<P> Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (/ ˈwʊlfɡæŋ æməˈdeɪəs ˈmoʊtsɑːrt / MOHT - sart; German: (ˈvɔlfɡaŋ amaˈdeːʊs ˈmoːtsaʁt); 27 January 1756--5 December 1791), baptised as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the classical era . </P> <P> Born in Salzburg, Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood . Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty . At 17, Mozart was engaged as a musician at the Salzburg court, but grew restless and traveled in search of a better position . While visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position . He 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 early death at the age of 35 . The circumstances of his early death have been much mythologized . </P> <P> He composed more than 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 is profound on subsequent Western art music . Ludwig van Beethoven composed his own early works in the shadow of Mozart, and Joseph Haydn wrote: "posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years". </P> <P> Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on 27 January 1756 to Leopold Mozart (1719--1787) and Anna Maria, née Pertl (1720--1778), at 9 Getreidegasse in Salzburg . This was the capital of the Archbishopric of Salzburg, an ecclesiastic principality in what is now Austria, then part of the Holy Roman Empire . He was the youngest of seven children, five of whom died in infancy . His elder sister was Maria Anna Mozart (1751--1829), nicknamed "Nannerl". Mozart was baptized the day after his birth, at St. Rupert's Cathedral in Salzburg . The baptismal record gives his name in Latinized form, as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart . He generally called himself "Wolfgang Amadè Mozart" as an adult, but his name had many variants . </P>

He was mostly successful as a freelance musician in vienna