Joseph Lange (Würzburg, Holy Roman Empire 1 April 1751 – Vienna, 17 September 1831) was an actor and amateur painter of the 18th century. Through his marriage to Aloysia Weber, he was the brother-in-law of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Life
His first marriage, in 1775, was to Maria Anna Elisabeth Schindler, daughter of Philipp Ernst Schindler, a miniature painter and director of painting at the Viennese porcelain factory.A-Wd, Tom. 69, fol. 258r. Maria Anna died on 14 March 1779 of pneumonia.Lange 1808, 106
He married Aloysia Weber, a successful soprano, in Vienna on 31 October 1780. In that year, he also agreed to support Aloysia's widowed mother, Cäcilia, with an annual payment of 700 florins.Lange 1808, 117
Mozart married Aloysia's younger sister Constanze in Vienna in 1782, and thus became Lange's brother-in-law. The Mozarts and the Langes seem to have been friends, as the written record preserves various occasions that they socialized together,See Deutsch 1965, index entry for "Lange, Joseph". as did Wolfgang and Joseph individually.Solomon 275 Both Lange and Mozart were Masons; see Mozart and Freemasonry.Solomon 329
In 1783, Lange performed in one of Mozart's works, a "Masquerade" (pantomime with music) composed for Carnival. The characters were traditional figures of the Commedia dell'arte, and the music was composed by Mozart (K. 446). Lange played Pierrot, and Mozart himself took the role of Harlequin.Deutsch 1965, 213
In 1786, Lange appeared in another work by Mozart, his opera Der Schauspieldirektor. He took the spoken role of Herz,Deutsch 262, his wife Aloysia taking one of the two primary soprano roles, Madame Herz.
As of 1795, he lived separated from Aloysia.Deutsch, 503 In 1808, he published his autobiography. From around 1800 on, he lived together with Theresia Koch, with whom he had six children.Michael Lorenz: New Documents on Aloisia and Joseph Lange. In: Janet K. Page, Vanessa L. Rogers (Hrsg.): Eighteenth-Century Opera and Ballet. New Perspectives on Sources and Practice. University of Rochester Press, Rochester 2026, ISBN 978-1-64825-139-9, S. 158–188, hier S. 166; doi:10.2307/jj.38479263.13.
Assessment The tenor Michael Kelly, writing in his 1826 reminiscences, called Lange an "excellent comedian"; that is, a player of comedy. Kelly had spent the early years of his career in Vienna as an opera singer.
Lange's portraits of Mozart and family Lange painted his famous portrait of his brother-in-law in 1782-1783.Deutsch 213 The following image is a detail of the portrait emphasizing Mozart's face:
The complete portrait was later affixed to a larger painting left unfinished. It is shown in the next figure.
In March 2009, the musicologist Michael Lorenz was the first to realize that the painting originally was a miniature about 19 x 15 centimetres in size, showing only Mozart's face. It was later affixed to a larger canvas, apparently with the intention to portray Mozart seated at the piano, but the enlarged painting was never completed.Michael Lorenz: "Joseph Lange's Mozart Portrait", Vienna 2012
Constanze Mozart, interviewed in old age by Vincent and Mary Novello, said that Lange's portrait was "by far the best likeness of him."Deutsch 1965, 538
Lange also painted a small portrait of Constanze in 1782, which was later enlarged:
During Leopold Mozart's visit to Vienna in 1785, Lange drew a portrait of him as well, but this is lost.Deutsch 1965, 241 He continued to paint into his old age.Constant von Wurzbach: "Lange, Joseph". In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich, vol. 14
References
Sources Lange, Joseph (1808). Biographie des Joseph Lange. Vienna: Peter Rehms sel. Witwe. Blümml, Emil Karl (1923). Aus Mozarts Freundes- und Familien-Kreis. Vienna: E. Strache. Deutsch, Otto Erich (1965). Mozart: A Documentary Biography. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Einstein, Alfred (1962). Mozart: His Character, His Work. Oxford University Press.