A historical glimpse of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, from baby Mozart until he was about to turn 5, his age when he started composing.

The pages in most Mozart biography books usually remain blank between his second day and before his fifth birthday. Naturally, a baby has to be cared for and to grow sometime. So does Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, even if he is a musical genius.

The Family that Mozart was Born with

When Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in 1756, his father, Leopold Mozart, was 37 years old. His mother, Maria Anna, was a year younger than her husband. Mozart's sister, named after her mother, was not yet five. The family called her 'Nannerl.'

Maria Anna Pertl-Mozart had given birth to 7 children by the time Wolfgang Mozart was born, but only Nannerl and Mozart had survived.

Leopold Mozart was a respected local musician in Salzburg. He had studied laws and philosophy at the university, which, although it sounds surprising to us today, was actually quite a common route for musicians. The baroque composer George Philipp Telemann did the same.

At the age of 20, Leopold became a musician at Salzburg Cathedral and taught violin at the adjoining choir school. He rose from the ranks as composer to become court musician by the time Mozart was seven, and later, as a deputy Kapellmeister (vice chapelmaster.)

A prominent violin teacher, he gained international fame with his violin instruction book Versuch einer grünlichen Violinschule in 1756, the year Mozart was born.

Maria Anna's role was primarily to support her husband in all things to do with the family. Nothing much has been written about her education.

Nannerl was the first to survive beyond infancy. She was the fourth of the 7 children. Mozart was the youngest. By the time Mozart was born, Nannerl was already showing signs of being a musical prodigy. Such was the role of women at that time, that despite her obvious gifts, Leopold would devote much more energy into nurturing his son's talents than those of his daughter's.

When Mozart was born, Salzburg was ruled by a prince-archbishop, the most important person in Salzburg, by the very nature of what the title implies. Since Leopold already worked for the Prince Archbishop, it can be said that Mozart was born into musical service.

Baby Mozart

Mozart began to play the harpsichord at three years old. Nannerl gives a glimpse of what her baby brother wunderkind was doing. According to her, Mozart spent a lot of time picking out small chords at the keyboard, and would be well pleased when his music sounded good.

Mozart was 4, Going on 5

Mozart was just four years old when he learned to play his very first piece of music. Only three days before his fifth birthday, his father Leopold had written out the piece, a scherzo by the Viennese composer, Wagenseil, into Nannerl's notebook for her to practise. At around 9 o'clock in the evening, on 26 January 1761, Mozart opened the notebook and sat down at the keyboard. Amazingly, in just half an hour later, Wolfgang learned to play the piece. Leopold must have been ecstatic, noted the moment down and journalized:

"Wolfangerl mastered the minuet and trio the day before his fifth birthday, in just thirty minutes, at 9.30pm, January 26th, 1761."

Before the year was out, inspired by his son's progress, Leopold let the boy genius Wolfgang Amadeus play the piano in public, at the University of Salzburg, in the very same school he had studied.

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• Mozart Moves to Vienna: 1781

Sources:

The Friendly Guide to Mozart by Darren Henley & Tim Lihoreau, Hodder Arnold (2005)

The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music, edited by Stanley Sadie, Macmillan (1994)