Mozart's Women

A major new biography of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, told through the prism of the women in his life.

Throughout his life Mozart was inspired, fascinated, amused, aroused, hurt, disappointed and betrayed by women; and he appeared equally fascinating to them. But, first and last, Mozart loved and respected women. His mother, his sister, his wife, her sisters, his patrons, his friends, his lovers and his artists all figure prominently in his life.

Jane Glover introduces us to Mozart's mother, Maria Anna and his beloved and talented sister, Nannerl. We meet, too, Mozart's other family, the Webers: Constanze, his wife, much maligned by history, and her sisters Aloysia, Sophie and Josepha. This 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 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. 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.