How did you research Mozart’s Sister, which draws heavily on Nannerls passion for music?
I had to undertake a large body of research on Nannerl’s life and it was not easy to find detailed information about her. The biographies of her brother hardly mention Nannerl at all, and at that time there was only one biography of her, in German, and out of print. Even in the most famous works of fiction on Mozart’s life, Nannerl was almost always notably absent. So I went to Salzburg, in Austria, where the Mozarts were born and lived. The Mozarteum library contains all that is published in different languages on Mozart and his world. There I found what I was looking for. I also had to deepen my knowledge of Mozart’s music. For a long time I only listened to his compositions, choosing them by using two criteria: those that I simply liked the best and those that had, or could have had, some relation with his sister. How did you approach putting the experience of music on the page? My book recounts the difficulties that Nannerl Mozart encounters in turning her passion for music into ac
