(1756-1791) Austrian composer and performer who showed astonishing precocity as a child and was an adult virtuoso. He was trained by his father, Leopold Mozart (1719–1787). From an early age he composed prolifically, his works including 27 piano concertos, 23 string quartets, 35 violin sonatas, and 41 symphonies including the E flat K543, G minor K550, and C major K551 (“Jupiter”) symphonies, all composed 1788. His operas include Idomeneo 1780, Entführung aus dem Serail/The Abduction from the Seraglio 1782, Le Nozze di Figaro/The Marriage of Figaro 1786, Don Giovanni 1787, Cosě fan tutte/Thus Do All Women 1790, and Die Zauberflöte/The Magic Flute 1791. Together with Haydn, Mozart’s music marks the height of the Classical age in its purity of melody and form.
Mozart’s career began when, with his sister, Maria Anna, he was taken on a number of tours 1762–79, visiting Vienna, the Rhineland, Holland, Paris, London, and Italy. He had already begun to compose. In 1772 he was appointed master of the archbishop of Salzburg’s court band but he found the post uncongenial and in 1781 was suddenly dismissed. He married Constanze Weber 1782, settled in Vienna, and embarked on a punishing freelance career as concert pianist, composer, and teacher that brought lasting fame but only intermittent financial security. His Requiem, unfinished at his death, was completed by a pupil.
His works were cataloged chronologically 1862 by the musicologist Ludwig von Köchel (1800–1877) whose system of numbering—giving each work a “Köchel number”, for example K354—remains in use in modified form.

The music of Mozart