Mozart was fascinated, amused, aroused, hurt, and betrayed by women. He loved and respected them, composed for them, performed with them. This unique biography looks at his interaction with each, starting with his family (his mother, Maria Anna and beloved and talented sister, Nannerl), and his marriage (which brought his 'other family', the Weber sisters). His relationships with his artists are examined, in particular those of his operas, through whose characters Mozart gave voice to the ...

**Read by the author, acclaimed conductor Jane Glover.'You don’t have to be able to hum Mozart to find this book utterly engrossing . . . I couldn’t put it down' - Joanna Lumley**An expertly researched and vividly written account of Mozart’s formative trips to Italy.At thirteen years old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a child prodigy who had captured the hearts of northern Europe, but his father Leopold was now determined to conquer Italy. Together, they made ...

'You don’t have to be able to hum Mozart to find this book utterly engrossing . . . I couldn’t put it down' - Joanna LumleyAt thirteen years old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a child prodigy who had captured the hearts of northern Europe, but his father Leopold was now determined to conquer Italy. Together, they made three visits there the last when Mozart was seventeen, all vividly recounted here by acclaimed conductor Jane Glover.Father and son travelled fr...

'Joyous, wise, reassuring and laugh-out-loud funny. I love these two women so much.' Elizabeth Day'The two funniest women on planet earth right now.' Dolly Alderton'I want to be Fi and Jane when I grow up.' Clare Balding'A book like no other. Honest and very, very funny. Some bits made me want to cheer.' Sara Cox**'**If you loved the late, great Victoria Wood, then you'll love Fi and...

Features audiobook-exclusive extra content, including a mid-record tea break and bespoke introductions for each chapter.'Joyous, wise, reassuring and laugh-out-loud funny. I love these two women so much.' Elizabeth Day'A book like no other. Honest and very, very funny. Some bits made me want to cheer - a sentence on parenting teenage girls was so good I may get it tattooed on myself, possibly in Hebrew.' Sara CoxAwa...

"A fascinating and genuinely accessible guide....Educating, enjoyable, and delightfully unscary."—Classical MusicWhat if Bach and Mozart heard richer, more dramatic chords than we hear in music today? What sonorities and moods have we lost in playing music in "equal temperament"—the equal division of the octave into twelve notes that has become our standard tuning method? Thanks to How Equal Temperament Ruined Harmony, "we may soon be able to hear...

Eminent historian Paul Johnson dazzles with a rich, succinct portrait of Mozart and his musicAs he’s done in Napoleon, Churchill, Jesus, and Darwin, acclaimed historian and author Paul Johnson here offers a concise, illuminating biography of Mozart. Johnson’s focus is on the music—Mozart’s wondrous output of composition and his uncanny gift for instrumentation.Liszt once said that Mozart composed more bars than a trained ...

**The Sunday Times bestseller, revised and updated for the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth.As heard throughout 2020 on Classic FM**You know the music... but do you know the man?Ludwig van Beethoven is one of the world's best loved and most influential composers. His life - its dramas, conflicts, loves and losses - is played out in his music.In this special edition to mark the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth - with a new section featuri...

A century after his death, Gustav Mahler is the most important composer of modern times. Displacing Beethoven as a box-office draw, his music offers more than the usual listening satisfactions. Many believe it has the power to heal emotional wounds and ease the pain of death. Others struggle with the intellectual fascination of its contradictory meanings. Long, loud and seldom easy, his symphonies are used to accompany acts of mourning and Hollywood melodramas. Sometimes dismissed as death...

A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for biography, this thoroughly researched study of the Classical composer deeply examines his life and work.Considered one of the most important music biographies ever written, esteemed biographer Maynard Solomon draws on a half-century of new information to provide an in-depth account of Mozart's family life, his passions, and his personality.

A biography of the greatest musical mind in Western historyMozart's unshakable hold on the public's consciousness can only be strengthened by historian and biographer Peter Gay's concise and deft look at the genius's life. Mozart traces the development of the man whose life was a whirlwind of achievement, and the composer who pushed every instrument to its limit and every genre of classical music into new realms.

Clarity of outline, conciseness, and formal beauty are excellent things in musical works, but an exquisite fancy, a noble imagination, and a lofty poetic spirit are of infinitely greater account; and no one ever possessed these inestimable gifts in richer profusion than Franz Schubert. This new edition of Henry Frost’s 1892 biography of Franz Schubert has been edited and revised. The original references to pieces by Opus number have been replaced with the more commonly used D numbers. Many...