Selina Mills

The forgotten female composer fêted by Mozart and Haydn

Maria Theresia von Paradis was the darling of the Viennese musical court, so why has she been forgotten?

The Blind Enchantress: Portrait of Maria Theresia von Paradis, 1784, by Faustine Parmantie. Credit: Akg-image

A few years ago, I was sitting in the London Library researching a book about blind people across the ages. As a semi-blind person myself, I sighed at the lack of women, other than the endlessly chipper Helen Keller, who never had a bad day. Ever.

My sister, however, drew my attention to a two-line wiki entry for the 18th-century composer, singer and professor — and darling of the Viennese musical court — Maria Theresia von Paradis (1759–1824). Ten years passed, and after many hours of research in libraries and chats with music scholars, we now find ourselves — to our utter amazement — co-writing a chamber opera about her life. Working alongside the playwright Nicola Werenowska and Graeae theatre director Jenny Sealey, and with glorious music by composer Errollyn Wallen, we have reframed her life and created The Paradis Files, a piece dedicated to giving Maria Theresia her own voice.

Mozart, Salieri and Haydn all composed for Paradis – and most likely slept with her

Paradis’s story has always struck me as intriguing not only because of her talent, but also because we know so little about her. Indeed, our girl seems to have stayed on the hillside of history despite her popularity in her day (the Times called her ‘the Blind Enchantress’) and despite the fact that she was deeply respected by her musical peers. Mozart, Salieri and Haydn all composed for her — and most likely shagged her. Her playing was considered exceptional and was known in all the royal courts of Europe. She went on tour from Vienna to London, via Paris, where she met her childhood playmate Marie Antoinette, and played with George III at Buckingham House. By the time she was in her thirties, she had started the first school for blind musicians in Vienna, which ran itself entirely by subscription and from the funds raised at the Sunday concerts at which she and her students performed.

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