2. “There's an almost miraculous quality to his creativity, whether you consider Mozart's beginnings as a child prodigy (he composed his first symphony at the age of 8) or his versatility in mastering every musical form of his era.” -Thomas May

3. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria on January 27, 1756.

4. Anna Maria (Pertl) Mozart gave birth to seven children. Only two of them survived --- Wolfgang and his sister Maria Anna. Leopold Mozart was a respected composer and theorist in his own right but sacrificed his own career to further his son’s.

5. Wolfgang and his sister, Nannerl, took music lessons from their father, Leopold. By the time he was only four years old, Wolfgang was composing songs on the piano and by six he was on tour performing for royalty.

6. At age 11, Mozart wrote his first opera, Bastien und Bastienne, soon followed by La finta semplice.

7. At the age of 13, Mozart found a job in the court of the Archbishop of Salzburg, where he worked for 12 years.

8. Mozart moved to Vienna to seek his fortune but despite his reputation, he had a hard time finding work. Luckily, he met Joseph Haydn. Haydn was quoted as saying to Leopold Mozart, “I tell you before God, and as an honest man, that your son is the greatest composer that ever lived.”

9. Things went better when Mozart visited Prague. His opera The Marriage of Figaro was a huge success. The next year, 1787, Prague commissioned him to write an opera to celebrate the emperor's niece – Don Giovanni

10. Mozart drove his rivals nuts because composing was so easy for him. Musical ideas sprang into his head, fully formed as if he were taking dictation. His speed became legendary. When a beggar approached him on the street, he whipped out a sheet of paper and wrote a minuet trio. He told the beggar to take it to a publisher who bought it on the spot.

11. Mozart’s final composition was his Requiem. He believed from the beginning that he was writing this “funeral mass” for his own death. He worked anxiously to complete the work only augmenting his illness. He died with the piece unfinished at the age of 35. A student, Franz Sussmayr, completed it after his death. This is the version most commonly heard. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is buried in an unmarked grave outside Vienna.

12. “His greatest compositions cut to the quick and establish an immediate bond with the listener, as if Mozart had discovered a code in sound to articulate the emotional reality that lies at the core of our humanity.” -Thomas May.