Mozart died just shy of his 36th birthday in 1791. But in his short life, he wrote a remarkable amount of music that changed the course of music history.
Music wasn't the only thing that was changing in the second half of the 18th century. Nearly every aspect of life and culture saw major change-makers. Political activists Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, writers Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Jane Austen, and philosophers Voltaire and Thomas Paine were all alive at the same time as Mozart.
Inventions like the development of the modern steam engine accelerated the Industrial Revolution. Artists like William Blake and Francisco Goya moved art in new directions.
Read on for a fascinating look into major events in Mozart's life as they compare with other world events. You'll never be able to hear Mozart's music the same way once you see the wider look at this time in history.
