A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Mozart, Constanze
MOZART, Constanze, Wolfgang's wife (née Weber), born at Zell, in Lower Austria, had a pretty, well-trained voice, and played the piano in a pleasing manner. Mozart dedicated to her, always in affectionate terms, many of his compositions, but, characteristically, finished none of them. She was a good and loving wife, accommodated herself in every thing to her husband's disposition, and restrained him from many heedless actions. He was sincerely attached to her, and she, in return, lavished upon him every care and attention. After Mozart's death she and her two children had a hard struggle for existence, but her necessities were in some measure relieved by the success of concerts which she gave in Vienna, Prague, Berlin, and other cities. In Berlin, the King granted her the use of the Opera-house, and the services of his own band, for a concert, at which she sang. In 1799 she sold all her husband's remaining MSS. to André for 1000 ducats (£500). In 1809 she married George N. Nissen, an official in the Danish diplomatic service, whose acquaintance she had made in Vienna in 1797. Henceforth her life was peaceful and uneventful. On Nissen's retirement from office in 1820 they went to live in Salzburg, where he collected the materials for his 'Mozart-Biographie.' He died in 1826, and Constanze on March 6, 1842, a few hours after the arrival of the model of Mozart's statue.
Of the two sons of Wolfgang and Constanze Mozart, the elder, Karl, first took to commerce, practising music as a pastime, and afterwards became an employé of the Austrian government at Milan, where he died in 1859 [App. p.720 "1858"]. Mendelssohn met him there in 1831, and delighted him by playing the Overtures to Don Giovanni and the Zauberflöte. The younger,
Wolfgang Amadeus, born July 26, 1791, in Vienna, studied the piano and composition with Neukomm, A. Streicher, Albrechtsberger, and Salieri. He made his first appearance in public, being led forward by his mother, at a concert given on April 8, 1805, at the theatre 'an der Wien,' when he played a concerto of his father's, and variations on the minuet in Don Juan. The latter, and a cantata in honour of Haydn's 73rd birthday, were his own compositions. In 1808 he became music-master to the family of Count Joseph von Bawarowsky, in Gallicia. He made repeated professional tours, and in 1814 became Musikdirector at Lemberg, where he founded the Cäcilienverein, in 1826. As a pianist and composer he was held in esteem—his name alone was sufficient to preclude his rising to eminence. He died July 30, 1844, at Carlsbad in Bohemia.[ C. F. P. ]