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Maria Anna "Nannerl" Mozart, with her brother and father in a family portrait painted in 1780-81.

Maria Anna Mozart was a gifted musician whose abilities were quickly overshadowed by the achievements of her younger brother.

But at first, "Nannerl" was seen as the musical equivalent of Wolfgang, half of a sister-brother act that toured the capitals of Europe. As late as 1765 in London, she received top billing in concert advertisements written by her father. That soon changed, however, as the children grew older. Because he was the younger of the two -- and because he performed his own compositions -- Wolfgang became the star and Nannerl the supporting player.

Mozart thought highly of his sister's ability. In September 1781 he wrote to her from Vienna: ". . . believe me, you could earn a great deal of money in Vienna for example, by playing at private concerts and by giving piano lessons. You would be very much in demand -- and you would be well paid."

But it was not to be. Nannerl indeed became a piano teacher, but in "this dull Salzburg," as she called it. And in the wake of her brother's perceived rebellion, she surrendered control of her life to her father -- even her choice of suiters who, one by one, were turned away by Leopold. In 1784, she married the magistrate Johann Baptist Franz von Berchtold zu Sonnenburg (1736-1801) and moved to St. Gilgen -- but returned to Salzburg to give birth to her first son, and left the newborn there in Leopold's care.

Meanwhile, she grew more distant from Wolfgang, especially after his marriage to Constanze Weber. Their correspondence resumed briefly after Leopold's death. But by then their affection for each other had all but disappeared; Mozart's brief letters to her deal almost exclusively with the disposition of their father's estate.

After her husband's death, Maria Anna returned to Salzburg and supported herself once again by giving piano lessons. She died on October 29, 1829, and was buried in St. Peter's cemetery.

References

• Anderson, Emily, ed. The Letters of Mozart and His Family. New York, 1985.
• Deutsch, Otto Erich. Mozart: A Documentary Biography. Stanford, 1965.
• Landon, H.C. Robbins, ed. The Mozart Companion. New York, 1969.
• Solomon, Maynard. Mozart: A Life. New York, 1995.