Composer, muse, diarist, and the magnetic centre of European modernism. She married Gustav Mahler (who insisted she stop composing), had a passionate affair with Oskar Kokoschka, then married the Bauhaus architect Walter Gropius, then the novelist Franz Werfel. As Mahler's wife she was present at the Salzburg Festival's founding era.

Court organist in Salzburg from 1750, colleague of Leopold Mozart and Michael Haydn. He collapsed and died while playing the organ at Salzburg Cathedral during a service on 22 December 1777, at the age of 48. One of the more dramatic exits in music history.

Born in Mattsee, a small Salzburg Flachgau town. Diabelli circulated a waltz theme to 51 composers asking each for one variation. Beethoven responded not with one but with 33, producing the Diabelli Variations (Op. 120), widely considered the greatest variation work in the piano repertoire.

Imperial Kapellmeister in Vienna for 36 years and Mozart's most famous rival. The legend of his poisoning Mozart, dramatised in Peter Shaffer's Amadeus, is almost certainly false. He taught Beethoven, Schubert, and Liszt.

The decisive bridge between Mozart and Wagner. Weber's Der Freischutz (1821) established German national opera. Richard Strauss, co-founder of the Salzburg Festival, grew up within a tradition Weber had fundamentally shaped.

One of the great Romantic composers. Mendelssohn travelled through Salzburg in 1831 on his celebrated Italian journey, writing to his family in enthusiastic terms about the city and the alpine landscape. He died at only 38, having already transformed German musical life.

The greatest operetta composer of the early 20th century. Lehar spent his summers in Bad Ischl for decades, as part of the same tradition as Emperor Franz Joseph I. His summer villa, the Leharvilla Bad Ischl, is now a museum. He died there in 1948.

The greatest piano virtuoso in history. In 1856, the centenary year of Mozart's birth, Liszt came to Salzburg to participate in the Mozart celebrations, conducting and performing in the city. A lifelong champion of Mozart and a musical grandchild of the Viennese school that formed Mozart's world.

The greatest composer of Lieder and one of the supreme masters of the symphony. Born in Vienna in 1797, died there in 1828 at 31.

The schoolteacher and church organist who composed the melody of Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht (Silent Night) after Joseph Mohr brought him the lyrics on Christmas Eve 1818. One of the most consequential premieres in the history of popular music. Gruber later moved to Hallein, where he died in 1863 and is buried.

The man who finished Mozart's Requiem. When Mozart died in December 1791 leaving the work incomplete, Constanze asked Sussmayr to complete it. Every performance of the Mozart Requiem is partly Sussmayr's work, whether the programme notes say so or not.

Mozart's younger son, born just weeks before his father's death. Had a modest career as a pianist and composer, overshadowed by his father's name. A founding member of the Dommusikverein und Mozarteum, predecessor of the Mozarteum Foundation.

A crucial bridge between Italian baroque and the German-Austrian tradition. Muffat studied in Rome with Corelli and in Paris with Lully, then brought the Italian concerto grosso style to the Salzburg court (1678-1690) under Max Gandolph von Kuenburg. His Armonico Tributo (1682) is a landmark of early baroque chamber music.

One of the great late-Romantic composers and supreme conductors of his era. Mahler composed his 2nd and 3rd symphonies at Steinbach am Attersee in the Salzkammergut (1893-1896). The Mahler tradition is deeply embedded in the Salzburg Festival through his influence on conductors from Bruno Walter to Harnoncourt.

The greatest violinist of the 17th century and one of the most important composers of the baroque era. Biber spent almost his entire career at the Salzburg court, rising to Hofkapellmeister in 1684. His Mystery (Rosary) Sonatas are among the most technically and spiritually demanding pieces in the baroque repertoire.

Leopold Mozart's direct professional superior and the central musical figure in Salzburg in the generation immediately before the Mozarts. Court Kapellmeister from 1749, Eberlin contributed over 6,000 works to the Salzburg court repertoire. Almost entirely forgotten today, but the young Wolfgang studied several of his works.

Mozart's most famous private student. From 1786 to 1788, the seven-year-old Hummel lived in the Mozart household in Vienna, studying directly with Mozart as his teacher and guardian. The most direct musical heir of the composer whose name defines Salzburg.

"The Waltz King." Composer of The Blue Danube, the sonic symbol of Austria. Strauss spent his summers in Bad Ischl in the same imperial spa circle as Brahms, Emperor Franz Joseph I, and Empress Elisabeth.

One of the supreme composers of the 19th century. Brahms spent sixteen consecutive summers in Bad Ischl from 1880 onwards, composing his Symphony No. 4, the Clarinet Sonatas, the late piano intermezzi, and the Double Concerto. His close friend Theodor Billroth joined him at Attersee to play chamber music by the lake.

One of the greatest composers of the Classical era and elder brother of Michael Haydn. His warm friendship with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is one of the most celebrated artistic bonds of the 18th century. Haydn famously told Leopold Mozart that Wolfgang was "the greatest composer known to me."

Court musician, Vice Kapellmeister, and the father and first teacher of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Author of the influential Versuch einer grundlichen Violinschule (1756). Lived with his family at Getreidegasse 9 and later at Makartplatz 8. Buried in St. Sebastian's Cemetery.

Younger brother of Joseph Haydn, Michael Haydn spent most of his career in Salzburg as court musician and organist. A friend and colleague of Leopold and Wolfgang Mozart, he composed over 800 works and is buried in the crypt of St. Peter's Abbey.

Composer of The Sound of Music (1959) with Oscar Hammerstein II. Rodgers wrote every note of the music that millions of visitors now hum as they walk through Mirabell Gardens, up to Nonnberg Abbey, and across the hills outside the city. Indirectly, one of the greatest contributors to Salzburg's modern identity.

Co-founder of the Salzburg Festival (1920) alongside Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Max Reinhardt. One of the great composers of the late Romantic and early modern era, celebrated for Der Rosenkavalier, Salome, and Elektra. His relationship with the Festival and with Salzburg remained central to his life.

The most influential opera composer in history. Wagner's operas became central to the Salzburg Festival's identity from the postwar era onwards. Herbert von Karajan's legendary Ring cycle productions made Salzburg a Wagner city as much as a Mozart city. Richard Strauss, Festival co-founder, directly built upon the tradition Wagner established.

One of the most celebrated composers in the history of Western music. Born at Getreidegasse 9 in Salzburg's Altstadt on 27 January 1756. Salzburg's entire cultural identity is shaped around his legacy.