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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Essay

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, as he is generally known, was baptized in a Salzburg Cathedral on the day after his birth as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus. The first and last given names come from his godfather Joannes Theophilus Pergmayr, although Mozart preferred the Latin form of this last name, Amadeus, more often Amadé, or the Italiano Amadeo, and occasionally the Deutsch Gottlieb. Whatever the case may be, he rarely - if ever - used Theophilus in his signature. The name Chrysostomus originates from St. John Chrysostom, whose feast falls on the 27th of January. The name Wolfgang was given to him in honor of his maternal grandfather, Wolfgang Nikolaus Pertl.

He was the seventh and last child born
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No documentation survives for that journey. Later ones are better served - Leopold was a prolific correspondent and also kept travel diaries. The next started on September 18th, 1762, when the entire family set off for Wein; they paused at Passau and Linz where the young Wolfgang gave his first public recital at The Trinity Inn, Linz, on October 1st, 1762. Soon afterwards, he amazed the Empress at Schonbrunn Castle and all her royal guests with fascinating keyboard tricks: playing with the keys covered with a cloth, with his hands behind his back, and so on. In 1769, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was appointed concertmaster to the Archbishop of Salzburg (his father's job), and later in the same year, he was made a chevalier of the Order of the Golden Spur by the Pope. He also completed his first German operetta, Bastien une Bastienne in the same year. At age fourteen, Mozart was commisioned to write a serious opera. This work, Mitridate, rè di Ponto (Mithridates, King of Pontus) completely established Mozarts' phenomenal reputation.

While the Mozarts were touring Italy, the Archbishop of Salzburg died, and Hieronymus, count von Colleredo was the successor. Unfortunately, this man cared little for music, and looked down upon Mozart. After five years of composing music for next-to-nothing pay, Wolfgang obtained a leave of absence for a concert
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