Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was born on 27 January 1756 in Salzburg, was an infant prodigy: in fact, he was the epitome of a musical “wunderkind”. His father, Leopold Mozart, realised this fact early on and made a lot of money with little Wolfgang by dragging him through Europe from one royal court to the next. People everywhere were amazed by the small boy at the piano who could play back any melody without looking at the piano keys and wrote beautiful music himself. But at the age of 25, Mozart realised that he had to go his own way to fulfil his potential. He moved to Vienna, where he became a successful and respected composer. Now he was no longer a “wunderkind”, but an adult with responsibility for his family, money worries and sadness about the early deaths of some of his children and the difficult relationship with his father in Salzburg. But nothing could stop him from continuing to write wonderful music, modern for its time, which put everything that had been previously known in the shade. The so-called Köchel Index, which lists all compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, includes more than 600 pieces: songs and dances, small pieces for flute or violin, big concertos for pianists or clarinettists, symphonies for orchestra and, above all, operas like “Don Giovanni” and “The Magic Flute”. You may know the dazzling aria of the Queen of the Night from the Magic Flute, or the love duet of the bird-man Papageno and his Papagena (pa-pa-pa-pa …), and perhaps also the “Turkish March” for piano. But you are sure to be familiar with Mozart’s most famous piece, “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik”. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s life was not always easy, and he died on 5 December 1791 at the young age of 35 – but his music has remained very much alive and makes people happy to this day!