Aged just 11, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composes Die Schuldigkeit Des Ersten Und Furnehmsten Gebotes.
One of Austria’s most famous sons, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart certainly warrants the label of ‘child prodigy’. In 1767, at the tender age of 11, Mozart composes his first opera, along with two of his teachers, Michael Haydn and Anton Cajetan Adlgasser. Die Schuldigkeit Des Ersten Und Furnehmsten Gebotes, or ‘The Obligation of the First and Foremost Commandment’, is written in three parts, with Mozart composing the first part of the opera.
Returning to Salzburg after a three-year European tour, Mozart performs the oratorio in the Archbishop of Salzburg’s palace during Lent on March 12 1767, with Haydn’s second part and Adlgasser’s third part (the scores for which have since been lost) being performed in the following weeks.
Mozart’s work is popular to this day, and he remains one of the central figures in the classical music canon.