H. C. Robbins1926 Landon

A biography of the eighteenth-century Austrian composer responsible for the creation of the modern orchestra and numerous advances in musical techniques.

As 1991 is the bicentenary of the death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, worldwide attention will be focused on the composer and his music. Author H.C. Robbins Landon presents a dazzling portrait of 18th-century Vienna and Mozart, with a unique look at the crucial years when Mozart struggled to transform himself from a precocious boy to the creative genius he was to become.

Beethoven epitomizes the conventional view of genius: the lone outsider; the self-absorbed creator and pathfinder; the passionate, heroic, tragic figure ahead of his times. His lifespan, from 1770 to 1827, embraced on of the most turbulent and decisive periods in European history, and his music formed the bridge between classicism and romanticism. This book comprises carefully selected documents, supported by the commentaries of the editor. These...