Peggy Woodford 
Mozart, His Life and Times
Omnibus Press P/b
ISBN 978-1785582134
This illustrated biography tells the fascinating story of classical music's supreme prodigy. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg in 1756, began to play the clavier when he was three years old and was already composing at the age five. Until his death at age 35, he performed before European royalty and composed over 600 works, including timeless symphonies, concertos, quartets, operas and masses, many of them masterpieces.
Illustrated Lives Of The Great Composers is a wonderful insight drawing on personal letters, recollections, engravings, paintings and other images, with a CD featuring his greatest works.
Including contemporary reports and Mozart's own, voluminous correspondence, the author skilfully recreates Mozart's story from his prodigious boyhood in Salzburg through his first triumphs to shameful neglect at the end of his life and his eventual tragic death.
The illustrations are taken from contemporary engravings, paintings and from the titles pages of first editions. A specially produced CD is included featuring Mozart's greatest compositions.
Author Peggy Woodford graduated from St Anne's College, Oxford, and then spent a year in Rome on an Italian govenment scholarship. She has published a number of books in Britain and the USA.
Schubert, His Life and Times,
Omnibus Press P/b
ISBN 0-7119-0255
These two illustrated lives are aimed at the non-musical lover of music, who’d like to learn more about lives and works of these two great composers.
The books are also an ideal introduction for teenagers putting a toe into the world of classical music, and useful as an adjunct when teaching GCSE in music.
New edition in preparation
Dear Ms Woodford,
I have enjoyed biographies throughout my life and none more than those of the masters of music. I am a "musician" myself and therefore love to read about those whose contributions have been so significant. What I loved most about your Mozart, His Life and Times, was the attention to the details that mattered most to me as an admirer of his musical genius. I have read many other biographies that dealt with minutia, but absolutely loved how you pared all that down to essentials that placed the reader in the moment.
I just wanted to thank you for making a few days of my life (I am 67 now) joyful and filled with delight. I am so thankful you took the time to write this wonderful (and lean) version of the maestro's amazing life.
Sincerely,
Alan E.
Rise of the Raj,
an illustrated History of the growth of Colonialism in British India, 1600-1859. Midas Books, 1978. ISBN 0-85936-098-9
Alas out of print but still available in libraries