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 Entf�hrung 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 Cos� fan tutte; Pamina
and the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberfl�te: 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.
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