# Mozart - Weber Sisters



## pcnog11 (Nov 14, 2016)

This is a CD sung by Sabine Devieilhe. All the piece are songs or arias written by Mozart for the Weber sisters. As all of you may know Mozart is married to Constanze Weber. Has anyone heard this CD? If so, how do you like it.

Please see link below.

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Erato/2564607584


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## Sisyphus (Jul 2, 2017)

I came looking for a Devieilhe reference because this is one of the best CDs of the past few years. It isn't just good singing, it's a very insightfully, playfully put together programme - I'm not one for aria-collection discs, but this is a must have for any Mozart fan in my opinion (and there's a bonus surprise on the last track for anyone who buys it!). Finding this was a revelation:






And here are some of her non-Mozart talents:


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Mozart married the wrong Weber sister.


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

hpowders said:


> Mozart married the wrong Weber sister.


Maybe not. Aloysia was Mozart's true love - he settled for Constanze after it became clear to him that the former was toying with his affections - she just didnt find Mozart attractive. I dont like the pictures of Constanze - maybe she was better looking in real life. She certainly proved to be as much a flirt as her sister though - hence Mozart's edgy letters to her when she was taking the cures. And she turned out to be a sharp businesswoman after Mozart's death - living in comfort in her old age when Aloysia didnt have a ducat to her name. She has to be credited with ensuring the bulk Mozart's scores survived.

Before she died - Aloysia claimed that Mozart loved only her. Looks like she regretted her life choices and anyway serves her right.

I often wonder that the Mozart women - Constanze, Aloysia and Nannerl - lived to be 75+ each. Ample years to spend embroidering tea cosies when the greatest musical talent the world has ever known is rotting in an umarked mass grave.

Yes this looks like a must have CD for Mozart fans.


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## hagridindminor (Nov 5, 2015)

stomanek said:


> Maybe not. Aloysia was Mozart's true love - he settled for Constanze after it became clear to him that the former was toying with his affections - she just didnt find Mozart attractive. I dont like the pictures of Constanze - maybe she was better looking in real life. She certainly proved to be as much a flirt as her sister though - hence Mozart's edgy letters to her when she was taking the cures. And she turned out to be a sharp businesswoman after Mozart's death - living in comfort in her old age when Aloysia didnt have a ducat to her name. She has to be credited with ensuring the bulk Mozart's scores survived.
> 
> Before she died - Aloysia claimed that Mozart loved only her. Looks like she regretted her life choices and anyway serves her right.
> 
> ...


Hm, Mozart on the otherhand spent all his time on music, left the family broke, spent his money, his kids died mostly due to his side of the gene pool while being the most influencial composer all while his wife had to watch and get nothing out of it. He could have easily laid down his compositions and desire for music for a more stable job in music especially since he's having children but instead he chose the path of being a top composer. Not that one sided


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

hagridindminor said:


> Hm, Mozart on the otherhand spent all his time on music, left the family broke, spent his money, his kids died mostly due to his side of the gene pool while being the most influencial composer all while his wife had to watch and get nothing out of it. He could have easily laid down his compositions and desire for music for a more stable job in music especially since he's having children but instead he chose the path of being a top composer. Not that one sided


Mozart did not spend money on himself - except for his clothing - which is no doubt considered to be essential attire for a performer and composer who appeared before royalty etc. His biggest expense was Constanze - who he no doubt felt it was necessary to satisfy her desire to live the high life. The apartments they rented in Vienna were the abode of the wealthy - way beyond their means and Mozart at the peak of his fame frittered away most of his earnings trying to keep his wife comfortable - and quite possibly, it must be said - proving to his father he had made good in Vienna as a composer. That Constanze also took expensive spa trips at a time when she must, or ought to have known - such expenses would be ruinous to the family - does not recommend her well. She later became a shrewd businesswoman out of sheer necessity. To suggest Constanze got nothing out of her marriage to Mozart flies in the face of all the facts. Without Mozart, as a plain girl from a poor family - she might well have ended up wed to a baker or cobbler, or an aged country gentleman, which was the fate of poor Nannerl. Her earnings from Mozart's manuscripts alone set her up for life.

what stable job? The royal court was stuffed full of talentless idiots feeding from the state trough - Mozart had to wait his turn for a trivial post that paid hardly anything. There were simply no positions open to him.


