Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: The Greatest Pure Musician the World Has Ever Known

Great Biographies, Book 1

By: The History Hour

Narrated by: Jerry Beebe

Length: 2 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's summary

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Probably the most naturally gifted musician the world has ever known, Mozart began his career early as a child prodigy. By the age five, he was already proficient on the violin, the harpsichord, and piano keyboard, and had begun composing music that had integrity. He was a showman as well, according to contemporary documents, and charmed many of the crowned heads of Europe with his performance and his manner.

Inside you’ll hear about:

• Early years of prodigy.
• The Grand Tour 1763-66.
• Setbacks and success in Vienna.
• The solo trip to Italy.
• Salzburg to Vienna.
• Augsburg, Mannheim, Paris, and Munich.
• Munich and Idomeneo.
• And much more...

Unlike other child prodigies though, Mozart developed gradually into a mature musician, composing operas, concertos, 41 symphonies, string quartets, piano sonatas, and many other kinds of music. Although he died when he was only 35 years old, he is still one of the most prolific composers who ever lived.

©2019, 2100 The History Hour (P)2019 The History Hour

Fantastic

Trying to find classical music I like and Mozart seems to be one I have enjoyed the most.

Quick recap of Mozart

Good timelines and we’ll told story. But short on details as you only get so much for $4.86…

Best informative.

I enjoyed all the biographical information. The music was wonderful and I found it relaxing to watch, which is important to me.

Reader Terrible

While a fascinating and detailed chronicling of Mozart's life, it was distracting and painful to listen to the narrator mis-pronounce Mozart's name and dozens of other German words. He obviously knows no foreign language, not even rudimentary German pronunciation. Moze-art???? Anyone who knows any German at all, and the narrator should, knows that a Z is pronounced "TS" in German. He even mis-pronounces concerto (con-ser-toe). How could the publisher have selected such a poor narrator? I gritted my teeth throughout my listening.

Don't bother

This is a rather stunted recitation of a chronological record of Mozarts works and performances. The content is like reading footnotes aloud. It does not explore any of the emotional reasons for Mozart for why Mozart was such a genius - except at the very end where a detailed summary of the last symphony is explained.
The narration is monosyllabic and not very interesting. I was always taught by my piano teacher mother that the pronunciation of the artists name was "Mod-zart" not "Mosart" and Josef Hayden is pronounced Hie-den" not "hay -den". I could be wrong here, but the continued mispronunciation was very off putting.
Don't waste a credit on this biography

timeline based, little bio

a dry reading of a timeline of the pieces mozart wrote, where he performed them, for whom they were commissioned... sprinkled with notes of illnesses battled

no insight on who mozart was