Mozart Family

The family into which Mozart was born has never received a rigorous contextual study which does justice to the complexity of its relationships or to its interactions with colleagues, friends, and neighbours in Mozart's native city, Salzburg. Most biographies of Mozart have undervalued the many passages in the rich family correspondence which do not bear directly on him. This book draws on the neglected material, most of which has never been translated into English. At the heart of the work is a detailed examination of the letters, supplemented by little-known archival material from the papers of the Berchtold family, into which Mozart's sister Nannerl married. Additional information concerning Salzburg's local history, especially the working conditions at court and the provision for dependants of court employees, enables the hopes, expectations, and fears of the Mozarts to be located in the context of the social conditions there. As well as providing a sympathetic account of the other members of the family, all of whom were profoundly affected by the experience of sharing their lives with Mozart, this approach gives new significance to the events of Mozart's life; not only are they set against the background of his familys expectations of him, but the ways in which the source material has to be used for this purpose necessarily involves fundamental improvements in its interpretation. Ruth Halliwell challenges most previous views of the characters in Mozart's family (especially of his father, Leopold), and of the relationships within it. She also introduces a wealth of characters from the Mozarts's circle in Salzburg, from chambermaids to princes, and demonstrates the relevance of the gossip stories the Mozarts told about them to the larger outlook of the members of the family. In an important final section, Halliwell traces the roles of Nannerl and Mozart's wife Constanze in using, controlling, and handing on the biographical source material after Mozarts death. She discusses their dealings with publishers such as Breitkopf & Hartel, and with the authors of the earliest biographies of Mozart. This complex topic here receives an account which not only illuminates the characters of both women and the relations between them, but also addresses the question of how myths were able to creep into the Mozartian biography at so early a stage and take tenacious hold.Table of ContentPreface; Abbreviations; Introduction; PART 1; 1. The Order of Patched Trousers: The Marriage of Leopold and Maria Anna; 2. The Early Years of the Children: Building a Career; 3. Wolfgang as Linchpin: The Visit to Vienna in 1762; 4. The Grand European Tour (I): Petty Setbacks on the Journey to Paris; 5. The Grand European Tour (II): Triumphs in Paris; 6. The Grand European Tour (III): Triumphs in London?; 7. The Grand European Tour (IV): Near-disaster on the Journey Home; 8. The Last Journey as a United Family: The Visit to Vienna in 1767; PART 2; 9. The Divergence of the Children's Paths: Wolfgang's First Visit to Italy; 10. The First Quest for an Honourable Appointment: Wolfgang's Second Visit to Italy; 11. The Intensification of the Quest: Wolfgang's Third Visit to Italy; 12. Wolfgang's Viennese Sojourn in 1773; 13. La finta giardiniera in Munich; 14. Escalating Grievances in Salzburg; PART 3; 15. Hopes of a Mozartian Exodus; 16. En route to Paris: The Journey to Mannheim; 17. The First Major Conflict between Leopold and Wolfgang: In Mannheim; 18. Explaining the Unacceptable: Maria Anna's Death; 19. Returning to Serfdom; PART 4; 20. The Next Hope of Freedom: Idomeneo in Munich; 21. The Final Break with Salzburg; 22. Wolfgang's Marriage; 23. The Bridal Visit to Salzburg in 1783; 24. Nannerl's Marriage; PART 5; 25. Nannerl's Wilderness: St Gilgen and the Abersee; 26. Leopold Alone; 27. Leopold's Visit to Vienna in 1785; 28. Leopoldl; 29. The Return of Heinrich Marchand; 30. Towards Death: Leopold's Declining Months; 31. After the Funeral (I): The Settlement of Leopold's Estate; PART 6; 32. After the Funeral (II): The Mozarts and the Berchtolds; 33. The Women and Publishers (I): Schlichtegroll's Nekrolog; 34. The Women and Publishers (II): The Breitkopf & Hartel Affair; 35. The Women and Publishers (III): Nissen's Biography of Mozart; 36. Handing on the Source Material; APPENDICES; I: The Date of the Mozart/Bohm Schlackademie in Lent 1780; II: List of Surviving and Missing Letters between Wolfgang and Leopold Mozart from 17 March to 9 May 1781; III: Communication Channels between Salzburg and St Gilgen: Their Occasional Relevance to the Dating of Undated Letters and to the Identification of Mozart's Keyboard Concertos; Glossary, Bibliography, Index