Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Born in Salzburg in 1756, Mozart was performing for European royalty by age five, trained by his father Leopold on a circuit of courts and capitals. At 17 he took a post at the Salzburg court, grew restless, and spent two fruitless years chasing better employment across Paris, Mannheim, and Munich before circling back. A visit to Vienna in 1781 ended in a bitter dismissal from his Salzburg employers - so he stayed, freelancing for the rest of his life with fame but no security. The early Vienna years brought Die Entführung aus dem Serail, the Great Mass in C minor, the "Haydn" Quartets, and a run of piano concertos many consider his peak. In his final stretch he turned out his last three symphonies ending with the Jupiter, Eine kleine Nachtmusik, the Clarinet Concerto, and four operas - Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, Die Zauberflöte - before dying in December 1791, the Requiem still unfinished on his desk.