I now stand at the gateway to my fortune " Mozart wrote in a letter of 1790. He had entered into the service of Emperor Joseph II of Austria two years earlier as Imperial-Royal Chamber Composer--a salaried appointment with a distinguished title & few obligations. His extraordinary subsequent output beginning with the three final great symphonies from the summer of 1788 invites a reassessment of this entire period of his life. Readers will gain a new appreciation & understanding of the composers works from that time without the usual emphasis on his imminent death. The author discusses the major biographical & musical implications of the royal appointment & explores Mozarts "imperial style" on the basis of his major compositions--keyboard chamber orchestral operatic & sacred--and focuses on the large unfamiliar works he left incomplete. This new perspective points to an energetic fresh beginning for the composer & a promising creative & financial future."