Mozart on Tour is a 1991 documentary about the life and music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756âÂÂ1791) that focuses on his travels and how his music developed through them.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart spent a third of his life travelling, and Mozart on Tour focuses on these journeys and their influence on his life and work, highlighting a piano concerto that demonstrates his musical development at the time of each trip.
The first half of each episode of Mozart on Tour is a documentary hosted by André Previn, who provides a narrative in an even and subdued tone describing a journey Mozart made, emphasizing its influence on his musical development and events in his personal and professional life. The documentary includes footage of historic sites relevant to Mozartâ²s journey as they appeared when the documentary was filmed, actors in period costume portraying â without dialogue â events Previn describes, and musicians performing portions of Mozartâ²s compositions. Actor Michael Kitchen appears frequently, seated and dressed casually in modern clothing, to recite portions of Mozartâ²s letters directly to the camera in a conversational tone, while other actors provide uncredited off-camera readings of letters by other people in Mozartâ²s life. The second half of each episode is devoted to the complete performance in concert of a Mozart piano concerto â in one episode to two early piano concertos â related to the journey described in the episode.
Mozart on Tour was produced to coincide with the 1991 bicentennial of Mozartâ²s death. The entire 13-part series was broadcast in Europe, while in the United States a two-hour version of the series aired as a single episode on PBS in December 1991.