Peter Shaffer's play Amadeus brilliantly explores the confrontation between genius (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) and mediocrity (Antonio Salieri). But there is one person to whom his take on Mozart's life does no favours at all: his wife Constanze. Portrayed as a vulgar, bubble-headed sex kitten, lacking any appreciation of her husband's phenomenal gifts, Constanze shares and encourages only the immature aspects of Mozart's personality. Together they indulge in childish games with adult undercurrents of unbridled sexuality. Constanze's only redeeming feature seems to be a basic loyalty to her husband, manifested in a readiness to sleep with his rival Salieri in order to advance Mozart's career.
Constanze Weber came from a high- spirited family of talented musicians. Her father, Fridolin, was a musical all-rounder (singer, prompter, copyist) and an exceptional singing teacher - three of his four daughters were coloratura sopranos of quite remarkable ability. In addition to Constanze, for whom Mozart would write the sublime but challenging solos in his Mass in C minor, Fridolin's eldest daughter, Josefa, was to be Mozart's first Queen of the Night, and his second, Aloysia, became the Renée Fleming of her day, enjoying great public acclaim for her singing.
Constanze and her sisters were brought up in Mannheim, a centre of musical excellence. And, in addition to the sophistication she absorbed from this artistic milieu, she was intelligent - speaking excellent Italian and French as well as her native German. In many ways, she was an ideal wife for a composer. Mozart himself was firmly of that opinion. As he wrote in a careful letter to his father, Leopold: "I must make you better acquainted with the character of my dear Constanze. Her whole beauty consists in two little black eyes and a pretty figure. She likes to be neatly and cleanly dressed, but not smartly; and most things that a woman needs she is able to make for herself; and she dresses her own hair every day. I love her and she loves me with all her heart. Tell me whether I could wish for a better wife."
The marriage between Mozart and Constanze was unquestionably a success. There were occasional signs of tension between them, as in any union. But reconciliation was always sweet: they adored each other unreservedly and cared for one another tenderly in their respective illnesses. In addition to her many pregnancies, Constanze suffered a protracted and almost fatal illness in the late 1780s, and it was probably for this reason that Mozart shielded her from the reality of his developing financial crises. When, in 1790, Constanze became aware of them, she took them in hand. While Mozart was on a trip to Germany with their brother-in-law Franz Hofer (Josefa's husband), Constanze organised a house move, and negotiated loans and publications. Mozart on his travels was aware of her activities on his behalf, and his letters home suggest immense gratitude and relief, in addition to his habitual longing for her.
When Mozart died in 1791, Constanze was only 29. She had a seven-year-old son and a four-month-old baby; and although there were no longer any threatening debts, she had no obvious financial stability. Her mother and sisters were immensely supportive, and many distressed friends rallied round her: Baron von Swieten, Joseph Haydn, Emmanuel Schikaneder (Mozart's partner in the creation of The Magic Flute) and others. Constanze petitioned Emperor Leopold II for a pension, and was awarded a tiny annual sum. But she needed to do much more to stabilise herself. And she was also determined to keep alive the reputation of her late husband.
With the continuing assistance of her family, Constanze began to mount memorial concerts in both Vienna and Prague. The dazzling Aloysia was crucial to these, bringing in her colleagues, taking a major part in the concerts herself and, like all the participants, performing without fee so that the takings could go to Constanze and her children. (At one concert, Mozart's D minor piano concerto was played by a certain Ludwig van Beethoven.) And then Constanze revived her own singing career. In the mid-1790s she planned several concerts across the major cities of Germany and Austria, for herself and Aloysia together. Nostalgic enthusiasm for Mozart's music was growing fast. That it was to be performed by his widow and her sister, who happened to be one of the finest singers of the time, was irresistible. Considerable sums were taken, and Constanze's financial security grew.
The other area of activity was with Mozart's manuscripts. In the early and bewildered stages of her bereavement, Constanze had paid little attention to the potential gold-dust lying around the house (apart from arranging to have Mozart's unfinished Requiem Mass completed). But by the mid-1790s she began, gradually at first, to organise the music, and then to publish it. In this she was greatly assisted by two people, the Abbé Stadler, a Benedictine priest who had known the Mozarts in the early 1780s, and Georg Nissen, a Danish diplomat who happened to be living in the same building as Constanze. Between them, they put the material in order and began a series of exchanges with publishers.
By the turn of the century, Constanze was at last not merely stable financially, but buoyant. The relationship between Constanze and the kindly Nissen developed as they worked together. After 10 years of close friendship, they were married in 1809 and returned to Nissen's native Copenhagen, where they spent another quiet decade. Constanze's second marriage (an altogether different matter to her first) was tranquil and secure. Her sons approved heartily of their stepfather (whom they referred to as their father), and were delighted at their mother's new happiness.
The spirit of Mozart had brought Constanze and Nissen together, and it was Mozart, too, who was the reason for their surprising move, as they approached their sixties, from Copenhagen to Salzburg in 1819. Nissen was planning to write a major biography of Mozart; and although he had unique access to material and anecdote about his subject's adult life, both he and Constanze were relatively ignorant of the childhood. They needed to go to Salzburg, where it had all begun. Much as Constanze relished a return to her native country, this was a huge step, for she had only been in Salzburg once, with Mozart in 1783, and she had been coolly received. Her relationship with her sister-in-law Nannerl, whom she had not seen at all in the ensuing 35 years, had always been a little strained.
But Nannerl possessed all manner of family material, including over 400 letters inherited from their father, Leopold, and was clearly the person with the most important memories of Mozart's childhood. So the Nissens uprooted themselves to Salzburg, where they became respected and admired citizens. Nissen's diplomatic skills charmed Nannerl into willing cooperation in the writing of the biography, and he started work with rigorous energy.
Sadly, Nissen died before he finished his huge task, in 1826. Although he had acquired enormous quantities of material, and begun to write a preface, he never managed to organise his papers. For the second time in her life, Constanze was widowed and left with a major unfinished project by her late husband. She set herself the formidable task of marketing and selling it: the book was, after all, a monument to both her dead husbands. She was extremely successful in this, as in her many other financial transactions, and she kept meticulous records of her business activities. These were not just matters relating to the sales of the biography, but also her dealings with lawyers in Copenhagen about Nissen's estate and her own will, and with her bankers in Vienna. Constanze had become an extremely shrewd businesswoman, determined, tenacious and razor-sharp.
Constanze's last years were spent quietly in Salzburg. She was joined there by her two surviving sisters, the youngest, Sophie, who lived with her, and Aloysia, who, after her glittering career had fallen on hard times, needed Constanze's support. Aficionados of Mozart's music came from all over Europe to visit his widow. One of them, in 1829, was Vincent Novello, founder of the publishing firm, and his description of her shows how serene Constanze had become in her late 60s: "In her youth her eyes must have been very brilliant and are still fine. She is of a rather small stature, slim figure, and looks much younger than what I expected to find her. Her voice is low and gentle, her manners well-bred and prepossessing, unconstrained like a person who has lived much in the world ... Nothing could be more kind, friendly and even cordial than her behaviour to me throughout the visit. Altogether this lady is, to me, one of the most interesting persons now in existence."
· Mozart's Women by Jane Glover is published by Macmillan on September 16, price £20