Even in earliest childhood, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's singular imagination was at work in every direction, and he lived every part of his life with tremendous gusto. Nearly 250 years after his birth, Mozart continues to charm us, yet there remains something unknowable about him. Also the biographer of Beethoven and Brahms, Jan Swafford fleshes out the composer's intensely active childhood as a traveling prodigy, his always-difficult relationship with his father, and his phenomenally productive career, to create a well-rounded portrait of Mozart as he might have been seen in his own time.

"Swafford brings expertise and insight to bear on a comprehensive, animated life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart…. An admiring, authoritative biography." —Kirkus Reviews