Mozart's Women: His Family, His Friends, His Music

Description

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 emotions of women who were, like his entire female acquaintance, restrained by the conventions and structures of eighteenth-century society. This is their story as well as his - and shows once again that a great part of the composer's genius was in his understanding and musical expression of human nature. Evocative and beautifully written, Mozart's Women illuminates the music, the man, and above all the women who inspired him.

Jane Glover is one of our pre-eminent conductors and a Mozart expert. In her long and hugely successful career she has been Music Director of the Glyndebourne Touring Opera, Artistic Director of The London Mozart Players, and has also held Principal Conductorships of both the Huddersfield and the London Choral Societies. She has conducted all the major symphony and chamber orchestras in Britain and appears regularly at the BBC Proms. She is also a regular broadcaster, with highlights including a television series on Mozart and the radio series Opera House. She lives in London.

'unusual and original readable, informative and moving Glover uses her own experience as a conductor of Mozart's operas to give lucid and pertinent insights into the music Glover's final chapter 'After Mozart' is the most rewarding and poignant in the book Constanze emerges as a devoted wife, mother and lifelong promoter of Mozart. Glover neatly and satisfyingly ties up the loose ends in the story of the genius whose most astonishing musical miracles were achieved in his all-too-brief adulthood. Her passion for the music shines through this touching, vividly told story' Hugh Canning, Sunday Times 'Jane Glover has pulled off a coup des livres with her fresh take on Mozart's life and work. Glover's approach to her subject, through the women who played such a major role in Mozart's life, seems so obvious that it is a wonder nobody thought of it before a compelling read that wears its scholarship lightly Many conductors are good at talking about music, yet Glover belongs to that select band of conductor-scholars who have practical experience of the music they are writing about. As such, she offers insights into Mozart's work that ought to be required reading for practitioners and will equally enlighten the most casual listener' John Allison, Sunday Telegraph