The Other Child | Teen Ink

The Other Child

October 25, 2023
By Vicki_2023 GOLD, Marlow, Oklahoma
Vicki_2023 GOLD, Marlow, Oklahoma
13 articles 10 photos 20 comments

Favorite Quote:
God only knows the real you


You probably don't know me. Although you probably know my brother. If you know not his name, then you've heard his music. I have faded into the background over time. But my brother's fame has continued to rise. Even decades after his death. I suppose it will continue even after my time has come. My brother was a child prodigy, better than some of the greatest composers of history. That's what the newspapers said. The public was shocked at the amount of music he composed. And all by himself, too. That's what the public said. But what the newspapers and public did not know was that not all of his works were done alone. He himself taught me how to compose. Father would not teach me. To the world, composing is simply not for young ladies. But to me, it was everything.

When my brother and I would compose side by side, that always resulted in works of music that had seemed to come from heaven itself. We would both write the lines, commenting on each other's parts from time to time. We created music that was truly beautiful. But, in the end, it was only his name signed on the paper we created together. For I was a young lady, and young ladies cannot compose. That is what I have always been told. I truly do hope though, that maybe someday someone will recognize that there is more than one person's handwriting. People have forgotten about me. They have too soon forgotten that there was not just one Mozart child, but two. I am the other child. The other Mozart.


The author's comments:

I wrote this short narrative about Nannerl Mozart. She was 5 years older than her younger brother, Wolfgang Mozart. She too was a child prodigy, although not quite as young. She was not allowed to compose because she was a girl, although experts claim that there are differences in handwriting in some of Wolfgang Mozart's works. They claim that this is the handwriting of Nannerl Mozart, her name not signed simply because women weren't allowed to compose. I tried to write how I think she would have felt, staying in the background while her brother became more and more famous. Hope you enjoyed it. ( please let me know if this was the wrong category for this. I wasn’t quite sure what to categorize it as)


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