The Other Mozart

At the Clark

It’s not easy being a prodigy. It’s even harder if you have a demanding father and an incandescently talented little brother. But it becomes impossible if you are female and live in the 18th century.

Such was the case for Maria Anna Walburga Ignatia Mozart, familiarly known as Nannerl. Born in 1751, she was the older sister of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. When she was 7 years old, her father, Leopold, started to teach her to play the harpsichord and she toured the grand cities of Europe with her brother and father, earning rave reviews from listeners and sometimes commanding top billing over Wolfgang.

Some even argued she was the more talented of the two siblings. Even the difficult Leopold Mozart wrote: “My little girl plays the most difficult works which we have … with incredible precision and so excellently. What it all amounts to is this, that my little girl, although she is only 12 years old, is one of the most skilful (sic) players in Europe.”

That wasn’t just a proud father speaking. In 1762, when the youngsters played for Munich aristocrats, Count Karl von Zinzendorf told his diary: “The little child from Salzburg and his sister played the harpsichord. The poor little fellow plays marvellously (sic). He is a child of spirit, lively, charming. His sister’s playing is masterly, and he applauded her.”

Like her brother, Nannerl was a composer and, when Wolfgang was still an unlettered toddler, would copy down and orchestrate his compositions for him. Thus it is unclear whether some of his early compositions are actually hers.

That she was talented, there is no doubt. In 1770, she sent one of her compositions to her brother and he wrote back: “My dear sister! I am in awe that you can compose so well, in a word the song you wrote is beautiful.” The modern world will never know if that was exuberant brotherly hyperbole—no work known to have been composed by her has survived.

Then it happened. Nannerl reached the age of 18 and, once marriageable (the only becoming fate for a woman), her father ended her career. While Wolfgang went on to ever-greater glory, she was consigned to stay in Salzburg with her mother. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians “from 1769 onwards she was no longer permitted to show her artistic talent on travels with her brother as she had reached a marriageable age.”

Unlike her mercurial brother, Nannerl was an obedient child. She stayed at home, teaching piano and enhancing her father’s reputation as a teacher as she waited for her prince to come. In 1783 her attention focused briefly on Franz d’Ippold, a captain and private tutor, but no marriage ensued. Perhaps her father did not approve as Wolfgang wrote trying to get his sister to stand up for her own preference.

Eventually she married a magistrate, becoming step-mother to his five children and eventually adding three of her own. However, she continued to see herself as a pianist, practicing three hours a day and teaching piano.
Her husband died in 1801, leaving her financially well cared for but she continued to give piano lessons. With her father dead, and his domineering influence removed, she became a highly esteemed piano soloist at the court of Prince Ernst von Schwarzenberg.

Following her death in 1829, Maria Anna Walburga Ignatia Mozart drifted from the cultural consciousness, her genius eclipsed by her father’s conventional attitude toward women. But 186 years later, playwright Sylvia Milo revived her memory when she wrote her acclaimed 2015 play, The Other Mozart, The Forgotten Genius of Mozart’s Sister, which features music by Wolfgang Mozart, Marianna Martines (a female composer who inspired Nannerl) and original music written for the play by Nathan Davis and Phyllis Chen, featured composers of Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, BAM and the International Contemporary Ensemble.

Now, the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown will further honor Nannerl’s memory June 18 at 7 PM with Soundings: The Other Mozart, the final concert in this year’s Soundings: New Music at the Clark series. The concert will be held in the Clark auditorium. Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for members, $8 for students, and $7 for children 12 and under. Reserve at clarkart.edu.

Soundings is presented by the Clark Art Institute in collaboration with the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas. The Clark Art Institute is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, MA. Galleries are open 10 AM to 5 PM Tuesday through Sunday, September through June, and daily in July and August. Advance timed tickets are strongly recommended. For information visit the link below or phone 413-458-2303.