Mozart

Written by: Ivan Tarnawsky

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is, in the opinion of many people, the greatest composer who ever lived. Some of us happen to fancy Gershwin, but hey, Mozart is older. Mozart was born in Salzburg on January 27, 1956. On January 24, 1761 when Mozart was only five years old, he learned now to play his first piece of music, a scherzo by Georg Christof Wagenseil.

Mozart s first documented performance was on September first, 1761 as a singer in the Latin play Sigismundus Humgariae Rex.

In January 1762, he his father and his sister went to Munich for three weeks. While there, he and his sister perform for the Bavarian Elector Maximilian III Joseph.

On September 18, 1762, Mozart and his family departed for Vienna where Mozart gives his first performance as a musical virtuoso. He does this at the Trinity Inn near Linz.

January the following year entire family returns to Salzburg from Vienna.

On June 9th, the same year his family prepared to go on a Grand Tour of Vienna. While in Munich Mozart performed for the Bavarian Elector Maximilian III Joseph, again.

On October the 7th Mozart and his sister performed a concert in Brussels which is attended by the Governor-General of the Austrian Netherlands and Prince Charles de Loraine.

Shortly after going to Paris in November, the Mozart family was invited to Versailles, where they stay for two weeks.

In January 1764, Mozart meets Louis XV and Queen Maria Lezeczynska. Over the course of this year Mozart, his father and his mother all become sick. Mozart became sick with an intestinal typhehoid.

In 1771, Mozart got a job as court musician and composer for the archbishop of Salzburg. This job was, to put into perspective, to get Einstein to wash windows. Mozart was not allowed to perform publicly or privately except for his employer. This made him unable to get a better job. At the age of 25, Mozart had decided to head for Vienna after being fed up with the bad taste and mediocre pay at his previous job.

To describe Mozart with a single word is impossible, but the word that is most suitable would be amazing. To master his first piece it took him 30 minutes. He was very soon in his life labeled a wunderkind, or child (musical) prodigy. (LEFT)Mozart s piano from Salzburg. (RIGHT) Mozart as a child.

There are also many accusations against Mozart like him cheating on his wife and drinking heavily. Also, no one is sure about his cause of death, the ones mentioned were from overwork, kidney failure and typhus. Mozart died at age 35. And if you have seen the movie AMADEUS then you should know that there are TONS of discrepancies between the movie and the truth, the most notable one being that Antonio Salieri never tried to assassinate Mozart. Mozart had more then one unfinished piece when he died, the most notable one being Requiem. Mozart also composed for the piano, orchestra, violin, and wrote ballet music, duets, ensembles, canons and others.