Jennifer Persaud. Professor Adams . Music 101. April 2017.

Born Wofgang Amadeus Mozart in 1756, he was considered a genius when he was just a child. He taught himself how to play the violin, clarinet, and trumpet. At age nine, he composed a full symphony, and at fourteen he wrote his first opera. During his life, he accomplished and composed fifty symphonies, twenty-five piano concertos, twelve violin concertos, twenty-seven concertos arias, twenty-six string quartets, one hundred and three minuets, fifteen masses, and twenty-one works of opera. Mozart was so talented that after only hearing a piece of music once, he would be able to play it perfectly even without the music. He was able to write music before words. He was excellent in math and could speak a few languages. It would take you 1500 years to listen to all of his music if you listened to it every day for 8

Leopold, his father was a successful composer, violinist, and assistant concert master at the Salzburg court. Wolfgang’s mother, Anna Maria Pertl, was born to a middle-class family of local community leaders. With their father’s encouragement and guidance, they both Wolfgang and his sister Anna Marie were introduced to music at an early age. In the Classical period, Mozart was considered one of the greatest composers, capable of playing multiple instruments, he started playing

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in 1756, in Salzburg, Austria. Mozart quickly became “the most extraordinarily gifted child in the history of music” (Forney 169). Around the age of 3 Mozart became interested in playing the keyboard, “he could also recall prominent passages from the pieces that he heard” (Abert 19). At only reaching the age of four, Mozart’s father had already begun to teach him a number of minutes and other pieces on the keyboard, and not long before he was able to play them with total accuracy and in perfect time. “Soon he was moved to write music of his own and was still only four when he wrote his first short pieces, which he played to his father and which the latter duly notated” (Abert 19). Not only did Mozart begin to compose before he was five but by the age of thirteen, he had already written everything from sonatas to several operas. Leopold was the father of Mozart, which instantly gave him a strong foundation when it came to the musical background. Leopold Mozart was a well-respected court composer-violinist, he dedicated his life and energy to support his son’s talent. Not only was Mozart influenced by his father but also by Johann Christian Bach. At this time Mozart traveled to the courts of Paris, London, The Hague, and Zurich performing with all the other child prodigies, this is how Mozart met Bach following one of their performances. They quickly became friends and Mozart considered Bach as an instrumental influence in his work. During

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart baptized as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart lived from January 27, 1756 to December 5, 1791. Mozart was a very influential and prolific composer of more than 600 works, including symphonies, concertante, chamber, piano, opera, and choral music. Regarded as a child prodigy, Mozart composed and performed in the European courts from the age of five, and was engaged at the Salzburg court at 17. Mozart’s musical style can be classified as Classical, although he learned from many of his contemporaries throughout his musical career. In order to better understand Mozart’s genius it is best to begin looking at his earliest contributions to the musical world as a child. From there, an exploration of his

     Archbishop von Schrattenbach, who was a great supporter of Mozart, died in 1771 and was succeeded by Hieronymus von Colloredo. Although Archbishop Colloredo was a less generous employer, Mozart continued in his Salzburg post and worked diligently from 1775 to 1777. However, in an effort to secure a better position, Mozart obtained leave from Salzburg, and set out with his mother in 1777. They traveled through Munich, Augsburg, and Mannheim, but Mozart was not offered a post. The next year they continued on to Paris, where Mozart composed the Paris Symphony. In Paris, Mozart's mother fell ill and soon after the symphony's premiere, she died.

After Mozart and his father returned to Italy from a ten year tour, Mozart was employed by Prince-Archbishop Hieronymus Collero to be a court musician in the year 1773. With a pay check of only 150 florins a year though, Mozart began to look for other job ventures and began to try to write operas that he hoped would help kick start his career as a professional musician. It was not until 1782 when Mozart began to receive the credit that he deserved. Performing on multiple local keyboard competitions, he was soon established as one of the best keyboard players in Vienna. Finally in 1783, as he finished writing the opera Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, he began to be seen as a successful independent composer and started to receive a reputation as such (Abert 642). As Mozart got older, he matured even more as a composer writing a total of over six hundred pieces including symphonies, operas, concertos, and other styles of pieces during his life

Although Leopold was known for his children, Mozart's father was actually very musical himself. He was the fourth chair violinist in the musical establishment of Count Leopold Anton von Firmian, the ruling Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg. He also taught and composed violin and piano. Leopold was born November 14, 1719, and died May 28, 1787, at the age of 68.

