Includes bibliographical references (p. 351-361) and index
Introduction : enlightenment and the eighteenth century -- Part one. Salzburg and the years of travel, 1756-1781 -- The education of a bourgeois artist -- La finta giardiniera -- Opera and the enlightenment -- The German artist -- Zaide -- Idomeneo -- Part two. Vienna : the years of optimism, 1781-1786 -- Vienna and the enlightenment -- Mozart's arrival in Vienna -- Die Entführung aus dem Serail -- Freemasonry and the Catholic enlightenment -- The return to Italian opera -- Le nozze di Figaro -- The meaning of classicism -- Part three. The years of retreat, 1786-1791 -- The collapse of Josephinism -- Don Giovanni -- Così fan tutte -- La clemenza di Tito -- Die Zauberflöte -- Epilogue