Constanze Mozart, wife of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1762-1842

Constanze was a trained musician and played a role in her husband’s career. The extraordinary writing for soprano solo in the Great Mass in C minor (for example, in the "Christe eleison" section of the Kyrie movement, or the aria "Et incarnatus est") was intended for Constanze, who sang in the 1783 premiere of this work in Salzburg. During the period of the couple’s courtship, Mozart examined Baron Gottfried van Swieten’s extensive collection of manuscripts of work by Bach and Handel. Mozart was excited by this material, and he prepared a number of compositions in Baroque style. An important impetus was Constanze, who apparently fell in love at this time with Baroque counterpoint.