Portrait and Confession: Selected Letters of Mozart

Author: Mozart
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1998-03-01
Features: "The New Century Universal Library" is a key book launched by Liaoning Education Publishing House. The entire series focuses on the popularization and dissemination of culture, adhering to the principles of being essential, practical, durable, and easy to preserve. Under the guidance of experts from various disciplines at home and abroad, the library selects and includes rare and valuable editions of Chinese and foreign classics. From 1996 to 2005, it planned to publish 100 books annually, accumulating to 1,000 volumes, aiming to reflect the general outline of human cultural development and to select a basic reading list for modern families in the 21st century.
Traditional Culture Series: Collects classic works of traditional Chinese culture, which are reviewed and collated by version experts and presented in simplified horizontal character format.
Modern Culture Series: Focuses on the works of academic giants during the Republican era, collecting, organizing, and presenting rare and well-known but hard-to-find or long-lost works in simplified horizontal character format.
Foreign Culture Series: Collects gems from the world's cultural treasures outside China, with the theme of cultural research and introduction. The writing style is light, elegant, and lively, making it highly readable, belonging to the category of "small works by great writers."
The overarching purpose of the entire series is to provide readers seeking knowledge with long-lasting, enjoyable, and useful books, demonstrating the necessity of reading activities in modern society and promoting the formation of a reading culture in society, creating a realm where book lovers can feel like they own a library. If you regard this book as sacred, reading this selection of family letters may leave you astonished and disillusioned. It turns out that the "sun in the hearts of all musicians" is not as pure or divinely mysterious as one might think! The value of family letters lies in this very contradiction. Mozart painted his own true portrait: true mortals often have a down-to-earth, even vulgar charm, to the point of being bizarre. Is the man like the music? It seems that this path is no longer applicable. This contradiction, this "Mozart mystery," may be left for scholars to solve. For Mozart enthusiasts, this can only serve to inspire us to savor his music—music that appears ordinary yet is rich in layers for contemplation.
The original letters were in several volumes, but only a portion has been selected here, and even that is just a snippet. Accompanied by annotations and reflections in the "Notes on Translation and Reading," they are included to enhance reading interest and to express the translator's heartfelt thoughts that could not be restrained. Whether in music or foreign languages, the translator is merely an enthusiast.