Reassessment-5
In the past history, Aloisia Lange was the very lady who had been bitterly
criticized by everyone for a long time.
That was because she jilted Mozart easily, who had had a keen hope for
marrying her from the bottom of his heart, in Munich as if she threw an
used battery away lavishly.
Thanks to this merciless attitude, she was regarded as a cold-hearted woman
and has been given a drubbing by all scholars and writers in the past.
As long as we know, there appeared no one who took sides with her.
However, when checking closely the past original sources again, I can not
help thinking that Aloisia was not such a merciless woman as everyone in
the past had been criticizing bitterly.
Contents
Aloisia was known as a very beautiful and superb singer from her girlhood
in Mannheim. We can make sure her beauty by Johann Baptist Lampi's painting
in 1784 for example. And all of us know that she was an excellent German
prima donna in Vienna as well as Terese Tyber and Catarina Cavelieri.
However, when it comes to her character, we can hardly find out the document
in which the person those days told about her. As long as we can know,
the only one statement about her character, except for Mozart's letters
to Leopold, is the following by Anton Raaff, a famous tenor those days,
who confessed to Mozart in surprise that Aloisia had shown in front of
him a teacher's singing, not a pupil's singing .
"She is quite a pleasant, beautiful, faithful and well mannered girl. Moreover, she is clever and rich in talent" (Mozart's letter to his father on July 18,1778)
She was thus highly praised by the famous tenor those days, however all
the comments by persons after ages were just the opposite. Now let us list
up such bitter comments below.
"Fridolin Weber's daughter, Aloisia (1762 - 1839) who was sixteen
years old tried to take every measure to cajole this young musician who
had not at all experienced the tricks of love in the past. And she entrapped
this innocent musician by using all her shrewd techniques to please him.
Though young, she was very experienced and successful in catching this
expensive prey." (Belmonte)
" Aloisia Weber, the beautiful opera singer, had never longed for
Wolfgang" (Ghéon)
" The Webers transferred to Munich in the autumn of 1778 leaving their
son alone in Mannheim. The father was hired there by annual 600 florins
and his daughter 1,000 florins respectively. Mozart then became useless
for them. Aloisia showed it very clearly to the extent for him not to misunderstand
when Mozart called at Munich on the way back home from Paris." (Einstein)
"But when he returned to her in Munich, where she had been hired as
a singer with a good salary, it became clear that she, and the family,
had merely been using him. He had trained her voice, and had seemed a source
of useful contacts, but now she no longer needed a poor musician with no
prospects. She dropped him." (Stafford)
" Aloisia stimulated Mozart's love for her as long as she could recognize
that he had been useful for her family and herself. She drove him away
when their utility value reached to the limit." (Solomon)
Aloisia has thus been branded as a cold-hearted and selfish woman for more
than a century.
However, it is very curious to me that all the writers in the past, who
had not met Aloisia at all, could criticize her very bitterly though Raaff
who really had known her left a favorable comment.
Of course, there existed some sources which made those writers misapprehend.
The documents which blackened Aloisia's character to be sure were those
documents stated by her sister Constanze and written by Mozart.
We can find no original sources on Aloisia's character other than these
except for Raaff's favorable comment.
Constanze, as the witness of the collapse of Mozart's love to Aloisia in
Munich, stated the things as follows in Nissen's biography.
" Mozart, dressed in a red jacket with small black buttons for his
mother's mourning which was the fashion in France, dropped at Weber's house
on his back way from Paris. At that time he painfully recognized that Aloisia
had already changed her heart. When Mozart visited her there, she seemed
to be hard to make out him, although she had once cried for him."
(Nissen)
By this statement, persons after ages firmly believed that Aloisia was
a heartless woman who treated Mozart coldly.
However, we should be careful for the fact that Constanze had never stated
in this sentence the reason why Aloisia behaved so coldly, though she stated
to be sure that Aloisia jilted Mozart easily.
