Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Born: January 27, 1756, in Salzburg, Austria

Died: December 5, 1791, in Vienna

Education: first taught by his father, the controlling and exploitative Leopold Mozart; spent all but four of his first 17 years being paraded about Europe as a child prodigy; studied under Johann Christian Bach, Padre Martini and received occasional advice and critique from Franz Josef Haydn's younger brother, composer Michael Haydn

Assignments: in the service of the notoriously impious Archbishop of Salzburg on-and-off between 1774 and 1781; received a commission for the opera Idomeneo in 1781 from the Elector of Bavaria; essentially a “freelancer” after 1782 with the exception of occasional commissions

Best known for: a storied, almost legendary compositional technique and output; very likely never wrote out finished, fully developed music from beginning to end, note by note; despite a reputation for being fiscally irresponsible, all debts were settled before his death

Interesting fact: as a youngster in Italy, accomplished an unusual musical feat by writing out, from memory, the nine-voice, 12 minute-long motet Miserere mei Deus after just two hearings of the work

Notable compositions: Mass in C major (K. 317, “Coronation”), 1779 Serenade for orchestra (K. 320, “Posthorn”), 1779 Symphony No. 35 (K. 385, “Haffner”), 1782 Fantasia for piano solo (K. 475), 1785 String Quintet in G minor (K. 516), 1787 Clarinet Concerto in A major (K. 622), 1791 Requiem for soloists, chorus and orchestra (K. 626, unfinished), 1791 Ave verum Corpus, motet for chorus, strings and organ (K. 618), 1791