Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART

Mozart was the son of a violinist and Kapellmeister at the court of the Archbishop of Salzburg. A child prodigy and harpsichord virtuoso, he began composing at the age of four, which encouraged his father to undertake various trips throughout Europe from 1762 (including two to Paris, in 1763 and 1766). His encounters with Johann Christian Bach in London and Padre Martini in Bologna played a decisive part in the composition of his first masterpieces, from the 1780s onwards: great sonatas, ambitious symphonies and operas, which already marked his desire to emancipate himself from traditional models (Idomeneo, The Abduction from the Seraglio). Settling in Vienna as a freelance composer in 1781, he then touched on nearly every genre: sacred music (Mass in C minor), opera (The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte), symphonic and chamber works, each of which genres he brought to such a degree of perfection that his contributions would constitute unsurpassable models for future generations. This decade of absolute grace, interrupted only by his untimely demise, was crowned by his last works (Symphonies Nos. 39-41, Clarinet Concerto, Piano Concertos Nos. 26 and 27, operas La clemenza di Tito and The Magic Flute, Requiem). A legendary figure admired by the Romantics, he wrote masterpieces that have never left the great repertoire, especially in France, where they marked the entire nineteenth century, even though his last stay in Paris in 1778 was only met with indifference.