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Mozart's Women: His Family, His Friends, His Music

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This is a valuable and engrossing new look at Mozart where the women in his life are mercifully not presented as pale additions or indeed obstacles to his creativity. In "Mozart's Women," his family, his loves, his wife, and the singers and musicians with whom he worked come vividly to life as he saw them and they saw him; they influenced him, cheered him on when no one would hire him, sat up all night with him when he finished an overture in a rush, lent him fortepianos, sewed buttons on his coats, sang his music and fell apart when he died. What must it have been like for one of the greatest singers of the 18th century to find across the room at the piano as her composer a small boy of fourteen? How tender are his older sister's memories of him as a child!

Particularly fascinating for me is Jane Glover's depiction of the four Weber sisters, one of whom he married, one who broke his heart, one for whom he wrote The Queen of the Night, and the last one his dear friend to whom he always sent a thousand kisses and in whose arms he died. I know these women well as I am the author of the Viking Penguin novel "Marrying Mozart" (2005) which concerns the relationship of all four Weber sisters (Aloysia, Josefa, Constanze, and Sophie) with Mozart when he was in his early twenties and tells of his complicated path to marrying the right one!

I devoured Ms. Glover's book. It was all I could have hoped.

While you're in Amazon, try searching "Mozart" in the "Books" category [don't even attempt it in "Classical Music"!]. Over three thousand offerings will be displayed. Refining that search to "Constanze Mozart" returns barely two dozen. While that might be expected, the fact that "Mozart's Women" appears in none of the lists seems a distortion.

Glover has successfully offered something innovative in Mozartiana - his life and that of the women in it. With so many seeing Mozart's wife Constanze through the film "Amadeus", Glover's view may be something of a shock. Her depiction of Constanze and the other Weber daughters, along with Mozart's sister Nannerl, is more than a rehabilitation. It is almost an upheaval of the traditional view of the lives of 18th Century composers and performers. Moreover, the tale is done with such verve and enthusiasm that you are caught from the first lines and held captive until the story's complete.

Does anyone who's read this far need an introduction to music's most eminent figure? The boyish, extroverted, discouraged and often distraught man who produced so much, yet died before his peak productive years? Glover manages to re-acquaint us to the child who found strength and inspiration through the presence of his sister. Their times apart were difficult for both, leading them to exchange a constant stream of letters in their younger years. They played together, with more than just music, since Wolfgang would bring home games when Leopold dragged him to some distant city. Only his relocation to Vienna broke the link, further sundered by his marriage to Constanze. Glover traces Nannerl's life in parallel to Wolfgang's. That existence fits more appropriately the image we have of the time - marriage to an unpleasant man and enforced exile away from music centres.

Mozart's eye for the ladies rarely let up until his marriage. Constanze's sisters attracted his gaze in his younger years and his ear in the later ones. Glover's division of this book into three "family" segments seems simplistic at first glance. Her logic is demonstrated as she follows the sibling, then marital relationships. It is the third segment, "Mozart's Women", that allows the author to achieve her fullest expression, however. It's no longer games nor domestic bliss, but Mozart's compositions and how he worked with singers and musicians. In his operas, he targetted particular performers - disappointed when certain vocalists were unavailable, appalled when substitutions were forced by circumstances.

As Glover recounts the development of librettos and cast assemblages, she draws you into each story with commanding passion for her topic. It is her depictions of the performances that jar the modern reader. She is able to evoke the quality of the singers' efforts as if she had personally witnessed them. You "hear" Calavieri's poignant ability, Alyosia Weber's soaring escalations to the highest pitches, and listen to the ways Mozart found to utilise the voices of young children. His tenors were no less carefully selected, with Wolfgang rewriting scores to accommodate the loss of power in an older performer. The entire segment reads as if Glover was sitting in the second row of the music halls furiously scribbling notes as the music washes over her. Her recounting of what she "heard" should melt the resistance of the most hardened opera avoider. It did me. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

This beautifully done book about Mozart and his woman friends, associates, and relatives is probably a feminists dream, in showing the huge influence various women had on Mozart, the Man and his Music! Starting with his sister and mother, moving along with his wife, and some musicians and singers, Mozart seems to have been very, very comfortable in their company, and a true gentlemen (despite a slightly diffent view in "Amadeus"). The last days of his life are also decribed, and this is completely different from "Amadeus" as well.His death and funeral are beautifully rendered, and it is noted that the "pauper's funeral/grave" is an exaggeration ,in that the current Viennese politicos wanted to keep funeral and burials very low key for health and social/financial reasons. All in all, a very fine view of an often overlooked aspect of the Great Composer!

