How did Mozart influence music?

Mozart's importanceAs a young boy Mozart's family made several European journeys in which the children were exhibited as child prodigies. He performed in Munich, Vienna, Prague, Mannheim, Paris, London, The Hague, Zurich, Donaueschingen etc.. Essentially he was famous throughout the courts of Europe before he reached puberty. He was also an extremely talented musician who reportedly wrote down the entirety of Allegri's Miserere from memory after hearing it for the first time. However, it is possibly his celebrity status which elevated him above his peers and made his music quite so influential at the time, rather than any ground-breaking changes he made to the art of composition. He didn't, for example, make whole-scale changes to a genre in the same way Beethoven did to the symphony.

The fact that he died at a young age will also have affected people's perception of his music. In the same way the likes of Lenon, Hendrix, Cobain et al, are held in high esteem today Mozart's premature death is likely to have endeared him to the public even more, giving his music a lasting appeal.

Another factor, is the sheer amount of music he wrote, it is impossible to miss him as a figure-head of music history.