Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is one of the greatest musical  geniuses of
all time. He was a master at almost every kind of musical composition. He left
over 600 beautiful works.



      On  a cold  winter  day, January  27, 1756, the  young  genius  was  born  in
Salzburg, Austria. His parents were Anna Maria and Leopold Mozart. He had one
older sister-Nannerl. The Mozart family lived in the Getreidegass (now the Mozart
museum) in Salzburg. Mozart's father, Leopold had a job  as  a  court  composer
and an assistant conductor to the orchestra. Also, Leopold played the violin and
he published a textbook about learning the violin. 



       Young Wolfgang was a good child. He had a happy disposition and a love
of fun. He did not lose his temper easily. His sister,Nannerl was a small,quiet girl.



       Wolfgang and Nannerl did not attend school. Leopold taught them at home, 
focusing the studies on music.Leopold started teaching Nannerl the clavier when
she was seven.Wolfgang was too young to start playing, or so Leopold thought.
After Nannerl's music lesson, Wolfgang  would  run to the clavier. He wanted to
touch the keys. He would try to play what Nannerl was playing previously in the
lesson. He made some mistake when playing the music. The next day I must
correct them.' He always said to himself.



     One night when Leopold came home work, he found his four - year - old son
busy with music paper, pen and ink. He had got the ink all over himself. Leopold
picked up  the  ink and  looked at the  paper. His  eyes  filled  with  tears. To his 
amazement, he realized that his own child had not only written a concerto, but
one so difficult that no one could play it. 



    Leopold believed that his children was musical geniuses. He decided to show
him off to the world. Their first tour was travelling to many major cities including- 
Munich, Frankfort, Brussels, Amsterdam, The Hague, Paris, and London. They 
were invited to play at some of the best houses. This tour  had  made  Mozart
famous and happy.



     In January of 1768, when Mozart was 12, the Mozart family traveled to Vienna,
where the new emperor, Joseph II suggested that Wolfgang should write an Italian
opera. The result was La Finta Semplice. This was not performed at first because
the other composers were angry that a  12 - year - old  child could write an opera 
better  than  them. They  told  the  orchestra that no child could write music worth
performing.  Mozart was so disappointed.  he packed up  558  pages of script and 
returned home.  The  Archbishop  ( churchman )  of  Salzburg  kindly  arranged  a 
performance of the young Wolfgang's opera. It was a great success.



     Mozart and his father left in the winter of 1769 for Italy, the heart of European 
music. His first public concert was a success. When he went to Milan, he was
employed to write an opera. Mozart also visited Florence, Rome, Naples, Bolona,
and Venice.



     When Mozart became an adult it was much harder for him to find a job, even
though he was an extremely talented composer and piano player. He took small
trips to Milan and Munich to write operas. He knew he could never make a living
in Salzburg. Wolfgang completed symphony number 25 in G minor. This was his
first  minor  key  symphony  besides  the  overture  to  La  Betulia  Liberata. This 
symphony sounds different from others. The repeated notes in the beginning of
the piece represent something new. When the bass instruments take up the
melodic phrases it adds intensity. Even though the E flat Andante is very soft in
texture. There were many minor key symphonies before that, especially by Haydn
and Bach. Leopold made a decision that he and Wolfgang had to go on another
world tour. The Bishop would not allow Leopold to leave for so long, so Wolfgang's
mother went with him instead. Anna Maria and Wolfgang started the tour on
September 23, 1777. 



          This tour was the first time that Wolfgang had been away from his father.
He stayed in Munich for 17 days. He had offered his services to the elector, but
 he refused. At Augsburg, Worlfang visited a piano maker. He played for monks
at  the  Heiligkreuz  Canonry. Also, he  attended  an  academy  and  he gave a 
concert where he played his  recent works.  He spent  some time with relatives.
After that,  he  left for  Mannheim.  He taught  people piano. He also wrote flute 
quartets and concertos for a Dutchman. He stayed there for three months.



        One time,  Wolfgang  was  arranging  to  have some  music  copied  for  a 
performance.He went to see Fridolin Weber.He was a singer at the court opera.
He was a poor man.His children were often hungry.One of his daughters,Aloysia,
was already a singer at the opera. She had a beautiful voice- clear and fine. She
was not trained,  but  she  had  a  wonderful sense of music.  Fridolin introduced
Mozart to his four daughters:  Josefa,  Constance,  Aloysia  and  Sophie. When
Mozart first set eyes on Aloysia, he was definitely in love, even though she was
only 15 years old. After that, he tried to write opera that would make her famous.



