Mozart

Now available in paperback, Mozart is a brilliant study of the great composer's life and creative genius, written by one of the most important social thinkers of our time. In Mozart, Elias provides insight into this case of tragic conflict between personal creativity and the tastes of a society which sought to control it. Part I Sociological Reflections on Mozart. .

He Simply Gave Up and Let Go.

Bourgois Musicians in Court Society.

Mozart Becomes a Freelance Artist.

Craftsmen's Art and Artists' Art.

The Artist in the Human Being.

The Formative Years of a Genius.

Mozart's Youth - Between Two Social Worlds.

Part II .

Mozart's Revolt: from Salzburg to Vienna.

Emancipation Completed: Mozart's Marriage.

PThe Drama of Mozart's Life: a Chronology in Note Form.

Two Notes.

Editor's Afterword.

Index.

"A high-minded and learned study conveying new insight into Mozart's life and creative processes, and into how he fitted socially and professionally into the framework of his time." Classical Music

"Elias is insightful about the transition from craftsman's art to artist's art and the reasons for the change in the social situation of artists. He buttresses his arguments with appropriate historical comparisons." Contemporary Sociology

"Elias ... has increased and enlarged our understanding not only of Mozart but of the artist in society, making us more receptive to and understanding of artistic innovation. A rewarding study in the sociology of genius." The Semantic Review

"Freed from jargon (whether sociological or post-Freudian), there are charming passages where Elias exhibits a certain flair for storytelling.' Austrian History Yearbook

'The book is a delight to read, and a very valuable contribution to the literature of Mozart specifically and of artistic creativity in general." Free Life

"It does merit serious attention, particularly (but not only) by those who are principally interested in erecting (or resurrecting) an appropriate cultural context for Mozart's extraordinary achievement." The Music Review

Norbert Elias was Professor Emeritus at the University of Frankfurt until his death in 1990. His many works include the modern classic, The Civilizing Process. Mozart is a new and brilliant study of the great composer's life and creative genius, written by one of the most important social thinkers of our time.

As Elias shows, Mozart grew up in the tradition of court music, in a society which viewed musicians as manual workers who were expected to produce entertainment for a court audience. Throughout his short life he was constantly in search of work; the only job he was able to find was as an organist at the small court in Salzburg.

Elias describes how the composer tried to live in Vienna as a freelance musician. It was not, however, until the next generation - that of Beethoven - that the necessary conditions were created for such an existence. Mozart failed, he argues, because he took a step towards independence in a society which was not then ready for it. With the aristocracy of Vienna having turned its back on him, with mounting debts, no work and no prospect of fulfilling his innermost desires, Mozart died with the feeling that his social existence had completely foundered, that his life had become empty of meaning.

In Mozart, Elias brings his enormous powers of insight to bear on this case of tragic conflict between personal creativity and the tastes of a society which sought to control it.