Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart stands among the foremost composers not only of the Classical era but across the entire history of music. Unlike certain predecessors, he avoided groundbreaking changes in structure or harmony and steered clear of the deep symbolic layers found in works by Bach. Instead, his finest pieces unfold with effortless grace and magnetic appeal, conveying wit, exuberance, or melancholy through assured command. Operas from his maturity rank as supreme artistic achievements, matched by numerous piano concertos and late symphonies. Even minor pieces and early efforts contain engaging passages of genuine skill.

The youngest of seven siblings, five of whom perished in infancy, Mozart demonstrated keyboard facility on the clavichord by age three and began setting down brief pieces the following year. He made his debut public appearance at Salzburg University when he turned five, and in January 1762 he played the harpsichord before the Elector of Bavaria. Contemporary reports repeatedly marvel at his childhood abilities; one such account describes how, at seven, he took up a violin at a gathering and accurately read the second violin part of an unfamiliar score without any prior instruction on the instrument.

Between 1763 and 1766 Mozart journeyed through London, Paris, and additional European centers in the company of his father Leopold, himself a composer and performer, and his gifted sister Nannerl. The family presented numerous acclaimed recitals before aristocratic audiences and returned to Salzburg in November 1766. The next year the boy produced his initial opera, Apollo et Hyacinthus, together with keyboard concertos and further substantial compositions.

In 1769 the Archbishop named Mozart Konzertmeister at the Salzburg Court. That same year the family embarked on the first of three Italian tours, during which the composer immersed himself in Italian opera and completed two well-received works, Mitridate and Lucio Silla. Back in Austria by 1773, he devoted the greater part of the next several years to composition, completing all five violin concertos between 1774 and 1777 along with Masses, symphonies, and chamber music.

Mozart’s opera Idomeneo, written in 1780, enjoyed triumphant acclaim in Munich. Following a dispute with the Archbishop he relinquished his Court post and established himself in Vienna, where he secured commissions while accepting a modestly compensated but undemanding Court appointment. He married Constanze Weber in 1782 and escorted her to Salzburg the subsequent year so she could meet his relatives. That year also brought the successful premiere of his opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail.

Mozart entered the Freemasons in 1784 and evidently adopted their principles, later supplying music for several lodges. During the first half of the 1780s he produced numerous sonatas and quartets and frequently performed as soloist in the fifteen piano concertos composed at that time. Operatic commissions increasingly occupied him, resulting in a succession of masterworks: Le nozze di Figaro in 1786, Don Giovanni in 1787, Così fan tutte in 1790, and Die Zauberflöte in 1791. He undertook several journeys in his final years; although earlier health concerns had arisen, no grave illness appeared until a fever of undetermined cause developed late in 1791.