Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a composer and musician from the Classical period. During his short life, he completed more than 800 works, including examples of many types of music such as symphonies, concertos, chamber music, opera, and choral music.
Mozart was born in Salzburg and became a child prodigy with the help of his father, Leopold, who was a skilled teacher. At age five, he could already play the keyboard and violin well, had started composing music, and had performed for European royalty. His father took him on a long trip across Europe and three visits to Italy. At 17, he worked as a musician at the Salzburg court but became restless and traveled to find better opportunities. A search for work from 1777 to 1779 took him to Paris, Mannheim, Munich, and back to Salzburg. During this time, he wrote five violin concertos, the Sinfonia Concertante, several masses, and the opera Idomeneo.
While visiting Vienna in 1781, Mozart’s disagreements with his Salzburg employers led to his dismissal. He chose to stay in Vienna for the rest of his life, where he gained fame and earned some money, but never had lasting financial security. In his early years in Vienna, he created works such as the opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail, the Great Mass in C minor, the "Haydn" Quartets, and several symphonies. During his time in Vienna, he composed more than a dozen piano concertos, many of which are considered his greatest achievements.
In his final years, Mozart wrote many of his most famous works, including his last three symphonies, with the Jupiter Symphony being the last of these. He also composed the serenade Eine kleine Nachtmusik, the Clarinet Concerto, the operas Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, and Die Zauberflöte, the Piano Concerto No. 27, and his Requiem. The Requiem was left unfinished when he died at age 35.
Life and career
Today, scholars use many different sources to write about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's life. These include about 1,500 pages of family letters, which were often written when Mozart was far from his family. There are also early biographies written by people who knew Mozart, such as his sister Nannerl, his wife Constanze, and others. Old documents, like newspaper articles and government records, have been found in libraries and archives, studied, and published. Additionally, Mozart's surviving musical writings, such as sketches, drafts, and dated copies of his completed works, help historians understand the timeline of his compositions.
Biographers use these same sources, but they often disagree about important details. These disagreements happen partly because some sources may not be reliable. For example, Friedrich Rochlitz, a publisher who wrote about Mozart after his death, is now believed to have made up stories to sell more of Mozart's music. Over time, biographers have become less likely to trust such sources and more focused on understanding Mozart's life within the context of his society and era, as noted by researcher Stafford in 2003.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on January 27, 1756, in Salzburg, Austria. He was the youngest of seven children, and five of them died before reaching adulthood. His older sister, Maria Anna Mozart, was nicknamed "Nannerl." Mozart was baptized the day after his birth at St. Rupert's Cathedral in Salzburg. His name in official records was written in Latin as "Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart," but he later used "Wolfgang Amadè Mozart" as his adult name.
Mozart's father, Leopold, was a musician and teacher from Augsburg, Germany. In 1743, he joined the court of Salzburg's Prince-Archbishop, Count Leopold Anton von Firmian. Leopold became an important member of the court's music group and later published a successful violin textbook in 1763. He taught both his children music and other subjects. Mozart showed a strong interest in music from a young age, creating his own compositions and practicing the violin independently. His father was so impressed by his talent that he called Wolfgang "the miracle whom God allowed to be born in Salzburg."
When Nannerl was seven, she began piano lessons with their father, while Wolfgang, who was three years old, watched. Years later, Nannerl remembered that Wolfgang's early musical pieces, numbered K. 1–5, were written in a notebook called the "Nannerl Notenbuch." Leopold taught both children, but Mozart often explored music beyond what his father taught him.
As a young child, Mozart and Nannerl traveled across Europe to perform for nobles. Their first trip began in 1762 at the court of a prince in Munich, followed by performances in Vienna and Prague. A long tour lasting three and a half years took them to cities like Paris, London, and Amsterdam. During this time, Mozart met other composers, including Johann Christian Bach. At age eight, he wrote his first symphony, which was likely copied by his father.
Traveling was difficult, and the family faced many hardships. They often waited for invitations and money from nobles, and they suffered serious illnesses far from home. In 1767, the family returned to Vienna and stayed there until 1768.
