1.    Mozart rarely called himself by the named “Wolfgang Amadeus”.  When he was a child, he was called Wolfgangerl or Woferl.  When he was older, Mozart called himself Wolfgango Amadeo or, more commonly, Wolfgang Amade -  but never Amadeus.  Sometimes he just signed his named Mozart, WMZT or MZT.

2.    When he was little, Mozart lived with his family on the third floor of a building that had a grocery business on the ground floor.

3.    He had six other brothers and sisters, but only he and his sister, Nannerl, survived infancy.

4.    His father, Leopold, was also famous throughout Salzburg, mainly due to his textbook on the violin, which he published the year Mozart was born.

5.    Leopold was very well read, especially in regards to music theory, and adept at intellectual conversation, which made it possible for him and his family to be accepted into the “refined society” of Europe.

6.    Mozart’s sister was said by her father to be one of the “most gifted pianists in Europe”, but his father concentrated more fully on the son’s talent instead.

7.    Mozart was homeschooled, along with his sister, and never had any formal schooling.

8.    By the time he was five, he was composing his own pieces. But while on their European tour, the family received criticism and mistrust from people who alleged that Mozart wasn’t able to compose at such a young age and that his father must have written his pieces for him.

9.    In 1764, when Mozart was 7 years old, he played for King Louis XV at Versailles – one of the many members of royalty and the court for which he performed.

10.     In 1781, Emperor Jospeph II arranged a musical competition between Mozart and the famous Italian virtuoso, Muzio Clementi.  Mozart believed that he had won the competition, hands down, and said that Clementi was “a mere mechanicus without taste or feeling”.

To discover more about the life of the famous composer and his musical genius, take a look at Kevin Sullivan's documentary, Mozart Decoded.

Photo: Portrait of Mozart by Pietro Antonio Lorenzoni in 1763.

Source: The Treasures of Mozart, by John Irving