Pourquoi Mozart

by Alfred A. Tomatis

Although the book focuses on Mozart, it is not limited to Mozart. In fact, Tomatis explains at length why he is using Gregorian chant as part of his therapy alongside with Mozart. He spends a great deal of time discussing the music of Bach, Haydn (which he loved), Beethoven and Salieri, a contemporary and rival of Mozart. These chapters are important because it shows why Tomatis concluded that those musicians couldn’t have the same therapeutic effect as Mozart. Although Mozart is influenced by some of the musical forms in use at the end of the 18th century, his music transcends them greatly. For Tomatis, Mozart is not a musician that belongs to a specific period or to a specific place, because Mozart is universal, that is, his music has the power to touch anyone regardless of time or place. In an appendix (Pages 181-193) Tomatis presents the spectral analysis of different pieces of music by composers such as Beethoven, Bach, and Mozart. His conclusion is that the tempo is quite different in all those musicians.

204 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996