In 1769, Leopold and Wolfgang traveled to Italy, leaving their mother and sister behind. This trip lasted until 1771, and Leopold wanted to showcase his son's musical talents. In Bologna, Mozart met composers and joined a famous music group. In Rome, he heard a sacred piece called the Miserere performed twice and later wrote it down from memory, which was unusual because the piece was closely guarded by the Vatican. Some details of this story are still debated.
In Milan, Mozart wrote his first opera, Mitridate, re di Ponto, which was performed successfully. This led to more opera commissions. He returned to Milan twice to complete two more operas, Ascanio in Alba and Lucio Silla. Leopold hoped this would lead to a job for his son, but the opportunity was not realized.
Most of Mozart's early music is not well known today, except for a solo piece called Exsultate, jubilate, written for a singer named Venanzio Rauzzini. This work is still performed by sopranos today.
After returning from Italy in 1773, Mozart became a court musician in Salzburg. He wrote music in many styles, including symphonies, concertos, and operas. His violin concertos, written in 1773 and 1775, are especially notable. The last three, K. 216, K. 218, and K. 219, are still performed today.
In 1776, Mozart began writing piano concertos, with the E♭ concerto (K. 271) being considered a major achievement. Despite his success, Mozart was unhappy in Salzburg because of his low salary and limited opportunities to write operas. The court theatre closed in 1775, making it even harder for him to perform.
In 1773 and 1774, Mozart and his father visited Vienna and Munich in search of work. Neither trip was successful, though his opera La finta giardiniera in Munich was well received. In 1777, Mozart left his job in Salzburg and began a new journey to find a better opportunity.
Appearance and character
Mozart's physical appearance was described by the tenor Michael Kelly in his Reminiscences: "a remarkably small man, very thin and pale, with a lot of fine, light-colored hair of which he was rather proud." His early biographer Niemetschek wrote, "there was nothing special about [his] body. … He was small and his face, except for his large, intense eyes, gave no signs of his genius." His skin had small pits, a reminder of his childhood illness with smallpox. His wife later wrote that his voice "was a tenor, rather soft when speaking and delicate when singing, but when he was excited or needed to use it strongly, it became both powerful and energetic."
He liked to wear elegant clothing. Kelly remembered him at a rehearsal: "[He] was on the stage with his red coat and hat decorated with gold, giving the time of the music to the orchestra." The surviving portraits suggest that Mozart often wore a powdered wig tied in a hairstyle that matched 18th-century fashion for formal events.
Mozart usually worked long and hard, finishing compositions very quickly as deadlines approached. He often wrote rough drafts, from small pieces to full versions, for his compositions. Though many of these were destroyed by his wife, about 320 drafts remain, covering about 10 percent of his work.
Mozart lived at the center of the Viennese musical world and knew many people: other musicians, theater performers, people from his hometown of Salzburg, and aristocrats, including some who knew Emperor Joseph II. Solomon considers his three closest friends to have been Gottfried von Jacquin, Count August Hatzfeld, and Sigmund Barisani; others included his older colleague Joseph Haydn, singers Franz Xaver Gerl and Benedikt Schack, and the horn player Joseph Leutgeb. Leutgeb and Mozart often played jokes on each other, with Leutgeb usually being the target.
He enjoyed billiards, dancing, and kept pets, including a canary, a starling, a dog, and a horse for riding. He had a strong liking for humor about bodily functions, which is found in his letters, especially those written to his cousin Maria Anna Thekla Mozart around 1777–1778, and in his letters to his sister and parents. Mozart also wrote music with humorous themes, a series of canons that he sang with his friends. He was good at learning languages and, after traveling across Europe as a child, could speak Latin, Italian, and French in addition to his native Salzburg dialect of German. He may have also understood and spoken some English, as he once jokingly wrote "You are an ass" to his 19-year-old student Thomas Attwood after the student made a mistake on his homework.
Mozart was raised as a Catholic and remained a practicing Catholic throughout his life. He joined Freemasonry in 1784 and stayed a member of the group for the rest of his life.
