Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart toured Italy with his father Leopold three times between 1769 and 1773. The first, an extended tour of 15 months, was financed by performances for the nobility and by public concerts, and took in the most important Italian cities. The second and third journeys were to Milan, for Wolfgang to complete operas that had been commissioned there on the first visit. From the perspective of Wolfgang's musical development the journeys were a considerable success, and his talents were recognised by honours which included a papal knighthood and memberships in leading philharmonic societies. Each of Wolfgang's operas written for Milan's celebrated Teatro Regio Ducal was a critical and popular triumph. In the course of the three visits he met many of Italy's leading musicians, including the renowned theorist Giovanni Battista Martini, under whom he studied in Bologna. Leopold also hoped that Wolfgang, and possibly he himself, would obtain a prestigious appointment at one of the Italian Habsburg courts. This objective became more important as Leopold's advancement in Salzburg became less likely; but his persistent efforts to secure employment displeased the imperial court, which precluded any chance of success. The journeys thus ended not with a triumphant return, but on a note of disappointment and frustration.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozart_in_Italy

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1260:

Wars of the Guelphs and Ghibellines: The Siena Ghibellines defeated the Florence Guelphs at the Battle of Montaperti outside of Siena, present-day Italy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Montaperti

1886:

After over 25 years of fighting against the United States Army and the armed forces of Mexico, Geronimo of the Chiricahua Apache surrendered at Skeleton Canyon in Arizona. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geronimo

1957:

Defying the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus deployed the Arkansas National Guard to prevent African American students from attending Little Rock's Central High School. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Rock_Nine

1984:

The Progressive Conservative Party led by Brian Mulroney won the largest majority government by total number of seats in Canadian history during the federal election. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Mulroney

1998:

Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded the company Google in Menlo Park, California, US, to promote the web search engine that they developed as a research project while attending Stanford University. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

best boy (n): (film jargon) The first assistant to either the key grip (in charge of camera placement and movement), or the gaffer (in charge of lighting and electrics) http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/best_boy

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

As soon as a true thought has entered our mind, it gives a light which makes us see a crowd of other objects which we have never perceived before. --François-René de Chateaubriand http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois-Ren%C3%A9_de_Chateaubriand