Mozart in Paris

A crucial episode from the life of the great composer—rendered in graphic novel form Color illustrations throughout

In 1778, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) leaves Salzburg for Paris. The French capital promises to liberate the 22-yearold from the suffocating grip of his father and from a city that is unable to accommodate his genius. But there is no grand entrance for the former child prodigy. When Mozart arrives in Paris, he is cash-strapped, unknown, and his French is limited. His mentor, the critic Baron von Grimm, introduces him to a number of Parisian nobles. With these contacts, recognition is still hard-won; the French court appears indifferent to Mozart’s talents and disapproving of his spontaneity at times.

Tracing the composer’s six-month stay in the city of lights, Mozart in Paris dramatizes the confrontation between a bright-eyed genius and everyday reality. Frantz Duchazeau spotlights a frustrating yet formative period of the composer’s life—and in doing so creates a living, breathing portrait of one of history’s most gifted musicians.

Frantz Duchazeau is a French comics artist.