Shostakovich is often, in musical circles, called the greatest composer of the twentieth century. Yet the
quality of his music is so uneven that, while a third of it is the brain-bombing work of a divine genius, another
third is almost worthless, and another third scares young violinists into abandon
The short and turbulent life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, one of the greatest musical geniuses of all time, has been the source of much speculation, scholarship, and one Academy Award-winning film. Mozart was the ultimate child prodigy, the quintessential temperamental artist, and the proverbial candl