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Mozart
- The Reign of Love
- Narrated by: Tim Campbell
- Length: 30 hrs and 22 mins
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Publisher's summary
From the acclaimed composer and biographer Jan Swafford comes the definitive biography of one of the most lauded musical geniuses in history, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
At the earliest ages it was apparent that Wolfgang Mozart’s singular imagination was at work in every direction. He hated to be bored and hated to be idle, and through his life he responded to these threats with a repertoire of antidotes, mental and physical.
Whether in his rabidly obscene mode or not, Mozart was always hilarious. He went at every piece of his life, and perhaps most notably his social life, with tremendous gusto. His circle of friends and patrons was wide, encompassing anyone who appealed to his boundless appetites for music and all things pleasurable and fun.
Mozart was known to be an inexplicable force of nature who could rise from a luminous improvisation at the keyboard to a leap over the furniture. He was forever drumming on things, tapping his feet, jabbering away, but he could grasp your hand and look at you with a profound, searching, and melancholy look in his blue eyes. Even in company there was often an air about Mozart of being not quite there. It was as if he lived onstage and off simultaneously, a character in life’s tragicomedy but also outside of it watching, studying, gathering material for the fabric of his art.
Like Jan Swafford’s biographies Beethoven and Johannes Brahms, Mozart is the complete exhumation of a genius in his life and ours: A man who would enrich the world with his talent for centuries to come and who would immeasurably shape classical music. As Swafford reveals, it’s nearly impossible to understand classical music’s origins and indeed its evolutions, as well as the Baroque period, without studying the man himself.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
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Norman Lebrecht has devoted half of his life to pondering and researching the mindset of the Jewish intellectuals, writers, scientists, and thinkers who turned the tides of history and shaped the world today as we know it. In Genius & Anxiety, Lebrecht begins with the Communist Manifesto in 1847 and ends in 1947, when Israel was founded. This robust, magnificent volume, beautifully designed, is an urgent and necessary celebration of Jewish genius and contribution.
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Post-anxiety
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By: Norman Lebrecht
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Get Happy
- The Life of Judy Garland
- By: Gerald Clarke
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 16 hrs and 26 mins
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She lived at full throttle on stage, screen, and in real life, with highs that made history and lows that finally brought down the curtain at age 47. Judy Garland died over 30 years ago, but no biography has so completely captured her spirit - and demons - until now. From her tumultuous early years as a child performer to her tragic last days, Gerald Clarke reveals the authentic Judy in a biography rich in new detail and unprecedented revelations.
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A good book, but...
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By: Gerald Clarke
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Prince Albert
- The Man Who Saved the Monarchy
- By: A. N. Wilson
- Narrated by: Gareth Armstrong
- Length: 13 hrs and 36 mins
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Drawn from the Royal archives, including Prince Albert’s voluminous correspondence, this brilliant and ambitious book offers fascinating never-before-known details about the man and his time. A superb match of biographer and subject, Prince Albert, at last, gives this important historical figure the reverence and recognition that is long overdue.
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Well Worth Reading
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By: A. N. Wilson
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Proust's Duchess
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Geneviève Halévy Bizet Straus; Laure de Sade, Comtesse de Adhéaume de Chevigné; and Élisabeth de Riquet de Caraman-Chimay, the Comtesse Greffulhe--these were the three superstars of fin-de-siècle Parisian high society who, as Caroline Weber says, "transformed themselves, and were transformed by those around them, into living legends: paragons of elegance, nobility, and style."
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Enthralling, entertaining and brilliant
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Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know
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Elegant, profound, and riveting, Mad, Bad, Dangerous to Know illuminates not only the complex relationships between three of the greatest writers in the English language and their fathers, but also illustrates the surprising ways these men surface in their work. Through these stories of fathers and sons, Tóibín recounts the resistance to English cultural domination, the birth of modern Irish cultural identity, and the extraordinary contributions of these complex and masterful authors.
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Eminently re-readable
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Something Wonderful
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They stand at the apex of the great age of songwriting, the creators of the classic Broadway musicals Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music, whose songs have never lost their popularity or emotional power. Even before they joined forces, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II had written dozens of Broadway shows, but together they pioneered a new art form: the serious musical play.
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Fabulous book about Rodgers & Hammerstein!!!
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Diderot and the Art of Thinking Freely
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Denis Diderot is often associated with the decades-long battle to bring the world's first comprehensive Encyclopedie into existence. But his most daring writing took place in the shadows. Thrown into prison for his atheism in 1749, Diderot decided to reserve his best books for posterity - for us, in fact. In the astonishing cache of unpublished writings left behind after his death, Diderot challenged virtually all of his century's accepted truths, from the sanctity of monarchy, to the racial justification of the slave trade, to the norms of human sexuality.
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lifelong coverage of his life.
- By Michael Daly on 03-22-21
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The Roman Way
- By: Edith Hamilton
- Narrated by: Nadia May
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
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Edith Hamilton shows us Rome through the eyes of the Romans. Plautus and Terence, Cicero and Caesar, Catullus, Horace, Virgil, and Augustus come to life in their ambitions, their work, their loves and hates. In them we see reflected a picture of Roman life very different from that fixed in our minds through schoolroom days, and far livelier.
