[1] He is best known today as the father and teacher of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and for his violin textbook Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule (1756).

He was born in Augsburg, son of Johann Georg Mozart, a bookbinder, and his second wife Anna Maria Sulzer.

He attended a local Jesuit school, St. Salvator [de], where he studied logic, science, and theology, graduating magna cum laude in 1735.

[8] In 1740, Mozart began his career as a professional musician, becoming violinist and valet to one of the university's canons, Johann Baptist, Count of Thurn-Valsassina and Taxis.

The toddler Wolfgang immediately began imitating his sister, at first picking out thirds on the keyboard[n 4] and then making rapid progress under Leopold's instruction.

Mozart biographer Maynard Solomon 1995 takes the view that the tours were lucrative and produced long-term profits for Leopold; Ruth Halliwell 1998 states to the contrary that their income generally only covered their travel and living expenses.

[citation needed] Since the instruction took much of his time, and the touring kept him away from Salzburg for long periods, Mozart cut down his activities in other areas.

This the Mozarts used for teaching, for domestic concerts, for storing keyboard instruments sold by Leopold, and for Bölzlschiessen, a form of recreation in which family and their guests shot airguns at humorously designed paper targets.

[citation needed] Mozart is a controversial figure among his biographers, with the largest disagreements arising concerning his role as the parent of adult children.

[22] Wolfgang left home permanently in 1781 (see below), and from this time until 1784, his father lived in Salzburg with just Nannerl (now in her early thirties) and their servants.

One possibility, frequently entertained by biographers,[24] is that the marriage was blocked by Leopold, who liked having Nannerl at home as the lady of the house.

She moved to the home of her new husband, Johann Baptist Franz von Berchtold zu Sonnenburg, in the small rural town of St. Gilgen, roughly six hours journey east of Salzburg.

He relayed news from Salzburg, Munich, and Vienna to divert her, did his best to organize the maintenance of her fortepiano, paid for Wolfgang's music to be copied and arranged for her to receive it; collected musicians together when she had visited him so that she could play it with most of the parts; .. tried to look after her health; and encouraged her to stand up to her husband when he was being unreasonable.

[30]Maynard Solomon suggests that in keeping his grandson in his home, Mozart may have hoped to train yet another musical prodigy.

[citation needed] Wolfgang left home for good in 1781, when instead of returning from a stay in Vienna with his employer Archbishop Colloredo he remained in the city to pursue a freelance career.

This effort was to a fair degree successful; Wolfgang achieved great fame and was for a time quite prosperous (though poor planning later changed this status).

He witnessed first hand his son's success as a performer, and on February 12 heard Joseph Haydn's widely quoted words of praise, upon hearing the string quartets Wolfgang dedicated to him, "Before God and as an honest man I tell you that your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name: He has taste, and, furthermore, the most profound knowledge of composition.

At this time, Wolfgang wrote to Leopold to ask if he would be willing to take care of his own two children while he and Constanze went on concert tour.

When Leopold Mozart died on 28 May (see below), Wolfgang was unable to attend the funeral, the travel time to Salzburg being too long.

[40]Leopold Mozart was much concerned with a naturalistic feel to his compositions, his Jagdsinfonie (or Sinfonia da Caccia for four horns and strings) calls for shotguns, and his Bauernhochzeit (Peasant Wedding) includes bagpipes, hurdy-gurdy, a dulcimer, whoops and whistles (ad.

Musikalische Schlittenfahrt [de] (musical sleigh ride) calls for bells and whips in addition to a rich orchestra.

His oeuvre was extensive, but only recently have scholars begun to assess the scope or the quality of it; much is lost, and it is not known how representative the surviving works are of his overall output.

Much of what survives is light music but there is some more substantial work including his Sacramental Litany in D major (1762) and three fortepiano sonatas, all published in his lifetime.

The Grove Dictionary article, by Cliff Eisen, denounces "his misrepresentation at the hands of later biographers": A man of broad cultural achievement ... Leopold Mozart may have been haughty, difficult to please and at times intractable, ... but there is no compelling evidence that Mozart was excessively manipulative, intolerant, autocratic or jealous of his son's talent.

Solomon portrays Mozart as a man who loved his children but was unwilling to grant them their independence when they reached adulthood, resulting in considerable hardship for them.