Introduction Early Life Exhibition Tours Working with Colloredo Munich, Mannheim and Paris The end of servitude Vienna's rising star The happiest years Operatic works Illness and Declining years The requiem -------------------- Conclusion Famous Pieces -------------------- Leopold Mozart - Home - Sign Guestbook

Wolfgang's father, Leopold Mozart (1719-1787), was the son of an Augsburg bookbinder. His education was broadly based in the sciences and arts - organ and violin playing and singing were among his accomplishments. He was expected to become a priest, and went to the Benedictine University of Salzburg where he passed examinations but did not complete the course, he or his directors no doubt recognizing music as his true profession.

Aged 24, Leopold secured an appointment as a violinist in the Court Orchestra of Sigismund Christoph von Schrattenbach, Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, and was admired for some of the pieces he wrote for it. But he achieved fame on an international scale when he published the first important work on violin playing, which was translated into several languages.

He married Anna Maria Pertl in 1747 and they settled permanently in Salzburg. Their daughter Maria Anna (known as Nanerl), born in 1752, four years before Wolfgang, showed early ability as a keyboard player, but was soon over-shadowed by her brother.