POP PERSON - WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Biography

Born in Salzburg, Austria on Jan. 27, 1756; full name Johannes Chrysostomus

               Wolfgangus Gottlieb Mozart; he was baptized as Johannes 

               Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart.  Mozart is named after his 

               grandfather on his mother's side and after the Saint on his date of

               birth, Johannes Chrysostomus.

Parents: Leopold Mozart - composer and violinist, concertmaster at the               

               archiepiscopal court, and in 1763, vice-kapellmeister at Salzburg court;

               and Anna Maria Pertl, daughter of Wolfgang Nikolaus Pertl, an official                 

               from Sankt Gilgen

Sibling: Maria Anna (Nannerl) Mozart

Age 3: started to play the keyboard

Age 5: started composing minuets

1763-1766 toured Europe with his father and sister played for Louis XV at         

               Versailles and George III in London

1764 wrote his first three symphonies; also met Johann Christian Bach

By his teenage years, he mastered the piano, violin, and harpsichord

1768 completed first opera, La finta semplice (The Simple Pretense)

1769-1773 made three trips to Italy

               In Rome, there was a myth that Mozart attended the performance of     

               Allegri's Misere.  He wanted the score but when no one agreed he        

               wrote down the music from memory.

1770 Mitridate, re di Ponte (Mithridates, King of Pontus) performed in Milan      

               was Mozart's first major opera

1772 appointed concertmaster in the orchestra of Archbishop of Salzburg.           

               During this period, he wrote many sacred works.

1777 toured with his mother hoping to find a court position; traveled to                

               Mannheim where he met and fell in love with Aloysia Weber

1778, July Anna Maria Mozart died

1779 unable to find a court position, Mozart went back to Salzburg; appointed    

               as court organist to the Archbishop of Salzburg

1781 resigned from his position due to increasing tension and disagreements         

               between Mozart and the Archbishop.  Mozart stayed in Vienna instead                

               of returning to Salzburg.  Mozart's resignation and his move to Vienna   

               put a strain in his relationship with his father.

1782 married Constanze Weber in Vienna's St. Stephen's Cathedral.  After         

               Mozart's death, Constanze married Danish diplomat Georg Nikolaus    

               von Nissen.  In Vienna, Mozart supported his family by performing in   

               public and private, teaching , and composing.  His first opera written     

               after his residency in Vienna, Abduction from Seraglio became a           

               success.

1786 The Marriage of Figaro, the first of three operas Mozart collaborated with 

               librettist, Lorenza da Ponte, premiered at the         Burg Theater.

1787 became composer of Imperial and Royal Chamber with an annual salary of 

               800fl.  His father, Leopold, died on May 28, 1787.  Don Giovanni       

               premiered in Prague at the National Theater.

1790 Cosi fan tutte premiered at Burg Theater.  Mozart declined an     

               opportunity to compose in London.

1791 composed dance music for the Vienna Court; publishers began to pay         

               fees for the rights to publish his works; appointed assistant to the          

               Cathedral Kapellmeister at St. Stephens with no pay.  Mozart was       

               already feeling ill in Prague while finishing La clemenza di Tito.

Dec. 5, 1791, a few minutes before 1AM, Mozart died of rheumatic fever.