Then I myself wonder if the reason to explain Aloisia's jilt were invented by persons after ages. And more, was it surely based on Aloisia's own thought ? Let's discuss this issue soon later.
Here I would like to simply list up Mozart's letters to his father which
made us believe that Aloisia was a wicked woman.
Letter "A" (May16,1781)
"I was fool as to Mrs.Lange. I must admit it. However, a man can be
the most foolish when he falls in love. Yes, I loved her sincerely that
time. And I feel now that she has not yet thrown away her interest about
me. Thanks to her jealous husband, she can not go out freely from her house,
and then I can rarely meet her."
Letter "B" (June 9,1781)
"That daughter (Aloisia ) has been a heavy burden to the parents while
she had no job. When she could repay her obligation at last ( Her father
had died before she could earn enough), she deserted the unfortunate mother,
became madly in love with an actor and married him. At that time, the mother
could not be paid only a penny from her. Ah !"
Letter "C" (December 15, 1781)
"The eldest is lazy, rude, unfaithful and cunning. The daughter who
became Mrs.Lange is a liar, ill-natured and a tempting lady. The youngest,
too young and nothing to speak of, is good natured but frivolous ! "
These letters might have let persons have an illusion that Mozart had an
unfavorable impression on Aloisia after the breakdown in Munich. However,
I myself do not think so, the details of which are to be explained below.
It seems to me that person in the past have believed Aloisia as a wicked woman for a long time by reading these documents. If so, I am quite against for it from many grounds described below. In short, they have misunderstood these documents, I believe
What I would like to argue on Constanze's statement in Nissen's biography
is that Constanze herself had told nothing about the reason for the collapse.
She only told that Aloisia jilted Mozart coldly, but did not make clear
the cause of it and whether or not it was based on Aloisia's own thought.
However it was many past writers who took liberties in writing that Aloisia
herself jilted Mozart when she detected that Mozart was of no use to her
and/or her family.
Yes, those writers settled by their discretion that Aloisia's selfish thinking
based on her own thought had caused the collapse.
But I myself think this was a false charge against Aloisia by the writers'
prejudices after ages.
In case we assume that the collapse in Munich was based on Aloisia's initiative,
we should discuss here what was the nuisance for Aloisia to make engagement
with Mozart that time.
In the first place, was the engagement with Mozart that time harmful to
Aloisia herself?
In my view, it probably was not. Because Mozart was very popular in Munich
and had strong contacts with the powerful court persons like Count Seeau.
Next, had a new lover other than Mozart appeared in front of Aloisia ?
Probably it was not. We have never heard such story as long as the past records tell.
Then, had she really forgotten and/or lost her love to Mozart for some reason after Mozart had moved to Paris?
Probably it was not. Because we have many grounds not to think so as shown
below.
1. It was clear that both Aloisia and Fridolin have frequently exchanged letters
with Mozart respectively after he left Mannheim, although almost all of
them were destroyed afterward probably by Constanze.
And then, if Aloisia had really lost her love to Mozart for some reason
before their reunion in Munich, she surely must have informed it in advance
by her own letter to Mozart or through his father Fridolin. But she had
not shown such signs before Mozart's arrival in Munich ( On that account
Mozart took his step to Munich without changing his schedule on the way
from Paris).
This reveals that Aloisia herself had no intention to reject him.
2. Aloisia was tender enough to go to the Capchin church everyday to pray
for Mozart's soul being deceived by the false rumor spread in Mannheim
that Mozart had already been dead. This was the happening just a couple
months before their meeting again. After that there seemed nothing happened
to Aloisia which made her change her mind. This will tell that Aloisia
kept loving him and has never forgotten him.
Considering the following, the progress about their engagement seemed to
have been very smooth.
3. Both fathers, Fridolin and Leopold, were also in favor of this engagement.
We can know it by Mozart's letter to Fridolin on July 29,1778 and Leopold's
letter to Mozart on November 23,1778, which are cited in Lost Mozart's Letters.
As to this, Aloisia also stated the same thing at the interview with Mr.
and Mrs.Novello in 1829.
