Mozart's Sister

Mozart's Sister (French title: Nannerl, la sœur de Mozart) is a 2010 French drama film written and directed by René Féret and starring two of his daughters. It presents a fictional account of the early life of Maria Anna Mozart, nicknamed Nannerl, who was the sister of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his only sibling to survive infancy.

Plot

During the Mozart family grand tour, a cracked carriage axle forces Leopold Mozart, his wife Anna, 14-year-old Nannerl and a rambunctious 11-year-old Wolfgang to seek shelter in the nearby Fontevraud Abbey. There Nannerl develops a friendship with 13-year-old Princess Louise of France, who is being brought up in the Abbey, along with two of her sisters. This leads to an encounter at Versailles with her brother, Louis, Dauphin of France. Nannerl, an accomplished harpsichordist and singer who helps support the family as part of a brother - sister act, yearns to compose music and play violin, but her father, Leopold, forbids it. The young, but recently widowed Dauphin takes an interest in her and her music that edges toward romance. But he breaks off the relationship when he becomes engaged to Maria Josepha Amalia of Saxony. Princess Louise enters a convent and urges Nannerl to stay away from the Dauphin who is struggling to avoid the debauchery of his father, King Louis XV. A bizarre final encounter with the Dauphin and his new wife ensues. Nannerl and Princess Louise reflect on how their fates would have differed had they been born male.

Sister

A sister is the female offspring of one's parent.

Overview

The term sister comes from Old Norse systir which itself derives from Proto-Germanic *swestēr, both of whom have the same meaning, i.e. sister. Some studies have found that sisters display more traits indicating jealousy around their siblings than their male counterparts, brothers. In some cultures, sisters are afforded a role of being under the protection by male siblings, especially older brothers from issues ranging from bullies or sexual advances by womanizers.

Studies

Various studies have shown that an older sister is likely to give a varied gender role to their younger siblings as well as being more likely to develop a close bond with their younger siblings. Older sisters are more likely to play with their younger siblings. Younger siblings display a more needy behavior when in close proximity to their older sister and are more likely to be tolerant of an older sisters bad behavior. Boys with only an older sister are more likely to display stereotypically male behavior, and such masculine boys increased their masculine behavior with the more sisters they have. The reverse is true for young boys with several sisters, as they tend to be feminine, however they outgrow this by the time they approach pubescence. Boys with older sisters were less likely to be delinquent or have Emotional and behavioral disorders. A younger sister is less likely to be scolded by older siblings than a younger brother. The most common recreational activity between older brother/younger sister pairs was art drawing. Some studies also found a correlation between having an older sister and constructive discussions about safe sexual practises.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (German: [ˈvɔlfɡaŋ amaˈdeːʊs ˈmoːtsaʁt], English see fn.; 27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791), baptised as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. Born in Salzburg, Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty.

At 17, Mozart was engaged as a musician at the Salzburg court, but grew restless and traveled in search of a better position. While visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame but little financial security. During his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of his death. The circumstances of his early death have been much mythologized. He was survived by his wife Constanze and two sons.