Pushing the six-year-old Mozart and his sister Maria Anna round the concert halls of Europe, Leopold Mozart was the archetype of what we would now call the Pushy Parent \u2013 the Tiger Father, if you will, of classical music. As musical prodigies go, Mozart was up there with the best of them – and his father, say what you will about hum, knew what he had on his hands.<\/p>

But if treating one\u2019s offspring as a musical entr\u00e9e to high society and a quick buck did not necessarily start with Leopold, his efforts undoubtedly contributed to the trend.<\/p>

Best child piano prodigies of all time<\/a><\/strong><\/li>
Six of the best… musical child prodigies<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>
The trouble with pushy parents, of course, is that not all of them push in the same direction. George Frideric Handel\u2019<\/a><\/strong>s father directed him strongly towards Law, banning him from playing the violin whereas his mother reacted by secretly installing a clavichord in the attic. <\/p>
‘Go wallow in the filth of Paris!’<\/h2>
And while some delighted in their child\u2019s obsessions, such as the family of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor<\/a><\/strong>, whose relations clubbed together to put him through the Royal College of Music, few went as far in their disgust as Berlioz<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s devoutly Catholic mother, Marie-Antoinette. \u2018Go wallow in the filth of Paris, sully your name and kill me and your father with sorrow and shame!\u2019 she cried, after her renegade son announced that, having qualified in medicine, he would really rather go off and compose instead. <\/p>
And so, in honour of Leopold Mozart we take a look at ten composers whose parents ranged from those who had their foot too hard on the pedal to those who didn\u2019t even know where the pedal was. <\/p>
Pushy didn\u2019t always means productive, however \u2013 sometimes it paid simply to let talents and passions develop in their own, unique way\u2026<\/p>
How to parent musical prodigies: ten ways to get it right (or wrong)<\/h2>
Let’s take a look at how some of our great composers found their talents helped, or hindered, by their parents. Were any even able to (whisper it) enjoy a normal childhood while making waves in the classical music world? Read on…<\/p>
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart<\/h3>
Photo by Universal History Archive\/Getty Images – Photo by Universal History Archive\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Biographers have largely not been kind to Leopold, but in his time he was recognised as a passionate and innovative teacher. A jobbing court musician and composer, he sacrificed his own career to promote the incredible musical talents of his children, Maria Anna (Nannerl) and Wolfgang, although the former was forced to retire when she reached marriageable age.<\/p>
Who was the real Mozart? We explore the man behind the myths<\/a><\/strong><\/li>
Best of Mozart: nine essential works and recordings<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>
Leopold tirelessly promoted his son, setting up introductions at many European courts. Denounced by some as controlling, it was inevitable, at any rate, that the wilful Mozart<\/a> <\/strong>would eventually cut loose.<\/p>
Parental verdict <\/h4>
His methods may have been controversial, but Leopold got results.<\/p>
Ludwig van Beethoven<\/h3>
$\"\"$ <\/figure>
Beethoven<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s treatment at the hands of his alcoholic and pushy musician father was nothing short of abuse. Johann Beethoven \u2013 a tenor at the court of the Archbishop of Cologne at Bonn \u2013 recognised his son\u2019s talents early on. Aware of Leopold Mozart\u2019s success, Johann allegedly kept Beethoven up all night practising, pulling him out of bed to perform and beating him if he did not play to his alcohol-fuelled standards.<\/p>
10 of Beethoven\u2019s close acquaintances and friends<\/a><\/strong><\/li>
Best of Beethoven: 20 essential works<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>
Greedy, too, he deliberately cast confusion over Beethoven\u2019s birth date to make his prodigy son appear younger than he really was. Ludwig, aged 17, eventually obtained a court order to procure half his father\u2019s salary to look after his long-suffering family. <\/p>
Parental verdict<\/h4>
Alcohol, abuse: it\u2019s hard to find much good in Beethoven\u2019s upbringing. <\/i><\/p>
Fanny Mendelssohn<\/h3> $\"Portrait$
Pic: Fine Art Images\/Heritage Images\/Getty Images – Pic: Fine Art Images\/Heritage Images\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Sister of Felix Mendelssohn<\/a><\/strong> and one of the most dazzling musical prodigies in her own right, Fanny Mendelssohn<\/a><\/strong> was taught to play the piano by her mother, Lea, who had herself been trained by a student of Bach<\/a><\/strong>, and supported, at first, by her father Abraham.<\/p>
Six of the best: works by Fanny Mendelssohn<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>
Fanny excelled at both the piano and composition, and yet societal constraints fell hard on her, as they had on Nannerl Mozart. \u2018Music will perhaps become his (Felix\u2019s) profession, whereas for you it can and must be only an ornament,\u2019 said her father, devastatingly, of her prospects, shortly before she attained that ominous marriageable age. Luckily, her new husband did not take the same view.<\/p>
Parental verdict<\/h4>
Mixed messages from the Mendelssohns for their talented daughter.<\/p>
We named Fanny<\/strong> Mendelssohn one of the best female composers of all time<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>
Johann Strauss II<\/h3>
Strauss\u2019s famous dad, Johann I, might have been the feted father of the Viennese Waltz but he was determined not to foster any musicians. Strict and domineering, he mapped out the future careers of all seven of his legitimate children, with Johann marked down as a banker. <\/p>
Strauss Jnr had other ideas, secretly taking violin lessons with the leader of his father\u2019s orchestra, but was apparently whipped to \u2018beat the music out of him\u2019. Luckily for Strauss, his philandering father subsequently had seven more children with his long-term mistress. The heat now off, Strauss pursued his musical leanings, aided \u2013 very keenly \u2013 by his jilted mother, Anna.<\/p>