4. Mozart asked Bäsle to come to Munich by his letter from Kaisersheim
on December 23, 1778. Her role was supposed to be the witness for the engagement
contract.
Thus Mozart himself was sure to exchange the engagement contract to the
last. This reveals that nothing obstructive for their engagement happened
until that time.
5. Checking Mozart's letters to Leopold until his arrival in Munich, we
can find no description that the situation related to this engagement had
changed.
As the progress was really thus favorable, then I myself can not believe
the past opinion that Aloisia jilted Mozart by her own thought.
But probably an incredible obstacle was standing at the back of her. That
was Aloisia's shrewd mother Caecilla, I suppose.
Caecilla feared at that time losing Aloisia who was the breadwinner of
the family, being given 1,000 florins annually as a Munich court singer,
while her father Fridolin was given only 600 florins annually.
It was very clear that the Weber family had to live a simple life again
if Aloisia married jobless Mozart. Then Mozart at that time was a great
nuisance to Caecilla. So she persuaded Aloisia not to marry Mozart for
the happiness of the family.
Aloisia herself could not resist to her mother since she also recognized
that her marriage meant that the rest of her family would face to poor
life again. And then she had to sacrifice herself that time.
Thus Caecilla stood in the way of their marriage. The collapse was thus
not caused by Aloisia's thought, but by her mother,I believe.
Constanze must have known the background of their collapse, but she could
not disclose her mother's wicked thought in Nissen's book. And then she
simply blamed it for Aloisia without speaking any reason.
Well, to do justice I must describe my thought on Aloisia's negative talk
on Mozart to Mr.and Mrs.Novello when they met in Vienna.
Mary Novello asked Aloisia at their meeting why Aloisia had refused to
marry him. To this question, Aloisia responded - " I do not know exactly.
Both fathers were in favor of our marriage, however I could not love him
somehow that time. Probably I could not have understood his talent and
his lovely character."
If we read this Aloisia's response superficially, this may be regarded as an evidence that Aloisia had not loved Mozart at all.
However, we should put the following into our consideration.
1. The former Mrs. Mozart (Constanze) was still alive that time. Then Aloisia
could not have told the truth to Novello in the presence of her sister.
2. On top of it, Aloisia had a hard time in her later years and often
had to ask monetary support to Constanze. Then she could not have spoken
the truth to Novello which surely would have made Constanze mad.
3. Aloisia also could not have disclosed her mother Caecilla's wicked thought
to Mr. and Mrs. Novello.
Yes, these three factors had let Aloisia answer such negative talk, I suppose.
(2) On Mozart's Letters
Mozart's three letters to his father which were cited above might have
been the grounds to believe that Aloisia was a wicked woman, if we read only the apparent
meaning of his letters.
However, we should be careful about the following points when we read them.
Letter "A" (May16,1781)
In this letter Mozart described that "I was fool as to Mrs.Lange. I must admit it. However, a man
can be the most foolish when he falls in love."
The important point in this letter is that Mozart did not confess here
to his father that he was wrong in becoming crazy about such wicked lady,
though he wrote that he was fool as to Mrs.Lange.
According to my understanding, he did not mean that he was fool for his
falling love with such cold-hearted woman, but that he was fool for having
a stupid idea that time to bring her to Italy, stopping his trip to Paris
on the way.
Yes, he had in this letter not accused Aloisia of her personality, but accused himself of his stupid idea.
And this letter is very important when we consider about Mozart and Aloisia
in Vienna.
The first, if Mozart himself perceived that Aloisia had already lost her
love to him in Munich, then why could he shamelessly take the trouble to meet her again in Vienna
? - This may reveal that he himself never thought that he had been jilted
by Aloisia's own thought. On the contrary he would have perceived that
she sacrificed herself for her family's happiness.
The second is Aloisia's reaction that time. Though she was already a married
woman, she showed her smoldering interest to Mozart that time. This also
reveals that their collapse in Munich was not due to her own thought.
