Cäcilia Weber

Who was Cäcilia Weber?

Cäcilia Cordula Stamm was the mother of Constanze Weber, wife of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

She was born in Mannheim, Germany, the daughter of Johann Otto Stamm, a government secretary and Sophia Elisabeth Wimmer. She married Franz Fridolin Weber on 14 September 1756, and had four daughters: Josepha, Aloysia, Constanze, and Sophie. Constanze was the only one who did not become a professional singer, but, according to Mozart, she possessed a fine voice and musical ear. The children were born in Zell im Wiesental, but the family moved to Mannheim soon after Sophie was born.

Cäcilia first met Mozart in 1777, when he came to Mannheim in search of a job. He fell in love with her daughter Aloysia during this stay, and departed for Paris after finding no permanent position. The family later moved to Munich, where both Aloysia and Fridolin had found jobs in the opera. It was here that Mozart encountered them again, during his journey homeward to Salzburg.

The Weber family moved to Vienna in September 1779, still following Aloysia as she pursued her career at the German Opera there. Fridolin died in the following month, and Cäcilia scrambled to keep her family afloat. Aloysia's suitor Joseph Lange agreed to help support the family with an annual stipend of 700 florins when he married Aloysia, 31 October 1779. Cäcilia also made some income by taking in boarders.