John Suchet presents the evening concert programme on Classic FM, the UK's most popular classical music station. Before turning to classical music, John was one of the UK's best-known television journalists and newscasters, regularly presenting ITN's flagship News at Ten, as well as all other bulletins, over a period of nearly 20 years. John has been honoured for both roles. He is the author of the Sunday Times bestselling Beethoven: The Man Revealed (2012) and The Last Waltz: The Story of the Strauss Dynasty and Vienna (2015), and most recently, Tchaikovsky: The Man Revealed (2018).
Contents
Preface xiii
Prologue xv
1 The Handsomest Couple in Salzburg 1
2 The Little Wizard 14
3 The Grand Tour 28
4 Prodigies of Nature 43
5 He Is Skin and Bone 55
6 Wolfgangganggangerl 67
7 Chevalier de Mozart 81
8 Ass-Bumping in Venice 95
9 Bravissimo Maestro! 108
10 Gnagflow Trazom 121
11 There Is No Vacancy 133
12 Wolfgang Amadé Rosenkranz 147
13 Off with You to Paris! 155
14 My Dear Departed Mother 165
15 Unlucky in Love 181
16 A Kick in the Backside 198
17 An Honest and Virtuous Wife 210
18 Return to Salzburg 225
19 Paternal Pride 240
20 Womaniser, Criminal and Genius with Words 253
21 The Final, and Greatest, Symphonies 268
22 A Stranger Knocks 285
23 The Taste of Death on My Tongue 297
Afterword 309
Postscript 315
Acknowledgements 317
Notes 319
Index 323
About Classic FM 331
About the Author 33
