Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) remains one of the greatest composers who ever lived.  He was born on January 27, 1756, in Salzburg, Austria.  His father, Leopold Mozart (1719-1787), was a composer/musician who was employed by the Archbishop of Salzburg.  By the time he was 3 years old, Wolfgang Amadeus began to play chords on the keyboard.  His father recognized his son's amazing talent, and began to teach him music.

     When Mozart was 6 years old, he and his sister Nannerl went on a concert tour, guided by their father.  They played in Munich.  They performed for the emperor of Austria.  They performed in Paris, where Mozart had his first compositins published when he was 8 years old.  They played music for the king and queen of England.  Everywhere they went, audiences recognized that Mozart was a child prodigy.  Young Mozart was also excellent at improvisation (the skill of making up music as you are playing it).  He could improvise in the style of any composer. 

     When he was 14 years old, touring in Rome, Mozart heard a choir singing a major musical work ("Miserere" by G. Allegri) in the Sistine Chapel.  He returned home and wrote down the entire piece from memory!  In this way, even the Pope heard about Mozart.  He was famous throughout all of Europe.

     Throughout his childhood, Mozart was composing musical pieces.  By the time he was 13 years old, he had composed operas, operettas, symphonies, concertos, and sonatas.  In 1769, Mozart found a position as concert director.  His employer was the Prince Archbishop of Salzburg.  Three years later, this archbishop died, and a new one, Hieronymous von Colloredo, was appointed.  Mozart and the new archbishop did not get along well, and Mozart finally resigned from this job in 1781.  In August, 1782, Mozart got married to Constanze Weber, who was a singer.  Her cousin was the famous composer, Carl Maria von Weber.  Mozart's father, Leopold, did not approve of this marriage, even though it appears that the two were very happy together.

     Mozart tried to make a living as a composer in Vienna.  He had no "steady" court position, so he relied on his great fame to help him to get commissions.  In this way, he could earn money for his compositions.  He also taught music lessons.  He wrote an amazing amount of music.  In spite of this, the Mozarts were constantly in financial trouble.

     The last thing on which Mozart worked was his "Requiem".  It is said that a stranger came to his home one day and commissioned a requiem (a mass for the dead) by Mozart, at the request of a nobleman who preferred to remain unnamed.  Mozart accepted the commission, and worked on the requiem, even though he was becoming very sick.  He died on December 5, 1791, before he finished his "Requiem".  It was finished by Franz Sussmayer, who was oneof Mozart's students.  Mozart was only 35 years old when he died.

     He was so poor that he was buried in a common grave.  No one is sure where Mozart was buried, although a monument was erected to him in Vienna years after his death.

                                                Mozart's Music

     Mozart composed music during the Classical Period (1750-1820).  He composed more than 600 pieces of music, an amazing amount of composition for any composer. 

     A catalog of Mozart's music was done by Ludwig von Kochel in 1862, when people bega to recognize just how great Mozart's music really was.  This is why we know of Mozart's works with the letter "K" followed by a number. 

     Mozart wrote all kinds of music, including operas, church music, symphonies, piano sonatas, orchestral serenades, and chamber music.  Some of his famous operas include: "Idomeneo" (1781), "The Marriage of Figaro" (1786), "Don Giovanni" (1787), "Cosi fan tutti" (1790), and "The Magic Flute" (1791).

     He wrote his first 2 symphonies when he was 12 years old.  He wrote his last 3 symphonies (Symphony No. 39 in E-flat major, Symphony No. 40 in g minor, and Symphony No. 41 in C major) in 1788, during one 6-week period. 

    It is said that Mozart composed his music almost totally in his head, and then wrote down the finished product.  There is evidence of this in his neatly-written manuscripts, in which there are no corrections to be made.  Today we recognize Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as one of the greatest musical geniuses of all time.

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