Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Austrian composer of the Classical period (1756-1791)

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Also known as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Amadeus Mozart, V. A. Mocartas, Volphnkank Amedaios Motsart

Notable quotes

“"Sie wird das nothwendigste und härteste und die hauptsache in der Musique niemahlen bekommen, nämlich das tempo, weil sie sich vom jugend auf völlig befliessen hat, nicht auf den tact zu spiellen."”
— She will never learn the most necessary, most difficult and principal thing in music, that is time, because from childhood she has designedly cultivated the habit of ignoring the beat.
“My fatherland has always the first claim on me.”
— Letter to Leopold Mozart (24 November 1781), from Mozart: The Man and the Artist, as Revealed in his own Words by Friedrich Kerst, trans. Henry Edward Krehbiel (1906).
“It is a mistake to think that the practice of my art has become easy to me. I assure you, dear friend, no one has given so much care to the study of composition as I. There is scarcely a famous master in music whose works I have not frequently and diligently studied.”
— Spoken in Prague, 1787, to conductor Kucharz, who led the rehearsals for Don Giovanni, from Mozart: The Man and the Artist, as Revealed in his own Words by Friedrich Kerst, trans. Henry Edward Krehbiel (1906).
“It may be that when the angels go about their task praising God, they play only Bach. I am sure, however, that when they are together en famille they play Mozart.”
— Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1956), as translated by Clarence K. Pott
“Pascal and Felix Mendelssohn were prodigiously precocious. But when each died before reaching age forty, each was physiologically an old man. Not so with Mozart – from him could have been extrapolated as much again in the future as had generously erupted in the past.”
— Paul Samuelson, "Reflections on the Schumpeter I knew well" (2005)
“It is a sobering thought that when Mozart was my age, he had been dead for two years.”
— Tom Lehrer. "That Was the Year that Was" (1965).

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.

Key facts

Occupation: composer, music educator, pianist, musician
Citizenship: Archduchy of Austria, Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg, Holy Roman Empire
Born: January 27, 1756
Died: December 5, 1791

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