What can you tell me about the composer Mozart

�A.� Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, although his christened name was rather more lyrical -�Johannes Chrysostmus Wolfgangus Theophillus Amadeus Mozart - was born in Saltsburg in January 1756.

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Q.� No wonder he shortened his name!

A.� Actually has father added the name Sigismundus, but it was never used. At home, he was known as Wolfie.

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Q.� How did he begin as a musician

A.� Mozart's father Leopold was a gifted musician and composer in his own right. When Wolfie's older sister, known as Nanerl, began showing an interest in, and a talent for the piano, Mozart senior encouraged her. Nanerl's three-year-old brother Wolfie showed a similar interest, but his talent for playing, and very quickly for composing, showed their father that he had a genuine prodigy in the family.

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Q.� What was the standard treatment for a child as talented as Mozart

A.� Leopold Mozart was aware that his son's talent could make the family some money, and he acted more or less as the child's manager, organising a touring schedule for his son that saw him moving around Europe, impressing royalty and the higher echelons of society with his skill as a musician and composer. The touring lasted from 1774 until 1777, when Wolfgang found himself working at the royal court, for the Prince-Archbishop, and it was during this time that he wrote all his violin concertos.

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Q.� Did Mozart write a lot of music

A.� A massive amount. It's a tribute to his genius that�Mozart's most famous works have survived untouched until the present day, and even some of his more obscure compositions are played and enjoyed throughout the world.

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Q.� Did the young Mozart have any say in his career

A.� He did�- Mozart's first and biggest love was opera. He saw it as a means to combine his prodigious compositional skills with his own sophisticated impressions of contemporary life, and his views upon it. The combination of analysis of the human condition coupled with the breadth of his musical vision means that Mozart's operas have remained popular from then until now.

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Q.� So he had a pretty golden future then

A.� Not entirely. From Munich, where he was enjoying a reasonably lavish and successful lifestyle, Wolfgang was summoned to Vienna where the Saltsburg court was in residence. Once there,�he experienced a sharp downturn in his fortunes, relegated to a position as a minor member of the household. Not surprisingly, he was not keen to remain, and left, or was dismissed, reports vary, but Mozart left court and made his living composing for commissions, and playing in public.

Q.� Back to the high life he'd enjoyed before ��������

A.� For a while, but Mozart was a poor business manager, and what ever money he made seemed to be spent far too quickly by him and his wife, and he was often in debt. Mozart's musical talent continued to expand. It is a measure of his genius that having composed six string quartets. He dedicated these to his contemporary Haydn, the acknowledged master of the form, Haydn was quoted as saying that Mozart was certainly the greatest composer he had ever known.

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Q.� Was Mozart poisoned

A.� There is no evidence to suggest that Mozart's death was the result of any foul play. Thanks to the famous stage play Amadeus by Peter Shaffer, and the film made of the play, Mozart's contemporary Antonio Salieri is credited with poisoning the great composer, supposedly unable to contain his jealousy at Mozart's success, and his appalling personality!

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Q.� So it's not true then

A.� It's unlikely. Salieri was a perfectly respectable composer in his own right; he was the Viennese court composer, a position that was unlikely to make him jealous of Mozart. The dreadful egotist portrayed so well in the film version of Peter Shaffer's play may be entirely a work of Schaffer's imagination.

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Q.� So the part at the end where he gets dumped in a pauper's grave is not true either

A.� Actually, that part is true�-�Mozart was buried in an unmarked grave in a city suburb. Not because he was too poor to afford anything better, but because that was simply the common practice at the time.

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Q.� But his genius as a composer lives on

A.� It certainly does�- anyone who enjoys classical music, and quite a large number of people who know very llittle classical music, know the works of Mozart. His ability to strike a chord with the listening public remains as strong today as it did during his lifetime. Mozart is probably one of the few musicians to whom the world 'genius' can be legitimately applied.

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���By:� Andy Hughes.

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