Greg Stepanich

Maybe it hurt more than it showed

From Stanley Sadie's Mozart: The Early Years, released in December:

Possibly, in a different age, when it was thought appropriate to develop women's gifts and their opportunities more nearly matched those open to men, Nannerl might have been as fully and professionally trained as her brother was, and have developed into a considerable composer. But it is clear that the family, living in a socially conservative environment, always took it for granted that a girl's only destiny was marriage, and there is no indication that Nannerl ever nurtured other ambitions. As far as we can judge from the family correspondence and from their later relations, she never felt any jealousy towards Wolfgang, recognized his superior abilities and always took great pride in his success.

You can't read a lot about Mozart's early years without reading about his elder sister by five years, Maria Anna Walburgia Ignatia, a fine musician who shared Wolfie's triumphs when the two siblings were younger, but then was gradually forgotten as more attention was focused on her brother.

Surely Nannerl was a child of her time and place, and shared the expectations her family did for her eventual life. But it had to be hard for her, touring the courts of Europe as a young girl and being celebrated for her abilities, to have to put all that away in her later years as father Leopold concentrated on his son.

Sadie's being scrupulous when he writes that there's no indication that Nannerl ever thought about another career besides marriage, because it would be mere speculation to suggest anything otherwise, and he was trying to write an unimpeachable, important text. And you don't want to apply 21st-century standards of behavior for 18th-century people acting according to the dictates of their own culture.

Seriously, though: It had to hurt. Nannerl had to be jealous at some point when she was younger, and maybe she confided to her pillow in some inn on the road a very daring dream — that she could be a musician, too; that she could compose and play the piano all of her life, and be celebrated and admired for it. That we don't have any evidence for it is not surprising, but I think it would be strange to grow up in a house where music was the family business and not be caught up in it.

Although we have music by Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn, I don't think we have anything by Nannerl Mozart, nor do we know whether she actually wrote anything (though someone out there knows). But whether she did compose or not, it's certain that Nannerl received much praise as a young person for her keyboard prowess, and it's a fair guess that she probably was a serious talent whose potential was never fully developed.

She wouldn't be the only musician in history who could have given the world a lot more than she did had different circumstances applied. Frustrated, wasted talent is always something of a crime, and while we're thinking a lot about Wolfgang and playing his music everywhere, it's worthwhile to spare a thought for Nannerl.

Grammy gloating: I was a little modest in my Grammy prediction for William Bolcom's Songs of Innocence and of Experience. It took the Grammy in all three categories in which it was nominated, and its producer, Tim Handley, won Producer of the Year (Classical). I also mentioned the Kissin record of Russian piano music, and it won the Grammy in its category as well.

You can see the whole list here.