Mozart

            Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed many operas, symphonies, and pieces of music that your guarunteed to know at least one by heart. Born Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, most people called him Mozart or Wolfgang. Mozart, baptized Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was born in Salzburg, Austria, on January 27, 1756 to Leopold, Kapellmeister to the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, and Anna Maria Mozart. Leopold and Anna, had 7 children, but he and his sister Maria Anna, or "Nannerl", survived. Leopold began teaching his children music almost instantly, and in 1760, Wolfgang had already learned 8 minuets in his sisters music book, at the age of 4. Also this year he began to show signs of skill in musical memory and ear sophistication. No one was very surprised by his musical talent, however, because Wolfgang's grandfather and father were very musically inclined themselves. Wolfgang's musicianship greatly impressed his sister though. She said that music began to overtake his entire life, that everything he did had to have music associated. By the age of 6, Wolfgang had become an accomplished performer on the clavier, violin, and organ and was highly skilled in sight-reading and improvisation. Five short piano pieces composed by Wolfgang when he was six years old are still frequently played. In 1762 Leopold took Wolfgnag and Nannerl on the first of many successful concert tours through the courts of Europe. Travel at the time was very hard, and required courage and endurance beyond imagination. Later in 1762, the entire family set out for the Munich carnival season shortly after Wolfgang's 6th birthday. The family went to Linz, where Wolfgang gave his first public concert in October of 1762. In 1769, at age 13, he was appointed concertmaster to the archbishop of Salzburg, and later in the same year, at La Scala (Milan, Italy), he was made a chevalier of the Order of the Golden Spur by the pope.