My Dearest Father

by Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus

Paperback, 2015

Status

Available

Genres

Publication

PENGUIN GROUP (2015), 60 pages

Description

They wanted me to give a concert; I wanted them to beg me. And so they did. I gave a concert.'A selection of personal correspondence between Mozart and his most important mentor and supporter, his father.Introducing Little Black Classics- 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.

User reviews

LibraryThing member meandmybooks

These letters, written by Mozart and his father, Leopold Mozart, between October 1777 and July 1778, are surprisingly engrossing. At the time, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was about twenty-one or twenty-two and he, accompanied by his mother, was traveling to various cities in western Europe looking for

employment while his father and sister held down the fort in Salzburg. The letters begin prosaically enough, with shop talk and frivolous banter from Wolfgang and anxious nagging about money from his father. Their affection for each other is clear, but so is the frustration inherent in the situation of a father/husband juggling tight finances and trying to micromanage the spending of his young adult son and his wife in distant cities. You can clearly picture the parties at both ends of the correspondence slapping their foreheads in annoyance as they try to convey the fact that they are doing their level best to manage things well and why can't their son/father understand this? But then tragedy strikes and the anguish and difficulties of communicating illness and loss through a slow mail system are clear. Even in the midst of sorrow and loss, though, the mundane intrudes, the way it does. The final letters are a touching mix of spiritual concerns and consolations, employment updates, and practical advice. This is number 51 in Penguin's Little Black Classics series, and I enjoyed it very much.

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LibraryThing member SashaM

A series of letters between W.A. Mozart and his father / mentor. A glimpse into the work-a-day life of a musician. It is strange to think of someone who is so well known today just trying to get enough work to make ends meet (his father constantly worries about money) especially compared to today's

musicians! Also the very personal tragedy of Mozart's mother (who accompanied him on this particular trip) getting suddenly ill and dying in Paris. I only have a passing interest in classical music I'm sure someone who was a classic music buff would really get a kick out of this book.

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LibraryThing member TheCrow2

A short insight into the letters between Mozart and his father who also was his mentor. Amongst others it’s interesting to see that a genius known today by everyone had serious financial problems and can live through the tragedy of his mother’s sudden death.

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