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## hagridindminor (Nov 5, 2015)

stomanek said:


> Mozart did not spend money on himself - except for his clothing - which is no doubt considered to be essential attire for a performer and composer who appeared before royalty etc. His biggest expense was Constanze - who he no doubt felt it was necessary to satisfy her desire to live the high life. The apartments they rented in Vienna were the abode of the wealthy - way beyond their means and Mozart at the peak of his fame frittered away most of his earnings trying to keep his wife comfortable - and quite possibly, it must be said - proving to his father he had made good in Vienna as a composer. That Constanze also took expensive spa trips at a time when she must, or ought to have known - such expenses would be ruinous to the family - does not recommend her well. She later became a shrewd businesswoman out of sheer necessity. To suggest Constanze got nothing out of her marriage to Mozart flies in the face of all the facts. Without Mozart, as a plain girl from a poor family - she might well have ended up wed to a baker or cobbler, or an aged country gentleman, which was the fate of poor Nannerl. Her earnings from Mozart's manuscripts alone set her up for life.
> 
> what stable job? The royal court was stuffed full of talentless idiots feeding from the state trough - Mozart had to wait his turn for a trivial post that paid hardly anything. There were simply no positions open to him.


this was the 18th century..this is how women were treated..they weren't allowed to work and unfortunately they were treated as trophies to a man's success. I've never heard that the cause for the money's draining was due to her, I'd have to see some link or something. She finally had the oppurtunity take the role of the business women after his death because Im sure she wanted to do it but Mozart prevented it. Clearly, Mozart was very well aware that his music would survive the test of time and didn't care that he was broke for if he did he could have chosen another way. His last three symphonies in fact never were commissioned nor even performed and these were by far his best works. It clearly shows that him reaching the status of a composer which he already knew he was doing was far more of a priority than his family.


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

hagridindminor said:


> this was the 18th century..this is how women were treated..they weren't allowed to work and unfortunately they were treated as trophies to a man's success. I've never heard that the cause for the money's draining was due to her, I'd have to see some link or something. She finally had the oppurtunity take the role of the business women after his death because Im sure she wanted to do it but Mozart prevented it. Clearly, Mozart was very well aware that his music would survive the test of time and didn't care that he was broke for if he did he could have chosen another way. His last three symphonies in fact never were commissioned nor even performed and these were by far his best works.* It clearly shows that him reaching the status of a composer which he already knew he was doing was far more of a priority than his family.*


As I said - most of Mozart's money after marriage went on domesticity - I can collate some figures if you want to demonstrate this. There is no direct evidence that Constanze insisted on elite accomodation - nevertheless this was the cause of Mozart's poor financial situation. As a freelance he did not have a regular income - so they had to continually downgrade accomodation. You should read up on the number of expensive trips to Baden Baden that constanze took at the height of Mozart's fiscal desperation - at a time when he was having to write begging letters to his friend. This is well known and if you dont know it - you know little about Mozart's life. It does rather suggest she was prepared to put her own comfort first.
As for what you say in your last sentence - he no doubt hoped for an occasion to have his symphonies performed - this had nothing to do with putting music first and family second. Music was his way of earning money for the family. How else could he have earned money? What is this other way?


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## Klassik (Mar 14, 2017)

stomanek said:


> I dont like the pictures of Constanze - maybe she was better looking in real life. She certainly proved to be as much a flirt as her sister though - hence Mozart's edgy letters to her when she was taking the cures.


I read in a book that Mozart wrote a letter where he basically said himself that Constanze was not a beautiful woman (perhaps aside from her eyes, I don't remember the exact words), but he thought she'd make for a good wife. Whether she was or not (especially concerning the Süssmayr rumors and such) is up for debate. Of course, there are rumors about Mozart himself in that regard.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Back to O.P.
Mediocre voice and soon to be forgotten , quick check, CD is available for less then $ 8.00


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