Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Recently in Music Appreciation we watched the movies Amadeus, which tells about Mozart's life from the time he was little and playing for kings up until his early death at the young age of 35. Mozart's full name at birth was Johann Chysostom Wolfgang Theophilus. We get the name Amadeus from his last name of Theophilus which is Latin for Amadeus. Mozart began to study the keyboard at age 4 from his father, who also taught him mathematics, Latin, and German, after playing a piece he heard his sister play perfectly by  ear. At age 5 he began composing music and mastered the violin. Wolfgang was introduced to the world as a child prodigy at age 6 after his father took him to Vienna and he played for the Austrian emperor. Once Mozart traveled to Italy he instantly fell in love with the opera. The herione of his most famous opera, The Escape from the Sergaglio, is named after his beloved wife Constanze. Although many people in Vienna praised this opera, his patron Emperor Joseph was not impressed. Often on Sunday mornings Hydn and two other musicans which were friends of Mozart would come and play string quartets. Hydn is quoted telling Mozart's father that "I declare to you upon my honor that I consider your son the greatest composer that I have ever heard."

http://library.thinkquest.org/15413/history/history-bar.htm

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