Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Clarinet Concerto

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born 1756 and died in 1791, in his lifetime he created a phenomenal amount of impressive works including operas, sonatas, symphonies, concertos and chamber works. Mozart’s father Johann, also a musician, realised his son was particularly gifted in music at the very early age of 3, when he started playing keyboard. At the age of 5 Mozart was composing and performing his works all over the Europe. At the age of six Mozart performed for the Bavarian elector and the Austrian empress. His father felt that it could be very profitable to expose his children’s musical genius (Mozart’s sister Maria Anna was a gifted keyboard player). In 1763 he took his children on a tour to Paris and London as well as several courts while on the journey. Mozart astounded audiences with his tremendous technical and musical ability. On this tour he played for the French and English royal families, had his first compositions published and also wrote his earliest symphonies. This tour ended in 1766, yet nine months later they left home again, this time to Vienna, where Leopold hoped to have Mozarts opera performed. In 1773, Mozart visited Vienna, it was here that he wrote a set of string quartets and when he returned home, he wrote a group of symphonies. From 1774 through to 1777, Mozart worked as Concert Master at the Prince Archbishop’s court, during these years he wrote masses, symphonies, all of his violin concertos, six piano sonatas several serenades and divertmentos and his first great piano concerto.
From 1777 till 1780 he enjoyed little success, working in minor roles, however, still composing sacred works, symphonies, concertos, serenades and dramatic music. Opera remained his ultimate ambition and he finally was commissioned to write a serious opera for Munich. This first opera Idomeneo was a success. In Mozarts operas he portrayed serious, heroic emotion with a richness that had not been heard in his other works.
While his operas were his passion,