Mozart

(1756 - 1791)

1. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

(1756 - 1791)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is one of the most famous composers of all time. He lived and composed during the Classical Period. Mozart was a child prodigy which means that when he was a child he could do things well that most adults couldn't do at all.

2. Childhood

Mozart was born in Salzburg, a city in Austria. He was the youngest child of Leopold and Anna Maria Mozart. From a very early age, Mozart showed great musical talent. His father was a musician and taught his older sister "Nannerl" music lessons. Wolfgang watched the lessons and started playing by himself around the age of 3. By the time he was 4, he began lessons himself and by the time he was 5, he began composing! By the time Mozart was 6, he and Nannerl were touring around Europe, performing for Kings, Queens and other royalty and rich people. Mozart was able to play the harpsichord, piano and violin better than most adults!

3. Mozart's First Compositions

Here is a video of Mozart's first pieces. The date for the pieces in the catalog of Mozart's music is 1761... when he was just 5 or 6! The pieces are written for and played on the harpsichord because the piano was just becoming popular. Almost all of Mozart's keyboard music is written for piano.

4. Mozart's First Symphony

The Symphony No.1 in E flat major, K.16, was written in 1764 at the age of just 8 years. By this time, he was already notable in Europe as a "wunderkind" performer, but had composed little music. His life until the age of 17 was travel, performing and composing.

Eventually, Mozart was too old to be a child prodigy. After traveling all over Europe, Mozart returned to Salzburg and worked for a short time for the Archbishop of Salzburg. But Mozart was restless. He knew that he was a genius, and thought that Salzburg was too small for his great talent.

5. Mozart in Vienna

On the 16th of March, 1781 at 9 o'clock in the morning, the 25 year old Mozart arrives in Vienna. The last ten years of his life will be spent in this city. In this period he writes such masterpieces as the "Magic Flute", his most important symphonies, and the "Requiem".

Mozart taught piano lessons and tried to get people in Vienna to commission music from him - that means to pay him to write music for them. Commissions were the only real way a composer could make money in the Classical Period. Mozart was not very good at getting commissions and he was really bad at managing money.

In 1782, Mozart married Constanze Weber. Mozart's father, who was very involved in Mozart's life, did not approve of the marriage. Mozart and Constanze were happy, but poor. The Mozarts had 6 children, but four died as babies. The two sons who lived to be adults never married or had children.

Although many people recognized the greatness of Mozart's music while he was alive, he was never totally successful. He died a poor man at the age of 35. There are a lot of stories about Mozart's death. Some people think he was poisoned by another composer who was jealous of his talent, others think that all of the traveling when he was young made him unhealthy as an adult. In his short life, Mozart was able to produce a tremendous amount of music that moves people to this day.

6. Mozart's Music

Mozart wrote over 600 pieces of music including 41 symphonies, 22 operas, 27 piano concertos, 23 string quartets and 15 masses. Writing music was not difficult for Mozart. He heard the music in his head and wrote it down in pen.

To the left is a picture of what Mozart's music looked like as he composed it, or copied it from his head to the paper.

Now compare Mozart's handwritten music with Beethoven's in terms of how they wrote their music.

Mozart's best known pieces include:

Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music)
the opera's The Magic Flute, The Marriage of Figaro, and Don Giovanni
Symphony 40 in G minor
The Requiem
"Twelve Variations on "Ah! Vous Dirai-je, Maman", whild is 12 variations on the theme of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

After Mozart's death a man called Kochel studied all of his music and tried to number them in order of when they were written. The "Kochel number" helps us to know exactly which piece we are talking about. The highest Kochel number is 626, his Requiem mass.

7. Video Biographies

There are many movies and clips about Mozart. In 1984, a man named Peter Shaffer wrote a play called "Amadeus" that was then made into a movie. Amadeus is based on the idea that Mozart was poisoned. It gives us a picture of what life was like in Mozart's time and show us a little about his talent. The actor who played Mozart decided to give him a cray kind of laugh. Mozart probably didn't do that but once you hear it yo won't forget it!