Telling the story with wit, verve, and a fine eye for the by-ways of Viennese society...will draw readers into Mozart's personality and attract them to the eternally ambiguous music.--The Observer The last decade of Mozart's short but amazingly prolific career counts as one of the most remarkable periods--truly golden years--in the history of Western music. Richly illustrated with contemporary paintings and engravings and authoritatively written, this book provides a vivid account of the composer's life in the European music capital, Vienna, from 1781 to 1791. This creative yet turbulent decade witnessed a crescendo of activity. Mozart married Constanze Weber in 1782, and in the ensuing years produced an astonishing wealth of new music, rich in quality as well as quantity. A host of immortal works belong to this period, among them the great trilogy of symphonies (numbers 39, 40, and 41), operatic masterpieces--The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte, and The Magic Flute--and the Clarinet Concerto of 1791. Through a close examination of Mozart's public successes and failures; his relationship with his father, Leopold; his devotion to his wife, Constanze; his Masonic associations; and his friendship with Franz Joseph Haydn, H. C. Robbins Landon provides an intimate and eminently readable portrait of an extraordinary musical genius. 242 illustrations, 32 in color.