The third is that their meeting was not only once meeting that time. According
to this letter, their meetings continued afterward though the chances were
rare. Why didn't married Aloisia stop meeting with Mozart any more if she
had already lost her love about two years ago in Munich?
We should here pay careful attention to the time of his first visit to
Aloisia. Though we can not know the exact time of his first visit, it is
probable that he met Aloisia soon after his arrival in Vienna (March 16,
1781). Or, we can at least say it was far earlier than his transfer to
Caecilla's boarding house "Zum Auge Gottes (The Eye of God) "
at around early May that year.
Be sure that his visiting was not made one day when he was idling at Caecilla
Weber's boarding house, but he visited Aloisia as soon as he moved to Vienna.
This fact will tell us that his deep affection for Aloisia still continued
after the breakdown in Munich.
Probably these prove that their collapse in Munich was not caused by Aloisia's
initiative.
Letter "B" (June 9,1781)
He accused Aloisia violently in this letter with regard to her marriage
with Joseph Lange.
However, we should notice that Mozart had been nicely taken in by shrewd
Caecilla's story which was full of shameless lies. Yes, I mean this was
not his own thinking, but he wrote to his father just what Caecilla told to Mozart.
Although Mozart had believed Caecilla's talk as a truth, there contained
three important lies not to be overlooked in her story.
1.Aloisia became madly in love with an actor and married him.
2.At that time, the mother could not be paid only a penny from her
3.She deserted the unfortunate mother.
It is well known that after troublesome negotiations between Lange and
Caecilla, Lange had to pay 700 florins pension annually to Caecilla up
to her death in return for this marriage with Aloisia.
In addition to this pension, he had to pay 900 florins as well for the Weber family's transfer costs from Munich to Vienna ( There is another opinion that this 900 florins was Fridolin's debts).
Yes, Caecilla could have acquired the stable security for her old age by
her daughter's marriage, though she falsely told Mozart that she could
not be paid only a penny from her.
Now we wonder why Lange had to pay such big money to Caecilla.
That was because Lange himself became madly in love with Aloisia and keenly
wanted to marry her, although Caecilla told the quite opposite story to
Mozart.
Lange became so madly that he made Aloisia pregnant that time.
This was sure by the fact that their first baby Maria Anna Sabina was born
on May 31,1781, though their wedding was October 31, 1780.
Perceiving the fact, Caecilla chuckled to herself and soon shrewdly pressed
greedy monetary requests against Lange.
In spite of Caecilla's shameless lies, there was no background at all for
Aloisia to become crazy about Lange.
Because Lange had unfavorable conditions for marriage. He already had three
children by his first wife who died in 1779. Furthermore, he was not young,
10 years older than Aloisia.
Then can we believe that Aloisia, a young, beautiful and promising prima
donna in Vienna, could have become crazy about such male from her side?
In addition to such Lange's background, when we consider the fact that
Lange had after all accepted to pay 700 florins of pension to Caecilla,
we easily notice that it was not Aloisia but Lange who became blind with
love and urged to marry.
We can be so silly if we consider that Caecilla could have imposed 700
florins of pension on Lange despite Aloisia's one-sided crazy love.
The true background was like above. However, by telling this false story
as Caecilla's desire, she tried to let Mozart cut his attachment to Aloisia,
and to press Constanze to him instead.
Mozart somehow seemed to have believed what Caecilla told to him. Yes,
he was nicely taken in by this shrewd old woman. Being deceived, Mozart
told the story to Leopold just as he heard from Caecilla - That's about
it.
By the way, this story let us know that Aloisia again made self-sacrifice
for the Weber's family.
After the death of Fridolin Weber in October 1779, Aloisia was the only
one person among the family who could earn money. There might have been
no visible possibility for other daughters to get job in near future. On
top of it, Caecilla had to provide for her old age.
In such circumstance, a white knight Joseph Lange suddenly appeared in
front of them.
Caecilla, of course, jumped at this delicious prey. Then she persuaded
Aloisia to marry him by any means.
