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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"You brutally killed your musical soul.", October 13, 2007
The children of Leopold Mozart are uniquely talented, daughter Nannerl (Maria Anna Walburga Ignatia Mozart), five years older than prodigy Wolfgang Mozart. Unfortunately for Nannerl, her aspirations will not only be secondary to her sibling's achievements, but she will be flatly forbidden to compose. In 1770 Salzburg, only men compose music; women may perform for appreciative audiences, but certain accomplishments are rendered gender specific. Treasured for her musical talent until the birth of her brother, Nannerl is unprepared for the vehement rebuff of her father, his open hostility to her dedication to anything other than performing for select royal audiences. The family undertakes a grand your when Nannerl is eleven, Wolfgang six, enchanting their aristocratic audience; but when Wolfgang announces that he is playing one of Nannerl's compositions, Leopold flies into a rage, accusing the girl of sabotaging her brother's chances for success.
Consequently, when Leopold prepares to introduce his son to Italy, Nannerl is left at home under her mother's supervision, instructed to teach piano to wealthy students and forward the profits of her labors to father and son to finance their tour. Extremely close in their youth, brother and sister turn away from one another during Wolfgang's Italian tour, a young man feted and applauded, his music and charm the toast of salons. Of necessity, Nannerl bows to Leopold's demands, but doing so causes a lasting resentment of Wolfgang's burgeoning career. Her dreams are shattered; but much as she tries to cut herself off from her creative spirit, it is music that sustains this remarkably talented woman, hampered by the conventions of society. Surprisingly, the appearance of a talented young woman pulls Nannerl from her despair, inspired to help this girl achieve the notoriety she deserves, Victoria's doting father bringing unexpected purpose into Nannerl's life. In fact, it is through Nannerl's letters to Victoria's father that the story is told, the anguish of ignoring her talents in favor of her brother.
Charbonnier's challenge is daunting, but she successfully blends the Mozart's historical legacy with the lifelong commitment of a woman who aspires to transcend gender, her genius an undeniable gift in a world unprepared to recognize her capabilities. Her potential fame conceded to her brother, Nannerl's clumsy attempts at relationships are grounded in naiveté, hence very painful when confronted with reality. Still, music is her muse. In the end, it is pain that forges Nannerl's talent and her future, no one as champion but herself. It is Nannerl who secures Wolfgang's legacy, years of separation forgotten in an effort to save his work for those who follow. If Nannerl's emotional outbursts seem inappropriate in the context of the novel, perhaps this is predictable: her passion for playing and composing is not acceptable. As much as she seeks to control her natural impulse to use her gifts, at times such efforts fail. This is the great torment of Nannerl's soul, genius denied. Luan Gaines/ 2007.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Review by Mirella Patzer - Historical Fiction Author, July 15, 2008
Mozart's Sister: A Novel
Maria Anna Mozart, beloved nicknamed Nannerl, was the elder and only sister of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. As children, both were considered gifted musical prodigies and their father, Leopold, arranged tours to display their talents to the masses in the grandest capitals of Europe. Both children could play the most challenging pieces and could compose into notes any song they heard.
They enjoyed a pleasant childhood, indulging their musical creativity and creating their own childish kingdom. As Nannerl and Wolfgang's musical genius progressed into composition, her adoring younger brother greatly praised and encouraged her work. At a concert, when he announces that the piece he has just played was written by his sister, Leopold is incensed. He orders Nannerl to never compose music again because in the 18th century, women did not become composers.
Thereafter, Leopold focused all his attentions on Mozart, not Nannerl. He refused to allow her to study the violin and composition. Leopold announces Nannerl must remain at home when he takes Wolfgang on tour and obliges her to give piano lessons to wealthy students to finance her brother's Italian tour. Her dreams shattered, Nannerl complies, but falls into a deep depression.
Victoria, one of her students, becomes her protégé. Through Victoria, Nannerl's passion for music is re-awakened. When Victoria's father becomes interested in her, he rekindles her spirit. Her relationship with Mozart, however, is plagued by years of separation and the preference of their father for his son and not his daughter. Nannerl struggles not only with the loss of her hopes and dreams, but also with the ever-growing estrangement with her brother and her father who refuses to recognize her talents because of the laws of society which will not allow a woman to enter the wold of musical composition.