Parental verdict<\/h4>
No stopping that Strauss family waltz gene, despite Father\u2019s best efforts. <\/i><\/p>
Clara Schumann<\/h3> $\"Young$
Pic: History & Art Images via Getty Images – Pic: History & Art Images via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Clara Wieck<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s outstanding talent led her driven father, Friedrich, to make her an example of his intensive teaching method, with daily theory, harmony<\/a><\/strong> and counterpoint, plus two hours’ practice.<\/p>
Who were Clara and Robert Schumann\u2019s children?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>
5 of the best works by Clara Schumann<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>
His requirement to learn pieces from memory made Clara a sensation. If there wasn\u2019t much love shown, he at least exempted her from onerous domestic chores to allow her to concentrate on composition – something which her future husband, Robert Schumann<\/a><\/strong>, did not. <\/p>
Parental verdict<\/h4>
A rock-solid training for Clara – but a cosy childhood was but a dream.<\/p>
C\u00e9sar Franck<\/h3>
C\u00e9sar Franck<\/a><\/strong> was the classic example of a wunderkind suffering from the exertions of an over-ambitious father. Bank clerk Nicholas-Joseph Franck doggedly flogged his young son around the salon circuit as a pianist-composer, but pushed him onto the Paris public too soon. <\/p>
$\"Portrait$
Photo by DeAgostini\/Getty Images – Photo by DeAgostini\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Reception was muted, even scornful, his father\u2019s blatant commercial instinct alienating critics. Franck eventually rebelled and married the girl who was the dedicatee of a song that his overbearing father had torn up on account of the fact that her parents were \u2018mere\u2019 theatre actors. <\/p>
Parental verdict<\/h4>
The public spotted a gimmick when Franck senior tried to cash in.<\/p>
Camille Saint-Sa\u00ebns<\/h3>
Acclaimed by one critic as \u2018the most remarkable child prodigy in history\u2019, Camille <\/a><\/strong>Saint-Sa\u00ebns <\/a><\/strong>grew up under the formidable tutelage of his mother Cl\u00e9mence and his great aunt, Charlotte Masson.<\/p>
A guide to Saint-Sa\u00ebns’s Carnival of the Animals, the animals represented and its best recordings<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>
Yet, unusually, Cl\u00e9mence held him back from the limelight, realising that Paris faced prodigy overload. When he finally debuted at the Salle Pleyel, aged ten, he offered an encore of any Beethoven sonata requested \u2013 from memory. <\/p>
Cl\u00e9mence continued to critique his compositions rigorously, even opening his post for him every day of his adult life. Beleaguered Tiger Mothers of the world, note: he adored her. Not all musical prodigies, it seems, must sacrifice love and warmth for ambition and success. <\/p>
Parental verdict<\/h4>
A tough life, but it was happy families all along in this musical household.<\/p>
Samuel Barber<\/h3>
Samuel Barber<\/a><\/strong> was obsessed with music, a fact that his parents looked upon with benign dismay, even though his mother, Margaret McLeod, was a pianist. <\/p>
The best works by Samuel Barber<\/a><\/strong><\/li>
Barber’s Violin Concerto: three best recordings<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul>
Hoping to produce the archetypal all-American youth, Samuel was raised on athletics and football. Barber, aged 9, confided in his mother his \u2018worrying secret\u2019. \u2018Now don\u2019t cry when you read it because it is neither yours nor my fault… I was not meant to be an athlet [sic]. I was meant to be a composer, and will be I\u2019m sure….\u2019 Needless to say, football was kicked into touch.<\/p>
Parental verdict<\/h4>
Despite attempts to make him a jock, Barber stuck firmly to music.<\/p>
Scott Joplin<\/h3>
$\"\"$
Scott Joplin (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Florence encouraged her son Scott Joplin<\/a><\/strong> by letting him play the piano in the houses in which she worked as a cleaner. This interest in music brought both mother and son into conflict with Joplin\u2019s father Giles, a former slave who, although a part-time musician himself, wanted his son to learn a more practical trade. <\/p>
When Giles left them, Florence worked hard to support her son and managed to engage local professor Julius Weiss, who taught Joplin for free. She acquired a second-hand piano so that Joplin could practise at home. And so one of the 20th century’s great musical prodigies was able to flower.<\/p>
Parental verdict<\/h4>
Tough beginnings that didn\u2019t stop a remarkable talent shining through.<\/p>
We named Scott Joplin one of the best, and most influential, black composers of all time<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>
Michael Tippett<\/h3>
Ensconced in the family home in rural Suffolk, the young Tippett<\/a><\/strong> had no real means of hearing live or recorded music. His parents \u2013 a successful businessman and a card-carrying suffragette \u2013 felt that music was \u2018frivolous\u2019, leaving him to his own musical devices. <\/p>
The epiphany came, far from home, at a concert near his boarding school in Lincolnshire. His father was eventually persuaded to fund his studies at the Royal College of Music, on the notion that he might just make a living as a concert pianist.<\/p>
Parental verdict<\/h4>
A slow start in music, but Michael’s parents were won round in the end. <\/p>
We named Tippett one of the best English composers of all time<\/a><\/strong><\/p>
Best medieval composers<\/a><\/strong><\/li>
10 best Renaissance composers<\/a><\/strong><\/li>
The 50 Greatest Composers of All Time<\/a><\/strong><\/li>
15 composers who hated each other<\/a><\/strong><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>
Main image: Leopold Mozart with his children Wolfgang and Nannerl at the piano, the portrait of their deceased mother on the wall. Oil on Canvas by Johann Nepomuk Della Croce, around 1780. \u00a9 Getty Images<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
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Parental verdict<\/h4>Alcohol, abuse: it\u2019s hard to find much good in Beethoven\u2019s upbringing. <\/i><\/p>

