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Portfolio Spotlight: Mozart’s Sister

This digital collage entitled “Mozart’s Sister” was heavily inspired by the life story of Maria Anna Mozart, older sister to Wolfgang Amadeus. The collage is intended to be viewed right side up and upside down, to amplify the sense of various elements not being able to fit in with the surrounding environment—no matter which position one is observing the piece. It is an expression of going against one’s true nature—in a world where feminine nature is artificially defined by the opposite as ‘other.’

The collage on the left for instance, shows the placement of cloudy sky and earthy brick in its proper positions of north and south respectively. However, the female image is seen upside down with no upper torso. In the reverse collage, the female image is properly right side up, though the elements of earth and sky defy the natural laws of gravity. And here is where Maria Anna’s story comes into play.

Maria Anna Mozart: The Family’s First Prodigy

Maria Anna Walburga Ignatia Mozart (30 July 1751 – 29 October 1829), nicknamed "Nannerl", was seven years old when her father, Leopold Mozart, started teaching her to play the harpsichord. Leopold took her and Wolfgang on tours to showcase their talents. In the early days she often received top billing and was noted as an excellent harpsichord player and pianist.

“Virtuosic.” “A prodigy.” “Genius.” These words were written in the 1760s about Mozart—Maria Anna Mozart. When she toured Europe as a pianist, young Maria Anna wowed audiences in Munich, Vienna, Paris, London, the Hague, Germany and Switzerland. “My little girl plays the most difficult works which we have … with incredible precision and so excellently,” her father, Leopold, wrote in a letter in 1764. “What it all amounts to is this, that my little girl, although she is only 12 years old, is one of the most skillful players in Europe.”

However, given the conservative views of her parents, prevalent in her society at the time, it became impossible as she grew older for Marianne to continue her career any further. There is evidence that Marianne wrote musical compositions, as there are letters from Wolfgang praising her work, but in the voluminous correspondence of their father, Leopold never mentions any of her compositions, and unfortunately, none have survived. Just how far Maria Anna could have gone as a musician, we’ll never know. In 1769, when she was 18 years old and eligible to marry, her father ended her days on the road. While he and Wolfgang toured Italy, Maria stayed behind at home with her mother in Salzburg. In the meantime, she continued to compose music against her father’s wishes. Wolfgang wrote from Rome in 1770: “My dear sister! I am in awe that you can compose so well, in a word, the song you wrote is beautiful.”

The world will never know what her compositions sounded like. Maria Anna Mozart was one of many women whose talents and achievements have been forever squandered and hidden from the histories of civilization throughout the ages. Her story continues to echo the same struggles women must face in having their creative visions realized. As a female artist, I felt compelled to somehow pay tribute, by creating this collage, to the glorious talents that might have flourished, had it not been for our foolish prejudices against female creativity.