Mozart’s personal life was full of music. He was born on January 27, 1756, in Salzburg, Austria to Leopold and Maria Pertl Mozart (Biography.com Editors). He had one sister named Maria Anna. “Nannerl”, Maria Anna’s nickname, was about four and a half years older than Wolfgang. He was the sole-surviving

     Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is said to be the greatest genius in western music history. Wolfgang Amadeus was born in Salzburg, Austria January 27, 1756 his parents were Leopold Mozart and Anna Maria Pertl. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s father was a successful composer, violinist, and assistant concertmaster at the Salzburg court. The

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a prolific European Composer during the 18th century where he made a lasting change on the musical world through his numerous compositions and excellence in his capabilities of playing many instruments perfectly. Mozart was born on January 27th, 1756, in Salzburg Austria. His father was Leopold Mozart who was a violinist, a minor composer, and Vice-Kapellmeister at the court of the Archbishop of Salzburg. His mother was Maria Anna Pertl. By the time Mozart was around four his father gave his sister music lessons, but without anyone knowing Mozart would absorb what they were talking about, and he started to awaken his gift. He started memorizing and playing songs just by hearing them and reciting them after. Mozart was four years old when he composed his first concerto for the clavier. On January 24, 1761, three days before his birthday, he learned a scherzo by Georg Christoph Wagenseil between nine and nine thirty at night an unusual time for a small child to be practicing in an age of no electric lights as Jeremy Siepmann says in Mozart His Life and His Music (5).

In January 27, 1756, in a town in Austria called Salzburg, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born to Leopold Mozart and Maria Pertl Mozart. Mozart was the younger of two children. His sister, Maria Anna Mozart (who was dubbed “Nannerl” by her brother) was only five years older than Mozart and was probably one of the greatest child prodigies in all of Europe, until her brother came along. Mozart’s sister traveled all around Europe to places like London, Paris, and Switzerland to perform compositions on the harpsichord, which is an instrument similar to the piano. When Mozart’s father taught Nannerl to play the harpsichord, Mozart eagerly looked on, and by the age of three, Mozart had mastered the harpsichord and had won his father’s interest. Mozart also went on to play many instruments like the piano, organ, violin, and viola.

By the time Mozart was in his mid-twenties he had accepted himself as most skilled keyboard players in Vienna, and was known as a gifted composer. Some of his most popular pieces such as Eine Kleine Nachtmusik was for string orchestra, which means 'A Little Night Music', and Ah vous dirais-je, Maman* was for piano solo, which is a group of twelve variations on a French tune that Mozart would know as little boy.

On the 27th January, 1756 in Salzburg Austria, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born. He was the son of Leopold and Anna Maria Mozart and had an older sister Maria Anna. Leopold was a successful composer, violinist and assistant concert master at the Salzburg court. At a young age Leopold began to teach both his children the piano, their talent was remarkable and soon Mozart showed signs of exceeding beyond Leopold's teachings. At the age of 4 Mozart could memorise small pieces and replay them perfectly. At the age of 5 Mozart was already composing and showing exceptional talent in playing the piano, violin and clarinet. His aural skills were so good that he could tell his elders if there violins were even a quarter tone out of tune. Leopold realised

Whether it was writing opera’s about prohibited information, or composing in german so lower class residents understand could understand the language, Mozart never conformed. Throughout his career, Mozart continued to build on the traditional music written before him. He improved on traditional music, including some of Salieri’s marches, he exposed the unmentionable, and he moved on to writing his own unique compositions. One scenario that displayed this innovation was

Wolfgang was born to Leopold and Anna Maria Mozart on January 27th, 1756. Leopold, his father studied philosophy, but never finished school. (Solomon) He later became a very talented violinist and organist. Leopold and Anna Maria had seven children together, but only two survived, Wolfgang and his older sister Maria Anna. (Solomon) Leopold was responsible for his children’s education, and also was the one to teach them music. Throughout his life, Wolfgang had written over 600 pieces of music. Mozart was known for writing a lot of sad or depressing music. No one really understood why, but he was always fascinated with the subject of death. Of course he wrote all of his own music, but in this time period it was