The footsteps of a genius

Phil Grabsky’s eloquent documentary “In Search of Mozart” seems certain to delight music lovers yet also engages the attention of one woefully lacking in knowledge and appreciation of classical music. It is impossible to watch this film and not be moved by the richness and variety of the music and the poignancy of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s prodigious but very short life -- he died in Vienna, probably of rheumatic fever and kidney failure, at age 35 in 1791.

It was a life of immense accomplishment -- he had composed 28 symphonies by the time he was 18 -- and considerable hardship and penury. He was born in Salzburg, Austria, the son of an impoverished violinist-composer, who quickly recognized Wolfgang was a prodigy, a gifted pianist by age 5 who was already performing his own music. His father thereupon took his son on the road, and Grabsky, crisscrossing Europe while following the trajectory of Mozart’s restless life, suggests that the composer in a sense never really left it, performing in one court after another, uncertain of payment.

Prosperous years did follow, but when Emperor Joseph II finally appointed him court composer in Vienna he earned only a middle-class salary, leading to mounting debt. However, Mozart deeply loved his wife, and various of the multitude of eminent musicians, singers and scholars interviewed in the film attest to the joy and the sorrow his music expresses profoundly.

These interviewees, many of whom also perform, all realize that genius by its very nature defies easy definition and analysis. Yet they are all able to express in illuminating fashion why Mozart’s music means so much to them and what they believe it reveals about the man himself. In all its passion, wit and vivacity, the music endures even as it embodies 18th century sophistication.

Made to mark the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth last year, “In Search of Mozart” is challenging and exemplary.

“In Search of Mozart.” Unrated. Running time: 2 hours, 9 minutes. Exclusively at the Grande 4-Plex, Figueroa and 3rd streets, downtown L.A. (213) 617-0268.