WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART 27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791

AS A CHILD  Mozart was a child prodigy.  At age 4 he wrote his first concerto, age 7 he composed his first symphony and at age 11 wrote his first full scale opera.  He was trained by his father Leopold Mozart who was a famous musician and violinist.  His sister Maria Anna Walburga Ignatia Mozart was also well know for her piano and vocal skills but never was as famous as Wolfgang.  He was performing for kings and emperors at age 3.

MOZART  At 17, he was engaged as a court musician in Salzburg, Austria but grew restless and travelled in search of a better position, always composing abundantly. While visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame but little financial security. During his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of his death.

MOZART'S DEATH  Mozart’s death is still a mystery. It is said that he passed away from illness and exhaustion but it is still unclear. He died at age 35 on December 5, He was writing the Requiem when he died and it was never finished. It was later finished but was not in the same caliber as the rest of the work. He was buried in a mass grave in Vienna because he was so he had no money to have a proper burial. We still do not know where he is buried to this day.

ABOUT HIS WORKS  He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, operatic, and choral music. He is among the most enduringly popular of Classical composers, and his influence on subsequent Western art music is profound; Beethoven composed his own early works in the shadow of Mozart, and Joseph Haydn wrote that "posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years.”

SOME FAMOUS WORKS  The Magic Flute (opera)  The Marriage of Figaro (opera)  Requiem-was composed in Vienna in 1791 and left unfinished at the composer's death on December 5.  Eine Kleine Nachtmusik  Symphonies 25 & 40  Piano Sonata movement "Alla Turca"

FAMOUS SELECTIONS  Eine kleine Nachtmusik:  Queen of the Night Aria:  Phantom of the Opera:  Rabbit Of Seville: