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At 280 pages, this may be one of the slimmest studies of Mozart's life yet written. And Stafford's spare and intelligent prose is conducive to a quick read. But this little book packs a mighty punch: After you read it, you'll never look at another Mozart biography the same way again.

Mozart's late career and his death are poorly documented, creating the sort of vacuum biographers abhor. Naturally, they have tried to fill it. As a result, all sorts of "myths" -- ranging from spurious gossip to wishful thinking -- have been offered up over the years as explanations for Mozart's character and "genius." Stafford separates these myths into several broad categories ("Beast and angel," "Genius and misfit," "Existentialist skepticism" and so forth). Then he examines each, meticulously sifting the facts from the chaff.

Those facts are few, thanks to Stafford's insistence on original sources. He describes the documentary evidence of Mozart's medical history as an inverted pyramid: Because of widespread plagiarism and embellishment, a very wide body of secondary literature rests upon a very narrow body of evidence. For example, though much has been written about it, little is known for certain about Mozart's final illness. And though there are several possible diagnoses, Stafford concludes that poison is not one of them. Mozart was not murdered, least of all by court composer Antonio Salieri.

In conclusion, Stafford tries to determine which of the myths best explains the facts of Mozart's life. He fails in the attempt, and frankly admits it. There are simply too many gaps in the evidence. All Stafford can do is invite the "gentle reader" to choose between two interpretations of Mozart's life.

Thus The Mozart Myths provides few hard answers. But in accounting for a life that's been the subject of too much conjecture, it's a refreshing change of pace.