Editing Leopold Mozart (section)

===As teacher of Nannerl and Wolfgang===

Mozart discovered that his two children were [[child prodigies]] in about 1759, when he began with keyboard lessons for the seven-year-old Nannerl. The toddler Wolfgang immediately began imitating his sister, at first picking out thirds on the keyboard{{refn|From Nannerl's reminiscences, composed 1792 and printed in Deutsch 1965{{incomplete short citation|date=September 2021}}|group=n}} and then making rapid progress under Leopold's instruction. By 1762, the children were ready to work as concert performers, and Leopold began taking the family on extensive concert tours, performing for both aristocracy and public, throughout central and western Europe. This tour included Munich, Vienna, Pressburg (Bratislava), Paris and the Hague together with a lengthy stay in London;<ref>{{CathEncy|wstitle=Johann Chrysostomus Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart}}</ref> see [[Mozart family Grand Tour]].

The discovery of his children's talent is considered to have been a life-transforming event for Mozart. He once referred to his son as the "miracle which God let be born in Salzburg".<ref name=Grove-1 /> Of Leopold's attitude, the ''Grove Dictionary'' says:

{{quote|The recognition of this 'miracle' must have struck Leopold with the force of a divine revelation and he felt his responsibility to be not merely a father's and teacher's but a missionary's as well.<ref name=Grove-1 />}}

By "missionary", the ''Grove Dictionary'' refers to the family's concert tours.

Scholars differ on whether the tours made substantial profits. To be sure, often the children performed before large audiences and took in large sums, but the expenses of travel were also very high, and no money at all was made during the various times that Mozart and the children suffered serious illnesses. Mozart biographer Maynard {{harvnb|Solomon|1995}} takes the view that the tours were lucrative and produced long-term profits for Leopold; Ruth {{harvnb|Halliwell|1998}} states to the contrary that their income generally only covered their travel and living expenses.{{citation needed|date=November 2019}}

Since the instruction took much of his time, and the touring kept him away from Salzburg for long periods, Mozart cut down his activities in other areas. Nannerl later claimed that he "entirely gave up both violin instruction and composition in order to direct that time not claimed in service to the prince to the education of his two children".<ref name=Grove-1 /> After 1762, his compositional efforts seem to have been limited to revising his earlier work, and by 1771 he had ceased composing altogether.<ref>Sources: [[Wolfgang Plath]] and [[Cliff Eisen]], cited in {{harvnb|Solomon|1995|p=33}}</ref>

The touring continued into the early 1770s. The last three trips were to Italy, with only the father accompanying Wolfgang. Leopold Mozart's failure to advance above his Vice-Kapellmeister position at Salzburg is attributed by the ''Grove Dictionary''<ref name=Grove-1 /> to the great amount of time that the journeys kept him away from Salzburg (the longest journey was about three-and-a-half years). After the final return from Italy in 1773, Leopold was repeatedly passed over for the Kapellmeister post.{{Citation needed|date=November 2019}}