Mozart's Wife

Giddy sugarplum or calculating bitch? Mozart's biographers show disdain for his Konstanze. Mozart's wife aroused strong feelings among her contemporaries: for example, her inlaws despised her. Her husband's Viennese friends eagerly gossiped about her as well. Nonetheless, Mozart's letters attest both to his affection for Konstanze and to their powerful sexual bond. She bore six children while presiding over the unstable household of the world's first superstar. As a widow, Konstanze paid off his debts, provided for their children, and relentlessly mythologized the life of her brilliant husband. Why, then, did she never bother to mark her illustrious husband's grave?