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People In Music History
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus [christened Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus
Theophilus] (1756-1791) Austrian composer, born in Salzburg. His father took
him and his sister on tour to Paris, London, etc., chiefly as harpsichord
prodigies, in 1763-1766. He had already begun to compose (including opera
Bastien and Bastienne); by 1773, he had thrice visited Italy and had entered
the service of the Prince Archbishop of Salzburg. Disliked this and left it
after a quarrel, 1781, settling in Vienna. Visited Prague (where Don Giovanni
and The Clemency of Titus were produced), Berlin, and elsewhere; died, poor, in
Vienna, of typhus. Other operas include Idomeneo, Abduction from The Seraglio,
The Impresario, The Marriage of Figaro, Cosi Fan Tutte, The Magic Flute. Also
wrote up to 28 concertos for piano, 1 for clarinet and various others, more
than anyone else establishing classical concerto form. (Four further, juvenile
piano concertos are arrangements of others' music.) His symphonies (including
those nicknamed Haffner, Linz, Prague, Paris, Jupiter) have been numbered up to
41, but some of these are spurious and some other works of this kind are not so
numbered. Composed various serenades; A Musical Joke; 24 string quartets (some
nicknamed, e.g., Prussian Quartets), 1 clarinet quintet, 6 string quintets, and
other chamber works; sonatas for violin and for harpsichord (or piano); Requiem
(unfinished, completed by Sussmayr), 17 masses, some works for Masonic use,
isolated arias with orchestra and songs with piano. Some works are
misattributed to him. His compositions are indexed by K. numbers.