□ Lin Yi
Wolfgang Armadeus Mozart (1756-1791), one of the most legendary musicians of all time, this legend has brought a double effect to biographers, on the one hand, it is rich in information, do not have to worry about the lack of material, on the other hand, how to be unique, become the leader of many biographies.
American scholar Maynard Solomon has long been concerned with the music of the Viennese Classical School and the Romantic period, and is known for his research on the lives of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, and has published a variety of books, this "Mozart Biography" was first published in 1996, when it won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography, which was well received by all parties.
The Biography of Mozart, by Maynard Solomon, Zhejiang University Press, October 2020.
The book is informative, with a Chinese translation of 678,000 words, and in addition to the main text, appendices, references and indexes are close to 100 pages, showing the author's skill in collecting and sorting, which is beneficial to researchers. Maynard Solomon is one of the founders of Pioneer Records, who has taught at Columbia, Harvard, Yale, and later at the Juilliard School, and has a deep musical literacy, and the appreciation of Mozart's musical works in the book is very good and professional.
The biography is closely linked to Mozart's life and musical composition, however, it is not written as a flowing linear paved narrative, the process of narration is a mixture of sharp critical judgment, and the author's interpretation of Mozart has a strong psychoanalytic color.
The introduction is titled "The Eternal Mystery of The Child." This is one of the biggest mysteries that Attracted Us to Mozart. As the author says, Mozart was seen in his time as the highest example of the unlimited creativity and moral development potential of children through enlightenment education, and as the most famous musical genius in history, he was regarded from the beginning as a model for the perfect child. The introduction highlights the extent to which Leopold Mozart is obsessed with his son, saying that he even treats the child as a little Jesus, derives respect and glory from his role as a father, educator and agent of such a noble figure, and uses every opportunity to transform the efforts of his magical child into an equal amount of money, and the father's profession, financial situation and desire for recognition are very dependent on the son, so, once the son begins to grow up, grows up enough to rebel against the patriarchy, and hopes to get rid of the shackles of the original family through love and marriage, then, There will be serious antagonisms between father and son, and the image of the "eternal child" will be shattered.
The introduction sets the tone of the work. The relationship between father and son forms a major theme of the work. Leopold's musical literacy is also very good, in Salzburg as a violinist and band assistant conductor employed by the maharajah archbishop, the father gave his son the earliest musical enlightenment, pushed him to the public, for his future, let him gain social recognition, the father's trust in his son's ability and almost adoring attitude, but also a great driving force for his son's progress. Leopold was the source of sunshine in Mozart's life, and at the same time, like a huge shadow, it has always hung over Mozart's life. Whether the influence of the father is good or bad, the biography presents a mixture of good and bad, difficult to distinguish, and a complex entanglement of emotion and reason.
Many of the passages are described in a psychoanalytic manner. For example, Mozart's love affair. The correspondence between Mozart and his little cousin, the authors say, can be seen as a gateway to a parallel universe in which they can communicate freely, lovingly, for pleasure, without guilt. Mozart's greeting to his cousin was: "My dearest niece! cousin! Daughter! Mother! Sisters and wives! The author argues that this means that Mozart sees his cousin as a common symbol of all women with whom he has or may have a blood or in-law relationship, and is also a multifaceted, concentrated object of empathy. Mozart's betrayal of his cousin's choice of a more realistic Aloisia meant a revival of Mozart's sense of responsibility for serving the family and, in this way, a re-admission of his father's rule over himself.
The author emphasizes that Mozart has always had a terrible goodness that stems from a sense of filial piety, and that he has struggled all his life to get rid of this unfounded guilt. Mozart once renamed himself "Adam", and the author believes that this behavior also has a duality. On the one hand, by this name, Mozart liberated himself and became the father of his own father, on the other hand, the tragedy of Adam was repeated in Mozart, who was disqualified by his father, just as Adam was banished from the Garden of Eden. The author tries to dissect Leopold's heart, arguing that Leopold's refusal to give up control of his son proves that Leopold is an "eternal child" who is deeply afraid and dare not face reality, and Mozart's incomplete resistance to his father has made him not get rid of the situation of "eternal child" throughout his life. Children, in essence, are a process of self-extinction, and this demise is not completed in time, dissolved in time, and reconstructed in time in this pair of fathers and sons, perhaps, which is the fundamental reason why they are so inseparable.
Since Freud, psychoanalysis has been widely used in various fields, and it has also become a major weapon in biographical writing. As a successful example, this "Biography of Mozart" shows the convenience and kittism of this kind of writing ideas, it seems to be able to enter the heart of the master very smoothly, the secret mind is made public, but what needs to be vigilant is that many speculations are the subjective judgment of the author after all, in addition, the bias of writing sometimes obscures the presentation of facts, and the work is subordinate to the author's idea in the choice of materials, mainly showing those letters, speeches and literature that conform to the author's arguments, and the explanation of Mozart's interest and lust for feces and obscenities. It is also the interpretation path of postmodern philosophy, a prying look at the psychology of previous people from the perspective of modern people.
Psychoanalysts often focused on the son's ambivalent feelings toward his father, and the biography highlights Leopold's status as well as the father's love for his son and irreconcilable doubts. In addition to family drive and emotional confrontation, the work also shows more motivational constraints behind human common senses, which may be more interesting than the clichéd culture of father-killing.
Leopold's letters show that money has always been his focus, Leopold constantly talks about prices, discounts, interest rates, exchange rates, etc., and he often displays bills in letters to his son, crying about how heavy the burden on him as a parent is. Sure, it's a way for a father to control his son, but it's not just that. Leopold's expectations of his son essentially represent a strong desire for upward mobility among the middle class. This book clearly describes how elite education, presented as a family unit, worked in the 18th century. The mozart family's long-distance travel was not for entertainment, the main purpose was to make money, in order to allow the genius Mozart to appear more, gain the favor of the nobility, get a permanent position, and thus elevate the status of the whole family. The family has always adhered to middle-class values: hard work, honest dealing, loyalty to the spouse, on-time debt repayment, and credit as honor. Mozart's experience illustrates the difficulty of rising class, and Leopold's greatest disappointment with his son was that Mozart disobeyed his father and married Constanzer, a commoner, and Mozart's enthusiasm for Freemasonry was probably an inner need for social communication, valuing the wealth and generosity of these members of aristocratic origin.
A temporary scene from the movie Mozart.
Mozart was born in Salzburg. In Mozart's time, Salzburg and its surroundings had a total population of seventeen thousand, making it a large city at the time. Sandwiched between the Duchy of Bavaria and the Habsburg Empire, Salzburg was a semi-independent town, with the maharajah and archbishops dealing with salzburg's economy, education, and relations between the Holy See and the Royal Family. The Mozart family depended on the grace of the Archbishop of Salzburg, but Leopold was obviously not willing to be buried here, so he continued to organize his outings. Koike is difficult to raise a crouching dragon, and Mozart, who has broadened his horizons, is increasingly dissatisfied with salzburg's conservative isolation, and the attitude of the salzburgers towards Mozart has changed from being proud to being shy and avoidant, and even after his death, he has not given any honor, but has tried to forget. Mozart longed for Vienna and Munich, but the bustling metropolises and their noble inhabitants never easily opened their hearts to outsiders.
In this way, the fact that Mozart's final destination was buried in an anonymous cemetery on a snowy winter night may itself be a symbolic interpretation.