Please Note: This program has a rescheduled date (originally December 11, 2020).

STREAMING PROGRAM INFORMATION

• This program is part of our Smithsonian Associates Streaming series.
• Platform: Zoom
• Online registration is required.
• If you register multiple individuals, you will be asked to supply individual names and email addresses so they can receive a Zoom link email. Please note that if there is a change in program schedule or a cancellation, we will notify you via email, and it will be your responsibility to notify other registrants in your group.

From his earliest years, Wolfgang Mozart’s singular imagination was at work in every direction. He couldn’t stand being bored or idle, and he avoided these possibilities by surrounding himself with a circle of friends and patrons whose interests coincided with his boundless appetites for music and all things pleasurable and fun.

Drawing on his new book, Mozart: The Reign of Love, Jan Swafford describes Mozart as an inexplicable force of nature who always seemed to be in motion. Even in company there was often an air about Mozart of being not quite there. It was as if he lived onstage and off simultaneously, a character in life’s tragicomedy but also outside of it, watching, studying, gathering material for the fabric of his art. His life ultimately was not very long, but it was long enough to immeasurably shape classical music for all time.

Swafford is a longtime program writer and preconcert lecturer for the Boston Symphony. Mozart: The Reign of Love (Harper) is available for purchase.

Book Sale Information

• Purchase your copy of Mozart: The Reign of Love by Jan Swafford here.
• SPECIAL NOTE: Politics and Prose is offering a 10% discount to Smithsonian Associates ticket-holders. To claim your discount, enter the code SPECIAL10 in the “Coupon discount” section of Politics and Prose's check-out page.

Patron Information

• Unless otherwise noted, registration for streaming programs typically closes two hours prior to the start time on the date of the program.
• Once registered, patrons should receive an automatic email confirmation from CustomerService@SmithsonianAssociates.org.
• Separate Zoom link information will be emailed closer to the date of the program. If you do not receive your Zoom link information 24 hours prior to the start of the program, please email Customer Service for assistance.
• View Common FAQs about our Streaming Programs on Zoom.