the son of Leopold Mozart, Kapellmeister to the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, and
             much the reason behind’s Wolfgang’s education. By the age of three he could play the
             piano, and he was composing by the time he was five. Mozart's elder sister Maria Anna
             was also a gifted keyboard player, and in 1762 their father took the two prodigies on a
             short performing tour, of the courts at Vienna and Munich.
             Encouraged by their reception, they embarked the next year on a longer tour,
             including two weeks at Versailles, where the children enchanted Louis XV. In 1764 they
             arrived in London. Here Mozart wrote his first three symphonies, under the influence of
             Johann Christian Bach, youngest son of Johann Sebastian, who lived in the city. After
             their return to Salzburg there followed three trips to Italy between 1769 and 1773. In
             Rome, Mozart heard a performance of Allegri's Misere; the score of this work was
             closely guarded, but Mozart managed to transcribe the music almost perfectly from
             In 1769 Mozart was appointed concertmaster to the archbishop of Salzburg, and
             later in the same year, at La Scala, he was made a chevalier of the Order of the Golden
             Spur by the pope. He also composed his first German operetta, Bastien und Bastienne, in
             the same year. At the age of 14 he was commissioned to write a serious opera. This work,
             Mitridate, rè di Ponto, produced under his direction at Milan, completely established an
             already phenomenal reputation. The Mozarts returned to Salzburg in 1771. Hieronymus,
             count von Colloredo, the successor to the archbishop of Salzburg, who had died while the
             Mozarts were touring Italy, cared little for music. Mozart's appointment at Salzburg,
             however, proved to be largely honorary; it allowed ample time for a prodigious musical
             output during his next six years, but afforded little financial security. In 1777 Mozart
             obtained a leave of ...