Mozart

The main facts of Mozart's life are generally familiar. Born at Salzburg in January 1756, he startled the musical world as an infant prodigy, playing the clavier and composing little pieces before he was five. When only six, he was taken on tour by his father, and astonished everybody by his marvellous powers at the keyboard. He came to London in 1764, when he was eight; played in public and before George III and his Queen. To the Queen he dedicated six sonatas, and got fifty guineas for them. Advertisements invited people put the talents of the "wonderful boy" to the proof by giving him anything to play at sight, or any theme upon which to extemporise. Probably it was the feverish excitements on this juvenile "exhibition" which undermined his constitution, and helped to bring about his early death.