As the saying goes, ‘behind every successful man there is always a woman’. No, Mozart’s wife Constanze was not the one who pushed him and made a great composer out of what he was from scratch. Not at all. But she was the woman who drove his inspiration and encouraged him for experimenting. And simply, she was his Love, the kind of Love that is real and has the power of creating beautiful things.
(from Mozart’s love letter to his wife)
“… I get all excited like a child when I think about being with you again — If people could see into my heart I should almost feel ashamed. Everything is cold to me — ice-cold. — If you were here with me, maybe I would find the courtesies people are showing me more enjoyable, — but as it is, it’s all so empty — adieu — my dear — I am Forever your Mozart who loves you with his entire soul.”
Although their marriage did not start as smoothly as other ‘big marriages’ of the time, the couple still managed to make it happen officially after acquiring all the necessary consents, including the one from Mozart’s father Leopold.
Constanze was a very well-educated woman who besides all was a musician herself. She loved music and therefore could be her husband’s best music critic and advisor. Mozart dedicated some works purely to Constanze, like Sonata for Violin and Piano No.30 in C Major, K.403. Many of them, however, remained uncompleted. Other works had parts for his wife; for example, in the well-known Grand Mass in C minor there is a soprano specially for Constanze who performed it at the premiere in 1783.
Constanze Mozart was also the one who talked her husband into writing Fantasy and Fugue, K. 394, being a lover of Baroque style counterpoint. It happened after Mozart got to study the manuscripts of Handel and Bach and got very excited about the materials.
After Wolfgang’s death his wife put a lot of effort into publishing his works and organizing memorial concerts. Besides commemorating her husband it eventually made her wealthy, which was quite an achievement taking into account all the debts Mozart left her with after death.
There are a lot of women that influenced positively the creative work of their husbands, themselves being left in the shadow. But for their driving force, we would have probably missed some of the greatest masterpieces.
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| Constanze Mozart |
“… I get all excited like a child when I think about being with you again — If people could see into my heart I should almost feel ashamed. Everything is cold to me — ice-cold. — If you were here with me, maybe I would find the courtesies people are showing me more enjoyable, — but as it is, it’s all so empty — adieu — my dear — I am Forever your Mozart who loves you with his entire soul.”
Although their marriage did not start as smoothly as other ‘big marriages’ of the time, the couple still managed to make it happen officially after acquiring all the necessary consents, including the one from Mozart’s father Leopold.
Constanze was a very well-educated woman who besides all was a musician herself. She loved music and therefore could be her husband’s best music critic and advisor. Mozart dedicated some works purely to Constanze, like Sonata for Violin and Piano No.30 in C Major, K.403. Many of them, however, remained uncompleted. Other works had parts for his wife; for example, in the well-known Grand Mass in C minor there is a soprano specially for Constanze who performed it at the premiere in 1783.
Constanze Mozart was also the one who talked her husband into writing Fantasy and Fugue, K. 394, being a lover of Baroque style counterpoint. It happened after Mozart got to study the manuscripts of Handel and Bach and got very excited about the materials.
After Wolfgang’s death his wife put a lot of effort into publishing his works and organizing memorial concerts. Besides commemorating her husband it eventually made her wealthy, which was quite an achievement taking into account all the debts Mozart left her with after death.
There are a lot of women that influenced positively the creative work of their husbands, themselves being left in the shadow. But for their driving force, we would have probably missed some of the greatest masterpieces.
