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Born January 27, 1756, in Salzburg, and baptized Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus
Mozart, he was educated by his father, Leopold Mozart, who was concertmaster in the court
orchestra of the archbishop of Salzburg and a celebrated violinist, composer, and author. By the
age of six Mozart 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 Mozart
when he was six years old are still frequently played. In 1762 Leopold took Wolfgang on the first
of many successful concert tours through the courts of Europe. During this period Wolfgang
composed sonatas for the harpsichord and violin, a symphony, an oratorio, and the opera buffa La
finta semplice. In 1769 Mozart was appointed concertmaster to the archbishop of Salzburg, and
later in the same year, at La Scala, he was made a chevalier of the Order of the Golden Spur by
the pope. He also composed his first German operetta, Bastien und Bastienne, in the same year. At
the age of 14 he was commissioned to write a serious opera. This work, Mitridate, rč di Ponto,
produced under his direction at Milan, completely established an already phenomenal reputation.
The Mozarts returned to Salzburg in 1771. Hieronymus, count von Colloredo, the successor to the
archbishop of Salzburg, who had died while the Mozarts were touring Italy, cared little for music.
Mozart's appointment at Salzburg, however, proved to be largely honorary; it allowed ample time
for a prodigious musical output during his next six years, but afforded little financial security. In
1777 Mozart obtained a leave of absence for a concert tour and left with his mother for Munich.
The courts of Europe ignored the 21-year-old composer in his search for a more congenial and
rewarding appointment. He traveled to Mannheim, then the musical center of Europe because of its
famous orchestra, in hopes of a post, and there fell in love with Aloysia Weber. Leopold promptly
ordered his son and wife to Paris. His mother's death in Paris in July 1778, his rejection by Weber,
and the neglect he suffered from the aristocrats whom he courted made the two years from
Mozart's arrival in Paris until his return to Salzburg in 1779 one of the most difficult periods in his
life. While at home Mozart composed two masses and a number of sonatas, symphonies, and
concertos; these works reveal for the first time a distinctive style and a completely mature
understanding of musical media. The success of Mozart's Italian opera seria Idomeneo, rč di Creta,
commissioned and composed in 1781, prompted the archbishop of Salzburg to invite Mozart to his
palace at Vienna. A series of court intrigues and his exploitation at the hands of the court soon
forced Mozart to leave. In a house in Vienna rented for him by friends, he hoped to sustain himself
by teaching. During this period Mozart composed a singspiel called The Abduction from the
Seraglio, which was requested by Emperor Joseph II in 1782. In the same year Mozart married
Constanze Weber, Aloysia's younger sister. Unending poverty and illness harassed the family until
Mozart's death. The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni, with librettos by Lorenzo Da Ponte,
while successful in Prague, were partial failures in Vienna. From 1787 until the production of Cosė
fan tutte, Mozart received no commissions for operas. For the coronation of Emperor Leopold II
in 1791 he wrote the opera seria La clemenza di Tito. His three great symphonies of 1788-no. 39
in E-flat, no. 40 in G Minor, and no. 41 in C-were never performed under his direction. While
Mozart was working on the singspiel The Magic Flute, an emissary of a Count Walsegg
mysteriously requested a requiem mass. This work, uncompleted at Mozart's death, proved to be
his last musical effort. He died, presumably of typhoid fever, in Vienna on December 5, 1791; his
burial was attended by few friends. The place of his grave is unmarked. The legend that the Italian
composer Antonio Salieri murdered him is unsupported by reputable scholars. Mozart had an
unsuccessful career and died young, but he ranks as one of the great geniuses of Western
civilization. His large output shows that even as a child he possessed a thorough command of the
technical resources of musical composition as well as an original imagination. His instrumental
works include symphonies, divertimentos, sonatas, chamber music for a number of instrumental
combinations, and concertos; his vocal works consist mainly of church music and operas. Mozart's
creative method was extraordinary, for his manuscripts show that, although he made an occasional
preliminary sketch of a difficult passage, he almost invariably thought out a complete work before
committing it to paper. His music combines an Italian taste for clear and graceful melody with a
German taste for formal and contrapuntal ingenuity. Mozart thus epitomizes the classical style of the
18th century, the goal of which was to be succinct, clear, and well balanced while at the same time
developing ideas to a point of emotionally satisfying fullness. These qualities are perhaps best
expressed in his concertos, with their dramatic contrasts between a solo instrument and the
orchestra, and in his operas, with their profound contrasts between different personalities reacting
to changing situations. His operas achieved a new unity of vocal and instrumental writing; they are
marked by subtle characterization and an unusual use of classic symphonic style in large-scale
ensembles.
Word Count: 906
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