph Bach and Franz Josef Haydn. Gay is especially good at explaining Mozart's major contributions to the development of classical music in terms that even someone who lacks a technical understanding of music can fathom, showing how he contributed to chamber music, the symphony, and opera. And he briefly points out what is distinctive about a number of the composers' major works. In short, this is a book that offers all the fun of "Amadeus," but a far more satisfying portrayal of Mozart and a fuller explication of why he is an icon of Western civilization. For readers who lack much knowledge about the composer, Gay does an artful job of tantalizing them into wanting to learn more, then pointing the way with a helpful and thorough bibliographical essay.
Rating: 
Summary: Short and Competent, but Nothing More
Review: Peter Gay's MOZART is short, competent and middle-of-the-road, and, as such, a bit of a disappointment. I had expected more from this celebrated author. Some special verve, some special insight. But neither are there. Evidently he met the needs of the Penguin series--to provide a standard short bio. That's what it is, nothing more.
Rating:
Summary: Short and Competent, but Nothing More
Review: Peter Gay's MOZART is short, competent and middle-of-the-road, and, as such, a bit of a disappointment. I had expected more from this celebrated author. Some special verve, some special insight. But neither are there. Evidently he met the needs of the Penguin series--to provide a standard short bio. That's what it is, nothing more.
Rating:
Summary: A concise account of the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Review: Superbly narrated by Alexander Adams, Peter Gay's Mozart presents a concise account of the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Gay's exhaustive research and outstanding text reveals a life and musical accomplishment that is more intriguing that the many myths that have long been associated with one of the most profoundly enduring composers in the annals of music. This flawless produced, very highly recommended audiobook edition from Books On Tape is a compact disk format featuring four discs packaged in a sturdy plastic case very highly suited for personal, school, and community library collections.
Rating:
Summary: Mozart's A Delight and Gay's Got Him
Review: The Penguin Lives series continues to serve me well as I rebel against the opposing current of plodding steamer trunk-sized biographies. In under 200 pages, the Penguins neatly shake off obscurity and/or legends that have grown up around a significant life and tell its story neatly, in light of the individual's environment and enduring contributions to culture. Peter Gay's Mozart is a good example of the series' strength. The narrative flows gracefully, allowing Mozart's character to come out in full. As Gay says, his genius was special in many ways: he built on an early precocity; he did not live in a garret, he was popular in his own time, he participated in a community of peers rather than in a vacuum. Mozart's life has been clouded in legend and Gay makes it his business to sift out the truth. Sometimes the truth dovetails with the tales, as in being booted in the rear by Count Arco upon being released from his Saltzburg duties, after whining about wanting out. The guy had his bratty moments. Other legends are celebrity gossip: his death was prosaic illness, he and Salieri seemed to get along, and his money problems were probably not so terrible as he himself would tell it, though productivity is directly connected to patronage. Gay does a good job of portraying the complex relationship between Mozart and his tyrannical stage father. Likewise, he effectively describes Mozart's relationship with his social environment, late in the Enlightenment. He also tracks his creative development, revisiting the genius of many works, especially the later operas. Working within only 163 pages, though, something gets left out: we know nothing of Mozart's own children and Gay drops almost any mention of his sister, Nannerl, past their childhood. He says that Leopold, Mozart's father, continued to exploit his son's gift after his death but does not say how when it comes time to discuss it. Those are minor flaws. Mozart's a delight, the writing's a delight. It's like a fizzy drink packed with nutrients.
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