We all know the name of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
But who has heard of Maria-Anna Mozart, and why is that so?
A composer and musician in her own right, Maria-Anna was Wolfie’s older sister, the only one of his six siblings to survive infancy, and toured Europe and Britain as a duet prodigy as children and early teenagers.
Known as Nannerl, Maria-Anna’s talent, arguably the equal to her brother, was ignored and neglected due to the mores of the time when it was deemed unseemly for adult females to perform publicly. Her accompaniment in concerts was jettisoned so that the focus was on the boy, not the girl.
For sixteen years she shared equal billing with her brother only to be brutally silenced by the prevailing patriarchy.
MOZART’S SISTER seeks to restore Maria-Anna’s status in the history of classical music, by way of investigative journalism and re-enactment.
Award winning documentary film maker, Madeleine Hetherton-Miau has fashioned a fabulous film about Maria-Anna’s forced retirement and the fate of her compositions.
The film is adorned with face to face interviews with Dame Jane Glover, Sylvia Milo, creator of the stage play, The Other Mozart, Alam Deutscher,
composer, musician and narrator, and Paul Dyer, artistic director of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, with gentle re-enactments featuring Chloe Brown as Maria-Anna as a child and tween, and the exquisite Alyona Popova as the adult Nannerl.
Beautifully photographed by Shannon Rudduck, the Salzburg footage especially sumptuous, MOZART’S SISTER is, if nothing else, a long overdue recognition of an artist arguably the equal of a genius. What emerges is her close, creative and committed relationship with her brother, her lively personality and love of performing.
Their collaboration is evident and his support equally so. MOZART’S SISTER succeeds in stepping over the social conventions of her time and rightfully restoring her place in the pantheon of classical music composition.
