Mozart's Sister by Rita Charbonnier
Any music lover knows of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, but few, presumably, are aware that he had an older sister: Maria Anna Walburga Ignatia Mozart, known as Nannerl. She very soon revealed a talent for music that was out of the ordinary and, considered to be Wolfgang’s musical equal, performed at his side in the courts of Europe. But things would soon change: as Wolfgang was the younger of the two, and above all because he composed, Nannerl was relegated to second place. But what really happened to this genius born in the body of a woman and eclipsed by the brilliance of her brother?
Rita Charbonnier discloses the story for the first time in this splendid and delicately-written novel. Although Mozart’s Sister is a work of fiction, the events that inspired it really happened and the main characters did indeed exist. Nannerl loved Major Franz Armand d’Ippold, who returned her love, but she married a man fifteen years older than herself, Johann Baptist von Berchtold zu Sonnenburg, although probably more at the wish of her father than for love. Her relationship with her brother is also based on fact: it was very affectionate in childhood, went through hostile patches only to die out completely after their respective marriages. However, after Mozart’s death, his sister made a precious contribution to the publication and spreading of his work.
Charbonnier’s Nannerl is a passionate heroine who has renounced her own artistic career in favour of her brother’s, even though music is a profound part of her being. Throughout her life, she struggles to assert her own worth against a father who very soon prefers his son to her. Given that circumstances can present obstacles to a person’s ability independently of their sex, being a woman in eighteenth century society undoubtedly constituted a handicap. The treatment reserved for women of that time is denounced by the author from the start, where she includes a quote by Jean-Jacques Rousseau that needs no explanation: “A woman’s education must therefore be planned in relation to man. To be pleasing in his sight, to win his respect and love, to train him in childhood, to tend him in manhood, to counsel and console, to make his life pleasant and happy, these are the duties of woman for all time, and this is what she should be taught while she is young.”
The fictional Nannerl, having been subjected to her father’s tyranny, having seen her brother’s affection diminish and having suffered for love, will finally have her deliverance. But in this book, Rita Charbonnier also rehabilitates the “historic” Nannerl, a key figure in the life of the great Salzburger: who knows if Wolfgang would have become the genius whom we know, if he had not followed her example and had not been stimulated by rivalry with such a talented sister…
Laura Sacchiero in Classicaonline, Italy, July 2006
