Joseph Lange

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Joseph Lange was born on 1 April 1751 in Würzburg and died on 17 September 1831 in Vienna. He was an actor and an amateur painter.

Through his marriage to Aloysia Weber, Lange became Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s brother-in-law. His first marriage, in 1775, was to Maria Anna Elisabeth Schindler; she died in 1779 of pneumonia. He then married Aloysia Weber in Vienna on 31 October 1780. He also agreed to support Aloysia’s widowed mother with 700 florins each year. In 1782, Mozart married Aloysia’s sister Constanze, making Mozart and Lange brothers-in-law. The two families were friends and often socialized, and both Lange and Mozart were Freemasons.

In 1783 Lange acted in Mozart’s Masquerade (K. 446), playing Pierrot, while Mozart played Harlequin. In 1786 he appeared in Mozart’s Der Schauspieldirektor, taking the role of Herz, with Aloysia as Madame Herz. By 1795 Lange lived apart from Aloysia.

In 1808 he published his autobiography. From around 1800 he lived with Therese Koch and had three daughters. The tenor Michael Kelly called him an “excellent comedian” in 1826.

Lange was also a painter. He painted a famous portrait of Mozart in 1782–83. The portrait began as a small portrait of Mozart’s face about 19 by 15 cm and was later attached to a larger canvas that was never finished. Constanze Mozart said Lange’s portrait was the best likeness of him. Lange also painted a small portrait of Constanze in 1782 and a portrait of Leopold Mozart in 1785 (this one is lost). He kept painting into old age.