MOZART

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born at Salzburg, Austria, on 27th January, 1756; died at Vienna, 5th December, 1791. He showed a precocious knowledge of music when but three or four years of age, and composed before he was six. His father, a musician also, guided his efforts, and from 1762-65 took the child to many European cities to exhibit his talents. In 1768 Mozart was made Concert-Meister at Salzburg; and here his first opera, La Finta Semplice, was produced, written when about twelve years old. In 1777 he went to Paris and other places, failing to obtain anything but empty applause; and in 1779 he returned to Salzburg as Cathedral organist. From 1781 he lived in Vienna, where he remained until his death. He reaped but little pecuniary benefit from his compositions, in spite of his great genius; and he was seldom free from the anxieties of poverty. In 1791 he received the famous commission from a mysterious stranger to write a Requiem Mass; and in enfeebled health he began it, declaring that it was for his own funeral. This was his last great work, and he died ere it was quite finished. There were no ceremonies at his grave, and he was buried in the common ground of St. Marx. Many years later a monument was erected to him by the city of Vienna. As an operatic writer, Mozart is considered by many to have no equal. His chief operas are:—Le Nozze di Figaro (1786), Don Giovanni (1787), Idomeneo (1781), Die ZauberflÃ¶te (1791), La Clemenza di Tito (1791), CosÃ¬ fan tutte (1790), etc. Besides the exquisite Requiem, he wrote many other Masses, and a great number of symphonies, sonatas, concertos, quartettes, etc. Very little of his music was published in his life-time.