Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, orig. Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, (born Jan. 27, 1756, Salzburg, Archbishopric of Salzburg—died Dec. 5, 1791, Vienna), Austrian composer. Son of the violinist and composer Leopold Mozart (1719–87), he was born the year of the publication of Leopold’s best-selling treatise on violin playing. He and his older sister, Maria Anna (1751–1829), were prodigies; at age five he began to compose and gave his first public performance. From 1763 Leopold toured throughout Europe with his children, showing off the “miracle that God allowed to be born in Salzburg.” The first round of touring (1763–69) took them as far as France and England, where Wolfgang met Johann Christian Bach and wrote his first symphonies (1764).
