Talk:Constanze Mozart

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The initial entry on Constanze Weber had only a single paragraph. Added information mostly from the German wikipedia entry on her. --Hs282 16:16, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Constanze or Konstanze

Mozart's name refers to her with the K spelling, and even quotes her signature as "Konstantia Mozart, née Weber, widow relict of the late Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart." Was the C spelling used in her lifetime? JackofOz 21:52, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

Until sometime in the 20th century, all European first names were transliterated into the local language. So if you were born in Bavaria and named "Wilhelm", you would introduce yourself as "Guillaume" in Paris, "William" in London, etc. Most Europeans would not consider one of these their real name. (Indeed, if you asked someone in a Catholic country their "real name", they probably wouldn't understand you, but if you pressed them they might volunteer the Latin version of their name, since this appeared on their baptismal certificate.)

So the real question is, not what was her real name, but how does Wikipedia policy handle such things? If the person isn't famous, Wikipedia would choose the name they used the most (in her case, Konstanze). If the person is famous, Wikipedia would choose the well-known version (hence Solomon rather than Shlomo). - Lawrence King 02:34, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Photograph is not authentic

I am so sorry to have to disappoint, but the alleged photo of Constanze has been proven to be a hoax. Details here: http://classicalmusicguide.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=122954#122954. This rumor has apparently been around for years, but it has been debunked by scholars. Its kind of silly really-- at the time the photo was taken, Constanze was extremely ill and hardly able to sit up, nevermind unable to travel aborad to visit people who she had not seen in decades. She was also close to eighty-- the woman in this photo is much younger.

I am deleting the photo and the link for now. Maybe it can be mentioned as a popular hoax, but it is not a photo of Constanze.

More for the curious: The phot was also debunked by photography experts, who estimate that teh photo in question as actually taken sometime in the 1870's.

Link: http://www.soundsandfury.com/soundsandfury/2006/07/and_the_mystery.html

Money Quote:

"The "newly discovered" picture of Constanze Mozart has already been published twice in the 1950s, the last time in an article by E. H. Mueller von Asow in the Österreichische Musikzeitschrift, March 1958, p. 93. For decades it has been known as a hoax among Mozart experts. There are no outdoor photographs of groups of people dating from 1840, because the lenses invented by Joseph Petzval, which were to make such portraits possible, were not available yet. It was simply not possible in 1840 to take sharp outdoor pictures of people as long as the necessary exposure time still amounted to about three minutes. The first outdoor portraits of human beings originate from the 1850s and the picture in question definitely looks like an amateur snapshot from the 1870s. If the BBC (or anyone else) knows a verified group portrait originating from 1840, I would like to see it. But the guys in Altötting wanted to have their share of fun and publicity in the Mozart-year."

It *is* an interesting hoax! Cheers!

Why is the photo still here if it has been proven to be a fake!?

Because people like to be fooled.--141.203.254.65 13:16, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Unclear sentence

Could someone please rewrite the final sentence in this paragraph of the article:

Mozart and Constanze Weber met in 1777 in Mannheim. However, Mozart was at first more interested in her sister, Aloysia. When Mozart met the family again in Vienna in 1781, Aloysia showed no interest in Mozart anymore and married Lange, an actor, though it is rumored that she regretted this decision years later. Mozart lived with the Weber family for a time, though he left due to rumors about their relationship.

I can't figure out who "their" refers to in the final sentence. Mozart and Constanze? Mozart and Aloysia? Mozart and the Weber family? Aloysia and Lange? - Lawrence King 02:38, 22 October 2006 (UTC)