Throughout his life, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was enchanted, amused, aroused, and betrayed by women—his mother, sister, wife, sisters-in-law, female patrons, friends, lovers, and fellow artists—and he was equally complex to them. But ultimately the great composer loved and respected the women he knew intimately and those whom he admired from afar. In this fascinating, evocative, and compellingly readable biography, Jane Glover, acclaimed conductor and acknowledged expert on Mozart's life and work, brings these remarkable ladies vividly to life—the real women who shared the composer's tumultuous world and inspired some of his greatest musical achievements, as well as those he dramatized in his magnificent operas. “Jane Glover has pulled off a coup des livres with her fresh take on Mozart’s life and work.” - John Allison, Sunday Telegraph “Impossible to read Mozart’s Women without being deeply touched by what it reveals of the people closest to the composer.” - The Independent “a heartfelt and original portrait...[from] one of the world’s finest musical interpreters of Mozart.” - The Observer “It is impossible to read Mozart’s Women without being deeply touched by what it reveals of the people closest to the composer.” - The Independent “Beautifully written and scholarly without seeming so.” - Dame Felicity Lott “It is Jane Glover’s great gift to show how the women surrounding Mozart...all influenced him.” - Judith Flanders “Jane Glover has produced a winner . . . this is a book that anyone with an interest in Mozart should have.” - Dame Janet Baker “Rich, evocative, compellingly readable, Mozart’s Women illuminates the music and the man, but above all, the women who inspired him.” - ClassicFM Newsnight Throughout his life, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was enchanted, amused, aroused, and betrayed by women—his mother, sister, wife, sisters-in-law, female patrons, friends, lovers, and fellow artists—and he was equally complex to them. But ultimately the great composer loved and respected the women he knew intimately and those whom he admired from afar. In this fascinating, evocative, and compellingly readable biography, Jane Glover, acclaimed conductor and acknowledged expert on Mozart's life and work, brings these remarkable ladies vividly to life—the real women who shared the composer's tumultuous world and inspired some of his greatest musical achievements, as well as those he dramatized in his magnificent operas. Jane Glover is one of our preeminent conductors and an expert on Mozart. She studied music at St. Hugh's College, Oxford, and subsequently completed her doctorate on seventeenth-century Venetian opera. She is Music Director of Chicago's Music of the Baroque and conducts regularly with the Chicago Opera Theater. In addition to the New York City Opera, she has conducted at all the major symphony and chamber orchestras in Britain -- at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the English National Opera and Glyndebourne -- and appears regularly at the BBC Proms. She works extensively in the United States, Europe and Australia. She is also a regular broadcaster, with highlights that include a television series on Mozart and the radio series Opera House . She received the honor of Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 2003. Mozart's Women His Family, His Friends, His Music By Jane Glover Harper Perennial Copyright © 2007 Jane Glover All right reserved. ISBN: 9780060563516 Chpater One Mozart never knew either of his grandmothers. His mother's mother, Eva Rosina Pertl, died in the care of her pregnant daughter a few months before he was born. His father's mother, Anna Maria Mozart, could have heard her seven-year-old grandson perform in Augsburg in 1763 but had long since fallen out irreparably with her own son Leopold, and kept her obstinate distance. But both these women, the one a victim and the other a culprit of historical absenteeism, had a strong influence on the lives and natures of their own children, Mozart's parents; and thus they left their mark on the early awareness of their grandchildren. There was music on both sides of Mozart's family, but more perhaps in the maternal genes. His grandmother Eva Rosina's father and her first husband were both Salzburg church musicians. Her second husband, Nikolaus Pertl, was also musical, with a career path initially not dissimilar to that of his future son-in-law. Pertl attended the Benedictine University in Salzburg, sang bass in the choir of St Peter's Abbey and taught at the monastery school. But his main study was law, which after graduation brought him jobs in Salzburg, Vienna and Graz. He was forty-five when he married Mozart's grandmother in 1712. He then held the fairly senior post of District Superintendent (or Pflege) in St Andrae, but in 1715 suffered a near-fatal illness, which left him greatly debilitated. The Pertls moved to the quieter waters of the Abersee, and the small village of St Gilgen, where Nikolaus he h