*Mozart Society of America Early Mozart Biographies Project (EMB)

"This project of the Mozart Society of America aims to make available full texts of the early biographies of Mozart on the MSA web site. Our goal is to provide convenient access to the biographical literature that has shaped our view of Mozart's life and work."

Selected EMB Contents:

Barrington, Daines. "Account of a Very Remarkable Young Musician." Miscellanies. London: J. Nichols, 1781.

Busby, Thomas. "Life of Mozart." Walpoliana, no. IX (December 1798), 445–50.

Gerber, Ernst Ludwig. Historisch-biographisches Lexikon der Tonkünstler, welches Nachrichten von dem Leben und Werken musikalischer Schriftsteller, berühmter Componisten, Sänger ... enthält. 2 vols. Leipzig: J. G. I. Breitkopf, 1792–94.

Lipowsky, Felix Joseph. Baierisches Musiklexikon. Munich: Jakob Giel, 1811.

Niemetschek, Franz Xaver. Leben des k. k. Kapellmeisters Wolfgang Gottlieb Mozart, nach Originalquellen beschrieben. Prague: Herrlischen Buchhandlung, 1798.

Professor Niemetschek knew Mozart and his family.

Nissen, Georg Nikolaus von. Biographie W.A. Mozart's. Nach Originalbriefen, Sammlungen alles über ihn Geschriebenen, mit vielen neuen Beylagen, Steindrücken, Musikblättern und einem Facsimile. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1828. [coming in 2009]

The Music Library has a reprint:

Nissen, Georg Nikolaus von, 1761-1826.
Biographie W. A. Mozarts. Nach Originalbriefen, Sammlungen
alles über ihn Geschriebenen, mit vielen neuen Beylagen,
Steindrücken, Musikblättern und einem Facsimile. Hrsg. von
Constanze, Wittwe von Nissen, früher Wittwe Mozart.
Hildesheim, G. Olms, 1964.

 CALL # RESERVE ML410.M9 N72 1964

Reprint of the original Leipzig, 1828 edition. Endorsed by Mozart's wife, Constanze. George Nissen was her second husband.

 Schlichtegroll, Friedrich. Nekrolog auf das Jahr 1791. Enthaltend Nachrichten von dem Leben merkwürdiger in diesem Jahre verstorbener Personen. 2. Jahrgang, 2. Band. Gotha: Justus Perthes, 1793.

Schlichtegroll, Friedrich. Mozarts Leben. Graz: Joseph Georg Hubeck, 1794.

The Music Library has a reprint:.

Faksimile-Nachdruck, Graz, 1974 / hrsg. von Joseph Heinz Eibl.

Kassel : Barenreiter, 1974.

CALL # Mus Book       ML410.M9 S34 1974

Schubart, Christian Friedrich Daniel. "Salzburg." Ideen zu einer Aesthetik der Tonkunst. Edited by Ludwig Schubart. Vienna: J. V. Degen, 1806.

For those interested in the subject of myths that have been transmitted through Mozart biographies also see:

Stafford, William.
The Mozart myths : a critical reassessment / William Stafford.
Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, 1991.
CALL # Mus Lib ML410.M9 S73 1991.

Important Biographies

Abert, Hermann, 1871-1927.
W.A. Mozart / Hermann Abert ; translated by Stewart Spencer ; edited by Cliff Eisen.
New Haven : Yale University Press, c2007.
CALL # ML410.M9 A6613 2007.

*Deutsch, Otto Erich, 1883-1967.
Mozart, a documentary biography, by Otto Erich Deutsch. Translated by Eric Blom, Peter Branscombe, and Jeremy Noble.
Stanford, Stanford University Press [c1965]
CALL # Mus Lib RESERVE ML410.M9 D4782 1965.

Einstein, Alfred, 1880-1952.
Mozart, his character, his work [by] Alfred Einstein; translated
by Arthur Mendel and Nathan Broder.
New York, London [etc.] Oxford university press, 1945.
CALL # ML410.M9 E4.

English translation of German original: Mozart, sein Charakter, sein Werk.

Jahn, Otto, 1813-1869.
W. A. Mozart / von Otto Jahn.
Leipzig : Breitkopf und Härtel, 1867.
CALL # ML410.M9 J2 1867.

Solomon, Maynard.
Mozart : a life / Maynard Solomon.
New York, NY : HarperCollinsPublishers, c1995.
CALL # ML410.M9 S65 1995.

Selected Biographical works of interest

Halliwell, Ruth.
The Mozart family : four lives in a social context / Ruth Halliwell.
Oxford [England] ; New York : Clarendon Press, c1998.
CALL # ML410.M91 H35 1998.

Hildesheimer, Wolfgang, 1916-1991.
Mozart / Wolfgang Hildesheimer ; translated from the German by
Marion Faber. New York : Farrar Straus Giroux, c1981.
CALL # ML410.M9 H433.

An English translation of Hildescheimer's Mozart biography (1977) A "psycho-analytical" approach.

Landon, H. C. Robbins (Howard Chandler Robbins.
Mozart and Vienna / H.C. Robbins Landon.
New York : Schirmer Books : Maxwell Macmillan International, 1991.
CALL # ML410.M9 L239 1991.

Landon, H. C. Robbins (Howard Chandler Robbins), 1926-
Mozart, the golden years, 1781-1791 / by H.C. Robbins Landon.
New York : Schirmer Books, 1989.

CALL # ML410.M9 L245 1989.

Sadie, Stanley.
Mozart : the early years, 1756-1781 / Stanley Sadie ; foreword by Neal Zaslaw. New York : Norton, c2006.
CALL # ML410.M9 S153 2006.