Constanze Mozart and Photo

27 July 2006

This post by Mrs. Selby is a reaction to my earlier post "Photo of Mozart's Widow Found."  Refer to the link of the photo in question. 26 July, 2006 )

Photo Claimed to be that of Constanze Mozart's, Wife of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

By Agnes Selby, Guest Writer

I wish I could agree with the newspapers which seem to have found it newsworthy to publish a photograph of Constanze Mozart. No research into this matter has been done either by the Press nor the authorities in Altotting. (Or Altottingen, which ever you prefer).

The photo surfaced a long time ago but it has been found that the claim that this is Constanze Mozart cannot be supported and it was placed in the files at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. For some reason it has surfaced, again without any substantiation.

The reason why this is not Constanze is not only due to the fact that the head of the woman had been torn off and later pasted onto the body, it is the fact that Constanze would not have been able to travel to visit Keller. She was too sick in 1840 to undertake such a journey and died 18 moths later in 1842. Constanze suffered from severe arthritis, gout and ulcers on her legs due to her long standing fight with varicosities, dating back to the birth of her first child.


In 1839 she wrote to the authorities in Linz where the Salzburg government had moved about her inability to walk. In many of her letters she apologises for her handwriting because of her difficulty of holding a pen.

Constanze's diaries do not reveal such a visit to Maximilian Keller. Her diaries contain not only copies of all her letters send to friends and publishers but also her expenses down to a tip given a waiter. Such a journey would have been noted in her expenses.

The article claims that she visited Keller often. There is not a single mention in her diaries supporting such visits nor are there any letters received by her from Mr. Keller nor are her replies noted.

Judging by the lack of any substantial evidence, it seems that Constanze neither wrote, visited nor heard from Mr. Keller.

Keller was an organist in Altotting. He came to Salzburg to help Constanze's second husband, Nikolaus Nissen to collect data for Nissen's Mozart biography. Nissen died in 1826. Even before his death there exists a letter from Keller to Nissen's other assistant, Anton Jahndl informing him of his imminent return to his home town. The Mozart biography was completed by Dr. Feuerstein. Consequently, Constanze had no further use of Keller's help and there is no evidence that any kind of friendship continued during the years of 1826 to 1840.

There are other problems as well. The photograph seems to be of a later date as photography in the open air had not been perfected by 1840. Technically, according to Dr. M. Lorenz such a feat would not have been possible.

We do not know who the woman in the photo is. It could have been someone's favourite aunt.

Best regards,
Agnes.

Note: Mrs. Agnes Selby is the author of Constanze, Mozart's Beloved. This post is graciously written by her exclusively for Classical Music Lounge, now Mozart and Classical Music web site. I have Mrs. Selby's permission to post it and acknowledge her contribution... Tel Asiado.