Mozart: Overture to revolution

Paul McGarr (1991)

Mozart: Overture to revolution. By Paul McGarr. (London: Redwords, 2001). (Series: Revolutionary Portraits; [2]).

First published in International Socialism Journal no. 52, Autumn 1991, pp. 95-128.

Transcribed by Jørgen Lund for Marxisme Online, 28 January 2006, from International Socialism 52.

Mozart is a modern-day icon, worshipped as an incomparable artistic genius utterly divorced from the social struggles of his day. Paul McGarr gives us a different Mozart, no less gifted but more rooted in the social and political changes that shook the world as it hurtled towards the Great French Revolution of 1789.

Content

Introduction
A changing society
Reform, revolution and reaction
Freemansonry
Music, musicians and society
From feudal servant to independent musician
Classical music, sonata form and the symphony
A new kind of opera
Conclusion
Notes

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Last updated 14.9.2008