Instead of Mozart, the musical genius, it is his wife, Constanze, who is here the focus of attention. Maligned by outside observers, from Mozart’s father to present-day biographers and playwrights, Constanze was thought to be “not the right girl” for the great man. Welsh takes a different perspective, narrating events from Constanze’s point of view, from the “inside out,” as it were.
Framing the problem in her ironic subtitle, An Unimportant Woman, Welsh shows how the protagonist comes to terms with the “marginality” imposed on her by those around her. Indeed, the concept of marginality is called into question here, since for Mozart, Constanze was always his “dearest little wife.”