Rating: 
Summary: A Pleasant Diversion
Review: This was an entertaining fictional glimpse into the world of the infamous Weber family. The author takes the reader "backstage" and creates her version of Mozart, his wife Constanze pre-"them" and the those around them. The look at Constanze was much kinder than what I have read about her, which was refreshing, if not generous. The storyline was a bit predictable from time to time. I also finished it, literally, in about four hours total. Overall, however, it was a fun read. It's nice to be able to enjoy a book without having to bleed every scene.
Rating: 
Summary: Beautifully written!
Review: This was one of the most beautifully written novels I have read in a long time. It was full of life and music just flowed from the pages. I fell in love with all the characters and wished the book didn't end so quickly. All of them were so deep I felt like I was there and observing their lives.
Rating:
Summary: "Our beloved Mozart was not quite suited to this world."
Review: Through the four daughters of Fridolin Weber, a poor, but talented, musician who knew just about everyone in the music world of Mannheim, author Stephanie Cowell reveals the rich, musical life of the inhabitants. Every Thursday evening, Weber opens his house to performers, composers, and singers, who entertain an always-enthusiastic audience and an occasional music patron. It is at one of these soirees in 1777, that the 21-year-old Mozart and his mother, visitors from Salzburg, Austria, first meet the Webers. This meeting is the first of many over the next three years, as Mozart falls desperately in love with one sister, lives with the family for a time in Vienna, and eventually marries another sister. So close is he to the family that he writes compositions for the voices of two of the sisters and even creates parts in his operas for them.Author Cowell portrays the domestic life of late eighteenth century Germany in careful detail, revealing the customs, the lifestyle, and the intellectual life of Mannheim, then Munich, and eventually Vienna. Every homely detail, from the type of stockings the girls wore, to the rags they used to curl their hair contributes to the realism, while on-going, personal insights into the tenuous and highly competitive life of a budding composer, like Mozart, and the role of the prince-bishop as a patron make the music world come alive. The Mozart we see here is very different from the Mozart in Amadeus. Young and in many ways naïve, he is not the petulant and sissified dandy we see in the film. He is, however, somewhat clumsy in his personal relationships and unsure how to obtain the kind of support he needs for his prodigious talent to flourish, and he often has few choices open to him. Lovers of romance will find plenty to admire here, as the Weber girls individually explore their own world, their potential futures, and their sexuality, while Mozart tries to find an outlet for the music in his soul. This is a love story--showing the passionate love between men and women, and the quiet devotion of parent and child, in a long ago time and in an exotic, often rarified atmosphere. Filled with sensuous descriptions, it is more a study of the four sisters than it is of Mozart, providing their woman's-eye views of music, the place of music in their lives, and the sacrifices they and their spouses must make for art. Mary Whipple
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