Although there are many accounts of Mozart's life, and countless descriptions and analyses of his music, this is the first attempt to protray Mozart's creative life as a composer. Kuster selects forty works or groups of works covering virtually every important stage in Mozart's career, from the first keyboard works of the young Wunderkind to Mozart's final days and the composition of the Requiem. In between, each chapter deals with the developments and events in the lives of the Mozarts as associated with or highlighted by a particular work or constellation of works. The bulk of the book - the last 25 out of 40 chapters - is concerned with Mozart's life and compositions from his arrival in Vienna in 1781 to his death there some ten years later. Drawing on the tremendous advances in Mozart research over the last thirty years, and the publication of the New Mozart Edition, Kuster's book makes a major contribution to our understanding of the creative development of the composer who represents for most musicians and music lovers the highest pinnacle of musical achievement.