Recommended book lists related to Mozart’s biography

1. "The letters of Mozart and his family"

2. "The Magician's Concerto"/(France) Michel Honake

3. "The Biography of Mozart"/(Germany) Felix Huhe

4. "The Biography of Mozart"/(English) John Rothery

5. "Mozart's Love and Death" / Xu Jinghua

6. "1791, Mozart's Last Year" (USA) H.C. Robbins Langdon

7. "Mozart's Success or Failure: Musical Genius from a Sociological Perspective/(Germany) by Norbert Elias

Title/Responsible Person: The letters of Mozart and his family/chronologically arranged, translated and edited; with an introduction, notes, and indexes by Emily Anderson.

Edition: 3rd ed., revised by Stanley Sadie and Fiona Smart.

Keywords: truth, collection of letters

The version I read is an English translation (I seem to have heard of a Chinese translation of a collection of letters that was very bad), which mainly records letters from him and his family (Old Mozart, Constance, etc.). His letters are, in any case, the first source of information about Mozart's life, even more direct than his music. Although it is very thick, you can have a very close contact with Mozart's life, his language, his feelings, and understand his relationship with the people around him. When I saw the letters that Mozart wrote to his mother and sister when he was a teenager, I really felt like a little angel. Compared to Leopold, he only wrote a few sentences, as if he was caught by his father during the trip. It's the same as writing a letter. Every time, it's probably an innocent and a little impatient child saying: I'm still alive and everything is fine. Sister, kiss mom for me and say hello to me and my friends. His letters to Xiaokang after their marriage were always full of passion. When they were separated, Mozart often wrote his thoughts affectionately.

Since I have not yet found a book that tells the story of Mozart’s life from a very academic perspective, this collection of letters is the most direct way to understand his life. However, some scholars have questioned that there are untrue elements in it. For example, Mozart seemed to often lie to his father about his financial situation when he grew up.

Title/Responsible Person: Mozart: The Magician’s Concerto/(France) Written by Michel Honaker and translated by Liu Jianhong

Publishing and Distribution: Changsha: Hunan Literature and Art Publishing House, 2000

Keywords: short, vivid

This is the first short biography book about Mozart that I have read. It's so thin that I almost read it in one sitting. As a biographical novel, it does not actually contain much content. Instead, it selects representative moments in Mozart's life and shows the most typical and dramatic parts. Although this book does not necessarily have full historical rigor, nor does it describe a very rich historical background, but for me, a Mozart fan who came from musicals and dramas, this book uses only a few words to tell the story. Outline a vivid and dramatic Mozart. There are even some jokes from musicals that can be found here, which can be said to have inspired my interest in reading other Mozart books. ,

However, because the book is really short, it is obviously not enough if you want to have an in-depth understanding of Mozart's life. It is more like a popular biography exuding the charm of conflict, and it may also be the source of inspiration for various movies and dramas.

Title/Responsible person: Mozart/(Germany) Translated by Felix Huhe

Publication: Beijing: People's Literature Publishing House, 2006

Keywords: biographical novel, recommendation

This should be a biographical novel that everyone respects. It is indeed excellent in all aspects. First of all, it respects historical facts. Many plots can be found in collections of letters or other records. Secondly, it has an appropriate sense of art and creativity, with delicate and sincere descriptions in many places, but it does not overly symbolize Mozart.

If you want a relatively comprehensive understanding of Mozart without being overly dramatic, this may be the best choice. Perhaps the shortcoming is that the overall rhythm of the story is not particularly good, and it is a bit delayed in some places.

Title/Responsible Person: Biography of Mozart/(English) Translation by Wang Chaoyuan by John Rothery

Publication and Distribution: Guilin: Guangxi Normal University Press, 2001

Keywords: quite satisfactory

This is a "Cambridge Musician's Life Series", which has the feeling of popularizing the history of famous people. On the one hand, this positioning limits artistic re-creation; on the other hand, its length is too short and the story cannot be told in depth. After reading it, I wasn’t very impressed. It’s considered an average biographical novel. The content is richer than "The Magician's Concerto", but a little less dramatic, but more realistic; the length is shorter than Hu He's biography, and the emotional portrayal is not as deep. But it is still a good book for popular understanding.

Title/Responsible person: Mozart’s Love and Death/Xu Jinghua, translated by Katie Xie, Li Xiaoyu

Publication and Distribution: Beijing: Sanlian Bookstore, 2006

Keywords: fictional literature

"This biographical love story is neither a novel nor the truth. It may be called a book of words and inferences." This book is not a biography, but based on some Based on folk rumors and indirect evidence, this book is about the love story between Mozart and one of his female students in his last years. All of Mozart’s music in his later years was written for her, and Mozart also died for love. The source of this speculation is not groundless. The overreaction of the female student’s husband after Mozart’s death (the setting of the story is the extramarital passion between the two), as well as some later memories of the female student’s relatives, are all sources of this speculation. at. But the author in "Mozart's Last Year" does not seem to support this possibility. However, I personally don’t like this setting very much, so I have no interest in this book.

One of the highlights of this book is that each chapter is connected to a piece of music by Mozart, and it seems that the author has discovered some clues in these musics. In addition, the book is written in the form of scripted dialogue.

Title/Responsible Person: 1791, Mozart’s Last Year/(USA) Translated by H.C. Robbins Langdon Shi Xichen

Publication and Distribution: Guilin: Guangxi Normal University Publishing House, 2018

Keywords: objective, pertinent, meticulous

Because it only focuses on the last year of Mozart’s life, the overall writing is very detailed and objective. It is not a comprehensive book. This biographical novel is based on existing materials (such as letters, etc.) to restore Mozart's last year from all angles, including his experiences, relationship with the Franciscans, the truth about the Requiem, and his illness condition, property status and even clothing. I like it very much. Mozart's stories have been used in various art forms, including the above-mentioned "Love and Death" and the classic movie "God's Beloved". This has attracted a large number of modern fans to Mozart. At the same time, Mozart's The image has also gradually been dramatized and symbolized. But "The Last Year" is really based on historical data, trying to get rid of the labels that have been attached to Mo since his death and restore the facts.

Title/Responsible person: The Success and Failure of Mozart/(Germany) Written by Norbert Elias (Germany) Edited by Michel Schroeder

Publication items: Guilin: Guangxi Normal University Press, 2006

Keywords: sociology, review

You don’t have to worry about wearing “sociological” glasses and having too strong an academic atmosphere and “Mozart” "The personal element will be very weak. I still have many preferences for this book. After all, it is very enlightening to look at Mozart from the perspective of a non-musician and non-literary person. Moreover, its sociological perspective is professional enough but not difficult to understand.

Regarding Mo, the public always shows more enthusiasm for his derivative artistic creation than reliable historical data, and worships his talent more than being interested in him himself, so they always ignore where Mo is. Class background, social background. And this book can tell you what will happen if Mo’s relationship with Mo’s father, his relationship with nobles (such as the bishop), and Mo’s struggle are stripped of the ideal body of the artistic work and measured under the sociological yardstick. .

Mozart was born into a musical family and was a prodigy who became famous at a young age. For him, creative resources, fame, money, and a stable life were not out of reach. Compared with a lifetime of struggle, Mozart , for an artist who can only rectify his name after death, his starting point is already very high.

However, he still encountered a lot of "tragedy" and "failure" in his life, not because he was not talented enough, or because he was "jealous of talents", but because he was always missing some "things", and this book begins with The relationship between an individual and society, try to give an answer.

I have only read these few books so far, which is not intensive reading. I will continue to add new books. Welcome to communicate.