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Not so bad
- By steve on 04-25-11
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Natasha's Dance
- A Cultural History of Russia
- By: Orlando Figes
- Narrated by: Ric Jerrom
- Length: 29 hrs and 23 mins
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Beginning in the 18th century with the building of St. Petersburg - a 'window on the West' - and culminating with the challenges posed to Russian identity by the Soviet regime, Figes examines how writers, artists, and musicians grappled with the idea of Russia itself - its character, spiritual essence and destiny. He skillfully interweaves the great works - by Dostoevsky, Stravinsky, and Chagall - with folk embroidery, peasant songs, religious icons and all the customs of daily life, from food and drink to bathing habits to beliefs about the spirit world.
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A Kaleidescopic panorama of an enigmatic culture.
- By Tarquin on 02-13-19
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The Club
- Johnson, Boswell, and the Friends Who Shaped an Age
- By: Leo Damrosch
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
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In 1763, the painter Joshua Reynolds proposed to his friend Samuel Johnson that they invite a few friends to join them every Friday at the Turk's Head Tavern in London to dine, drink, and talk until midnight. Eventually, the group came to include among its members Edmund Burke, Adam Smith, Edward Gibbon, and James Boswell. It was known simply as "the Club". In this captivating audiobook, Leo Damrosch brings alive a brilliant, competitive, and eccentric cast of characters.
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Wonderful survey
- By Tad Davis on 05-10-19
By: Leo Damrosch
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Deep in the Arctic wilderness, Peter Freuchen awoke to find himself buried alive under the snow. During a sudden blizzard the night before, he had taken shelter underneath his dogsled and become trapped there while he slept. Now, as feeling drained from his body, he managed to claw a hole through the ice only to find himself in even greater danger: his beard, wet with condensation from his struggling breath, had frozen to his sled runners and lashed his head in place, exposing it to icy winds that needed only a few minutes to kill him. If Freuchen could escape that, he could escape anything.
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What listeners say about Mozart
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Tbaley
- 06-05-23
In Depth
In his prior biography of Beethoven, Professor Swafford seemed to enjoy the writing more then Mozart. Additionally, I had the privilege of an intensive one-week seminar at Kenyon College’s Summer Institute with Swafford where he illustrated the text with selections of Beethoven’s works. I’m a non-musical person, yet I learned so much!
His Mozart biography seemed to go into depth on occasion that did not always seem warranted and I found myself thinking we needed to surface to refresh ourselves. However, I never regretted tackling the lengthy tome.
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- Terence Lowery
- 12-24-22
A biography with wind and wheels.
I wonder how Wolfgang felt about waking up and finding me staring at him in wonder. Superb biography and narration.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Margaret
- 08-23-22
Entertaining & Informative
Swafford lives up to his well deserved reputation as an excellent biographer of Classical Composers.
Immediately we are whisked back to eighteenth century Austria and into the world of Classical Music. Narrator Tim Campbell gives a virtuoso performance, bringing to life the characters of this real- life drama.
The only thing missing is the Music so vividly analysed by Swafford. Thankfully I had Spotify on board to reference.
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- Michael B. Tanner
- 09-07-23
Incredibly Done
I learned so much about so much about Mozart with this book. It was expertly written, and it’s so obvious that it was done with a lot of love. I even got teary-eyed near the end when he spoke of Mozart’s death. In a strange way I began to feel like I knew him. I highly recommend this!
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- Jim Berg
- 02-03-21
Jan knows how to research & tell this story
As w his other bios - Brahms & Beethoven - Jan covers the life and times of WAM wonderfully.
Lone complaint for narrator: it’s not pronounced Salzberg rather it’s Salzburg.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Laurence R. Baker
- 06-03-23
Comprehensive and Fascinating
Stafford’s biography of Mozart was fascinating. All of the details drawn from the many letters he wrote and received create a very vivid portrait of his life and also his times. What a genius. This 30 hour audiobook is not for the meek. Though I did not understand much of the analysis of Mozart’s pieces I got the gist of how he developed as an author. What I could have done without was the lengthy plot summaries of his operas. The plots are generally vapid, and since Mozart was not the librettist, why drone on? That said, I thought the narrator was brilliant.
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- Judy
- 01-07-21
Comprehensive Bio
This is a serious examination of Mozart the child prodigy, followed in due course by Mozart the saucy grownup genius who leaves his mark on the world. Author Swafford provides an illuminating look at the times, including the difficulties of travel by coach on primitive roadways, as well as at life in general in a time where sickness and death were a constant presence. Much of the material will already be known to lovers of all things Mozartian, but Swafford also clears up some of the lingering myths surrounding this towering figure.
He delves frequently into examinations of Mozart's technical approach to composition, dwelling almost exhaustively on such details as his use of counterpoint, choice of keys, harmony and much more. The lengthy discussions of opera plot, recitative, libretto, etc., similarly strain the spirit of all but the most serious student of research. Skip is always an option. However, the book is worth the effort.
Narration is good.
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14 people found this helpful
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- EW
- 02-14-24
The man without the myth
So thorough and debunks all the myth surrounding Mozart’s life. Narration is among the best I’ve heard! Highly recommend!
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-25-23
Not just a biography
I was surprised to find out how much of the book is detailed explication of themes, forms, and structure of many many of Mozart’s works. This is great if you’re familiar with his symphonies, quartets, solos, operas, chamber works, and concertos - but many times, I found myself marking time waiting for a return to the life of Mozart. Of course, most of his short life was wrapped up in composing those works, so I got it…
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5 people found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 12-29-23
Great history, unnecessarily detailed descriptions ofthe music
Overall great book, the only thing I didn't like was the authors need to describe in detail every work including the full plots of the operas. this can bog you down if you're more interested in the man's life.
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