    Anna Maria, Wolfgang's mother, fell ill. She grew worse, until July 3, 1778 she
passed away.In Munich,Wolfgang found out that Aloysia had become very famous
and she no longer wanted to know him. 



      Those trips had caused the family into debt. Wolfgang had no  choice  but  to
accept a position under the Archbishop. He became depressed, but uplifted when
he was asked to write an opera for the Munich carnival. In November 1780, he too
 a leave of absence and began to work on Idomendo. It turned out  to  be  another
instant success.



      Wolfgang always absented. He was kicked out of his job. Wolfgang decided
 to move in with the Weber family,  who were now living in Vienna.  By this time, 
Mr.Weber had passed on.Aloysia Weber had married a court actor named Joseph 
Lange.Mozart was treated well: like a lord.Leopold wanted him to live somewhere 
else.It was too late to move because he already was in love with Constance Weber
(Aloysia's sister)He was much happier now.He gave concerts packed full of people.
His new works were very success. Also, in 1781, he had a very successful opera: 
The Abduction from the Seraglio. It was a very revolutionary opera because it was 
to be sung in German instead of Italian.This opera required main characters to act
as well as sing, so it would be more like a drama. 



      Wolfgang and Constances's relationship was growing deeper and deeper.They
decided to get married in August 1782. Their marriage was very joyful. Constance
was loving and affectionate. Soon, she became pregnant. However, the child died
soon after it was born. They were to eventually have six children-------four of them
would die in infancy.



      In 1784, Constance  had  another  son - Karl Thomas. He  grew  up  to  be  a 
government official. In January of 1785, Leopold came to visit his son ( Wolfgang ).
While he was in  Vienna,  he went to  see Wolfgang perform in  concert.  Leopold
was greatly impressed. Leopold didn't enjoy the lifestyle that Wolfgang was living.
He didn't appreciate his disorganized ways.



      Wolfgang was on to a new musical project.  It  was a comic opera  called  The
Marriage of Figaro. It was based on the play by  the  French  writer  Beaumarchais.
Lorenzo da Pone was his collaborator.The opera was about the misunderstandings
and confusions about preparations for a wedding. He did not earn  a  lot  of  money 
from it. He had another commission for an opera- Don Giovanni. Don Giovanni was
based on a story called The Playboy of Seville and the Stone Guest by the Spanish
author Triso de Molina.The character,Don Giovanni was an evil nobleman who takes
advantage of everyone he met. He was punished when the man he killed came back
to life and dragged him down to hell. 



       Wolfgang and da Ponte had worked at top speed on this opera. Wolfgang had
to put his work aside because Constance was ill.  His father also became ill,   and
eventually died. 



       In June 1788, the Mozart's moved out of  the  city. About  10  days  after  they
moved,  their newborn daughter,  Theresa died. Wolfgang had trouble in paying bills.
He wanted to write another opera --- The Magic Flute. The Magic Flute takes place
in ancient Egypt. It is about the Queen of the Night's daughter that was imprisoned
in the palace of Sarastro, Priest of the son. Sarastro at first seems to be the villain.
By the end, clearly the Queen of the Night is the evil one. In Der vogelfanger bin ich
ja,the main themes are stated right from the beginning by violin I.This melody is set
in the Andante, which means moderately slow. 



          In July 1791, Constance gave birth to another son --- Franz Xavier Wolfgang.
He grew up to be a composer just like his father. One day, a stranger in grey visited
Mozart with an anonymous letter (letter without name) asking him to write a requiem
mass. The person who actually wrote the letter was a nobleman-Count Walsegg. He
wanted it for the mourning of his wife. Mozart saw the letter as an invitation from
destiny. He  knew  he  was going to die soon, and he was right. Wolfgang  Amadeus
Mozart died in poverty on December 5, 1791.

 

          Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a brilliant musician. In all, he composed:
16 operas, 15 masses, 49 symphonies, five violin concertos, 21 piano concertos, 
8t concertos for wind instruments,  26 string quartets,  42 violin sonatas and 17
piano sonatas.Mozart has influenced many lives. The spirit of Mozart's music 
will live for all eternity.