16 Facts About Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart flooded the world of music with multiple accomplishments, so it is not difficult to pinpoint 10 facts about Mozart. In the brief 34 years that Mozart was alive, he was an Austrian composer that created some of the most influential, and timeless classical music pieces ever. These 10 facts should help to provide you with an entry level understanding of this famous musician, widely regarded as a genius.
1. Mozart’s first musical composition. It only took roughly thirty minutes for Mozart to learn the first musical composition he played, on January 24th 1861. He was not even five years old yet.
2. Mozart’s charm. At a very young age Mozart would sometimes make it easier for his traveling family to pass through customs by playing his fiddle to entertain the guards.
3. Music, writing, and arithmetic. Mozart actually learned how to write musical notes before he learned how to write words. He also later became very interested in mathematics.
4. Grueling life on the road. Mozart’s health problems started at a very early age. While traveling with his family to other countries in Europe for performance, he developed symptoms that we now associate with tuberculosis. Mozart’s father Leonard provided him with a temporary cure in the form of milk mixed with ground melon seeds, and poppy seeds, suggested by a local doctor.
5. Mozart’s “brainstorming.” As an adult Mozart would compose music in his head during long, uncomfortable carriage rides, and store it in his brain until he could write it down.
6. Performing for King Louis XV. While in Paris, Mozart was hired to perform for King Louis XV and Queen Maria Leszczynska. He and his family were even allowed to eat beside the King and Queen at their dinner table.
7. Mozart’s piano. Mozart composed his first four-movement symphony in December 1767.
8. Mozart’s academics. On October 9th 1770, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart passes the exam that he was required to take to be accepted into the Accademia filarmonica of Bologna.
9. Mozart ties the knot. Mozart gets married to Constanze Weber at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, on August 4th 1782.
10. Mozart and Beethoven. On April 4th,1787, a 16 year-old Ludwig van Beethoven arrived in Vienna to get two weeks worth of musical lessons from Mozart.
11. Mozart's real name was: Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophillus Amadeus Gottlieb Sigismundus Mozart, meaning "Beloved to God".
12. Mozart wrote music notes before words.
13. He was excellent at Maths and liked to scribble mathematical figures all over walls and table cloths. He was also brilliant at languages, especially Italian.
14. Mozart was a knight! When he was presented with the Papal Order of the Golden spur as a boy. He was given the Papal Order of the Golden Spur by the pope of Rome, Clement XIV. Mozart was given this honor because he wrote a complicated piece down on paper after hearing it only once! This piece was called Miserere by Gregorio Allegri.
15. Mozart played many games, but he was still able to write the music that was assigned to him. How did he do it? While waiting for his turn in the game, Mozart would scribble down a few music notes then take his turn. Lucky for him, music came very easily.
16. Mozart composed over 600 musical works. Most composers write a far smaller number of music than 600 works.
Mozart composed:
50 symphonies
25 piano concertos
12 violin concertos
27 concert arias
26 string quartets
103 minuets
15 masses
21 opera works
Isn't that amazing?
