Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(1756 - 1791)
Mozart, an Austrian composer, is considered, along with Franz Josef Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven, as the leading composers of the classic era. Mozart began his music career when he learned to play the harpsichord, violin, and organ from his father, Leopold Mozart, a composer and violinist. By age 5 Mozart composed, presented concerts throughout Europe as a child, and by age 13 had written concertos, sonatas, symphonies, and operettas. He was truly a child prodigy.
Mozart's 600 compositions include pieces from every genre: from chamber music to symphonies to operas to masses. In 1781, he moved to Vienna, married, and met Haydn, to whom he dedicated six string quartets (1782-85). Then in 1782, he wrote The Abduction from the Seraglio, a singspiel, a German musical comedy featuring folk songs combined with dialogue. Afterwards, Mozart worked feverishly on a requiem commissioned by a nobleman--it proved to be Mozart's own, and his pupil Franz Süssmayr completed the work. Mozart died at age 35 in poverty and was buried in a pauper's grave.
Three Best Known Works:
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik ("A Little Night Music"), orchestra
"Don Giovanni", opera
"The Marriage of Figaro", opera
Well Known Works:
Idomeneo (1781) opera
Cosi Fan Tutte (1790)