Aloisia understood well her surroundings. She thought that 700 florins
of annual pension which Lange offered seemed enough to maintain the rest
of family's life and security for Caecilla's old age. Then she accepted
the marriage with Lange by sacrificing her own desire, in hope of the
happiness of the Weber's family in future.
Therefore, she of course had never deserted her mother. On the contrary she saved the rest of her family again at the sacrifice of her own marriage.
Letter "C" (December 15, 1781)
In this letter Mozart spoke ill of all Weber's daughters other than Constanze. There
was no wonder why he described like that. That was because this is the
very letter which he asked the permission of his marriage with Constanze
for the first time to his father.
To persuade his father, there was the necessity for him to emphasize that
Constanze was the best among the Weber daughters, whether it was true or
not. Only for that sake, Mozart spoke ill of Aloisia as well as Josepha and Sophie.
According to my analysis, Mozart's three letters were thus never the documents
which had exposed his real mind about Aloisia.
As explained in above analysis of Letter "A", Mozart himself
had never thought that the collapse in Munich was caused by Aloisia's own
thought.
I guess then that Mozart could never forget Aloisia after that and determined
to revive their relation in secret again when he moved to Vienna. That
was the reason why he approached to Aloisia as soon as he got to Vienna.
Whether she was already married or not was not a problem to Mozart.
Aloisia who still has had her smoldering interest on Mozart probably gave
her consent secretly that time.
Thus their love rekindled again and their secret meetings continued up
to his death, though it came to the surface some day in early 1789.
The following is a table which shows the relationship between Mozart and
Aloisia in Vienna.
This in a sense is an official data between the two musicians, a composer
and an opera singer, and does not show any private meeting. Then I do not
necessarily mean by this chronological table that they met frequently or
they were in secret love.
However, we can guess there would have been great possibilities that they
could meet together many times privately, utilizing the chances of rehearsals
and co-starring at the stages for their excuses.
And even if persons those days watched their meeting by the two alone, they would not have doubted their relation
since they were a famous opera composer and a prima donna, and at the same
time were relatives as well.
| early Jan. 1783 | Mozart composed the scena and rondo "Mia speranza adorata-Ah,non sai,
qual pena sia"( K416) for Aloisia. She sang this at the concert in the"Mehlgrube"
on Jan.11. |
| Jan.16, 1783 | Mozart gave a ball at his house which started at 6:00 p.m. and ended at
7:00 a.m. next morning. Mr.and Mrs.Lange were invited to this ball. |
| Mar.3, 1783 | Mozart performed the"Music for Pantomime" together with Mr.and Mrs.Lange at the Assembly Room of the Hofburg. |
| Mar.11, 1783 | Aloisia's concert at the Burgtheater. She sang the recitative and aria
"Alcandro, lo confesso-Non so d' onde viene"( K294). Mozart appeared together and played the C major piano concerto( K415). |
| Mar.2., 1783 | Mozart's concert at the Burgtheater. Aloisia played together and sang Ilia's aria from Idomeneo and the scena and rondo(K416) |
| early Jun.,1783 | Mozart composed the aria "Ah, spiegarti, oh Dio"(K417e) for Aloisia. |
| Jun. 28, 1783 | Aloisia visited Mozart for the trial performance of two arias ("Vorrei, spiegavi, oh Dio !"(K417e) and "No, no, che non sei capace(K419) ) which were also composed for Aloisia. |
| Jan.25, 1784 | Mozart conducted his opera "Die Entführung aus dem Serial"at
the Körntnertor Theater. Aloisia appeared on this stage. |
| Mar.30, 1785 | Mozart visited Mr.and Mrs.Lange together with his father Leopold. |
| Apr. 30, 1785 |
Mr.and Mrs.Lange visited Mozart as the return salute. |
| Feb.7, 1786 | Mozart's opera "Der Schauspieldirector" (K486) was performed at the Schönburnn Palace. Aloisia appeared on this stage. |
| Mar.4, 1788 | Mozart conducted C.P.E..Bach's "Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahr Jesus"at
Esterhazy's house. Aloisia also took part in and sang.Mozart finished to compose the aria for Aloisia "Ah, se in ciel, benigne
stelle"(K538) |
| May 7,1788 | The premiere of the "Don Giovanni" in Vienna was given. Aloisia played the role of Donna Anna. This opera was performed 15 times that year. |
| Mar.6, 1789 | Mozart conducted Handel's "Messhia"at Esterhazy's house. Aloisia also took part in and sang. |
| Mar.4, 1791 | Mozart played his last piano concerto(K59) at Joseph Bär's concert. Aloisia sang several Mozart's arias at this concert. |
| Dec.5, 1791 | The last time when Aloisia met Mozart. She could not exchange words since
he has already become the remains |
As this table shows, Mozart has always been so nice to Aloisia through
his Vienna years. He composed five concert arias for Aloisia and played
them together sometimes in the theater. No other female singers were given
by Mozart so many arias.
