The year is 1781, Leaving Salzburg

I gather my things and head for Vienna. Deciding to go solo and to begin freelance work I seek out as atutor, and become a family man. My relationship with the Archbishop of Salzburg deteriorated over the years. I had thought enough was enough when I got fired at Salzburg court for the third time. My relationship with my father wasnt as strong as it once was. I had this feeling of wanting to prove myself to him, showing him I could make it on my own and making the entire family proud. Freelancing begins; I start off by composing, playing in concerts and teaching all over Vienna. Although, I hoped for a well-paid job at court, I made a reasonable living as a freelance musician. At last I was getting the success I well deserved not as the boy genius, but as a serious and talented classical composer.

I fell in love with Aloysia Weber, a cousin of the composer Carl Maria von Weber, but she rejected all my advances. In August 4, 1782, I married her sister Constanze Weber. A month before the marriage, I produced my German opera Die Entfhrung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio.)

I decided I didn't need to take on a paying job with a wealthy patron; instead I set myself up as an independent composer. By playing the piano, publishing piano and violin sonatas (also for solo piano), and the occasional opera commission, I was starting to live pretty well. Between 1782 and 1786 I wrote fifteen piano concertos including some of my finest works, giving myself the opportunity to establish my name as both composer and pianist. More importantly, to me was the set of six string quartets that I dedicated to Haydn. Written more for my own satisfaction than as a moneymaker, this showed the serious side of me, with a mastery of the genre.