During this time Mozart also wrote a new opera, Mitridate, re di Ponto for the court of Milan.

He wrote out the entire score from memory, returning only to correct a few minor errors. While in Rome, Mozart heard Gregorio Allegri’s Miserere performed once in the Sistine Chapel. The Italian outing was longer than the others (1769-1771) as Leopold wanted to display his son’s abilities as a performer and composer to as many new audiences as possible. She was nearing marriageable age and according to the custom of the time, she was no longer permitted to show her artistic talent in public. It seems that by this time Nannerl’s professional music career was over. In December 1769, Mozart, then age 13, and his father departed from Salzburg for Italy, leaving his mother and sister at home. Frequently, Mozart and other members of his family fell seriously ill and had to limit their performance schedule. The trips were long and often arduous, traveling in primitive conditions and waiting for invitations and reimbursements from the nobility. Particularity important was his meeting with Johann Christian Bach (Johann Sebastian Bach's youngest son) in London who had a strong influence on Mozart. Mozart met a number of accomplished musicians and became familiar with their works. In 1762, Mozart’s father took Nannerl, now age eleven, and Wolfgang, age six to the court of Bavaria in Munich in what was to become the first of several European 'tours.' The siblings traveled to the courts of Paris, London, The Hague, and Zurich performing as child prodigies.

The small city-state of Salzburg would be the birthplace of one of the most talented and prodigious musical composers of all time. The music of the Renaissance and Baroque periods was transitioning toward more full-bodied compositions with complex instrumentation. Political leadership of small city-states like Salzburg, Vienna, and Prague was in the hands of the aristocracy and their wealth would commission artists and musicians to amuse, inspire, and entertain. The result was competing rivalries between these municipalities for identity and recognition. The remnants of the Holy Roman Empire had divided into small semi-self-governing principalities. Early LifeĬentral Europe in the mid-18th century was going through a period of transition. Over the years, Mozart aligned himself with a variety of European venues and patrons, composing hundreds of works that included sonatas, symphonies, masses, chamber music, concertos and operas, marked by vivid emotion and sophisticated textures.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a musician capable of playing multiple instruments who started playing in public at the age of 6. A prolific artist, Austrian composer Wolfgang Mozart created a string of operas, concertos, symphonies and sonatas that profoundly shaped classical music.

The grand tour chords