Works, musical style, and innovations
Mozart's music, along with Haydn's, is an example of the Classical style. When Mozart began composing, European music was influenced by the galant style, which was a reaction against the complex details of the Baroque style. The Classical style changed how music was composed, moving away from many melodies at once to a simpler, more unified sound. It took time for this new style to gain the same importance as the music of the Baroque period. After the deaths of Bach and Handel, there was little music from that time that is still widely appreciated today. Mozart, though very talented, was influenced by the music of his time. Most of his early works were shaped by the styles of that era and are not often performed now, except for a few exceptions. His Piano Concerto No. 9, K. 271, written in 1777, is sometimes called a major turning point in his career. Charles Rosen described it as "perhaps the first clear masterpiece in the Classical style." As Mozart grew, his music became more complex, using techniques like chromatic harmony and counterpoint, partly inspired by his work with Gottfried van Swieten.
Mozart was a composer who worked in many musical forms, including symphonies, operas, concertos, chamber music such as string quartets and quintets, and piano sonatas. These forms were not new, but Mozart improved their technical skill and emotional depth. He wrote many vocal pieces, such as concert arias, songs, and canons, from his early years until his death. He played a key role in developing the Classical piano concerto. He also composed religious music, including large masses, and lighter pieces like dances, divertimenti, and serenades.
The key features of the Classical style are clearly found in Mozart's music. His work is known for clarity, balance, and transparency. However, his most powerful pieces, like the Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491; the Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550; and the opera Don Giovanni, show great depth and complexity. Charles Rosen noted that during his final years, Mozart often used chromatic harmony. An example is his String Quartet in C major, K. 465 (1785), which has many chromatic suspensions. This piece is sometimes called the "Dissonance" quartet.
Mozart had a talent for learning and using the best parts of other composers' music. His travels helped him create a unique style. As a child in London, he met Johann Christian Bach and heard his music. In Paris, Mannheim, and Vienna, he encountered other influences, including the advanced techniques of the Mannheim orchestra. In Italy, he was inspired by the Italian overture and opera buffa, which greatly shaped his work. In London and Italy, the galant style was popular: simple, light music with a focus on short, clear phrases and specific harmonies. Some of Mozart's early symphonies resemble Italian overtures, with three movements that flow into each other. Many are homotonal, meaning all movements share the same key. Others copy the style of J. C. Bach or use simple forms common in Vienna.
As Mozart matured, he began using more elements from the Baroque style, especially the works of George Friedrich Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach. For example, his Symphony No. 29 in A major, K. 201, includes a main theme with counterpoint and unusual phrase lengths. Some of his quartets from 1773 have fugues in their final movements, likely influenced by Haydn, who had used similar techniques in his Opus 20 set. The influence of the Sturm und Drang period, which briefly hinted at the Romantic era, is seen in both Mozart's and Haydn's music. An example is Mozart's Symphony No. 25 in G minor, K. 183. Harold C. Schonberg wrote that Mozart's use of counterpoint was not as complex as Bach's, but he used it skillfully. His most famous example is the final movement of the Jupiter Symphony, where contrasting themes are arranged in a powerful and dramatic way.
Mozart often shifted his focus between operas and instrumental music. He composed operas in all the popular styles of his time, including Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte (opera buffa); Idomeneo (opera seria); and Die Zauberflöte (Singspiel).
Mozart used small changes in instruments, orchestral sound, and tone to express emotions and show dramatic changes. Alex Ross wrote about the Andante of the Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola (1779–80): "A charming four-bar melody appears twice, first in E-flat major and later in C minor. The first time, the major key briefly shifts to the relative minor. The second time, the minor key is touched by major, like a light in the night. The two passages are similar, but the space between them feels like the space between the pages of a novel." In this way, Mozart's progress in both opera and instrumental music influenced each other. His use of the orchestra in symphonies and concertos shaped his operatic writing, and his growing skill in using the orchestra to express psychological ideas in his operas was later reflected in his non-operatic works.
Editions, catalogues, and recordings
After Mozart died in 1791, publishers aimed to create a complete printed collection of all his music. Both Breitkopf & Härtel and Johann Anton André discussed this with Mozart’s wife, Constanze, and each published many of his works. However, neither completed the full collection. These publications helped Constanze and her two children escape poverty and live comfortably.
In the early 1800s, people realized the need for a truly complete edition of Mozart’s music. Scholars, including Johannes Brahms, contributed to this effort, leading to the creation of the Alte Mozart-Ausgabe (Old Mozart Edition), published between 1877 and 1883. Over time, problems with this edition became clear. From 1956 to 2007, a new group of scholars worked to create the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe (New Mozart Edition), which is now the standard. With funding, this edition is available online today.
