Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was brought into the world on January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria.
His father was Leopold Mozart, a highly esteemed violinist, court musician, composer, and author of A
Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing. When Wolfgang was still in Salzburg, at the age of 15
years old, he was appointed as an unpaid concert master at the court where his father Leopold, was
employed. Two years later when the new archbishop Hieronymus von Colloredo was elected, he granted
Mozart a salary. After a couple of years later, year 1779, his passion for opera fueled after the success of
Idomeneo in Munich. He became dissatisfied in Salzburg so we he and requested a dismissal from the
archbishop. As of 1781, Wolfgang decided to move to Vienna, hoping to attain an official position at the
imperial court of Joseph II. He enjoyed relative prosperity as a freelance pianist, teacher, and composer but
tended to live beyond his means. A year later, he married Constanze Weber, an opera singer, against his
fathers wishes and produced six children but only two had survived. During the same year, Wolfgang had also
joined the Order of Freemasons, a secret society of enlightened thinkers. At the age of 70, the premiere of
The Marriage of Figaro, an opera buffa that was written with librettist Lorenzo da Ponte, was a huge
success. He also got the chance to hear the young Beethoven perform that year and was tremendously
impressed. Wolfgangs musical style exemplified Viennese Classical ideas: elegance, balance, poise,
refinement, and sophistication. He utilized mainly symmetrical phrase structures, also known as four-measure
phrases, and contributed to the development of the sonata form. A genre that Wolfgang was fond with were
regular operas like The Abduction from the Seraglio, Don Giovanni, and Cosi fan tutte. Wolfgangs operas
had three genres though, one being opera seria like Idomeneo, opera buffa like The Marriage of Figaro, and
Singspiel which included The Magic Flute. Another genre that he liked was piano sonatas, fantasias, and
variations.