Mozart's Women

Mozart's Women by Jane Glover

This is a biography about Mozart which focuses on the important women in his life--especially his sister Nannerel, his mother Maria Anna, and his wife Constanze Weber--but also the sopranos he wrote many of his opera arias for, his cousin Blase (to whom he wrote many of his "bawdy" letters), Constanze's sister Alyosia, and other members of the Weber family.

This book is divided into four sections: Mozart's Family, Mozart's Other Family, Mozart's Women, and After Mozart.

I especially enjoyed the first and the last sections of the book. Reading about Mozart's life, his letters, and entries from his sister's diary greatly humanized the composer. It was touching to read his affectionate letters to his sister, mother, and wife. I felt I was able to view him as a person who lived an actual life--a complicated, full, exciting, and difficult life--instead of seeing him as simply a great monolith of a composer.

The last section described Constanze's life after Mozart's death. I found it interesting that her second husband, Georg Nissen, helped compile letters and memories about Mozart, and was a cardinal force in writing a biography about Mozart. I also enjoyed reading about Mozart's sons and the life of his sister in her twilight years.

The middle section largely dealt with opera arias that Mozart had written for different women. He liked to know the singer he was writing for and tailor the arias to his/her specific strengths, weaknesses, and vocal range. While this section was well-written, I felt that it would be better
for an opera aficionado or a theory buff. It went into great technical detail about the construction and theory of each aria. This section also discussed many of early operas, which are not as well known.

Overall, an interesting, well-written biography.