Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (born Johann Chrysostom Wolfgang Theophilus Mozart on January 27th, 1756 – December 5, 1791) is among the most significant and enduringly popular composers of classical music. His enormous output includes works that are widely acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music. Many of his works are part of the standard concert repertory and are widely recognized as masterpieces of the classical style.
Mozart was born in the city of Salzburg, the capital of the archbishopric of Salzburg, Austria, to Leopold and Anna Maria Pertl Mozart. He was baptized the day after his birth at St. Rupert's Cathedral. The baptismal record gives his name in Latinized form as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus (Gottlieb) Mozart. Of these names, the first two were saints' names not employed in everyday life and the fourth was variously translated in Mozart's lifetime as Amadeus (Latin), Gottlieb (German), and Amadé; Mozart himself preferred the third (see Mozart's name).
Mozart's musical ability became noticable when he was about three years old. His father Leopold was one of Europe's leading musical pedagogues (excellent teachers), whose influential textbook Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule ("Essay on the fundamentals of violin playing") was published in 1756, the year of Mozart's birth. Mozart received intensive musical training from his father, including instruction in clavier, violin, and organ.
During his formative years, Mozart completed several journeys throughout Europe, beginning with an exhibition in 1762 at the Court of the Elector of Bavaria in Munich, then in the same year at the Imperial Court in Vienna. A long concert tour spanning three and a half years followed, taking him with his father to the courts of Munich, Mannheim, Paris, London, The Hague, again to Paris, and back home via Zürich, Donaueschingen, and Munich. They again went to Vienna in late 1767 and remained there until December 1768.