Maynard Solomon Ordre des livres (chronologique)

Mozart: a life is based on an unsurpassed knowledge of the documentary sources, including numerous documents that have not previously appeared in any biography of the composer. It offers a beautifully written and absorbing narrative of Mozart's life, from his birth in 1756 and childhood in Salzburg to the extraordinary decade of acclaimed performances in the capitals of Europe, where he was honored by royal families and adoring audiences, to his emergence as a prolific young composer, his status as Salzburg's favorite son in the 1770s, his conquest of Vienna, his marriage there, his financial vicissitudes, his later journeys to Prague and Germany, his deepening melancholia, his final triumphs, and his premature death in 1791

Biography of Ludwig van Beethoven, discussing his life, music, and career.

The apparently effortless delight of Mozart's music seems so godlike in its inspiration that critics often give way to awe. The result is that Mozart studies are either highly technical exercises in musicology, or gushing tributes which explain little. In this biography, Maynard Solomon tackles the most intriguing and important issue of all, the roots of Mozart's creativity, and finds them in previously misunderstood details of his life. At its heart, for all his boundless energy and genius, lies rejection by his family, his patrons and his city.