Ye Who Know Love

Book excerpt: Mozart loved his wife Constanze dearly, his letters show it, he had promised to do so, and he had the example of his parents to make him consider marriage vows absolute. Was the real love of his soul not Aloysia, Nancy Storace, Anna Gottleib as variously suggested, but Sophie? Constanze was so dominated by her mother as to be at times almost obliterated by her, but Sophie provided the stability his mother had once given, and the deep love he so needed, unconditionally and they complemented each other.