Constanze Mozart

Maria Constanze Cäcilia Josepha Johanna Aloysia Weber was born in Austria on 5 January 1762, trained as a soprano, and married Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in a union his letters suggest was ardent on his side. They had nine years together before his sudden death in 1791 left her in poverty with a family to support. She pulled herself out by concertizing and methodically promoting his works, driving much of the extensive posthumous publication that secured his place in musical history. She remarried Georg Nikolaus von Nissen, and together they wrote a biography of Mozart that helped shape his legend - and introduced some enduring myths. She died on 6 March 1842, fifty-one years after the composer, having outlived him by more than the length of their marriage.