A child prodigy who performed throughout Europe in his early years, Mozart excelled in every medium of his time, including chamber music for strings, the piano and concerto and opera. Along with his contemporaries Haydn and Beethoven, he is one of the composers who brought the Viennese Classical style to its height. His mature music, distinguished by its melodic beauty, formal perfection and richness of harmony is rooted in both Austrian and German traditions. He is widely regarded as the most universal composer in the history of Western music. This biography of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is one in a new series of composer biographies, derived and adapted from the second edition of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. These newly written biographies bring the best of the book-length pieces in The New Grove to a wider audience. Each title provides fresh new insights into the life and works of a major composer, derived from the most recent scholarship. In addition to a detailed and informative view of the subject"s life and works, written by an expert in the field, each book includes comprehensive, tabular work-lists and a fully revised and updated bibliography.