Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Mozart showed extraordinary musical ability as a child in Salzburg and became one of the central composers of the Classical era. His death in Vienna in 1791 has long attracted speculation, but contemporary records listed severe fever and modern historians treat the exact medical cause as unresolved.

• •Mozart was a child prodigy who began composing at the age of five and performing for European royalty by the age of six.
• •He had an unusually large number of pets throughout his life, including a starling which he reportedly taught to sing a variation of the theme from his Piano Concerto No. 17.
• •Despite his immense talent and prolific output, Mozart died at the young age of 35, in debt, and was buried in a common grave, a practice common for the time.
• •Mozart was a Freemason and joined the fraternity in 1784, incorporating Masonic themes into some of his later works, most notably 'The Magic Flute'.