A Composer of the Classical era. Franz Joseph Haydn was the second of twelve children. His family was quite poor. When Franz was six, his parents sent him to live with a family relative, Johann Frankh, in Hainburg, Austria. Mr. Frankh was a private music teacher and gave Franz lessons on the harpsichord, violin, and in music harmony and theory. In Hainburg, young Franz sang in a church boychoir and eventually became the chief soloist for the group. When Franz turned 17 and be

A Composer of the Classical era. Encouraged by his father, Leopold, Wolfgang Mozart began playing the clavier (a keyboard instrument like a piano) at the age of four. In less than a year, he began composing, and by age ten Wolfgang had written his first symphony. He could play any music put in front of him on the clavier, organ or violin. He wrote his first opera at fourteen. Wolfgang was a child musical prodigy. His father, a violinist, guided Wolfgang’s career as a touring

A composer of the Classical and Romantic eras. Ludwig van Beethoven had a very poor and unhappy childhood. He began piano lessons at age four. When Ludwig turned eight his father decided to make money from his son’s talent. He presented Ludwig as a concert pianist and advertised that the eight-year-old Ludwig was only six years old. Although Ludwig was never a successful child performer like his father had hoped, by 14 he was quite a good musician and became the assistant org