Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is the wunderkind of his family. His sister Maria Anna, known as Nannerl, is just as talented. At the age of eleven, she was already one of the best pianists in Europe. However, while father Leopold pushes Wolfgang’s career, Nannerl is supposed to get married as soon as possible. She is a woman, after all.
But young and wild Wolfgang is ill. He believes that he has a direct line to God. In addition, he heavily abuses drugs and alcohol. Sometimes he is on top of the world and other times he is down in the dumps. His performances are either brilliant or borderline embarrassing – one of his songs is named “Leck mich im Arsch” (‘Kiss my arse!’). But the fate of the entire family, especially their financial prospects, depends on Wolfgang’s success.
When he is unable to give an important concert at the Viennese court, Nannerl steps into the breach for him by posing as Wolfgang. In his colorful wigs and crazy costumes Nannerl looks just like him. She plays the extravagant Mozart so convincingly that even her father Leopold does not recognize the fraud. Court composer Antonio Salieri, however, immediately sees Mozart as a threat and tries to sabotage his career.
What started as a white lie soon becomes a necessity, when Wolfgang’s condition gets worse. The pressure on Nannerl builds. She plays full concert halls, conducts operas, receives standing ovations at the Viennese court and, to her brother’s horror, weaves her own compositions into the performances. Until the question arises: Which one of us is the real Mozart?
But in order to defeat Salieri, the siblings must overcome their rivalry and keep the biggest deception in the music business a secret from everyone else.
Déclaration de l’auteur
Tourette’s syndrome, addiction, ADHD, insomnia, bi-polar disease and bone crushing depression – whatever Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart really suffered from, whether medically diagnosed or not: the condition was debilitating and let to his early demise. We take this as a basis for our drama series: The pressure to keep the Mozart brand humming keeps rising exponentially with the success of his music and rose equally on the demands his sister faces to keep alive his reputation as the most celebrated composer of his time.
In the style of genre bending historical series such as MARIE ANTOINETTE and THE GREAT, MOZART/MOZART is an intoxicating drama about genius and self-realization. Just like its characters the series is colorful, loud, and surprising. Wolfgang’s life is full of music, mistresses, and mania. Posing as her brother, Maria Anna realizes her own set of extraordinary talents and finally gets to show them to the world.
Société
Story House, founded in 1999 and part of the Bavaria Film Group, is an Emmy® -nominated production company. Its programs have been commissioned by broadcasters across the globe. Producing over 150 hours of television a year, Story House is recognised as one of the top 100 global production houses in factual-based entertainment (Realscreen 2017).
Story House Pictures is the scripted division of Story House Media Group. Story House produced ‘Open Desert’, the romantic thriller starring Jennifer Ullrich, August Wittgenstein and Leon Ockenden. In 2019, the company co-produced the family movie ‘The Sprite Sisters’ for Disney. Story House Pictures also produced the German-Chilean series ‘Dignity’, which launched on German streaming platform JOYN in December 2019 and is nominated for the prestigious Grimme award. The historical drama series ‘Sisi’, an Austrian-German co-production, for RTL Media Group and BETA.