The Mozart Family: Four Lives in a Social Context

Mozart's family has never received the kind of attention that does justice to the complexity of its relationships or its interactions with colleagues, friends, and neighbors in Mozart's native Salzburg. And most biographies of the great composer have neglected the many passages in the rich Mozart family correspondence that do not bear directly on him. This book turns a bright light on this neglected material, most of which has never before been translated into English, to provide a fascinating look at Mozart's parents, Leopold and Maria Anna, and sister, Nannerl.

Challenging most previous views of the individuals in Mozart's family and the relationships within it, Halliwell introduces a wealth of characters from the family's circle in Salzburg, from chambermaids to princes, and relates the gossip stories the family told to their larger outlook on the world. She also draws on the neglected papers of the Berchtold family (into which Nannerl married) and other rare archival material to provide a sympathetic account of the hopes, fears, and expectations of the family within their social context. An important final section traces the role of Nannerl and Mozart's wife Constanze in using, controlling, and handing on the biographical source material after Mozart's death, addressing the question of how myths surrounding his life and death became so prevalent so early.