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| Constanze Mozart, wife of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, at 78 years of age, pictured front left in black 2 years before her death (1840) |
It was in September 1777 that Mozart first met Constanze's family, the Webers, while staying in Mannheim together with his mother, after he had resigned his position as court musician in Salzburg and was now on a journey looking for a new employment. Mozart became acquainted with members of the famous orchestra in Mannheim, the best in Europe at the time and one of the reasons for his journey. At first he fell in love with Constanze's eldest sister, Aloysia, a singer of some promise but little experience. Mozart made grand plans to take her to Italy and start her in a career in opera, but his father Leopold, who never trusted the Weber family, persuaded him against it. There were prospects of employment for Mozart in Mannheim, but unfortunately to him they came to nothing. A year later, Aloysia had become a now successful singer in Munich, her feelings for Mozart had cooled down and she was no longer interested in him. Therefore he wrote to his father on December 29, 1778,
"I can only weep. I have far too sensitive a heart."Nevertheless, Mozart stayed in close touch with the Weber family, and on December 15, 1781, he wrote again to his father revealing his plans to marry:
"Owing to my disposition, which is more inclined to a peaceful and domesticated existence than to revelry, I, who from my youth up have never been accustomed to look after my belongings, linen clothes and so forth, cannot think of anything more necessary to me than a wife...A bachelor in my opinion is only half alive."But now his attention had turned to Aloysia's younger sister, dark-eyed Constanze, with her pretty figure and,
"the kindest heart in the world...I love her and she loves me with all her heart."But the courtship did not go entirely smoothly; surviving correspondence indicates that Mozart and Constanze briefly separated in April 1782. Additionally, Mozart faced a very difficult task in getting his father's permission for the marriage with Constanze. The couple were finally married on 4 August 1782, the day before his father's consent arrived in the mail.
At their wedding in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, Mozart and Constanze wept, as did the congregation, and the priest. It was a marriage of deep affection and understanding, both much needed through their years together. Constanze was frequently ill and often with child. In nine years she gave birth to six children, only two of whom survived.
At yovisto you can watch a disection of Mozart's most famous 'Eine kleine Nachtmusik' from the La Jolla Music Society: SummerFest.
References and further Reading:
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the Wikipedia
- The letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at gutenberg.org
