More than 200 years ago, there was a little boy who learned to play a musical instrument at the age of three. It was called a clavier, which was an old-fashioned stringed instrument that also had a keyboard. By the time he was five, he was composing beautiful music—all by himself. At eight, he had learned to play two more instruments, the violin and the organ. Now he could play three instruments.
His father was a musician, too. He wanted everyone to pay attention to his talented son. But some people had a hard time believing that a small boy could be so talented. They thought his father had written the music for him. Or that the boy wasn’t a child at all, but a very small adult. There had to be some kind of trick.
A man who was both a lawyer and a musician decided to find out. He tested the boy for many hours. He asked the boy to play a very difficult piece of music. The boy played it easily and well. Then he asked the boy to make up a piece of music for him, right there on the spot. Again, the boy did an excellent job.
Then, a cat came into the room. Right away, the boy stopped playing music and got up to chase it. There was no doubt in the man’s mind. The boy was really just a boy, except when he played or wrote music. Then the boy was a genius.
Who was this boy? His name was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and here is his story. |