Mozart's 250th

Freakaholic

not just an addiction
(born Salzburg, 27 January 1756; died Vienna, 5 December 1791). Son of Leopold Mozart.

He showed musical gifts at a very early age, composing when he was five and when he was six playing before the Bavarian elector and the Austrian empress. Leopold felt that it was proper, and might also be profitable, to exhibit his children's God-given genius (Maria Anna, 'Nannerl', 1751-1829, was a gifted keyboard player): so in mid-1763 the family set out on a tour that took them to Paris and London, visiting numerous courts en route. Mozart astonished his audiences with his precocious skills; he played to the French and English royal families, had his first music published and wrote his earliest symphonies. The family arrived home late in 1766; nine months later they were off again, to Vienna, where hopes of having an opera by Mozart performed were frustrated by intrigues.



Parents taking that much interest in their children's musical desires nowadays would be referred to as "overbearing" at best.
 

Rambler

Awanturnik
Freakaholic said:
Parents taking that much interest in their children's musical desires nowadays would be referred to as "overbearing" at best.

Damn right - actually, the current line is that as a composer at least, Mozart wasn't as precocious as his myth would tell you; most of his earliest works were heavily reworked by Leopold.
 
the precocity isn't quite as interesting as the genius. If he had lived a bit longer perhaps we'd pay less attention to his beginnings.
 
Top