Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1756-1791

Mozart is like the most celebrated "gem" of Austria. Born in Salzburg on 27th Jan 1756 (an Aquarius - same as me!!!) and died in Vienna on 5th Dec 1791, he only lived until 35 years of age. But length of one's lifespan does not seem to play a negative role, if you are a genius like Mozart. His first compositions, a small Andante and Allegro, was written when he was 5. The portrait above was little Mozart when he was 6. As you can see, he was very cute!!! It is said that Wolfgang had his cheeks kissed by more queens than anyone in history. Clearly both nature and nurture played a part in Wolfgang's incredible achievement: his father Leopold Mozart was one of Europe's most renowned music teachers, and he gave little Wolfgang intensive musical training since age 3. When he realised Wolfgang's outstanding muscial talents, he stopped composing himself. He was a very proud father. Although Wolfgang was fondly adored by the public and the royalties as a little boy, he was pretty much neglected and maltreated in his adult years. He lived in poverty and he died broke. This top-notch composer of all time nevertheless managed to put together 600+ great works (which include operas, sacral music, symphonies, piano concertos and chamber music) and influence subsequent musical geniuses like Beethovan, Rossini, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Schubert and Schumann etc. I've heard a saying that goes, "if you want to be famous in Vienna, it helps to be dead".