'Mozart wrote everything with such ease and speed.... In his mind the work was already complete before he sat down at his desk.' (1798 - the first biography)

In this programme Alan Tyson, Fellow of All Souls, Oxford, re-appraises the tradition of Mozart's extraordinary facility which began to grow up shortly after his death. Using recently-developed techniques of radiography, he analyses for the first time the watermarks of Mozart's own manuscripts of his ten 'Great' String Quartets, and throws fresh light on Mozart's creative methods.