[Konstancja Mozart]
Weber Maria Konstanze, Constanze, Constantia Caecilia Josepha Aloisia, 1° voto Mozart, 2° voto Nissen, *5 January 1762 Zell im Wiesental, †6 March 1842 Salzburg, German singer (soprano), daughter of Fridolin. Raised in a musical family, she took singing and piano lessons, but in both areas her abilities were average compared to those of her older sisters. W.A. Mozart, whom she married on 4 August 1782, wrote Solfeggio KV 393 for his “dear wife” and had her perform one of the soprano parts at the premiere of the unfinished Mass in C minor KV 427/417a (Salzburg 1783). Konstanze Weber gave occasional private concerts, including at the Vienna Carnival in 1783 and at the palace of Count of J. Thun-Hohenstein in Prague in 1787, performing with Mozart and F. Hofer the tercet Liebes Mandel, wo ist’s Bandel (KV 441). Performing became more difficult for Konstanze Weber due to her duties as a wife and mother of 6 children. Only two sons lived relatively long, Carl Thomas (1784–1858), also called “Mozart of Milan”, an official in the service of the Viceroy of Naples, and the Franz Xaver Wolfgang (1791–1844), entitled also as “Mozart from Lemberg” and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Jr.
Konstanze Weber was criticised and accused in a number of ways, while at the same time her merits in the work of preserving and promoting Mozart’s oeuvre was ignored. She contributed to the creation of the first biographies about the composer, entrusting the material to F. Němeček (Leben des k.k. Capellmeisters Wolfgang Gottlieb Mozart nach Original-Quellen beschrieben, Prague 1798), who was also the musical preceptor of her sons, and to G.N. Nissen, whom she married in 1809. After his death she published his work, with the help of J.H. Feuerstein, entitled Biographie Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarts nach Originalbriefen (Leipzig 1828, supplement 1829). She also tried to have Mozart’s works published and to be performed. In 1797, she published the piano reduction of the opera Idomeneo by Breitkopf and Härtel. In 1800 she sold the rights to the publication of Mozart’s works to the André publishing house in Offenbach. She organised concerts devoted to the music of Mozart, including performances of the opera La clemenza di Tito. From 1821 she lived in Salzburg, where she was involved in the founding of the Mozarteum (1841).
Literature:
K. Nissens Tagebuch aus den Jahren 1824–1837, published by H. Abert, „Mozarteums-Mitteilungen” II, 1919/20; R. Angermüller C. Nissen-Mozart. Tagebuch meines Briefwechsels in Betreff’der Mozartischen Biographie (1828–1837), Bad Honnef 1999; Konstanze Mozarts Briefe, Aufzeichnungen, Dokumente 1782–1842, published by A. Schurig, Dresden 1922; J.H. Eibl Aus den Briefen C. Mozarts an die Verleger Breitkopf & Härtel und J.A. André, published in Musik und Verlag, celebration publication of K. Vötterle, edited by R. Baum and W. Rehm, Kassel 1968
R. Tenschert Mozarts Kompositionen für Konstanze, “Mozart-Almanach” I, 1941; E. Valentin Das Testament der C. Nissen. Mit biographischen Notizen über C. und G.N. Nissen, Neues Mozart Jahrbuch II, 1942; H. Gärtner Mozarts Requiem und die Geschäfte der Constanze Mozart, Munich 1986; V. Sjoqvist Twice Perfectly Happy. Constanze Mozarts Two Marriages, London 1991; I. Allihn Die Darstellung der Konstanze Mozart in der neueren Mozart-Literatur, published in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Leipzig 1991.