Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus

An eighteenth-century Austrian composer; one of the great figures in the history of music. A child prodigy, Mozart began composing music before he was five. He, Franz Josef Haydn, and Ludwig van Beethoven are the leading composers of the classic era. Mozart wrote chamber music, symphonies, operas, and Masses. Three of his best-known compositions are the short work for orchestra Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music) and the operas Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro.