Mozart

Introduction

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was an Austrian composer of classical music who is widely recognized as one of the finest of all times. He was born a catholic and lived all through his life remaining faithful to his creed. He was born in Salzburg Austria on the 27th of January 1756 and died of rheumatoid fever on the 5th of December 1791 aged just 35 years. His parents were Leopold Mozart and Anna Maria Pertl. Mozart and his elder sister Maria Anna were the only surviving children of their parents out of five children that were born. He was the youngest. Mozart’s elder sister Maria Anna was also a very talented musician and together they were taken on tour around the major musical centers in Western Europe by their father Leopold in order to showcase their talents and secure profitable employment especially for Mozart. Mozart was a musical child prodigy whose precocious musical talent was evident from a very young age. At just three years he could already play some cords on the harpsichord and by four was playing short musical pieces. By the time he was five years old, the young Mozart was already composing music. At the age of six he and his elder sister were already playing before nobles in Vienna. Mozart is widely regarded as the most universal of classical music composers of all time, playing and excelling in all the available musical genres of his day.

The Early Musical Tours of Mozart

Mozart’s father was always keen to showcase his son’s musical talent and secure a brighter future for him and for his sister. To achieve this aim, Mozart’s father obtained a leave of absence from his place of employment in 1763 in order to take them on a musical tour of the major musical cities in Western Europe. They toured the major cities of German speaking Europe, Brussels, Paris and London for the greater part of three years. As part of this tour, they also went to The Hague, Amsterdam and Switzerland. Mozart and his sister played in various places, were renowned for being able to improvise and they achieved considerable fame in the process. During this tour, they met some German composers and Johann Christian Bach in London.

The Barren Years

Between 1773 and 1777, Mozart was employed in the Salzburg court where he grew in his musical stature and excelled but made little money. He became dissatisfied with this position and tried to find employment elsewhere. Mozart’s career in a financial sense was checkered. He only achieved relative financial success just a few years before his death.