Alongside complete editions, scholars have created catalogs that describe each of Mozart’s works, including their beginnings and estimated completion dates. These catalogs also identify pieces falsely attributed to Mozart, such as his supposed 37th Symphony. Mozart himself made the first catalog, covering 1784 to 1791. After his death, scholars like Johann Anton André tried to complete a catalog, but it was not finished until 1862, when Ludwig Ritter von Köchel published the first version of what is now called the Köchel catalogue. His system, using numbers marked K or KV, is the standard way to identify Mozart’s works. Since then, the catalog has been updated multiple times. In 2024, the ninth edition was completed by Neal Zaslaw. This edition revised the dates of many works, using advances in handwriting analysis (notably by Wolfgang Plath) and the study of paper watermarks (Tyson 1987). These methods provided clear evidence for dating works where earlier scholars could only guess.
Creating complete editions of Mozart’s music is also a goal for recording companies. Some have released large collections of recordings (170–250 CDs) to include all of his works.
Instruments
The child Mozart learned to play the harpsichord and also became skilled at violin, singing, and dancing. His earliest musical compositions were written for the harpsichord. A major change in European music happened around the same time Mozart was alive: the harpsichord was replaced by the piano. This early piano was not the large modern grand piano, but a lighter version called the fortepiano.
Mozart’s keyboard music up to a certain point (the exact time is not clear) was written for the harpsichord. He may have first seen pianos during a trip to Munich between 1774 and 1775, where he might have encountered pianos made by Franz Jakob Späth from Regensburg. In 1777, while visiting Augsburg during a long journey to find work, Mozart was deeply impressed by the pianos made by Johann Andreas Stein. He wrote a detailed letter to his father about his admiration for these instruments. Later, Mozart’s mother wrote that in Augsburg, pianos were common and that his playing had changed from how he played in Salzburg. She also noted that Mozart’s piano performances became very popular in the area, and he joined a group of famous pianists, including Clementi.
In 1783, while living in Vienna, Mozart bought a fortepiano made by Anton Walter, a well-known instrument maker. He often played this piano in concerts across the city. After Mozart’s death, this important piano was kept and can now be seen in the Tanzmeisterhaus, a museum in Salzburg that was once the Mozart family home. Starting around 1967, modern craftsmen began making fortepianos based on old designs. These instruments are now widely used for performing Mozart’s piano music.
Legacy
Mozart's most well-known student was Johann Nepomuk Hummel, a musician who lived during the time when music was changing from the Classical era to the Romantic era. As a child, Hummel lived with the Mozarts in Vienna for two years. More importantly, Mozart's influence on later composers was significant. After his death, his reputation grew, and studying his musical works became an essential part of training for classical musicians. Beethoven, who was fifteen years younger than Mozart, was deeply inspired by his music. Many composers have honored Mozart's work, such as Chopin (with his "Variations on 'Là ci darem la mano'") and Tchaikovsky (with his "Mozartiana").
Harold C. Schonberg wrote, "Mozart was the first modern psychologist of opera… The Marriage of Figaro opens the door to a new world of opera. It is an exciting work with real people in it, and the music shows them as they are—lovable, vain, capricious, selfish, ambitious, forgiving, and philandering. Human beings, in short, are brought to life by the magic of a very creative and caring musical mind." He mentions that many people believe Don Giovanni is the greatest opera.
Ross wrote, "As always, the slow movement of the Piano Concerto No. 23 makes us feel wistful; the finale of the Jupiter Symphony makes us feel a special kind of happy and thoughtful joy that is uniquely Mozart; and the powerful ending of Don Giovanni makes us feel a deep fear of being judged. The loss of innocence was also part of Mozart's life. Like the rest of us, he lived outside the perfect world he created through his music."
Mozart's influence is clearly seen in modern life, especially in concerts, broadcasts, recordings, and popular culture. The city of Salzburg, which Mozart left in frustration in 1781, is now a place where fans of Mozart visit. Both of Mozart's homes have been turned into museums. Salzburg hosts a famous music festival (Salzburg Festival) and a leading research institute, the International Mozarteum Foundation, dedicated to studying Mozart's life and works.