Edinburgh Fringe 2025

The Other Mozart

Little Matchstick Factory / Suzanna Rosenthal Productions

Genre: Music, Solo Show, Theatre

Venue: Studio Two at Assembly George Square Studios

Festival: Edinburgh Fringe

Low Down

Review

I grew up playing Mozart.  His compositions were standard repertoire for piano students:  There were the famous pieces, like Eine kleine Nachtmusik” (A Little Night Music). He died at age 35 in 1791 but in his short years, he wrote more than 600 compositions: symphonies, operas, including “Don Giovanni” and “Marriage of Figaro”, chamber music, piano sonatas and more.

That was Wolfgang Amadeus.

But he wasn’t the only talent in the family. His older sister, Maria Anna Walburga Ignatia Mozart, nicknamed Nannerl, was the first child prodigy in the family.  “The Other Mozart” tells her story.

From very young, Nannerl was playing concerts, receiving top billing. By the age of 13, she and her brother were performing for aristocrats in Munich.  She was admired for her artistry, he for his spirit.  She was not only composing her own pieces but she was transcribing some of his, leading scholars to believe that some of Wolfgang’s music could have been written by Nannerl. “Imagine an eleven-year-old girl, performing the most difficult sonatas and concertos of the greatest composers, on the harpsichord or fortepiano, with precision, with incredible lightness, with impeccable taste. It was a source of wonder to many.”  Augsburger Intelligenz, May 19, 1763

At 18, Nannerl ceased to perform publicly. Women were expected to take care of the home and not be seen on a concert stage. She needed to learn cooking and embroidery in order to attract a husband, as girls were educated for the pleasure of men. She still composed, played piano, and taught music.  But the public accolades were for Wolfgang. And that is who we remember.

Award-winning New York actress and playwright Sylvia Milo felt that Nannerl should be recognized and have a voice.  Milo did extensive research including examining Mozart’s own letters that were preserved by Nannerl in order to bring the story to life.

Set in a stunning 18-foot white dress that becomes not only the costume but also the set, actress Daniela Galli punctuates her lines with clavichords, music boxes, tea cups, and bells, reminiscent of the era in which Nannerl lived. Galli is sensitive, dramatic, funny, and engaging. She nearly floats across the stage, a clear demonstration of her dance training. She portrays all of the personalities in Nannerl’s world, using what she imagined were the voices of those people.  She is Mozart’s father, who was encouraging of Nannerl’s talent, so much so that Nannerl was put on tour at a very young age.  We hear the encouraging dad, who becomes the limiter once Nannerl grows to 18 years old.  He did praise her as a child prodigy. We meet the mother, who is boxed in by tradition of what women’s roles should be: playing instruments is considered improper for women. Despite the fact that Nannerl pointed out that her favourite saint, St. Cecelia, is pictured playing the organ, the mother does not relent. Galli handily switches from these characters’ voices, from her baby brother to her mother to the doctor advising Papa and more. The continuous voice of Nannerl modulates from excitement as a budding touring artist to utter disappointment and sadness as she pines after the lost concert hall while her brother is playing music that they should have been performing together.  We hear the longing in her voice as she expresses the wish to have been better educated and travelled more. The dynamic performance thoroughly pulls the audience into this complicated family.

Galli brings to life Nannerl’s family and the travels of her brother by reading letters that are hidden in the folds of the enormous dress. Each letter is effectively read in the style of the imagined writer, painting a vivid picture. There are other items in the dress lining, from her miniature instruments to potions that she drinks throughout the show.  This is a very clever use of the intricacies of the costume as it completely fills the stage.

Female musicians and composers have often been overlooked in history. Celebrated Scottish pianist and author Susan Tomes book “Women and the Piano” details important and talented women who were overlooked or whose careers were overshadowed by their husband’s stature, including Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn. Piano keys were designed for larger hands, making it more challenging for women to play efficiently. Repertoire taught to piano students is overwhelmingly written by men.

So this story is not surprising, but it is refreshing and illuminating to experience it.  Nannerl married and had three children. The eldest she named Leopold after her father. She died in 1829, overshadowed by her brother’s notoriety. Sadly, none of her compositions have survived.

The play is a stirring and emotional tribute to someone who should have been recognized as a great artist but the mores of the day prevented that.  The audience is not only given the chance to come to know the talented Nannerl Mozart but is transported by centuries by a brilliant performer, beautiful music, exquisite staging and costuming, and a compelling recounting of a nearly lost story.

The play has toured to nine countries and across America. The work inspired the creation of a documentary film on Nannerl Mozart, “Mozart’s Sister“.  There is now renewed interest in this nearly-forgotten talent. The continuous soundtrack includes some of Wolfgang’s compositions as well as some original pieces written for the play by Nathan Davis and Phyllis Chen, featured composers of Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival. The play was directed by Isaac Byrne, with Period Style Movement Director Janice Orlandi, and costume designers Magdalena Dąbrowska and Miodrag Guberinic.

Published August 17, 2025 by Patricia Silver