Vienna Nocturne by Vivian Shortwell

Vienna Nocturne by Vivian Shortwell - 304 pages

This novel traces the early life of opera singer Anna Storace.  Since little is known about her other than family, acquaintances, and performances, a novel was the perfect way to present her story.  The novel begins with her first lessons and performances in her native England before following her to her big debut in Venice.  From there, her opera company moves to Vienna at the request of the Austrian emperor, Joesph II.  Once there, Anna becomes a "superstar" and meets Amadeus Mozart.  We also see Anna's relationships with her mother, brother, best friend, and lovers, including her costar Francesco Bennuci and Mozart.  Once heart-wrenching point in the story was her ill-fated marriage of necessity with John Fisher and the events directly thereafter.

In all, it was a good story.  I think anyone would be able to follow the storyline.  However, there is a need to know musical terms as they are frequently used and not defined.  The descriptions within the book are reminiscent of an older era.

Mozart: A Life by Paul Johnson

Mozart: A Life by Paul Johnson - 176 pages

Mozart: A Life is less a biography of Mozart, as the title says, than it is a biography of the works of Mozart.  The book was light on Mozart's personal life, providing only what a reader needed to know to interpret the rest.  The bulk majority of the work discussed Mozart's compositions and their orchestration, requiring the need to know musical terminology. 

Looking at just the biographical material, I have seen older children's book that provided more details (this is written for adults).  If one is looking to understand how Mozart created his compositions, I would recommend this title.

Mozart's Last Aria: A Novel by Matt Rees

Mozart's Last Aria: A Novel by Matt Rees --- 303 pages

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, arguable one of the greatest --- possibly the greatest --- musical genius the world has produced, died suddenly at the age of 35, in Vienna, in 1791, leaving his family impoverished. A child prodigy who composed his first music at the age of six, he was brilliant, passionate, erratic in life, and scandalous even in death.

The story is narrated by Mozart's sister Nannerl, who travels to Vienna to discover how and why her brother died claiming he had been poisoned.  The doctor who examined his corpse insists he died of a fever, and no one wants to talk about the circumstances and the discrepancies surrounding his abrupt demise. Rees has done his research, and late 18th century Vienna, its sophisticated culture, the political ferment created by the Enlightenment and the terror evoked by the French Revolution, the squalor endured by the poor and the luxury enjoyed by the privileged, all form the background to Nannerl's investigations. As she talks to her brother's wife, his mistress, his friends, his musical rivals, powerful nobles and patrons of the arts, she begins to realize that Mozart was also involved in deep political intrigues that had earned him ruthless enemies as well. And she receives warnings that asking questions about her brother's death could be a fatal mistake for her, too.

Rees has integrated Mozart's music into all the key moments in his plot, and even uses the Sonata in A Minor as the pattern for the structure of his story.  Almost all of the characters are real persons, the places described are real places, and he offers a very intriguing and historically plausible solution to the mystery of Mozart's untimely death.