In addition, Aloisia was given various main roles in such Mozart's operas
as "Die Entführung aus dem Serail", "Der Schauspieldirektor"
and "Don Giovanni" performed in Vienna. Mozart also appointed
her as the singer in Händel's and C.P.E. Bach's oratorios by his arrangement
which were commissioned by the Cavalry Society.
Relying on what Constanze told in Nissen's biography, persons in the past
believed that the relation between Mozart and Aloisia came to an end in
Munich at the end of 1778. But I do not think so.
After their reunion in Vienna, their mutual love soon rekindled and their
relation must have changed to an unpardonable love. Their secret love continued
without being disclosed for some years, however it somehow came to the
surface one day in early 1789, I suppose.
What makes me think so is his sudden and curious trip to Sachsen with Lichnowsky
in April 1789. As mentioned earlier, this was never the trip planned in
advance and the one for the solution of his poverty.
In my view, one of the purpose of this trip was to avoid his domestic crisis with Constanze, being separated from her for a while. Yes, I mean that there was such a necessity for him to do so since his illicit love somehow came to face around that time.
Well I will define Aloisia as Mozart's partner of his illicit love. Though
I described so, we of course can find no direct evidence like his love
letter to Aloisia in Vienna. And then the following are the presumptive
evidences to think so.
1. Mozart sent his letter to Constanze from Dresden on April 16, 1789.
In that letter he wrote the following.
"Please let me know if Mr. and Mrs. Lange visit you on occasion, and if the painting of my portrait showed
satisfactory progress, or not."
Supposedly Mozart was keenly worrying about the relationship with Mr. and Mrs. Lange after the disclosure of his illicit love with Aloisia. And then he touched on this issue in his letter
fearing for the estrangement with the Langes, I suppose.
Around that time Lange was painting Mozart's portrait, which is most popular
among all Mozart's portraits, though not finished.
As such blunder had come to light, Mozart was very worried about if it
has already been finished or not. Then he asked Constanze the progress
of the portrait in his letter from Dresden.
However, as Mozart anticipated, Lange suddenly stopped painting that year
and he had not finished it in the end. Long afterward, Lange gave it to
Constanze as it was, without finishing it. On the other hand, Constanze
left it in the wooden box without hanging it on the wall in her Salzburg
house, as if she would not like to see it.
What do these mean ?
I guess that both Lange and Constanze might have gotten mad to have known
this illicit love. And then they showed straightforward attitudes. Lange
stopped painting at once. He had no more passion for finishing it and sent
it as it was to Constanze afterward.
Constanze, who did not want to recall this hateful happening, had no desire
to hang it on the wall. And then she left it in the wooden box.
2. After this letter on April 16, four consecutive Mozart's letters to
Constanze ( dated on April 22, 28, May 5, 9) were destroyed by Constanze.
We should question carefully why only these four letters during his Sachsen
trip were destroyed. In my opinion, Mozart's excuses for his illicit love
with Aloisia had probably been described in those letters. Constanze did
not want posterity to know this and then she destroyed these four letters.
