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Mozart : Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in 1756, in Salzburg, Austria. Mozart quickly became “the most extraordinarily gifted child in the history of music” (Forney 169). Around the age of 3 Mozart became interested in playing the keyboard, “he could also recall prominent passages from the pieces that he heard” (Abert 19). At only reaching the age of four, Mozart’s father had already begun to teach him a number of minutes and other pieces on the keyboard, and not long before he was able to play them with total accuracy and in perfect time. “Soon he was moved to write music of his own and was still only four when he wrote his first short pieces, which he played to his father and which the latter duly notated” (Abert 19). Not only did Mozart begin to compose before he was five but by the age of thirteen, he had already written everything from sonatas to several operas. Leopold was the father of Mozart, which instantly gave him a strong foundation when it came to the musical background. Leopold Mozart was a well-respected court composer-violinist, he dedicated his life and energy to support his son’s talent. Not only was Mozart influenced by his father but also by Johann Christian Bach. At this time Mozart traveled to the courts of Paris, London, The Hague, and Zurich performing with all the other child prodigies, this is how Mozart met Bach following one of their performances. They quickly became friends and Mozart considered Bach as an instrumental influence in his work. During

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