Parental verdict<\/h4>Mixed messages from the Mendelssohns for their talented daughter.<\/p>

Parental verdict<\/h4>No stopping that Strauss family waltz gene, despite Father\u2019s best efforts. <\/i><\/p>

Parental verdict<\/h4>The public spotted a gimmick when Franck senior tried to cash in.<\/p>

Parental verdict<\/h4>A tough life, but it was happy families all along in this musical household.<\/p>

Parental verdict<\/h4>Despite attempts to make him a jock, Barber stuck firmly to music.<\/p>

Parental verdict<\/h4>
Alcohol, abuse: it\u2019s hard to find much good in Beethoven\u2019s upbringing. <\/i><\/p>

Parental verdict<\/h4>
Mixed messages from the Mendelssohns for their talented daughter.<\/p>
We named Fanny<\/strong> Mendelssohn one of the best female composers of all time<\/a><\/strong> <\/p>

Parental verdict<\/h4>
No stopping that Strauss family waltz gene, despite Father\u2019s best efforts. <\/i><\/p>

Parental verdict<\/h4>
The public spotted a gimmick when Franck senior tried to cash in.<\/p>

Parental verdict<\/h4>
A tough life, but it was happy families all along in this musical household.<\/p>

Parental verdict<\/h4>
Despite attempts to make him a jock, Barber stuck firmly to music.<\/p>