Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood, and by the age of 5 he was already composing and performing (on the piano and the violin) for European royalty. At 17, he was engaged as a court musician in Salzburg, but quickly grew restless and travelled in search of a better position, always composing abundantly. In 1781 he was dismissed from his Salzburg position, and chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame but little financial security. During his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of his death.

Throughout his career, Mozart, capable of imitating and improvising upon the styles of all the greatest musicians of the day, learned voraciously from others. He developed a brilliance and maturity of style that encompassed the light and graceful along with the dark and passionate. He composed over 600 works; many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, operatic, and choral music. He is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers, and his influence on subsequent Western music has been profound. Haydn wrote of him that “posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years.”

A quick vote amongst the members of the WildKat office to decide upon Mozart favourites included:

Piano Concerto 23 in A, K 488
Leporello’s Catalogue aria from Don Giovanni
Un’aura amorosa from Cosi
Voi Che Sapete – Marriage of Figaro
Papageno’s Song- Magic Flute
Violin Concerto No. 4 in D, K 218
Clarinet Concerto in A, K 622
Bei Männern welche Liebe fühlen
Te Deum in C Major
Symphony No. 40
Requiem Mass in D Minor

Gramophone