All the Scattered Pages

(Paperback)

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Description

The path to Mozart runs through his wife Constanze.

That path was lost until the discovery of a set of travel diaries, which recorded one couple's visit with Constanze and other loved ones following Mozart's death. Those diaries provided a century-old sketch of Mozart, his family, and friends that left readers wanting more. Using the diaries as a framework, All the Scattered Pages provides a provocative dramatization of what may have really transpired during that trip.

The diaries belonged to Vincent and Mary Novello, a couple central to the music and literary scene of 19th century London. Vincent was a composer and music publisher who founded Novello & Company and led a charmed life, excluding the tragic death of his 4-year-old son. Since that loss, he has been obsessed by Mozart's Requiem and the controversy over who completed the unfinished masterpiece after Mozart's premature death 40 years earlier.

In the summer of 1829, he and Mary set off for Austria in search of the original Requiem manuscript, which they hope to publish along with the true story behind its posthumous completion. While they justify their trip as an opportunity to visit with Mozart's dying sister Nannerl in Salzburg and present her with a donation from admirers, their real objective is to meet with Mozart's widow Constanze, who also lives in Salzburg and may hold the key to the Requiem.

Author Bio

Jared Gollob is a physician-scientist who grew up in New Jersey and was educated at Columbia University, where Mozart's famed librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte became its first professor of Italian in 1825. His Columbia connection to Da Ponte, and being born one day after Mozart on January 28th, instilled in him a lifelong passion for Mozart and his music. All the Scattered Pages is his first play.