Mozart in Paris, Duchazeau

Illustrator: Frantz Duchazeau 
Format: Paperback, 96 pages 
Publisher: SelfMadeHero (2019) 
ISBN: 9781910593721 

In 1778, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart leaves Salzburg for Paris. The French capital promises to liberate the 22-year-old from the suffocating grip of his father and from a city that is unable to accommodate his genius. But there is no grand entrance for the former child prodigy. When Mozart arrives in Paris, he is cash-strapped, unknown and his French is limited. His mentor, the critic Baron von Grimm, introduces him to a number of Parisian nobles. With these contacts, recognition is still hard-won; the French court appears indifferent to Mozart’s talents and disapproving of his spontaneity at times. 

Tracing the composer’s six-month stay in the city of lights, Mozart in Paris dramatizes the confrontation between a bright-eyed genius and everyday reality. Frantz Duchazeau spotlights a frustrating yet formative period of the composer’s life, and in doing so creates a living, breathing portrait of one of history’s most gifted musicians.