Mozart the Dramatist

Brigid Brophy first published her passionate, profoundly original Mozart the Dramatist in 1964, revisiting it subsequently in 1988. Organised by theme, the text offers brilliant readings of Mozart’s five most famous operas – Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, and Die Zauberflöte – while a 1988 preface reconsiders Idomeneo and La Clemenza di Tito. Brophy’s analysis is richly informed by her readings and interests in psychoanalysis, myth, and relations between the sexes, but her stress above all is on Mozart’s ‘unique excellence’, his ‘double supremacy’ both as a ‘classical’ and ‘psychological’ artist.

‘An illuminating, invigorating, thought-provoking and profoundly human book, of immense value to any lover of Mozart.’ Jane Glover

‘No one has ever written better on Mozart.’ Peter Conrad, Observer

‘Immensely enjoyable.’ Peter Gay, London Review of Books