Leopold had not only fathered the child, but had provided him with his musical training and taught him to read, write, and figure sums. The father glowed with legitimate pride at the prowess of his son. What is more, he was an elegant child, self-assured and charming. He could read any piece of music at sight, improvise on a theme suggested to him, and name any note produced by any instrument or even a bell, a drinking glass, or a mechanical clock. In a flier written by their father the two children were presented as “Prodigies of Nature.” Both children played the harpsichord well, but little Wolfgang was astonishing. Paul’s Cathedral, Leopold Mozart presented his two children, Maria Anna, called Marianne or Nannerl (who was fourteen) and Wolfgang (who was nine) to the public. In July 1765, in a London tavern with the inviting name the Swan and Harp, in Cornhill, a district not far from St.
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… With the vigor and impetuosity of a river overflowing its banks, Melograni puts the reader face to face with a life so fascinating and complex as to be nearly incredible-the life of a human being who, despite being a great genius capable of giving humanity wonderful messages of beauty and faith in mankind, was forced to distinguish himself through his inexhaustible will to resist a continual series of difficulties and obstacles, solely through the inexorable power of his work and the fascination of his artistic personality, without ever descending to facile compromises with his own conscience.”-Claudio Scimone, Liberal (Italy)Īn excerpt from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart A Biography Piero Melograni … The author wants to bring us close to Mozart the human being by recounting a rich store of complex events with the liveliness of a newspaper reporter-giving the narration a tone of immediate topicality. “Melograni's book is notable for its intense and fascinating presentation, which allows the reader no respite, pushing one to read through it in a single breath from beginning to end. The author draws extensively from letters and notes of the Mozart family, and thus his conversational, chronological account of the composer's life is unusually rich in detail.”- Library Journal “Melograni, an Italian historian who writes principally on nonmusical topics of the 20th century, has made a valuable contribution to the crowded field of Mozart studies published this year, the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth.