Chafing under the authority of his patron, the Archbishop of Salzburg, Mozart opted for a life unusual for an artist of his time: he left his post to begin composing, teaching, and performing independently. Musicians in Mozart’s day relied on patronage, performing on command and composing in response to specific commissions. At eight he wrote his first symphony and at ten his first opera.Īs time passed, Mozart became less of a pliable child willing to fulfill his father’s dreams and more of a headstrong young man seeking to make his own way in the world. At six he toured the European capitals performing for kings and queens.

Not only did Mozart quickly outstrip his nine-year-old sister, he began composing short pieces. By the time he was four, Mozart already displayed prodigious musical talent, showing such interest in his sister Nannerl’s harpsichord lessons that his father decided to instruct him as well. His father Leopold was deputy Kapellmeister (music master) to the court orchestra of the Archbishop of Salzburg as well as a composer and teacher. Mozart was born in Austria in 1751 to a musical family. He was a genius, to be sure, but was he a rebellious and dissolute genius or a fiercely independent, ahead-of-his-time genius? The brief but brilliant life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has long fascinated historians and musicologists alike.

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