The Mozart family represents defining eras of European history: ascending to the light from the suffering of the Thirty Years’ War, animated with ambition, afire with the ideas of Enlightenment and the revolution, daring and time and again despaired in their pursuit of merit and status. Both a vividly told family history and the grand panorama of an epoch at the same time.

The story of the Mozart family, spanning over 300 years, is rich in highs and lows, mysteries and complications. Was Leopold Mozart really the implacable disciplinarian of the childishly careless Wolfgang? Was »Bäsle« the composer’s great but unattainable love? And was Wolfgang’s wife Constanze the ruin of the family or the mother of their posthumous fame?

Michael Lemster is the first to tell the rise and fall of the Mozarts, form the beginnings in the 15th century to the death of the last Mozart in 1858. With a delicate sense for the period atmosphere he raises unusual questions and thereby reveals how creatively the Mozarts mastered the challenges of their time. The extraordinary story of a family whose spirit became immortalized, especially in music.

»The development [of the Mozart family], the descriptions of associated journeys through half of Europe and – almost casually – the reports on customs and traditions of each period make the book a pleasure to read, which Lemster underpins with numerous quotations from letters and historical documents.«
Foyer

»Well written, exciting to read, absolutely recommendable!«
Wiener Zeitung