Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, a part of present-day Austria. He was baptized the next day as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart in Rupert's Cathedral. Her family consisted of her parents, Leopold and AnnaMarie Pertl Mozart, and her older sister, Maria Anna, nicknamed "Nannerl". Mozart was the youngest of seven children, but only he and Nannerl survived. The other five siblings died in infancy. Mozart's father was a violinist, composer and music teacher. Both Leopold and Mozart's mother emphasized the importance of music and education in their children's lives. Mozart never received formal education. His father was his teacher and taught him geography, history, languages, mathematics, financial matters, social behavior and music (Life and works of a musical genius 3). “Leopold was a dedicated, task-oriented teacher to both of his children. He made lessons fun, but also insisted on a strong work ethic and perfection” (Wolfgang Mozart Leopold introduced Nannerl to the keyboard when she was 7. Mozart watched and imitated his sister during her lessons. Her ability to excel in music became apparent to his father at an early age. At the age of three, Mozart could play the clavinet and recognize the chords mastered. By the age of five he was composing small pieces of music on his own. In 1762 Leopold took Nannerl and Mozart, aged 11 and 6 respectively, to Munich where they performed at the Court of Bavaria for Maximilian III and at the Imperial Court of Guinn 2 in Vienna. and Prague. and The Hague where......the medium of paper......philosophy through music and to this end developed a degree of subtlety rarely found in any classical composer” (WA Mozart 6). Although Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart only lived to the age of 35, his effect on music will never be forgotten. His ability to recognize chords and play an instrument at 3, play minuets at 4, compose music at 5, perform in public at 6, write Gregorio Allegri's Miserere from memory with few errors after listening to it only once, and his ability to compose masterpieces on scraps of paper during a train journey illustrates his musical genius. Furthermore, Mozart influenced other great musicians and composers such as Ludwig van Beethoven, Frederic Chopin and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. There is no doubt that Mozart was a musical genius. One can only imagine what he would have accomplished if he had lived another 10 or 15 years..