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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is a famous composer and musician who, even though he has been dead over 225 years, has sold more albums than Beyoncé. He started composing music at an age that many of you were in kindergarten just learning how to read.
Portrait of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart by Louis Carrogis Carmontelle in 1763. © René-Gabriel Ojéda, RMN (Domaine de Chantilly).
He lived for 35 years and composed over 625 works. He would write anywhere and anytime, he even composed a piece of music for a horn duet one evening while he was at a bowling alley.
This posthumous portrait of Mozart was painted in 1819 by Barbara Krafft. Historians regard it as a good likeness, despite being painted years after his death. Image is in the public domain.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria, on January 27, 1756, to a musician father named Leopold Mozart who also served as his music teacher and his wife, Anna Maria.
Historic Salzburg, Austria, by the Salzach river
Mozart and his sister, Maria Anna, were the only two of seven children to survive to adulthood.
A family portrait (from left to right) of Mozart's sister Maria Anna, Wolfgang himself, and their father Leopold. Their mother, Anna Maria, is shown in a portrait on the wall. This painting was created by Johann Nepomuk della Croca circa 1780. Image is the public domain.
Leopold saw great promise in his son's developing musical abilities. At the age of four, young Mozart could learn a new piece of music in half an hour. By the age of 5, he was an accomplished clavier (an early piano) player. At the age of 6, Mozart was composing his own music, and his first symphony was composed when he was 8. He was a true child prodigy a young child (under the age of 10) who has a very great talent or ability in something .
The front of this yellow building says "Mozarts Geburtshaus" which means "Mozart's birthplace." The home is now a museum dedicated to his life.
Young Mozart toured Europe under the direction of his father and performed for most of the crown royalty of Europe, earning a great deal fame for a musician of any age. While on tour in 1778 with his mother in Paris, France, his mother became ill and died. Mozart returned to Salzburg and accepted a position as the court organist to the Archbishop of Salzburg.
Mozart married his wife Constanze, a singer, in 1782, and the couple moved to Vienna, Austria, where he became a regular at the court of Emperor Joseph II.
Portrait of Constanze Mozart by Hans Hansen, 1802. Image is the public domain.
Mozart and Constanze had six children (4 boys and 2 girls) but only two survived infancy, their sons, Karl and Franz Xaver.
Carl and Franz Xaver Mozart by Hans Hansen, 1798, shows the two sons of Wolfgang and Constanze. Karl is on the right and Franz Xaver is on the left. Image is the public domain.
Mozart's popularity as a musician and composer continued throughout his life.
On December 5, 1791, he died of fever in Vienna; during his 35 years, Mozart composed over 625 pieces ranging from piano compositions to symphonies and operas, many of which are still performed today.
Mozart's grave in the St. Marx Cemetery in Vienna, Austria
In Austria, Mozart's portrait is still used on storefronts, products, postage stamps, and even money.