Jane Glover has written a remarkable book, which in its way demystifies much about Mozart's music. So many of his pieces, particularly his vocal works, were written for men and women in his closest circle: his family, friends and, often, their spouses. Arias written for the Weber sisters, including his wife Costanze were, in Glover's words, "tailor-made" for these gifted ladies. Other dear friends include Nancy Storace, the first Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, whose brother Stephen was a fellow composer and close friend, Caterina Cavallieri, Salieri's mistress (the first Kostanze and the first Donna Elvira), and the list goes on. Also illuminated in incredible detail, is Mozart's sister Nannerl, who was the "other" talented prodigy, in some ways perhaps, even a more subtle pianist than her genius brother. By the end of the book, you feel you know the people behind much of the gorgeous music that was penned for them. None of this detracts from the fact of Mozart's genius, but it makes him all the more human. It also makes his loss all the more real, and tragic, though untimely death in the late 18th-Century was, unfortunately, a fact of life.

This book is a must-have for any classical musician, and certainly any music lover. It is NOT an academic tome, but a fascinating tour through a short but incredibly well-lived life.

Noted conductor Jane Glover proves herself to be a graceful writer in this absorbing look at Mozart's personal life and his interaction with his musical colleagues.It definitely helps to be familiar with the women portrayed in his operas in order to get the most out of the book. As a longtime acquaintance of Fiordiligi, Donna Anna, Susanna, et al., I was fascinated by WM's dealings with his singers and by his tailoring of roles to suit their varied abilities. It would appear that the singers of Mozart's day were incredibly gifted and technically immaculate and that the musical life of his day was overflowing with riches. A good read.

Dame Jane Glover has heard many bravos in her lifetime as a
conductor and a musician. As a lover of Mozart
(and anyone who doesn't love his music can't love life!) this
reviewer gives her high marks for this outstanding biography.
Mozart was mischevious; enjoyed vulgarity in his letters and
language but was a good, faithful husband; loving father and
arguably the greatest genius in the history of music.
Who were Mozart's women?
a. His mother Maria Anna whom young Wolfgang loved. She
traveled with him on his musical tours.
b. His musical sister Nannerl with whom he was billed as a child
prodigy. Their relationship was loving and complex. As they
grew older Nannerl had to stay home in Salzburg while Wolfgang
traveled to the great courts of Europe. They did not correspond
from 1783 to 1791 (the year of the 35 year old Mozart's death).
c. The four Weber sisters of Mannheim. Mozart married Constanze the middle sister. They had a good marriage and two of their children Carl and Wolfgang lived to adulthood. Constanze saw to
many of Mozart's works being published and contributed biographical information to early chroniclers of the genius.
She married a Danish diplomat and lived a long life but never
forgot Wolfgang's love for her.
d. The many female opera singers whose careers were guided by
Mozart's genius.
Glover dissects the major operas of Mozart. He loved women and
his operatic writing for them and insight into the feminine soul
is the most profound in the history of opera.
Mozart's women is beautifully illustrated; elegantly written
and leaves warm memories of this force of nature called Mozart.
If you read one book this year about music make it this one.
The strongest figure in his life was his father Leopold.

If you are interested in learning about Mozart's life, read this biography first. I have read many, and this is the most interesting, the most delightful, the most easily accessible for both men and women. My only criticism is the title as it is misleading. The book is basically a general biography with an emphasis on Mozart's relationships with family, wife and close friends, but it also explores his music and his childhood. It also explores the years in the life of his wife and children after his death and explores the women characters of his operas. I cant recommend this book enough. Try reading this before you decide to plough through one of the larger, more dense biographies that you probably won't ever finish.

