Mozart: The Early Years 1756-1781 - Hardcover

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)

Few people these days would question Mozart's rating as the most popular of all classical composers. Yet there exists no substantial, up-to-date English-language study of the man and his works. In this new study of Mozart's early years, Stanley Sadie aims to fill this gap in the form of a traditional biography on a straightforward chronological basis. The volume covers the period up to 1781, the year of Idomeneo and Mozart's settling in Vienna. Individual works are discussed in sequence and related to the events of his life. Stanley Sadie draws substantially on the family correspondence, quoting the letters and discussing what they tell us about Mozart and his world and his relationships with his family and his professional colleagues. Also included is a discussion of all aspects of Mozart's life and his music, relating them to the environment in which he worked, social, economic and cultural as well as musical.

Much new material connected with Mozart has come to light in recent years. There have been discoveries of musical sources and new ways of studying known ones. Such finds and methods have changed our view of the chronology of many works and they often have significant biographical ramifications. Understanding of the context for Mozart's music, and indeed his life, has broadened immensely. Stanley Sadie's biography digests and interprets this corpus of new information.