Wolfgang Mozart at the age of seven, accompanied by his father, Leopold Mozart, and his sister, Nannerl.
Engraving by De La Fosse after Carmontelle (1764)
Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart
By HERBERT F. PEYSER
NEW YORK
Grosset & Dunlap
PUBLISHERS
Copyright 1951 by
The Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York
Mozart’s earthly career was so poignantly short yet so filled with incalculable achievement that the author of this booklet finds himself confronted with an impossible task. He has, consequently, preferred to outline as best he could in the space at his disposal a few successive details of a life that was amazingly crowded with incident, early triumphs, and subsequent crushing tragedies, rather than to consider (let alone evaluate) the staggering creative abundances the master bequeathed mankind.
It is scarcely necessary to disclaim for this thumbnail sketch any new slant or original illumination. If it moves any reader to renew his acquaintance with the standard biographies of the composer or, better still, to deepen his artistic enrichment by a study of modern interpretations of contemporary Mozart scholars like Alfred Einstein, and Bernhard Paumgartner, its object will be more than achieved.
Printed in the United States of America