Mozart

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

JOHANN CHRYSOSTOM WOLFGANG AMADEUS, a German composer; born in Salzburg, Austria, Jan. 27, 1756. His father was sub-direc- WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART tor of the archiepiscopal chapel at Salzburg. At the age of four he played the clavichord, and composed a number of minuets and other pieces still extant. When only six years of age his performances were so remarkable that his father took him and his sister, who possessed similar gifts, to Munich and Vienna, where they obtained every kind of encouragement from the Elector of Bavaria and the Emperor Francis I. In 1763 and 1764 the Mozart family visited Paris and London. Symphonies of his own composition were produced in a public concert in London; and while there he composed and published six sonatas. Two years later, when but 12 years of age, he composed the music for the religious service and for a trumpet concert at the dedication of the Orphan House Church in Vienna, and conducted it in presence of the imperial court. In 1769, at the age of 13, he was appointed director of the concerts of the Prince Archbishop of Salzburg. In Rome he reproduced from memory the "Miserere" which he had heard sung in St. Peter's. He composed the opera of "Mithridates" at Milan in October, 1770. His opera of "Idomeneo" was composed six in 1780. The "Seraglio" followed. His , dedicated to Haydn, appeared quartets in 1785, and in 1786 "Marriage of Figaro." In 1787 he produced his masterpiece, "Don Juan." To 1791, the last year of his short life, we owe "The Magic "Requi- Flute," "Titus" and the sublime days before his em," finished only a few decease, in Vienna, Dec. 5, 1791.