The New Grove Mozart

This is the first book I reach for when I want basic information on Mozart. It is compact enough to read straight through in a few hours; it is also well-organized for reference by subject. There is succinct coverage of everything you'd want in a composer's biography: dates, events, family, colleagues, works; there is a good amount of musical analysis, a few pages of autograph manuscript, portraits of the composer, a lengthy bibliography, and a work list. This includes dates, key, forces required, title where applicable, and Koechel number(s). There is no mental analysis or minute examination of the Baesle letters or anything of the sort here, just the "hard facts" on Mozart--and plentiful guidance on where to look next if you need more information on a great composer.