Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Born - January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria
Died - December 5, 1791 at the age of 35
Birthplace - Salzburg, Austria


Mozart was one of seven children however, only one other sibling survived, his older sister, Maryanne. Both exhibited unusual musical abilities at an early age and, with guidance and instruction from their father, Leopold, performed regularly in front of royalty. Another important force in Mozart's life was his mother Anna Maria. History suggest an alert, intelligent woman, earthy, and sensible, but profoundly torn by the power struggle between her husband and her son.

Mozart was known as a child prodigy. A prodigy is a person with exceptional talents far beyond what is normal for someone of that age. At three years old he began to experiment with sounds on the piano. At age five he wrote his first piece of music. By the age six he had taken up the violin. By the age eight, he wrote his first symphony. Then by the age of twelve he wrote his first opera. In his lifetime, he wrote 616 pieces of music. He was able to write this incredible amount of music because he was born with 2 special gifts; perfect pitch and photographic memory. As Wolfgang was growing up, his father took him and his sister Maryanne on tours of Europe. Eventually, they went to Italy, the center of musical activity in the 1700's. As Mozart reached his 20's, he grew apart from his father. As Mozart reached his 20s, he grew apart from his father. At the age of 26, he married Constanze Weber. They had 6 children, but only two sons survived past childhood.

He was commissioned and payed to write a requiem. He had a feeling that if he finished he requiem he will die and it will be his requiem.


Notes:

• He learned to speak 15 different languages throughout his lifetime.
• Perfect pitch is the ability to name the letter of a pitch simply by hearing it, or the ability to produce any pitch referred to by name. 
• Photographic memory tis the ability to recall images, sounds, or objects in memory with great accuracy and in seemingly unlimited volume.