Mozart in Context ed. by Simon P. Keefe (review)

In 1862, Hector Berlioz observed, "We are beginning to understand Mozart" (Hugh Macdonald, "Berlioz and Mozart," in The Cambridge Companion to Berlioz, ed. Peter Bloom, Cambridge Companions to Music [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000], 222). Almost 160 years later, our understanding continues to evolve with the publication of Mozart in Context. In this inaugural volume in the series Composers in Context, Cambridge University Press promises "lively, accessible and concise essays by leading scholars on the many contexts—professional, political, intellectual, social and cultural—that have a bearing on [each composer's] work" (p. ii). Mozart in Context delivers on most—but not all—of those promises.

The editor of Mozart in Context, Simon Keefe, is a familiar name to scholars of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He has published five books about Mozart and has overseen several previous compendia, including two volumes of Mozart Studies (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006 and 2015) as well as The Cambridge Companion to Mozart (Cambridge Companions to Music [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003]).

In all these prior endeavors, the notion of "context" has loomed large. Indeed, the first volume of Mozart Studies noted that "the principal concern of much Mozart research has been to situate the composer and his music in increasingly well-informed biographical, historical, critical and analytical contexts" (Mozart Studies, p. ii); the second Mozart Studies concurred, stating that "cultural, historical and reception-related contexts are central to understanding Mozart" (Mozart Studies 2, p. ii); and the first section of The Cambridge Companion to Mozart mirrors the title of the volume currently under review with the designation "Mozart in Context" (Cambridge Companion to Mozart, p. v).

Given these similarities of intent, the question of target audience becomes an important distinguishing factor. The two volumes of Mozart Studies are clearly aimed at scholars; in fact, they hope to draw "attention to areas primed for future investigation" (Mozart Studies, p. ii). In contrast, The Cambridge Companion to Mozart "brings new, up-to-date scholarship into a public arena" and is "intended for students, scholars and music lovers alike" (Cambridge Companion to Mozart, p. 2). Mozart in Context, however, seemingly aspires to embrace both the purposes and the readership of all these previous publications: "Probing diverse Mozartian contexts in a variety of ways, the contributors reflect the vitality of existing scholarship and point towards areas primed for further study" and are "essential reading for students and scholars of late-eighteenth-century music and for Mozart aficionados and music-lovers in general" (p. i).

The breadth of these ambitions is Mozart in Context's primary virtue as well as a contributor to its shortcomings. The anthology of essays is divided into five parts: "Personality, Work, Worldview," "Towns, Cities, Countries," "Career Contexts and Environments," "Performers and Performance," and "Reception and Legacy." The essays themselves are about as diverse as thirty-five contributions could possibly be. As promised, they are all short, ranging from six to ten pages. The outlier—Christoph Großpietsch's study of "Mozart Iconography"—contains portrait reproductions on three-quarters of its nineteen pages.

The entries vary considerably in their structure, however. Some are lovely, self-contained essays, making a clear claim at the start and working their way through supportive evidence. Standouts in this regard are Keefe's own three contributions, "Personal Relationships," "Mozart the Performer-Composer," and "Biographical and Critical Traditions"; Adeline Mueller's "Learning and Teaching" and "Mythmaking"; Jessica Waldoff's "Mozart and Freemasonry" and "Mozart and Finances"; Kathryn L. Libin's "Prague"; Rupert Ridgewell's "Publishing" and "Editing Mozart"; Ian Woodfield's "Reactions to Mozart in His Lifetime"; and Stephen Rumph's "Mozart in Theory and Analysis."

Unsurprisingly, these essays are the richest in their scholarly apparatus, offering a wealth of primary-source documentation as well as references to relevant and recent scholarship (by means of much-appreciated footnotes rather...