Anna Maria Mozart

Anna Maria Walburga Mozart née Pertl (December 25, 1720 — July 3, 1778) was the mother of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Maria Anna Mozart.

She was born in St. Gilgen, Austria to Eva Rosina (1681-1755) and Nicolaus Pertl (1667-1724), deputy prefect of Hildenstein. Nicolaus had a university degree in jurisprudence from the Benedictine University in Salzburg, and held a number of positions of responsibility, including district superintendent in St. Andrae. He was apparently a skilled musician. He suffered a severe illness in 1714 and had to change positions to one with a fairly low salary (250 florins per year) as deputy superintendent of Hüttenstein. During the last portion of his life he fell deeply into debt, and he died 7 March 1724. [Source for this paragraph: Solomon 1995, 35-36]

Nicolaus's possessions were liquidated to help pay the debt, and his remaining family (Anna Maria's mother and her older sister Maria Rosina (born 24 August 1719) lapsed into poverty. They moved to Salzburg, not far away, and lived on a charity pension of just eight (later nine) florins per month, perhaps supplemented by low-level employment. Anna Maria's older sister died in 1728, aged nine. Anna Maria herself was not well when she was young: legal documents from the time describe her as "constantly ill" (1733) and "the constantly ill bedridden daughter" (1739). [Source for this paragraph: Solomon 1995, 35-36]

She married Leopold Mozart in Salzburg in 1747. The couple moved (perhaps with the mother) into an apartment on the third floor of Getreidegasse 9. Their landlord was Lorenz Hagenauer, who was a close friend of Leopold's and a frequent correspondent on the family's later travels. [Source for this paragraph: Solomon 1995, 35-36]

They had seven children, of whom only two survived infancy. Both children achieved fame. Their daughter Maria Anna Mozart, born 1751, was called "Nannerl" as a child. She was a talented musician who performed with her brother on tour, but whose later life was very limited in its experiences and possibilities. Their son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, born 27 January 1756, achieved distinction first as a child prodigy, later as one of the most celebrated of all composers.

Anna Maria nearly died giving birth to Wolfgang: her womb retained the placenta, and forced removal of it at the time posed extreme risk of fatal infection. [Solomon 1995, 37]

Anna Maria went on the series of tours (1762-1768) through Europe, during which the two children were exhibited as prodigies. She stayed home (unwillingly) [Solomon 1995, 90-91] with Nannerl during the tours of Italy that Wolfgang and Leopold took during 1769-1773. In 1777, she accompanied the now-adult Wolfgang (again unwillingly) [From Mannheim she wrote Leopold telling him she was too old to take such a long journey; Solomon 1995 179] on a job-hunting tour that took him to Augsburg, Mannheim, and Paris. While in Paris she took ill and died (3 July 1778) of an undiagnosed illness. She was buried in the cemetery of Saint-Eustache. [Solomon 1995, 181]

Notes

References

*Solomon, Maynard (1995) "Mozart: A Life". Harper Collins.

External links

* [http://www.mozartproject.org/biography/mozart_a.html Biography of Anna Maria Mozart]
* [http://mozart.infonet.com.br/AMaria.htm Biography of Anna Maria Pertl Mozart]