o become Kapellmeister. He was deeply in debt when in July 1791 hereceived an anonymous commission to write a Requiem. (The author of the commission was in fact Count Franz von Walsegg,who wished to pass off the work as his own.) Mozart did not live to finish the Requiem. He became ill in autumn 1791 and diedon December 5; his burial the next day was attended only by a gravedigger. Rumours that Mozart had been poisonedabounded in Vienna after his death, many suggesting that rival composer Antonio Salieri was responsible. Many now believe aheart weakened by bouts of rheumatic fever caused his death. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria in January of 1756. By the age of four,he had exhibited such extraordinary powers of musical memory and ear-sophistication that hisfather, Leopold (a highly esteemed violinist and composer in his own right) decided to sign youngWolfgang up for harpsichord lessons. At five, he was composing music; at six, he was a keyboardvirtuoso, so much so that Leopold took Wolfgang and his sister Maria Anna on a performancetour of Munich and Vienna. From that time on, young Mozart was constantly performing andwriting music. Wherever he appeared, people gaped in awe athis divine gifts. By his early teens, he had mastered the piano,violin and harpsichord, and was writing keyboard pieces,oratorios, symphonies and operas. His first major opera,Mitridate, was performed in Milan in 1770 to such unqualified raves that critics compared him to Handel. At fifteen, Mozart was installed as the concertmaster in theorchestra of the Archbishop of Salzburg. Things did not go verywell; Mozart didn't get along with the Archbishop, and relationsdeteriorated to the point where, in 1781, he quit this loftyposition and headed for Vienna - quite against his father's wishes. It has been told that Mozart once said, 'Since I could not haveone sister, I married the other.' Whether or not this quote is...
