Variations on the Mozart Family

What a handsome family!

The Mozart Family: from l to r—Nannerl, Wolfgang, Maman Maria Anna, Papa Leopold.

The portrait dates from 1780/1781: Mozart was 24 years old and Nannerl four years older. Johann Nepomuk della Croce is the painter. Nannerl and Wolfgang are playing a piano duet—perhaps one of Mozart's 4-hand piano sonatas; Mama Maria Anna has passed on, and thus appears in a portrait on the wall; Papa Leopold, with violin in hand, perhaps is thinking about his Treatise on Violin Playing or how wonderfully musically gifted his children are.

Shulamit and Stanley with the Mozart Family Portrait, Viva performance tour, Vienna and Salzburg, for Mozart 250th anniversary, 2006

The Mozart Family Redux: l to r—Nannerl, Amadeus, Shulamit, and Stanley. Portrait created in Adobe Photoshop, 1996.