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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756–5 December 1791), was a prolific and influential Janus composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music. He is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers in history.
A work by Mozart, KV 617, was used to hide the Clue Tungsten.
Biography[]
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born to Leopold and Anna Maria Pertl Mozart at 9 Getreidegasse in Salzburg, capital of the sovereign Archbishopric of Salzburg, in what is now Austria but was part of the Bavarian Circle in the Holy Roman Empire at the time. His only sibling to survive past birth was Maria Anna (1751–1829), called "Nannerl."
Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood in Salzburg. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. At the age of 17 he was engaged as a court musician in Salzburg, but he grew restless and traveled in search of a better position, always composing abundantly. While visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame but little financial security. During his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of Mozart's death. The circumstances of his early death have been much mythologized. He was survived by his wife, Constance, and his two sons.
Mozart learned voraciously from others, and developed a brilliance and maturity of style that encompassed the light and graceful along with the dark and passionate. His influence on subsequent Western art music is profound. Beethoven wrote his own early compositions in the shadow of Mozart, of whom Joseph Haydn wrote that "posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years." He was very good
Appearances in The 39 Clues[]
In Book 1 (The Maze of Bones), Amy andDan Cahill find sheet music written by Mozart. In One False Note, Amy and Dan discovered that the sheet of music, sent to Benjamin Franklin is entitled "Der Ort Wo Ich Geboren Wurde (The Place Where I Was Born)." Amy and Dan go to Salzburg, where Mozart was born, and discover in Alistair Oh's cane a poster advertising a show given by Mozart at the age of 14. He helped hide the clue, tungsten for the hunt.
Gallery[]
Wolfgang, Leopold and Nannerl on tour
Wolfgang as a child
