Mozart today is known as one of the foremost composers in Western music yet during his
lifetime his compositional mastery seemed to pale in comparison with his achievements on the
concert platform. Mozart knew that his fame was due to his piano playing and improvisations
and as a result much of the music he wrote was intended to serve a single aim: to set the
stage quite literally for compelling and captivating performances. In his piano works
symphonies and operas he sought to amuse stir and ravish an awe-struck public. Mozart the
Performer brings to life this elusive side of Mozart's musicianship. Over the course of five
variations Dorian Bandy traces the influence of showmanship on Mozart's style imbuing his
output with a theatricality and evanescence easily lost behind the scrim of familiarity. This
insightful and imaginative book reveals the countless ways performance influenced Mozart's
compositional habits ultimately offering a genuinely novel understanding of why centuries
later Mozart's music still captivates us and inspiring new ways of listening to it--
