[The Guardian, 16 September 2005]

How do we know what we think we know about Mozart? And why is he still the most popular composer of the western classical tradition? He is one of the most written-about, dissected and mythologised composers in the history of western music. A Google search just before the 250th anniversary of his birth offers more than 5m entries. My mobile phone's predictive text spells Mozart, but not Haydn or Beethoven. The number of books published about him ranks with those about Shakespeare, Christ and (his nearest rival among composers) Wagner. Of the making of theories about his life, death, relationships, personal habits, not to mention his music, there is no end.

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