Talk:Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

"He was not a healthy child during his first six years. ref name="solomon 1995 39"

I've moved this to the talk page. The problem is that it interrupts a paragraph that is about the very beginning of Mozart's life (i.e. birth date, birth order, assignment of a name). The sensible reader would ask "why are you talking about assigning him a name when he's already a toddler?"

Also, I'm not sure the sentence is fully accurate; it's not prominent in other biographies of Mozart I've read; and certainly whatever sickness Mozart endured as a little kid did not prevent him from making huge progress musically, nor from performing (both as a dancer and a keyboard player). Also, I no longer use Solomon as a Mozart factual source, having been burned a few times from doing so.

The "Mozart as sick toddler" material, if shown to be accurate, would fit in better in a general narrative of the course of Mozart's health over his lifetime. We have a bit of this in Death of Mozart but perhaps it could be an independent article or an independent section of this one. A good reference for Mozart's health history is:

Davies, Peter J.(1984) Mozart's Illnesses and Death: 1. The Illnesses, 1756–90. The Musical Times 125:437-442

Opus33 (talk) 06:33, 10 November 2024 (UTC)

"(These concertos) are firm fixtures in his/the repertoire"

Someone changed this from "the repertoire" to "his repertoire". I don't think this is right; for most people who use this word, "his repertoire" would be mean "pieces Mozart played" and "the repertoire" means "pieces characteristically played by musicians in general". It is the second meaning that is applicable here; the sentence means that the practice of playing Mozart concertos has endured to this day. Opus33 (talk) 06:42, 10 November 2024 (UTC)

The Miserere Myth

Charles Burney makes clear in his 'Present State &c' [Italy) that it was not 'forbidden' to copy this work; rather, its manner of performance was so unique that transcribed scores were inadequate to indicate exactly how to reproduce it; hence, copying was futile. It could only be 'learned', for example, by becoming a guest conductor. Whether Mozart wrote it out from memory or not is irrelevant. Doubtless he could have, but it would have been rather a waste of time. 193.114.140.166 (talk) 03:24, 4 January 2025 (UTC)

Featured picture scheduled for POTD

Hello! This is to let editors know that File:Mozart Family Croce.jpg, a featured picture used in this article, has been selected as the English Wikipedia's picture of the day (POTD) for January 27, 2026. A preview of the POTD is displayed below and can be edited at Template:POTD/2026-01-27. For the greater benefit of readers, any potential improvements or maintenance that could benefit the quality of this article should be done before its scheduled appearance on the Main Page. 270th birthday of Wolfgang Mozart If you have any concerns, please place a message at Wikipedia talk:Picture of the day. Thank you! ―Howard • 🌽³³ 20:57, 5 February 2025 (UTC)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age resulted in more than 800 works representing virtually every Western classical genre of his time. Many of these compositions are acknowledged as pinnacles of the symphonic, concertante, chamber, operatic, and choral repertoire. Mozart is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music, with his music admired for its "melodic beauty, its formal elegance and its richness of harmony and texture". The painting Portrait of the Mozart Family depicts him with his family around 1780.

Painting credit: attrib. Johann Nepomuk della Croce

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