Wolfgang - Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)
Symphony No.40 in G Minor, K. 550
Symphony No.41 in C Major, K. 551 "Jupiter"

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg in 1756, the son of Leopold Mozart, who in the same year had published his important book on violin-playing. Leopold Mozart was an educated man, who had embarked on study at the Benedictine University in Salzburg but had turned rather to music, thereafter, entering the service of the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, to become composer to the court and finally, in 1763, deputy Kapellmeister.

It was unfortunate that early distinction never brought Mozart the full measure of material success and security that he and his father regarded as his due. In Salzburg an indulgent patron had been succeeded in 1772 by an archbishop with better defined ideas of what was due from his servants. There were reforms in the church liturgy and restrictions on leaves of absence neithe