Livret-Mozart-Levin-Poulet-La-Goillotte-Le-Palais-des-D%C3%A9gusteurs

Born for music
(1756-1763)
To better understand the extent to which the
young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart fell into music
when he was little, it should be remembered
that being a musician at that time in Salzburg,
where the prince-archbishop set the example,
was very much the norm. For every individual,
regardless of their age or social status, daily life
was inseparable from music. Leopold, Mozart’s
father, was both valet and musician, something
not unusual if the advertisements of the time
are anything to go by: "Mansion household
seeks lackey and experienced violinist capable of
accompanying difficult sonatas."
We can imagine that Mozart’s early years were
marked by an atmosphere full of music and
sound. Church bells for example, but also multivoice
choirs and organs, together with the vast
number of birds in a leafy town near the forests.
The young Wolfgang even had a canary, his very
first musical partner! We could say that Mozart
learnt music like birds learn to sing...
His older sister Nannerl showed an exceptional
aptitude for music so her father decided to teach
her the harpsichord. Wolfgang was two or three
years old at the time. There are famous accounts of
Mozart placing his ear against the harpsichord as
his older sister practised, or listening to his father
as he composed, and the young boy’s ability to
absorb and then later replicate all the music he
heard. He could even improvise on it! He spent
hours playing on the keyboard, laughing with
delight when he found chords that pleased him,
saying: "I’m looking for the notes that like each
other."
As a very young child, and up to the age of ten, he
composed tunes that he sang to his father while
standing on a chair, before kissing him numerous
times (finishing with the end of his nose) and
going to bed. He took an interest in children’s
games if they involved music, and enjoyed
accompanying the movements in marching
songs. As he got older, the most trivial incidents
of everyday life would inspire him to create
characters and situations that he put to music –
the very first signs of the brilliant opera composer
he would become.
At the age of five, he started to write small pieces,
some of which have survived. His father was quick
to support his son’s endeavours. In contrast to his
daughter, whom he considered to be primarily an
excellent harpsichordist – she in no way played
second fiddle to her brother – and for whom he
only wrote pieces to help her playing, Leopold
used his talents as a composer and teacher to give
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