Born January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria, died December 5, 1791 in Vienna, Austria.
Born in Salzburg Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was the only surviving son of the court violinist and composer Leopold Mozart and his wife Anna Maria. Together with his elder sister Maria Anna ("Nannerl", 1751-1829) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was taught early by his father to play different instruments. He never attended a regular school. At the age of three years Mozart started to play the piano, at five he composed his first pieces and on September 1, 1761 he had his first public appearance as a pianist.
In January 1762 Leopold Mozart presented his two child prodigies to Kurfürst Maximilian II in Munich. Some months later, Wolfgang was allowed to play in Vienna for Emperor Franz I and his wife Maria Theresia.
Then in June 1763 the family travelled via Frankfurt am Main to Paris and then further to London where Wolfgang was acquainted with the Italian Opera. After three years of travel the family returned to Salzburg, where Wolfgang was appointed in 1772 as director of the court orchestra, an office he would resign from only a few years later.
Leopold Mozart travelled to Italy with both children in December 1769. In Rome his son was welcomed by Pope Clement XIV, and in Bologna Wolfgang was even admitted to the famous Accademia Filarmonica. After a short break in Salzburg father and son travelled to Italy again. Their following third and last trip to Italy took place from October 1772 to March 1773 but Leopold Mozart's hope to find an employment in Italy for Wolfgang was again futile.
Wolfgang left Salzburg in September 1777 for Munich and Mannheim, after a row of difficulties with Archbishop Hieronymus, to reach Paris the following spring, this time accompanied by his mother. Here Anna Maria Mozart fell ill and died on July 3, 1778.
Without the desired employment, the young composer had to leave Paris and returned to his hometown, where he now was appointed court organist. Following another quarrel with the archbishop, Mozart resigned from his post in 1781 and moved to Vienna. There he married Constanze Weber who he had met some years before in Mannheim.
In Vienna Mozart composed „Die Entführung aus dem Serail“ (Il seraglio) (first performance July 16, 1782), and „Don Giovanni“ (October 29, 1787). When in December 1784 Mozart became a member of the Viennese Masonic lodge "Zur Wohltätigkeit", freemasonry became a more and more important part in his life, even influencing some of his compositions. On May 28, 1787 his father died in Salzburg.
After two stays in Prague at beginning of the year and in late summer in 1787, Emperor Joseph II appointed Mozart as "k. k . Kammermusicus". In 1789 he travelled to Berlin to play for King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia. In autumn of the next year he performed at the coronation of Emperor Leopold II at Frankfurt am Main. For Leopold’s coronation as King of Bohemia in 1791, Mozart composed the opera "La clemenza di Tito".
After returning from Prague and completing his last opera "The Magic Flute”, he started on the composition of a requiem, which had been anonymously ordered in July of that year. Before Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart could complete this he fell ill and died within a few days on December 5, 1791 at the age of 35, the precise cause still remains unknown and is a matter of regular speculation. Mozart was buried first in a common grave at a cemetery in Vienna. In 1859 the supposed remains, detected four years before, were transferred to the group of honorary graves of various celebrated musicians at the Zentralfriedhof.