Short answers, pulled from the story.
Leopold Mozart was a German composer, violinist, and music theorist, born in Augsburg on the 14th of November 1719 and died on the 28th of May 1787. He is best known as the father and teacher of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and for his influential violin textbook Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, published in 1756 and later translated into Dutch and French.
Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, published in 1756, was a comprehensive treatise on violin playing and performance practice. It went through two further German editions in 1769 and 1787, was translated into Dutch in 1766 and French in 1770, and is still consulted today by musicians interested in historically informed eighteenth-century performance.
Around 1759, Leopold began keyboard lessons with his seven-year-old daughter Nannerl and noticed her exceptional ability. The toddler Wolfgang immediately began imitating his sister, first picking out thirds on the keyboard, and then making rapid progress under Leopold's instruction. By 1762, both children were performing for aristocratic and public audiences across central and western Europe.
Leopold joined the musical establishment of the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg in 1743 as fourth violinist. He was promoted to second violinist in 1758 and to deputy Kapellmeister in 1763. He was never promoted further; others were repeatedly given the head Kapellmeister post, a stall the Grove Dictionary partly attributed to the extended time the family's concert tours kept him away from Salzburg.
Leopold Mozart embraced a naturalistic approach to orchestration. His hunting symphony Jagdsinfonie calls for actual shotguns, and his Bauernhochzeit (Peasant Wedding) incorporates bagpipes, hurdy-gurdy, a dulcimer, pistol shots, whoops, and whistles. His musical sleigh ride adds bells and whips to a full orchestra.
Relations between Leopold and Wolfgang grew strained after 1781, when Wolfgang chose to remain in Vienna rather than return to Salzburg, pursuing a freelance career Leopold opposed. Leopold was also opposed to Wolfgang's 1782 marriage to Constanze Weber. Their last meeting was in 1785 in Vienna; they did not see each other again before Leopold's death on the 28th of May 1787. Wolfgang described receiving news of his father's death as leaving him in a state he could not put into words.