Directions for Binding

Enclosed in this envelope it the cord and the
needle with which to bind this book. Start in from
the outside as shown on the diagram here. Pass the
needle and thread through the center of the book,
leaving an end extend outside, then through to the
outside, about 2 inches from the center; then from
the outside to inside 2 inches from the center at the
other end of the book, bringing the thread finally
again through the center, and tie the two ends in a
knot, one each side of the cord on the outside.

THEO. PRESSER CO., Pub’s., Phila., Pa.

Copyright, 1915, by Theodore Presser Co
Printed in U. S. A.

BORN

DIED

[Pg 3]

MOZART

The composer whom we call WOLFGANG
AMADEUS MOZART was called Wolferl when
he was a little boy.

He had a sister, MARIA ANNA, who was
called NANNERL.

Nannerl was five years older than her brother.
She had lessons from her father on a kind of piano
called a harpsichord.

Here is a picture of one.

MOZART’S HARPSICHORD

[Pg 4]

When Wolferl was three years old he used to
listen to Nannerl’s playing. He always watched
and listened when Papa Mozart gave her a harpsichord
lesson.

Little as he was, he would often go to the harpsichord
and try to pick out tunes with his chubby
fingers. His father noticed that Wolferl could remember
quite a little of the music that Nannerl
was practising.

And here is a picture of Wolferl trying to reach
the keys so as to play the melody of his sister’s
lesson.

THE INFANT MOZART AT THE PIANO.

When Wolferl was four years old he began to
take lessons.

While he practised no one ever spoke to him
because he was so serious about it. If other children
came to play with Nannerl he would make music
for their games and marching; playing in strict
time all the while.

[Pg 5]
Here is Nannerl’s picture when she grew up to
be a young lady.

MOZART’S SISTER.

Father Mozart loved both of his children deeply
and often played with them. The violin was the
instrument he liked best and little Mozart had daily
lessons in his home. Here we see him playing while
his sister sings.

A MOZART FAMILY TRIO.

[Pg 6]
In this picture we see Papa Mozart, who was a
very fine player on the violin. Wolferl and Nannerl
are playing the piano.

MOZART PLAYING WITH HIS FATHER AND SISTER.

When Wolferl was nearly six his father took
him and Nannerl on a concert tour. Everybody
wanted to hear them play and they gave many
concerts.

Wolferl spent all his boyhood with his music.
He went to many places to play, even as far from
Salzburg, in Austria (where he was born), as to
Paris and London.

Everywhere he went people were happy to see
him and his sister and to hear them play. And they,
too, were happy to play because they loved the music
so much.

[Pg 7]
When they reached Vienna they played for the
Emperor and Empress.

When Wolferl was presented to the Empress
he jumped up into her lap and kissed her.

Wolferl was always busy composing music.
But he played games and had a good time just like
any other boy. When he was busy with his music,
however, he never let his thoughts go to anything
else.

But we must not go too fast, for we want to see
how Wolferl is growing up.

Here is his picture when he was five years old
and beside it another when he was eight years old.
Do you see his wig and sword?

MOZART AT FIVE.

MOZART AT EIGHT.

Everybody in Paris wanted to hear Wolferl
play when they knew that he had come, so they
asked him to read at sight; to play the bass part
to a melody and to accompany a song without
seeing the music.

[Pg 8]
People also took great delight in asking him to
play on the harpsichord with a cloth stretched over
the keyboard so that he could not see the keys.

They all went to London to play for the King.
The King wanted to see for himself how skilful little
Mozart was, so he gave him pieces by Bach and
Handel to play at sight. Mozart read them off at
once. Here is a fine picture of the Mozart children
when they played for the King and the Queen.

MOZART AT THE COURT OF THE EMPEROR.

It must have been very fine for a little boy of
seven to play for kings and queens. But Wolferl
was not spoiled by it all. He was just a happy
hearted boy all the time.

He always made it a rule to put his mind on what
he was doing and do it the very best he knew how.

It is just as good a rule now as it was when he
was alive.

[Pg 9]
It is time now that we learned the birthday of
Mozart. If we think of it every year on the 27th
of January, it will be easy to remember it.

In what year was he born?

Here is another picture of Mozart in 1766.
How old was he then? (Beethoven was born four
years afterward.)

MOZART IN 1766.

When anyone is always busy at one thing he
soon gets a lot done. As Wolferl grew and kept on
writing music all the time he made a great many
pieces. Some were short like a song, others were
long like an opera. He wrote for the piano, the
violin and the voice. And he composed operas, symphonies
and ever so many other kinds of music.

Mozart liked to be alone when he was working
upon his compositions. He used to go to a little
house on the edge of Vienna and lock himself in.
[Pg 10]
The people of the city of Salzburg, in Austria, took
this house long after Mozart’s death and moved it
to a park where all may go to see it, just as we in
America go to see the houses of William Penn,
Lincoln and Washington.

WHERE MOZART COMPOSED.

Can you remember, without turning back, the
year in which Mozart was born?

Some other great musicians were alive at that
time. And during his lifetime some were born who
became great men.

In the year when Mozart was born both Handel
and Haydn were living. And Haydn lived eighteen
years after Mozart’s death.

You can remember it by these lines:

[Pg 11]
When Mozart was fourteen years old Beethoven
was born. Mozart knew him and he knew Papa
Haydn also, and they were very good friends.

In our own country there lived in Mozart’s lifetime
Benjamin Franklin and three Presidents of the
United States—George Washington, John Adams
and Thomas Jefferson.

I wonder if Washington ever heard of Mozart?

Perhaps we can best keep all these names
together by looking at this page now and again.

Isn’t it fine to think of Mozart writing so much
music, so many operas, symphonies and sonatas;
traveling so much, meeting so many people and
never being spoiled by it all.

[Pg 12]
While he wrote many very great pieces of
music, here is something he composed when he
was five years old. He made up the pieces at the
piano and his father wrote them down note for note
in a little copy book.

Listen

FACTS ABOUT MOZART.

Read these facts about Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart and try to write his story out of them, using
your own words. When your story is finished, ask
your mother or your teacher to read it. When you
have made it, copy it on pages 14, 15 and 16.

1. Full name: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

2. Born Jan. 27, 1756; died Dec. 5, 1791.

3. The sister’s name was Maria Anna.

4. Maria Anna was five years older than Wolfgang.

5. The pet names of the children were Wolferl
and Nannerl.

6. Little Mozart loved to hear his sister play.

7. He started to study when he was four.

8. Mozart went on a concert tour with his sister
when he was six years old.

[Pg 13]
9. When he was a child he visited many great
cities, among them Paris, London and Vienna.

10. Handel and Haydn were living when Mozart
was born.

11. Benjamin Franklin, George Washington,
Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson and Walter
Scott were all alive during the time of Mozart.

12. Mozart was five years old when he wrote his
first piece.

SOME QUESTIONS.

1. In what country was Mozart born?

2. In what city was Mozart born?

3. Where did Mozart play before the Emperor
and the Empress?

4. Did Mozart play games and have a good time
like other boys?

5. Why did people ask Mozart to play upon the
harpsichord with a cloth stretched over the keys?

6. Whose compositions did the King of England
ask Mozart to play?

7. What great American patriot was born in
the same year as Haydn?

8. Which lived the longer life, Haydn or
Mozart?

9. Have you ever heard a piece by Mozart?

10. Was Mozart spoiled by meeting many
people?
[Pg 14]

THE STORY OF MOZART

Written by……………………………..

On (date)………………………………

Write a short story about Mozart and his sister
and copy it on these pages.

THE BOY MOZART PLAYING.