Music

MARIA ANNA MOZART WAS ONE OF THE FINEST PIANISTS OF HER GENERATION

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART WAS HER BROTHER


Portrait of Maria Anna Mozart, c. 1785 (Source: Wikipedia)
Maria Anna Mozart as a child (1763)
(Source: Wikipedia - Portrait of Maria Anna Mozart, c. 1785)
USPA NEWS - Maria Anna Walburga Ignitia Mozart, nicknemed 'Nannerl', was a musician, the older sister of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. She was a child prodigy like her brother, but her musical career came to an end when she was eighteen...
Maria Anna Walburga Ignitia Mozart, nicknemed 'Nannerl', was a musician, the older sister of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. She was a child prodigy like her brother, but her musical career came to an end when she was eighteen. Scholars have tended to dismiss any suggestion that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's older sister played a rôle in nurturing his genius.
Professor Martin Jarvis, an Australian-based scholar and conductor, believes he has identified Maria Anna's 'musical handwriting' confirming that she composed works used by Amadeus Mozart to learn piano. Professor Martin Jarvis said that the research found that one of the three main scribes who wrote in Maria Anna's music notebook (long referred to by scholars as 'Anonymous') was likely to have been Maria Anna herself.
Professor Martin Jarvis also concludes in a research paper about Mozart's sister 'After 250 years of musical oblivion, the forensic examination has provided evidence that has enabled Maria Anna Mozart to be identified as probably Anonymous 1; and that she is also likely composer of over twenty pieces of music in her own notebook'.

When she was seven, Maria Anna was taken with Wolfgang Amadeus on tours of many cities to showcase their talents, by their father Leopold Mozart.
In the early days, she sometimes received top billing, and she was noted as an excellent harpsichord player and fortepianist. However, given the views of her parents, prevalent in her society at the time, it became impossible as she grew older for her to continue her career any further.

In contrast to her brother, who quarreled with their father and eventually disobeyed his wishes with respect to career path and choice of spouse, Maria Anna remained entirely subordinate to her father. When amadeus was a toddler, his older sister was his idol. The two children were very close. Wolfgang wrote a number of works for Marianne to perform.
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