Johann Chrysostomus Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born at Salzburg, Jan. 27, 1756.  With this wonderful child music was a divine gift, for his first work, a minuet and trio for piano, was written in his fifth year.  He began to study with his father when but three years of age, and at once gave signs of extraordinary promise.  His sister was also very talented; and in 1762 the father determined to travel with his prodigies.  They were absent a year, the most of that time being spent at Munich, Vienna, and Presburg, where they created a furor by their performances.  A longer journey was then resolved upon.  The principal German cities, Brussels, Paris, London, the Hague, Amsterdam, and the larger towns of Switzerland were visited in succession, and everywhere the children were greeted with enthusiasm, particularly when they played before the French and English courts.  They returned to Salzburg in 1766, already famous all over Europe; and during the next two years Mozart composed many minor works.  In 1768 he was again in Vienna, where he produced his little operetta, “Bastien und Bastienne,” and in the same year the Archbishop of Salzburg made him his concertmeister.  The next year he went to Italy, where he both studied and composed, and was received with extraordinary honors.  In 1771 he brought out his opera, “Mitridate, Re di Ponto,” at Milan, with great success.  The next year he produced “Lucio Silla,” also in Milan, and during the next four years composed a great number of symphonies and other instrumental works.  The mass of music which he composed up to his twenty-first year is simply bewildering.  In 1781 he brought out “Idomeneo” at Munich, which left no doubt as to his position as a dramatic composer.  In 1782 his “Entfuhrung aus dem Serail” was produced at Vienna by the Emperor’s command.  His next great opera was “Le Nozze di Figaro,” which was performed in 1786, and made all Vienna go wild.  “Don Giovanni” followed it the next year, and was received with equal enthusiasm.  In 1789 he composed the famous “Requiem;” and the same year the “Zauberfloete,” his last great opera, appeared, and made a success even greater than its two great predecessors.  Two years later, Dec. 5, 1791, Mozart died in poverty, and amid the saddest of surroundings.  One of the world’s greatest geniuses was carried to his last resting-place unaccompanied by friends, and was buried in the common pauper’s grave.  God endowed him with a wonderful genius, which the world of his time could not recognize.

THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO.

“Le Nozze di Figaro,” in the German version, “Die Hochzeit des Figaro,” an opera buffa in four acts, the words by Lorenzo da Ponte, after Beaumarchais’s comedy, “Le Mariage de Figaro,” was first produced at the National Theatre, Vienna, May 1, 1786, with the following cast:—­