When we think of a child-genius, it is natural to think of Mozart. He was performing and composing at the age of five. But other composers also began very early. And some even surpassed his considerable feats.
Did you know that Chopin wrote pieces from the age of seven that were much more demanding to write and play than many of the pieces that Wolfie wrote, even in his maturity?
But the one who is impressing me at the moment is Camille Saint-Saëns. Consider this: at the age of two he could already read and write and was picking out melodies on the piano. He began composing shortly after his third birthday, and by the age of five had given his first piano recital.
At seven he was reading Latin, studying botany and investigating butterflies [the last of which he continued to do for the next eighty years].
When he was ten he made his formal debut as a concert pianist, performing a Mozart piano concerto in B flat and Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto in C Minor. For an encore, he offered to play any of the thirty-two Beethoven piano sonatas from memory!
