Mozart is one of the best-known composers ever! People have loved his music for hundreds of years, and still do.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria. He was born into a musical family, and from a very small age, he was immensely interested in music. Starting at the age of six, Mozart and his older sister Maria Anna (Nannerl) started playing piano and violin in major cities and in courts to royal families. The family travelled a lot in many European cities. They were so good that the audiences just loved them!
Wolfgang also started composing music at a very early age - since age five! He was very talented both as a composer and as a pianist. He would compose all the time and anywhere, such as when travelling in a wagon, or while eating.
At the age of eight, Wolfgang published his first two sonatas for the harpsichord. His skills as a composer continued to develop, and by the age of 13 he had composed his first opera. By the time Mozart was in his mid-twenties he had established himself as one of the most accomplished keyboard players in Vienna, and he was recognized as a talented composer.
As an adult, he earned his living as a composer and as a pianist, sometimes holding a job at some court or city, sometimes just earning money from performing and composing. He married Constance in 1782 at the age of 26. They had six children, but only two of them grew to be adults.
The style of the music he wrote is called Classical. ‘Classical music’, as people commonly call it today, comprises different time periods.
Mozart wrote a lot of music of all kinds: symphonies (for the whole orchestra), operas, concertos for piano and violin, music for string quartet and string quintet, music for solo piano, etc. He wrote Catholic masses, and also short little pieces like dances and serenades.