Table of Contents

1: Salzburg and the Mozart Family
2: Childhood and First Travels
3: The Road to Paris
4: Playing for the King and Queen of England
5: The Homeward Journey
6: The Eleven-Year-Old in Salzburg
7: Disappointment in Vienna
8: Salzburg, 1769
9: Italy without Nannerl
10: Mitridate at Milan
11: Success in Milan
12: Working for the Prince-Archbishop
13: Vain Hopes in Vienna
14: A Stable Period at the Salzburg Court
15: Operas, Sonatas, Serenades, Concertos
16: Frustration
17: Mannheim
18: 'Off with you to Paris!'
19: Salzburg Concertmaster-Organist
20: Idomeneo at Munich
Notes
Bibliography
Index

About the Author

Stanley Sadie died on 21 March 2005

He was formerly the editor of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and the Editor of the Master Musicians series.

Reviews

Mozart: The Early Years is a work of consolidation and synthesis...supported by a good index and a fine introduction by Neal Zaslaw, the volume will serve as the standard reference on its subject for many years to come. David Black, Music and Letters Journal ...this monumental, engrossing study is founded on meticulous use of the most recent, abundant research ... this fascinating, scholarly yet readable book discusses every aspect of the young composer's life and works in their cultural, economic, musical, and social contexts ... It is a definitive work about Mozart's life until he became established in Vienna. Stefano Gera, Day by Day Highly detailed, eminently level-headed, blessedly non-academic in tone, scrupulously thorough and objective, absolutely up-to-date musicologically... There is no fuller, richer or more reliably accurate account of Mozart's early life, nor any that brings his life and times more vividly into focus. Piano Magazine ...the most up-to-date, exhaustive and sanely reliable biographical and musical study now available in the English language, a superb achievement that will surely stand the test of time. Brian Robins, Goldberg Mozartians will respond to this book with the awe it rightfully deserves... the ideal response to this book would be to rush out and buy 50 CDs and to read and listen simultaneously. Jane Stevenson, The Observer Stanley Sadie brings us closer to the composer's skin; Mozart: The Early Years 1756-1781 is the most balanced guide to Mozart's youth ever published in English. Andrew Clark, Financial Times A lasting monument to scholarship. Lucasta Miller, The Guardian A musicological landmark... Sadie has a real flair for elucidation, wears his massive learning lightly, and writes in a style that is unfailingly easy-going and personable. The Scotsman magisterially detailed book... Sadie's vast book will be essential to serious Mozartians, especially his superb evaluation of the early works. Richard Morrison, The Times This book is meticulous, solid and useful. Rupert Christiansen, Sunday Telegraph A new narrative biography for our time. Nicholas Kenyon, TLS Had he lived to complete it, Stanley Sadie's would probably have been the most exhaustive, and certainly the most level-headed, Mozart biography in English. Misha Donat, BBC Music Magazine An imbeccably balanced account. Richard Morrison, The Times

Mozart: The Early Years is a work of consolidation and synthesis...supported by a good index and a fine introduction by Neal Zaslaw, the volume will serve as the standard reference on its subject for many years to come. David Black, Music and Letters Journal ...this monumental, engrossing study is founded on meticulous use of the most recent, abundant research ... this fascinating, scholarly yet readable book discusses every aspect of the young composer's life and works in their cultural, economic, musical, and social contexts ... It is a definitive work about Mozart's life until he became established in Vienna. Stefano Gera, Day by Day Highly detailed, eminently level-headed, blessedly non-academic in tone, scrupulously thorough and objective, absolutely up-to-date musicologically... There is no fuller, richer or more reliably accurate account of Mozart's early life, nor any that brings his life and times more vividly into focus. Piano Magazine ...the most up-to-date, exhaustive and sanely reliable biographical and musical study now available in the English language, a superb achievement that will surely stand the test of time. Brian Robins, Goldberg Mozartians will respond to this book with the awe it rightfully deserves... the ideal response to this book would be to rush out and buy 50 CDs and to read and listen simultaneously. Jane Stevenson, The Observer Stanley Sadie brings us closer to the composer's skin; Mozart: The Early Years 1756-1781 is the most balanced guide to Mozart's youth ever published in English. Andrew Clark, Financial Times A lasting monument to scholarship. Lucasta Miller, The Guardian A musicological landmark... Sadie has a real flair for elucidation, wears his massive learning lightly, and writes in a style that is unfailingly easy-going and personable. The Scotsman magisterially detailed book... Sadie's vast book will be essential to serious Mozartians, especially his superb evaluation of the early works. Richard Morrison, The Times This book is meticulous, solid and useful. Rupert Christiansen, Sunday Telegraph A new narrative biography for our time. Nicholas Kenyon, TLS Had he lived to complete it, Stanley Sadie's would probably have been the most exhaustive, and certainly the most level-headed, Mozart biography in English. Misha Donat, BBC Music Magazine An imbeccably balanced account. Richard Morrison, The Times

More a biography of Mozart's music than a study of the man himself, Sadie's final opus-he died this year after publishing some 30 books-should delight musicologists but puzzle general readers. Not only is the music Sadie's primary interest, he does not believe it reveals anything, necessarily, about its composer. Indeed, he reminds readers not to impose contemporary values on Mozart's era. "Romantic eyes," for example, might see certain minor-key compositions as expressions of Mozart's grief over his mother's death, but Sadie argues that there's "no real reason to imagine that he used his music as [a] vehicle for the expression of his own personal feelings." Likewise, modern critics expect to see a certain type of progress in Mozart's oeuvre, with subsequent works building and elaborating former ones, in ways alien to Mozart on his contemporaries. Sadie is deft at situating various styles of musical composition in their cultural context: preferences for serious vs. comic opera, shorter vs. longer works, ecclesiastical vs. lay sponsorship, etc. But Sadie's real forte is his skill at dissecting musical composition-breaking it down to its constituent elements to understand its power-which is why this volume is indispensable for serious scholars, and mostly unreadable by everyone else. Illus. (Dec.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.