On April 13, 1770, a 14-year-old boy on a trip to Rome with his father attended Good Friday mass in the Sistine Chapel. There, he heard Gregorio Allegri's "Miserere Mei, Deus," the mysterious piece only performed once a year and never allowed to be copied. That evening, the boy went home and wrote a complete transcription of the piece from memory. When Pope Clement XIV learned of this, he was so impressed that, instead of excommunicating the boy, he knighted him.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is easily the apotheosis of the Classical Period, and always in the running for "greatest composer of all time." In his short life, he composed over 600 works of music. His career began as a child prodigy. His father, Leopold Mozart, who was himself an accomplished musician, taught his son from a very young age and as early as 1769 was touring him around Europe.
In 1772, Mozart worked as the court composer for the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, where he composed many of his early symphonies, concertos, sonatas, and liturgical music. However, he was very unsatisfied with the life of a servant, and moved to Vienna in 1781. He got married, accepted a few commissions from Austrian Emperor Joseph II, and otherwise tried to pursue a career as a "freelance" composer. He met and befriended Joseph Haydn during this time, and it was in Vienna that most of his greatest works were composed, including the operas Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Die Zauberflöte.
Mozart was prolific in every genre of the time. He composed over 650 different works, including twenty-three operas and fifty-nine symphonies. Mozart died at the age of 35, probably of rheumatic fever. An urban legend developed in Vienna that he was murdered by a jealous Antonio Salieri, which is almost certainly not true. However, this legend was turned into a stage play in 1830 by the Russian playwright Alexander Pushkin, and became popularized by Peter Shaffer's 1979 play "Amadeus."
Ironically, Mozart died while working on music for a funeral mass, the Requiem in D Minor, which he was not able to finish.
Mozart's greatness was recognized immediately and his music has remained enduringly popular ever since.
From the Renaissance until now, musicians and composers usually worked for a wealthy patron; starting in the late Classical Period, they began to make a living by freelancing, teaching, and selling their compositions to general public. Which is a better model for the musical arts?
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