If you hope to share vicariously any of Mozart's amatory escapades, this book will disappoint you. There are cautious suggestions of romantic entanglements, but there is also the overwhelming depiction of Mozart as a man who spent most of his waking hours composing and playing music, as any reasonable person should imagine. If you hope to penetrate very deeply in Mozart's pysche or intellect, you may also be slightly disappointed; author Jane Glover chooses to approach the composer largely from the outside, from the influence on his career of his father, wife, and the many women musicians with whom he worked. With those two warnings in mind, I can strongly recommend the book as compelling reading. The text is segmented: The first third is a concise biography of Mozart from his birth to his early death, focused chiefly on his struggle to make an independent living as a musician. The second third addresses the practical factors of performance and specific performers that shaped Mozart's operas. The third follows the lives of Mozart's sister, wife, and other women companions after Mozart's death. One could choose to read each segment as a separate article, and I suspect most readers will be most thrilled by the first third of the book. There is something eminently sensible and polite (dare I say British?) about Jane Glover's writing style, which I found delightfully incongruous when applied to the rambunctious, impish, scatological, scattered manchild who composed such grand music.

In this focused bio Glover lovingly relates Mozart's short life and musical immortality with a focus on Mozart's relationships with women. Inextricably woven in this is his realtionship with his emotionally abusive father, Leopold.

Leopold, makes his 15 year old son feel a failure for not securing what "grown ups" with vast accomplishments could not. This same all knowing patriarch relegates his talented daughter, Nannerl, to a life of shadows while he piddles away his own presumed talent, to better his life through his son whom he emotionally undermines.

Mozart's first true love is similarly undermined by his father. Later, Leopold invokes mysogenistic ideals to retain his authority when Mozart finally marries. Sadly, Mozart's sister Nannerl is sidelined by the marriage since she is no longer first in her brother's attention and affections. She becomes totally dependent on Leopold.

Why Loepold takes custody of his grandchild by Nannerl is not clear. My speculation is that he had married Nannerl off to a person of wealth who, unspoken to both of them, was accepted as more abusive than he.

A chapter called "Mozart's Women" covers the women critical to his performance career. The chapter title is ironic. These are the women for whom he writes parts. The real "Mozart Women" appropriately consume the larger part of the text. These are his mother, sister, wife and other members of the Weber family.

Mozart's father's support of his son is conditional on Mozart's success in supporting the family/(him). Any generosity from Leopold is dubious. His emotional support of Wolfgang is generally negative. The women never let him down, in life and thereafter.

I recommend this book for all those who love Mozart's music. If, like me, you are unschooled in the particulars of Mozart's work, skim the chapter called "Mozart's Women". You will find the material surrounding it interesting, informative and inspirational.

It's clear Ms. Glover, a musician herself, knows and loves her subjects--and that Mozart himself is only one of them. The book really is about how the women in his life: his mother, sister, the royalty he served, the Weber sisters, shaped how he looked at life and how he wrote his music.

Some of us are still paying for the technical skills and range displayed by Aloysia. Mozart wrote for her voice and the partnership seems to have delighted them both. (As a performer I'd be happier if her voice had been not quite so high or her skills so sharp!)

It was a surprise to learn that Mozart really WAS devoted to Constanza. It's hard to dispute that affection when faced with Mozart's touching, silly, often raunchy letters to his wife. I had spent most of my life convinced that Constanze was a disappointing second choice. Also I believed she was dimwitted, which seems not to be so; she at least was savvy enough to be the only Mozart woman, and perhaps the only Mozart, to die with any fortune to speak of. Mozart also wrote to Constanze telling her he hoped she approved of what he was writing, surely an indication she was musically literate as well as Mozart's romantic equal.

Faced with how women shaped his mind, it's was easy to take a fresh look at Mozart's characters and realize that he was very egalitarian--even feminist. It is no accident that Suzanna (Marriage of Figaro)is smart, energetic, witty, and ultimately in charge, even though she is not of high birth.

What a brain Mozart must have had! As teens, both he and his older sister spoke such fluent German, Italian, and French that they wrote letters to one another mixing up the languages and seem to have understood one another perfectly. The movie which showed him as a brilliant goofball is not completely without merit, by the way, and some scenes are addressed with polite clarification.

I'll enjoy this more with every re read, I know.