The details why I think so are explained in Lost Mozart's Letters.
We should at the same time question why Mr. and Mrs. Puchberg had taken
care of Constanze at their house during his trip to Sachsen.
I think that Mr. and Mrs. Puchberg probably calming her at their house by Mozart's request. Can we think of any other reason ?
3. In early August 1789, Constanze suddenly went to Baden. The nominal
reason has been said that it was the trip for her hot-spring cure for her
leg troubles. However, this is very doubtful since she soon made flirtation
with men as soon as she arrived there. The purpose of her trip to Baden
must have been her pastime to divert herself.
Well, was it a casual coincidence that Joseph Lange stopped painting Mozart's
portrait in 1789 and Constanze went to Baden simultaneously also in 1789
?
4. Mozart sent his letter to Constanze in Baden where the following sentence
was included.
"Don't torture yourself and me with your unnecessary jealousy. Trust my love to
you. You have the evidence to believe my love ! "(mid August 1789)
I myself suppose that this "unnecessary jealousy " is consistent
with what Aloisia told to Mr.and Mrs.Novello in Vienna in1829.
" Mozart continued to love me until his death. Speaking frankly, I
wonder if Constanze was sized with jealousy for that sake."
Aloisia had not spoken the depth of Mozart's love to them, but it was sure
that their love was not a mere flirtation but was serious one which made
Constanze got mad furiously.
5. Above table tell us that their meeting after 1789 was very rare.
Although the "Cosi fan tutte"(K588) was performed in Vienna at the beginning of 1790, Aloisia was not appointed
as a female singer in this opera that time. And Mozart had not composed
a concert aria for Aloisia after 1789.
This may be a shrewd guess, but I suppose that Mozart could not have appointed
Aloisia for his opera "Cosi fan tutte" and stopped composing music for her not to
stimulate Constanze and Lange, respecting for their feelings.
There were other plausible reasons to support my opinion.
One thing is that Constanze did not attend Mozart's funeral and burial,
while Aloisia attended both. What does this difference mean ?
My guess is that Aloisia was loved by Mozart to the time of his death as
she talked to the Novellos. And then she attended. But Constanze in reality
had become to hate him after the disclosure of his illicit love affair
and then she had not attended.
Joseph Lange divorced Aloisia in 1795. It is allegedly said that Lange
did not pay much at the divorce. We do not know the exact reason for the
divorce, however wasn't it because her illicit love with Mozart that Aloisia
had to be patient for a few compensation ?
We know that only one Mozart's letter to Aloisia dated on July 30, 1778
during his Mannheim - Paris travel was kept to posterity, while other letters
were completely thrown away.
Constanze might have kept many letters between Mozart and Aloisia to posterity
if nothing had happened between Mozart and Aloisia. However, she had torn
all the letters between the two except for one letter by her anger and
jealousy.
As to the lost letters between Mozart and Aloisia, I described the details
in "Lost Mozart's Letters"
I admit that these were not the firm evidences to prove Mozart's illicit
love affair with Aloisia, but may be some plausible reasons.
However, if such unpardonable thing had not happened between Mozart and
Aloisia, why had Constanze shown so many merciless attitudes to Mozart
even after his death?
We should carefully think again why Constanze had behaved very mercilessly
to Mozart before he was alive, upon his death and after his death.
That was because Constanze had a strong grudge against Mozart. Yes the cause of her grudge must have been the illicit love between her husband and her sister, not with an unrelated woman like a piano pupil or a female singer.
I myself believe that Constanze would have stopped her cold behavior to
Mozart after his death if his partner were an unrelated woman.
However the partner was her sister Aloisia and then she could not have
forgiven Mozart for all her life.
As a result of these presumptive views, I believe that Mozart and Aloisia had been in the relation of illicit love in their Vienna years.
Lastly I would like to describe about the real character of Aloisia to
remove past misunderstandings.
So far she has been branded as a sly and cold-hearted woman by all writers
after ages. But I myself alone showed a favorable opinion on her as described
before.
