Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Viennese Classicism

Together with Haydn and Beethoven he forms the famous trio of Viennese Classicism.

💡 Did you know? Mozart is seen as the fullest embodiment of Viennese Classicism: his music seems effortlessly balanced and serene, even where it moves deeply.

Salzburg

His birthplace in the Getreidegasse is a museum today.

💡 Did you know? As a prodigy, Mozart toured Europe from the age of six and played for Empress Maria Theresa; in 1770 the Pope made him a Knight of the Golden Spur.

from age six

His father Leopold travelled with him and his sister Nannerl to the courts of Munich, Vienna, Paris and London.

💡 Did you know? On request, little Mozart would play blindfolded: a favourite party trick.

The Magic Flute

Premiered in Vienna in 1791, barely two months before Mozart's death.

💡 Did you know? „The Magic Flute“ is one of Mozart's few operas in German: meant for a broad public and full of Masonic symbolism.

Don Giovanni

Premiered in Prague in 1787. With 'The Marriage of Figaro' and 'Così fan tutte' it forms the trio of his Da Ponte operas.

💡 Did you know? In „Don Giovanni“ Mozart set the story of the womaniser dragged unrepentant to hell: he reputedly wrote the overture only the night before the premiere.

Eine kleine Nachtmusik

Composed in 1787: why and for whom remains unknown to this day.

💡 Did you know? „Eine kleine Nachtmusik“ is perhaps Mozart's best-known piece: yet it is unclear for what occasion he even wrote it.

Köchel catalogue

Ludwig von Köchel compiled it in 1862: it lists more than 600 works.

💡 Did you know? The „Köchel catalogue“ (KV) numbers Mozart's 600-plus works: named after the scholar Ludwig von Köchel, who first ordered them.

the Requiem

His pupil Franz Xaver Süßmayr completed it from Mozart's sketches.

💡 Did you know? The anonymous commissioner, Count Walsegg, probably intended to pass the work off as his own.

35

He died in Vienna in 1791; the exact cause of death is still debated.

💡 Did you know? Mozart died at just 35 and was buried in a simple common grave; his exact burial spot is unknown to this day.

more than 600

Including more than 20 operas, 41 symphonies and 27 piano concertos: in just about 30 creative years.

💡 Did you know? In his short life Mozart wrote over 600 works (symphonies, operas, concertos, masses) often faster than others could copy them out.

Joseph Haydn

Haydn told Mozart's father Leopold that Wolfgang was the greatest composer he knew.

💡 Did you know? The fatherly friend Joseph Haydn told Mozart's father that his son was „the greatest composer I know“.

Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus

He later Latinised 'Theophilus' ('loved by God') to 'Amadeus'.

💡 Did you know? Mozart himself usually signed as 'Wolfgang Amadé Mozart'.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was an Austrian composer of the Viennese Classical era and one of the greatest musical geniuses in history.

💡 Did you know? As a prodigy he played for emperors and kings at six and left over 600 works by his death at 35.

Eine kleine Nachtmusik

Mozart's cheerful G-major serenade (K. 525) opens with a buoyant, instantly memorable theme.

💡 Did you know? One movement of the originally five-movement serenade is lost.

Turkish March

The finale of the piano sonata K. 331 imitates the Janissary music of Ottoman military bands: all the rage in Vienna at the time.

💡 Did you know? ‘Alla turca’ simply means ‘in the Turkish style.’

Symphony No. 40

The urgent, sighing main theme in G minor is among Mozart's most intense inspirations and echoes through pop culture.

💡 Did you know? Mozart wrote his last three symphonies in 1788 in only about six weeks.

Queen of the Night Aria

The neck-breaking coloratura aria from ‘The Magic Flute’ leaps up to a high F: a pinnacle of the operatic repertoire.

💡 Did you know? Only a handful of sopranos worldwide reliably hit that notorious high F.