Mozart a cultural biography is the third biographical work ive read on the composer including the letters which are probably the most revealing so far this is the best it is a scholarly work and quite exhaustive. This major work places mozarts life and music in the context of the intellectual political and artistic currents of eighteenth century europe even as he delves into philosophic and aesthetic questions robert gutman keeps in sight clearly and firmly the composer and his works he discusses the major genres in which mozart worked chamber music liturgical theater and keyboard . This is a superb biography dense profound vast and multi faceted as its subtitle promises it provides a fascinating cultural framework to the most complete and myth shattering portrait of mozarts character ive read so far. He taught art history and interior design history at the fashion institute of technology in manhattan in the 1950s he was the founding dean of the institutes graduate division before retiring in the late 1980s he was the author of richard wagner the man his mind and his music and mozart a cultural biography. Mozart a cultural biography link page citation eighteenth century have long availed themselves of the various editions of the letters and source documents to establish and refine mozart biography gain hints about mozarts process of composition and ascertain details of contemporary musical life