Product Description

Throughout his life, Mozart was inspired, fascinated, amused, aroused, hurt, disappointed and betrayed by women -- and he was equally complex to them. But, first and last, Mozart loved and respected women. His mother, his sister, his wife, her sisters, and his female patrons, friends, lovers and fellow artists all figure prominently in his life. And his experience, observation and understanding of women reappear, spectacularly, in the characters he created. As one of our finest interpreters of Mozart's work, Jane Glover is perfectly placed to bring these remarkable women -- both real and dramatized -- vividly to life. We meet Mozart's mother, Maria Anna, and his beloved and devoted sister, Nannerl, perhaps as talented as her brilliant brother but, owing to her sex, destined to languish at home while Wolfgang and their father entertained the drawing rooms of Europe. We meet, too, Mozart's "other family" -- his in-laws, the Webers: Constanze, his wife, much maligned by history, and her sisters, Aloysia, Sophie and Josefa. Aloysia and Josefa were highly talented singers for whom Mozart wrote some of his most remarkable music. Aloysia was the first woman whom Mozart truly and passionately loved, and her eventual rejection of him nearly broke his heart. Constanze, though a less gifted singer, proved a steadfast and loving wife and -- after Mozart's death -- his extremely efficient widow, consolidating his reputation and ensuring that his most enduring legacy, his music, never be forgotten.

Mozart's Women is their story. But it is also the story of the women in his operas, all of whom were -- like his sister, his mother, his wife and his entire female acquaintance -- restrained by the conventions and strictures of eighteenth-century society. Yet through his glorious writing, he identified and released the emotions of his characters. Constanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail; Ilia and Elettra in Idomeneo; Susanna and the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro; Donnas Anna and Elvira in Don Giovanni; Fiordiligi, Dorabella and Despina in Così fan tutte; Pamina and the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte: are all examined and celebrated. They hold up the mirror to their audiences and offer inestimable insight, together constituting yet further proof of Mozart's true genius and phenomenal understanding of human nature. Rich, evocative and compellingly readable, Mozart's Women illuminates the music and the man -- but, above all, the women who inspired him.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #539009 in Books
• Published on: 2006-01-01
• Released on: 2006-01-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 416 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Despite this book's title, Mozart was no ladies' man. The loves in his life add up to his mother, Maria Anna; his talented sister, Nannerl; a cousin known as "the Bäsle"; the four Weber sisters, all singers, and one of them, Constanze, his wife; and, naturally, the women in his operas and the divas who sang the roles (these included the Webers). In this latest of many Mozart biographies, Glover, a leading conductor of 18th-century music, views Mozart's life through the women who surrounded him, though no biographer could avoid Mozart's micromanaging father, Leopold. Mozart's first crush may have been on his cousin, and the second was certainly on Aloysia Weber, who firmly rejected him (and later regretted it). But Mozart's marriage to Aloysia's younger sister seems to have been entirely happy. The book's best and most original part of this work offers a close analysis of the operas, especially of the female roles and the women who inspired them; the discussion of Così fan tutte is especially good. Though Glover is not an inspiring writer, the analyses of operas will interest some people, and the work will find an audience among loyalists. Photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From The New Yorker
Glover, a respected British conductor, views Mozart through the women in his life: his mother; his sister and sometime duet partner, Nannerl; his wife, Constanze Weber; and the female singers for whom he wrote roles that are "some of the most vividly drawn and brilliantly understood women on the operatic stage." Mozart seems to have had more in common with the happily domestic Figaro than with the brilliant seducer Don Giovanni, and knew how to appreciate a talented, vivacious, and resourceful woman, as Glover illustrates with many touching excerpts from his correspondence. However, after Mozart's death, in 1791, her book begins to drag as she follows the lives of his survivors; Constanze remarried, completing her second husband's biography of her first, and lived until 1842. The book's title notwithstanding, much of the first half is dominated by Leopold Mozart, Wolfgang's authoritarian and manipulative father, who emerges as probably the most significant person in Mozart's life.
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

From Booklist
Mozart (1756-91) was involved with four groups of women during his life. His mother, sister Nannerl (1751-1829), and cousin were with him when his father insisted on touring him and Nannerl as child prodigies throughout the main cities of Europe. He fell in love with the members of the second group, the Weber daughters, all of whom performed in his operas and concerts, eventually marrying Constanze (1762-1842). The female singers and the female characters in his operas make up the third and fourth groups, respectively, according to Glover, who is exceptionally clear--indeed, a joy to read----as she explains the part each woman, real and fictive, played in Mozart's life. The last chapter chronicles the life that Constanze, Nannerl, and Mozart's two surviving sons led after the composer's early death. While very little original research went into it, Glover's book accounts for what made Mozart tick as do few others. Glover is a versatile musician herself, particularly noted as a conductor of eighteenth-century repertoire, and that probably enabled her insight. Alan Hirsch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Interesting and Informative
This was an enjoyable and informative read about Mozart. It was interesting to learn more about the women in his life since we usually learn much about his relationship with his father. I would recommend this book to anyone that has a casual interest in Mozart but doesn't feel the need to become an expert.

Great insight into Mozart's life
This was an excellent read (I'm certainly glad I purchased it on a whim). The writing was detailed to an extent that I felt I was following the family around for Wolfgang's entire life. I've read most of his letters before, but this book nicely connects them together and gives more depth. And even after the account of his death, the story is still engaging. The section titled 'Mozart's Women' is particularly entrancing; the author's meticulous descriptions of his operas make one feel as if the author was right there during its premiere. I certainly recommend this to any Mozart fan.

Definitive
Impresario Glover has a global view of Mozart, most tellingly through her deep understanding of his music as well as her conscientious attention to the voluminous correspondence among his sister, his parents, and his other women friends and associates. Comparing her remarks with those of more academically oriented biographers, Ms Glover often offers the superior insight and the clinching detail. No matter how many biographies of Mozart you have already studied, I would recommend this work as an essential addition to the bibliography.