Gallery of Editions
UK first edition (Hutchison, 1991)
UK paperback (Vintage)
US first edition published as On Mozart: A Paean for Wolfgang, Being a Celestial Colloquy, an Opera Libretto, a Film Script, a Schizophrenic Dialogue, a Bewildered Rumination, a Stendhalian transcription, and a heartfelt homage upon the bicentenary of the death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Ticknor & Fields, 1991)
US uncorrected proof
French edition published as Mozart et Amadeus (Grasset, 1993)
Another strange book – a novel only because the novel is such an inclusive form – that joins Burgess’s long list of tributes to the great artistic geniuses or genii of history. This book is not generally considered to be one of Burgess’s best. The UK blurb describes it as “kaleidoscopic”, which seems right. One chapter harks back to Napoleon Symphony (1974) in its attempt to prosify a musical work (here the 40th Symphony).
