Helpful Score: 7
Wonderful book! I loved the details on their trips that they took. I never knew this much about Mozart-I didn't even know he had a sister! Nannerl and I probably would've gotten along because I sometimes feel like she feels towards her father. Very very good reading-I read it in a few days and Nancy Moser is now a favorite author of mine-will request more books of hers in the future!
Helpful Score: 5
I thoroughly enjoyed learning about Mozart's life. I have never studied Mozart, only listened to his music. I never even knew he had a sister. After spending so many years in Germany, the book just came to life. The author did an excellent job of bringing to light the details of history while filling in just enough fiction to make the characters come to life.
A fascinating story about Nannerl Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's older sister who was talented in her own right. One must remember it's fiction, but all in all a nice bit of insight into what life must have been like in the shadow of her brother.
Helpful Score: 3
This is a very insightful historical novel about Maria Anna "Nannerl" Mozart, sister to Wolfgang Amadeus. Most of us know his name well, but are not aware that his sister, 6 years older than he, was also an outstanding musician - some say she was at least his equal on the keyboard. As children they toured Europe playing duets and concerts for the crowned heads and for the public. However, because she was a girl she was not given encouragement to compose music, as a she grew into a young woman she was expected to marry and have children rather than become a public musician.
Nancy Moser, based on research in to the extensive collection of Mozart correspondence, has tried to sensitively enter into the emotions of this young woman living in a very complex setting.
I enjoyed this book, especially the later chapters dealing with her emotional adjustment to marriage and to the many changes in her life.
Nancy Moser, based on research in to the extensive collection of Mozart correspondence, has tried to sensitively enter into the emotions of this young woman living in a very complex setting.
I enjoyed this book, especially the later chapters dealing with her emotional adjustment to marriage and to the many changes in her life.
Helpful Score: 2
This book was on an interesting subject. I enjoyed reading it, although I did get tired of the constant whiny, wishy-washy tone of the main character-she did shape up near the end. And Mozart's father-he sounds almost like the Kit Culkin of the 1700s!
Very interesting look into the like of a woman few knew about. Enjoyed it very much!
This book gives wonderful insight into the life of a woman in 18th c. Germany. Talented in her own right, Nannerl Mozart was very limited by her gender. Able to travel and entertain nobility all over Europe with her brother at a young age, she was then confined to a much more restricted life. Moser does a great job of describing the anguish she undergoes throughout a life composed by duty, rather than the desires of her heart.
Interesting subject but I did not care for the writing or execution. The first half of the book about Nannerl and Wolfie as children and all the traveling and performances was interesting. The last half of the book could have been summed up in about 30 pages. What really turned me off was the contemporary writing style and words supposedly spoken by a girl in the 1700s and the liberal use of one and two word sentences. Whatever happened to a well constructed sentence that conveys the time period and feelings of the characters? I alternately felt the author/character was stamping her foot or shouting at me with all the one word sentences.
An interesting glimpse of what life might have been like for Nannerl Mozart, talented in her own right, yet often overlooked in favor of her younger brother..
All in all a well written and researched story! I learned much about the time period, as well as the Mozart family! I would highly recommend this book to anyone!
All in all a well written and researched story! I learned much about the time period, as well as the Mozart family! I would highly recommend this book to anyone!
It is a very good book! Its a christan novel about Mozart's older sister. It is a very moving book! you will enjoy it!
The story of Nannerl Mozart has not really been told before. We all know of her famous brother. But he was not the only Mozart who could play. In their younger years Nan and Wolfie played together as the WunderKinder, but those days are fleeting and soon disappear as their Father puts Wolfgang forward, and Nannerl is forgotten. After all is that not a womans place in the 1700s? Sadly it was. Women truly had little to depend upon besides the men in their lives. Only a small few had their own livings. And those choices were limited.
This book grabbed me into it from the very beginning. It is positively amazing and masterfully written. Nancy Moser does a stunning job of telling us the tale of this little known women and how her life goes from happy to sad and back again. How two siblings so bound together as younglings get ripped apart as age makes them so different.
I am a historical fiction fan, I truly am and this story lived up to everything I had hoped it would be. I was riveted and pulled into the story. Nan has a life that truly is sad, and filled with disappointments to herself. And yet overcoming all of that is love. She strives to tell us about the love in her life. She has complaints, dont we all? But so often throughout the book she changes her mind. She learns from her mistakes, and she forgives so many wrongs. A wonderful woman who was loyal, and strong and steadfast her whole life. Many compliments for her, and she proves in the end of her life that she has learned. She says she has regrets, but that her life was full of people. And full of love. How can anyone truly ask for more than that? Pick up this book for sure, it is a must read.
This book grabbed me into it from the very beginning. It is positively amazing and masterfully written. Nancy Moser does a stunning job of telling us the tale of this little known women and how her life goes from happy to sad and back again. How two siblings so bound together as younglings get ripped apart as age makes them so different.
I am a historical fiction fan, I truly am and this story lived up to everything I had hoped it would be. I was riveted and pulled into the story. Nan has a life that truly is sad, and filled with disappointments to herself. And yet overcoming all of that is love. She strives to tell us about the love in her life. She has complaints, dont we all? But so often throughout the book she changes her mind. She learns from her mistakes, and she forgives so many wrongs. A wonderful woman who was loyal, and strong and steadfast her whole life. Many compliments for her, and she proves in the end of her life that she has learned. She says she has regrets, but that her life was full of people. And full of love. How can anyone truly ask for more than that? Pick up this book for sure, it is a must read.
An interesting look into the life of Wolfgang Mozart's sister. Although this is a novel, the author has tried to keep everything true to the history as she can find. An insightful novel.
I really enjoyed this book. I could place myself at her side as she played the music and could identify with many of her emotions. Based on actual letters by the Mozart family, this was a great historical novel.
Maria Anna Mozart, beloved nicknamed Nannerl, was the elder and only sister of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. As children, both were considered gifted musical prodigies and their father, Leopold, arranged tours to display their talents to the masses in the grandest capitals of Europe. Both children could play the most challenging pieces and could compose too. The biggest problem with the book however is that Nannerl, as written, just isn't a very interesting character. She spends most of the novel sulking, and while it's understandable given the options available to women in the 18th century and her treatment by her father, Moser just doesn't do that much with her. Secondly, while the author attempts to give a voice to the overlooked "sister" of Mozart, she seems to fall into the same trap as other historians by abruptly ending the book when Mozart dies--despite the fact that his sister lived another 40 years! So much for being about the sister, it seems that she is only important as long as there is a Wolfgang Mozart, which I thought was supposed to be the exact opposite of this book. Overall I would still recommend reading this novel for historial knowledge. This would be also an interesting book club read for it gives your members much to talk about.
