Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Recognized by almost all musical powers to be one of, if not the most fantastic arrangers of unequaled, Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria on 27 January 1756. He was christened Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophillus Mozart, the Greek "Theophillus" meaning "beloved of God." This has been rendered as Amadeo or Amadè (Italian), Amadé (French, his preferred usage) and Gottlieb (German), all of which translate out the same.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was destined to Leopold and Anna Maria Pertl Mozart at 9 Getreidegasse in Salzburg, capital of the sovereign Archbishopric of Salzburg, in what is now Austria but, during that timeframe, was part of the Holy Roman Empire. His just sibling to survive earliest stages was his senior sister Maria Anna (1751–1829), nicknamed "Nannerl". Wolfgang was sanctified through water the day when his life commencement at St. Rupert's Cathedral. The baptismal record gives his name in Latinized shape as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. He generally called himself "Wolfgang Amadè Mozart" as an adult, but there were many variants. His father Leopold (1719–1787) was from Augsburg. He was deputy Kapellmeister to the court orchestra of the Archbishop of Salzburg, a minor composer, and an experienced teacher. In the year of Mozart's birth, his father published a violin textbook, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, which achieved success.

During Mozart's youth, his family made several European journeys in which he and Nannerl performed as child prodigies. These began with an exhibition, in 1762, at the court of the Prince-elector Maximilian III of Bavaria in Munich, and at the Imperial Court in Vienna and Prague. A long concert tour spanning three and a half years followed, taking the family to the courts of Munich, Mannheim, Paris, London, The Hague, again to Paris, and back home via Zurich, Donaueschingen, and Munich. During this trip, Mozart met a great number of musicians and acquainted himself with the works of other composers. A particularly important influence was Johann Christian Bach, whom Mozart visited in London in 1764 and 1765. The family again went to Vienna in late 1767 and remained there until December 1768.

Mozart's music, for example Haydn's, stands as a paradigm of the Classical style. During that timeframe he started making, European music was commanded by the style galant, a response in opposition to the exceptionally developed complication of the Baroque. Continuously, and in huge part at the hands of Mozart himself, the contrapuntal complexities of the late Baroque developed in a new way, directed and restrained by newfangled structures, and adjusts to a late stylish and social milieu. Mozart was a versatile composer, and wrote in every major genre, including symphony, opera, the solo concerto, chamber music including string quartet and string quintet, and the piano sonata. These forms were not new, but Mozart advanced their technical sophistication and emotional reach. He almost single-handedly developed and popularized the Classical piano concerto. He wrote a great deal of religious music, including large-scale masses, but also dances, divertimenti, serenades, and other forms of light entertainment.

Mozart's most famous pupil, whom the Mozarts took into their Vienna home for two years as a child, was probably Johann Nepomuk Hummel, a transitional figure between Classical and Romantic eras. More important is the influence Mozart had on composers of later generations. Ever since the surge in his reputation after his death, studying his scores has been a standard part of the training of classical musicians.