Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg on the 17th January,
1756. His father, Leopold Mozart, belonged to a respectable
tradesman's family in the free city of Augsburg. Conscious of
being gifted with no small portion of intellectual endowments, he
followed the impulse that led him to aim at a higher position in
life, and went to the then celebrated University of Salzburg in
order to study jurisprudence. As he did not, however, at once
succeed in procuring employment in this profession, he was
forced, from his straitened means, to enter the service of Canon
Count Thun as valet. Subsequently, however, his talents, and that
thorough knowledge of music by which he had already (according to
the custom of many students) gained some part of his livelihood,
obtained for him a better position. In the year 1743 he was
received into the band (Kapelle) of the Salzburg cathedral by
Archbishop Sigismund; and as his capabilities and fame as a
violinist increased, the same Prince shortly afterwards promoted
him to the situation of Hof-Componist (Court Composer) and leader
of the orchestra, and in 1762 he was appointed Hof-Kapellmeister
(conductor of the Court music).

In 1747 Leopold Mozart married Anna Maria Pertlin, a foster-child
of the Convent of St. Gilgen. The fruits of this marriage were
seven children, two of whom alone survived,--Maria Anna, (the
fourth), called Nannerl, born in 1751; and the youngest, Wolfgang
Amadeus Johannes Chrysostomus. The daughter at a very early age
displayed a most remarkable talent for music, and when her father
began to give her instructions in it, an inborn and passionate
love of this art was soon evident in her little brother of three