Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was an Austrian composer of what now is called classical music.

He was baptized as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, named for St. John Chrysostom and Mozart's mother's father (Wolfgang Nikolaus Pertl). His father, Leopold Mozart, was vice-concertmaster to the Archbishop of Salzburg. He had an older sister, Maria Anna (known as Nannerl, 1751-1829).

An infant prodigy, he could play the piano at the age of three and started to compose at the age of five (though his father, himself a competent composer, may have had a hand in his earliest works). His father took him on tour across Europe; with his father and sister, he played for Louis XV at Versailles and George III in London. While in London in 1764, he wrote his first three symphonies and had lessons from Karl Friedrich Abel and Johann Christian Bach. They returned to Salzburg in 1766.

In 1768, he completed his first opera, La finta semplice. In 1769 they went to Italy where Mozart was hailed as a genius. He had lessons from Giovanni Martini. In Rome, he heard Gregorio Allegri's Miserere and was so impressed that he wrote out the work from memory. His father started a legend that there was a Papal ban on releasing the score that Mozart was the first person to circumvent.

His first successful opera was Mitridate, re di Ponte, performed in Milan in 1770. In 1772, he joined his father at the court of the Archbishop of Salzburg. From 1777, he toured around, hoping to get a better position, but failed and returned to Salzburg in 1779. (His mother had accompanied him, but died in Paris in 1778.) Increasing friction withthe new Archbishop led in 1781 to his resignation and a move to Vienna, against his father's advice.

In 1782, he wrote one of his most successful operas, Il Seraglio and married Constanze Weber. In 1785 he met Jodef Haydn, who hailed him as the greatest living composer. he wrote six string quartets dedicted to Haydn. His fame grew, and in 1787 he became composer of the Imperial and Royal Chamber.

He died in 1791. The cause of death is unclear. It was probably of natural causes, but there was a persistent rumour that he was poisoned by a jealous fellow composer, Antonio Salieri.

Main works

• Over 50 symphonies
• 25 piano concertos
• 12 violin concertos
• 26 string quartets
• 17 piano sonatas
• 21 stage and opera works
• 15 Masses
• 27 concert arias