Then if I do not oppose to the past opinion here, my view faces to a big
contradiction - Mozart strangely enough loved so sly and cold hearted woman !
In considering her real character, what weighs on my mind is the favorable
statement by Raaff who really met her in Mannheim. On the other hand, we
should notice Belmonte who became the first attacker against Aloisia had
never actually known Aloisia, although all writers after ages has blindly
followed her opinion. Which was correct ?
In my view, Belmonte, who loved and respected Mozart's mother and sister, while on the other
hand hated and bitterly criticized the Weber's daughters, had only written her prejudice without any ground to think so by expanding
her own imagination by her preference.
"Its ( the"Requiem") very opening gesture, of throbbing
syncopations in the strings accompanying mournful lines on basset horns
and bassoons, is almost a quotation from the introduction to his own aria,
'Ah,non sai, qual pena sia', (K.416), written for Aloisia in 1783."
Now, what I would like to describe here is next.
At around the autumn in 1791, Mozart was already convinced of his death
within a couple of months. At that time he had to compose the commissioned
work the "Requiem".
There must have been many things which weighed on his mind. The matter
with Aloisia was probably one of his concerns since he could not have met
her freely for a long time.
His fear at that time was probably that he would not be able to meet her
again before his death without saying the last good bye to Aloisia.
Missing the chance to say the last good bye to Aloisia would have been
a great sorrow to Mozart. Then he thought of something to say the last
good bye to Aloisia. That was his device in composing the "Requiem".
He thought of applying some part of music which he composed for Aloisia
into the "Requiem".
The work he selected was "Mia speranza adorata-Ah,non sai, qual pena sia"(K.416) , the very rondo he composed for Aloisia for the first time in Vienna.
By recalling the sentence " Good bye, Good bye forever, My beloved.
Good bye ! " in the text, he let the mournful sentiment of K.416 secretly slip into the 'Introitus' of the "Requiem". By this
device, he tried to say the last good bye to Aloisia.
In reference to this, Jane Glover described in her book, "Was this
some sort of subliminal message of farewell to his family ?".
To my regret, I can not agree her in this point.
I myself think that this was a subliminal message of farewell to Aloisia, not to his family since the very rondo composed for Aloisia was applied here.
In my view, if Mozart thought of a message of farewell to his family (or
Constanze), he must have applied some part of the" Mass in C minor"
(K.427=417a). But he did not. That was because he wanted to say good bye
to Aloisia secretly.
After Mozart's death, she left Vienna and was employed at such theaters
in Europe as Hamburg, Amsterdam, Paris, Frankfurt and Zürich. She
frequently sang Mozart's music here and there in Europe to repay Mozart's
affectionate love in Vienna years.
Unlike the common myth, I believe that Mozart's beloved might have been
not Constanze, but Aloisia.
I keenly hope that Aloisia should be reassessed by contemporary scholars
once again.
TOP
HOME
Bibliography
1. Belmonte, Carola Groag
Die Frauen im Leben Mozarts(translated by Bin Ebisawa and Yukiyo Kurihara,
Ongakunotomo-sha, 1974)
2. Ghéon, Henri
Promnades Avec Mozart(translated by Hideo Takahasi, Hakusui-sha, 1968)
3. Stafford, William
The Mozart Myths ( Stanford University Press, 2002)
4. Glover,Jane
Mozart's Women (HarperCollins,2005)
5. op.cit.
Mozart, His
Character, His Work
6. op.cit.
Biographie W.A.Mozarts
7. op.cit.
A Mozart
Pilgrimage: Being the
Travel Diaries of Vincent & Mary Novello in the year 1829
8. op.cit
Briefe und Aufzeichnungen
Gesamtausgabe, Weiterer Nachtrag
9. op.cit.
Mozart: A Life
Author : Shuji Fujisawa
e-mail :
ssfuji@mbj.nifty.com
First published : July 27, 2004
Updated : November 26, 2008
All rights reserved