From Library Journal
This richly detailed survey of musical life in Vienna during the late 18th century is sure to become an indispensable source for information on this familiar yet misunderstood era. The book represents a crowning achievement for Heartz (Mozart's Operas, Univ. of California Pr., 1990), one of this country's most distinguished musicologists, who painstakingly researched this material for over 30 years. His central thesis is that self-aggrandizing German scholarship contributed to a serious misreading of the nature of the "Viennese School"?that it is in fact an amalgam of Austrian-Bohemian, Italian, and French influences. Heartz carefully documents the multiethnicity and cosmopolitan nature of Empress Maria Theresa's reign, showing how these crosscurrents informed the entire cultural, religious, and political landscape. Throughout, there are many valuable insights into the works of Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and their lesser-known contemporaries. The analyses, targeted for the musically literate, are always lucid and refreshingly jargon free. Highly recommended for all libraries.?Larry Lipkis, Moravian Coll., Bethlehem, Pa.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Booklist
Heartz conducts a tour of musical Vienna during the reign of Empress Maria Theresa that involves meeting, besides the principals--Haydn and Mozart--the court composers and musicians who influenced them. To celebrate the name days of the members of the royal court and to otherwise entertain, Wagenseil (trailblazer for Haydn), Ditters, Salieri, and Gluck all composed symphonies, concerti, chamber music, theater works, operas, oratorios, and incidental music for plays. Heartz offers short biographies of these court composers and, sprinkling the text with examples from the period's major musical works, delineates the progress of musical form and style upon which Haydn and Mozart built. The survey peaks with Haydn, first in Vienna, then at Esterha{ }za, advancing the musical art of his predecessors, and ends with Mozart, who revered Haydn's compositions. Conducively to a journey that is both enjoyable and enlightening, Heartz writes in an easily read style. Alan Hirsch
