Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
- Spoiler:
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (German: [ˈvɔlfɡaŋ amaˈdeus ˈmoːtsaʁt], baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart[1] (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791), was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music. He is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers.
Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood in Salzburg. Already competent on keyboard and violin,
he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty;
at 17 he was engaged as a court musician in Salzburg, but grew restless
and traveled 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 the Requiem. The circumstances of his early death have been much mythologized. He was survived by his wife Constanze and two sons.
Mozart learned voraciously from others, and developed a brilliance
and maturity of style that encompassed the light and graceful along
with the dark and passionate. His influence on subsequent Western art music is profound. Beethoven wrote his own early compositions in the shadow of Mozart, of whom Joseph Haydn wrote that "posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years."