Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 – 1791), An astonishingly prolific composer whose life story has become fodder for countless mythmakers, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was the son of a court violinist who marketed him as a child prodigy. Often out of work as a result of his own brashness and other composers’ jealousy, Mozart made money by accepting commissions – the last of them being the Requiem that he was attempting to complete during his final illness. (Legend and Hollywood to the contrary, Mozart died of kidney disease.)