Nannerl: devoted

Mozart’s Women
His Family, His Friends, His Music
By Jane Glover, Macmillan, £20

When Mozart died in Vienna in December 1791, he was only 35. He left behind him 622 complete musical compositions and one unfinished Requiem. It is commonly believed that Mozart died in utter penury and was buried in a pauper?s grave. This, as Janet Glover tells us in this book, is entirely true. In the last few weeks of Mozart?s life, he, perhaps for the only time in his life, had money to spare. He was buried in a very unostentatious manner because Joseph II had simplified the burial system in the interests of economy and hygiene. The burial that Mozart received was similar to the one received by most Viennese people of the time.

Glover?s book looks at Mozart?s life through the interaction he had with women who were very close to him. Among these were his mother, Maria Anna, and his beloved and devoted sister, Nannerl; there was also the Weber sisters ? Glover calls them Mozart?s ?other family? ? Aloysia, Constanze, Sophie and Josepha. Constanze became his wife but initially Mozart was in love with Aloysia, who was a talented singer, as was Sophie. Aloysia?s rejection broke Mozart?s heart but he never lost his respect for her musical talents and wrote a number of wonderful arias for her.

Mozart?s music has come down to us because of his women. In the years after his death, Constanze, supported continually by her mother and sisters, gradually began to organize Mozart?s musical legacy. (It is significant that Georg Nissen, who Constanze married in 1809, was Mozart?s first biographer with complete and unhindered access to Constanze?s memory of the genius she had known most intimately.)

What did these women mean to Mozart? Mozart, Glover writes, ?turned unfailingly to women for support: for the whispering of confidences and the baring of his soul, for playful release from the mental and emotional pressures of constant creativity, for the boisterous normality of domestic hurly-burly, and for the physical joy and comfort of sexual relations.? Glover argues that much of Mozart?s attitude to women ? his respect for and understanding of them ? can be traced to his music; and the corpus of Mozart?s creativity is Glover?s major source. The other source are Mozart?s letters, which are not only funny and playful but also a rich mine of information about his compositions. He could be as remarkable an improviser with words as he could be on the keyboard.

Mozart?s music on the surface is always sunny and delightful but many of his profound works have an undercurrent of poignancy and great sadness. Tragedy runs close to Mozart?s music as it did to much of his life. His nonchalant genius was invariably informed by indefatigable optimism; but this cheerfulness took a severe beating from the reality of life. His music is thus always an expression of a monumental struggle. The musical achievement was dazzling in its sheer brilliance. Yet his music conveys a sense of ineffable vulnerability which is true of life itself.

This supreme music would not have been possible without the emotional support of the women around him. Glover recreates Mozart?s ties with his women with great intuition and analytical skill. She does this through her immense knowledge and understanding of his music which she has studied and conducted.