This book covers Mozart's incredible life, from his first compositions to his search for success in the music capitals of Europe; his rejection of a musical career in the stifling and menial employ of wealthy patrons, and his rebuttal of his conformist father's ambitions, leaving provincial Salzburg to follow an unstable path as a freelance musician in cosmopolitan Vienna. Illustrated throughout with contemporary engravings, paintings, title pages of first editions, facsimiles of the original scores, representations of performances, and images of the cities, palaces, opera houses and concert halls which first heard the wonderful music which still moves, delights, fascinates and astounds us...