Even her choice of suiters were one-by-one turned away by Leopold. In 1784, she married the magistrate Johann Baptist Franz von Berchtold zu Sonnenburg (1736-1801) and moved to St. Gilgen. Nannerl returned to Salzburg to give birth to her first son and left the newborn there in Leopold's care.
Nannerl grew ever more distant from Wolfgang, especially after his marriage to Constanze Weber. They resumed corresponding briefly after the death of their father, but by then, their affection for each other had all but disappeared and Mozart's brief letters to her dealt almost exclusively with the disposition of their father's estate.
When Wolfgang dies, Nannerl re-awakens to life and makes it her purpose to honor her brother by collecting and assembling all his compositions and erecting monuments to honor his life.
After her huband's death, Maria Anna returned to Salzburg and supported herself once again by giving piano lessons. She died on October 29, 1829, and was buried in St. Peter's cemetary.
Mozart's Sister by Rita Charbonnier is a heartwrenching tale of great genius denied. It tells of great triumph and equally great descent and the strength of one woman, Nannerl, to overcome the pain of living her life in the shadow of her brother.
Rita Charbonnier brings to life the brilliance of the 18th century with its tight social expectations, sex scandals, and brilliant personages. Her well honed theatrical and musical background is evident in the spectacular descriptions of the music and composition characteristic of Wolfgang Mozart. It is a compelling read, not only for those who love classical music, but for those who love sweeping historical tales of strong women. Brava Rita! Encore! Encore!
Bloodstone Castle
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Talent will out: Nannerl Mozart's Journey, February 21, 2008
Leopold Mozart's genes found a way to show themselves for at least one generation before they began to fade from the human gene pool. I began thinking about this one day recently when I was listening to one of Leopold's symphonies, the "Toy Symphony," on my satellite radio as I was driving to a meeting. Leopold's notion that his children - or, at least his son Wolfgang - were enormously talented was clear: he once referred to Wolfgang as "the miracle which God let be born in Salzburg."
But what of Wolfgang's arguably equally talented older sister, Maria Anna Walburga Ignatia Mozart?
The quest for the answer to this question took me to Rita Charbonnier's wonderful work, "Mozart's Sister (La Sorella di Mozart, in the original Italian).
As with all historical fiction writers, the task placed before Charbonnier was intimidating - how to blend the historical events in the life of Nannerl with a fictional tale of a woman trying hard to rise above a society where gender really, really mattered. Charbonnier accomplishes this task, producing a novel that draws us into the European salon world of the late 1700's while spreading before us the musical genius of a woman who is kicking against the goads of a men's world that was totally unprepared to accept such talent in a woman.
Charbonnier, herself a talented young Italian scriptwriter and musical theatre performer, has chosen the time-honored path of letter exchanges between Nannerl and another talented woman, Victoria, who, like the cavalry in the Old West, charges into Nannerl's life to pull Nannerl out of her depression to find an outlet for her genius. Charbonnier spins her tale by using letters between Nannerl and Victoria's adoring father to open the window into Nannerl's heart. In this book, we look through that window.
Well, we all know that no matter how hard we try, our Muse, if we have one, cannot be ignored. So it was with Nannerl.
The author leads us across this path: Nannerl's dreams had been shattered when her Father demanded her withdrawal from a performer's life in deference to her brother. Nannerl's dreams of success and fame are destroyed and she turns away from her creative talents. Yet, it is music - always music- that keeps Nannerl afloat until Victoria arrives with an emotional life ring to save Nannerl.
Of course, in the end, it is Nannerl who saves herself.
In the book, Charbonnier has us witness Nannerl securing Wolfgang's legacy after years of seperation and estrangement from each other. This selfless effort saves Nannerl's emotional soul. Plainly, the author takes us over the surface and into the heart of Nannerl's great torment - a woman of great talent, a woman suppressed by a heavy-handed society.
How good it was to read of her rising above it all.
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