Maria Theresia von Paradisaus classic

Maria Theresia Paradis, often called von Paradis despite her bourgeois origins (* 15 May 1759 in Vienna; † 1 February 1824 in Vienna), was an Austrian pianist, singer (soprano), composer and music educator. She was blind from early childhood. She was very prominent in Viennese musical life and was acquainted with many important representatives of Viennese Classicism such as Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. On a European tour from 1783 to 1786, she played for numerous high-ranking personalities, including the French royal couple Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette as well as the English King George III and his wife Charlotte. Valentin Haüy became so fascinated by her at a concert in 1784 that he began to campaign for the education of the blind.

Life

Maria Theresa Paradis was one of the daughters of the Viennese court official Joseph Anton Paradis and his wife Maria Rosalia. She was named after her sister Maria Theresia Clotildis (3 June 1758 – 17 March 1759), who died before her birth. Besides her twin sisters Josepha and Elisabeth, she had several other sisters and brothers. Her grandfather Claudius was a valet and then “Count Esterházy’s Regent”, her uncle Leopold was a dancer who “went to Paris in 1753 to ‘learn to dance better there’ and took over the ballet school of the Moscow Orphanage in 1776”. When Maria Theresa Paradis was about three years old, she went blind. In addition to a good general education, she received music lessons from Viennese musical greats such as Leopold Koželuh (piano), Vincenzo Righini, Abbé Georg Joseph Vogler (singing) and Antonio Salieri (harmony), who was also a family friend for a long time.

Contrary to widespread claims dating back to Franz Gräffer, “die Paradis” was not a godchild of Empress Maria Theresa, but received financial support, a so-called grace pension, from the empress’s personal purse, which was later cancelled by Joseph II. She was very prominent as a pianist in Vienna from 1775 and gave numerous concerts.

In Vienna, as well as on her great European tour, she performed piano concertos by Joseph Haydn (demonstrably Concerto in G major Hob XVIII:4) and, more rarely, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in addition to many works by her main teacher Koželuh. In a letter dated 16 February 1785, Leopold Mozart wrote to his daughter Maria Anna about a new piano concerto that his son had “made for the Paradis to Paris”. According to recent research, this is probably K. 456. Salieri dedicated his organ concerto of 1773 to her, which she most likely also performed in public. There is evidence that she played on the organ of the Augustinerkirche in Vienna.

After a martyrdom through a variety of then-modern treatments intended to cure her blindness, she was considered incurable by the medical experts recognised at the Viennese court. She was then a patient for a few months of Franz Anton Mesmer, a doctor who was famous in Vienna, but who was opposed by his colleagues, after which her condition improved noticeably for a time. After her parents withdrew her from Mesmer’s treatment in June 1777, she relapsed into total blindness. How this blindness came about, or what triggered it, is so far only conjectured.

Even before her three-year concert tour, which mainly carried her reputation as a pianist around the world, Maria Theresa Paradis had begun to compose piano music and songs. Then, during her journey, she wrote her Twelve Songs, the printing costs of which were reimbursed by Luise Eleonore of Saxe-Meiningen, a patroness out of enthusiasm. After her return, Maria Theresa Paradis devoted herself more intensively to composition in Vienna. Another important sponsor for her progress became her pen friend Sophie von La Roche. Later planned concert tours to Italy and Russia did not materialise. In addition to songs, Paradis composed a melodrama, cantatas, chamber music, piano concertos, singspiels and operas. Only little of this has been researched so far, as these compositions are largely known only through performance dates and contemporary reviews. Her singspiels and operas, which she wrote in the 1790s and which were premiered at the Theater am Kärntnertor, were well received.

Source Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Theresia_von_Paradis