Bach's work is often taken to be an inspiration for Mozart's music. A particularly important influence was Johann Christian Bach, who met Mozart in London in 1764–65. During this trip Mozart met a great number of musicians and acquainted himself with the works of other composers.

A long concert tour spanning three and a half years followed, taking the family to the courts of Munich, Mannheim, Paris, London, The Hague, again to Paris, and back home via Zürich, Donaueschingen, and Munich. These began with an exhibition in 1762 at the Court of the Elector of Bavaria in Munich, then in the same year at the Imperial Court in Vienna and Prague. 1762-1773: Years of travelĭuring Mozart's formative years, his family made several European journeys in which the children were exhibited as child prodigies. 1b), were written in 1761, when he was five years old. Mozart's first compositions, a small Andante (K. A note by Leopold in Nannerl's music book – the Nannerl Notenbuch – records that little Wolfgang had learned several of the pieces at the age of four. Leopold was Wolfgang's only teacher in his earliest years. They first came to light when Wolfgang was about three years old, and Leopold, proud of Wolfgang's achievements, gave him intensive musical training, including instruction in clavier, violin, and organ. Leopold gave up composing when his son's outstanding musical talents became evident. He was deputy Kapellmeister to the court orchestra of the Archbishop of Salzburg, and a prolific and successful composer of instrumental music. His influential textbook Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, was published in 1756, the year of Mozart's birth (English, as 'A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing', transl. Mozart's father Leopold Mozart (1719–1787) was one of Europe's leading musical teachers. Material in brackets represents editorial additions by Otto Erich Deutsch (see below), intended for clarification. The parallel five-column format of the original document, seen in the figure, is transcribed below in five consecutive paragraphs. The baptismal register of the cathedral parish contains the entry shown below, written down in Latin by city chaplain Leopold Lamprecht. Rupert's Cathedral in Salzburg as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart.

Mozart was baptized January 28, 1756, the day after his birth, at St.

Wolfgang amadeus mozart