A CHOCOLATE BY ANY OTHER NAME SHALL TASTE SO SWEET

In matters of music, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart proved to be one of the most prolific and influential composers of the classical era. In matters of the heart, Mozart was a casualty of Cupid’s arrow.
 
Scoring higher marks in talent and personality than in looks, and without the benefit of match.com, Mozart traveled a bumpy road on the way to love.  As a young man in his early twenties, Mozart had his eye on Aloysia Weber, the eldest daughter of a musically gifted Viennese family. Mozart wrote several arias for the talented soprano and at one point, expressed his interest in marriage. Aloysia was less smitten with Wolfgang and declined his proposal.
 
Fortunately, Aloysia was one of four sisters and it wasn’t long before Mozart turned his affections towards Constanze Weber. Despite protestations from Mozart’s father and Constanze’s mother, the two married in 1782. Their happily ever after lasted a mere nine years until his death at the young age of 35. Mozart left his wife in serious debt and the sole provider for their two sons. Constanze proved to be a plucky widow, resuming her career as a vocalist, publishing Mozart’s works and collaborating on a biography about her late husband. Despite the financial and emotional burdens, she survived her husband by more than 50 years.
 
Mozart left his mark not only on the music world, but on the chocolate world as well.  In 1865, 100 years after Mozart had visited Munich, Peter Reber opened a confectionery and café. The family-owned Reber company claims their chocolate Mozart-Kugeln are the original; ‘exquisitely filled with pistachio marzipan, almonds and hazelnut praline, covered with fine milk and bittersweet chocolate.’
 
Chocolate imitation however, is a sweet form of flattery as evidenced by the  Mozart confections currently produced in Austria, Switzerland, Germany and the U.S. The claims of authenticity from each chocolatier have resulted in heavy-handed marketing, storefronts boasting 'home of the original' chocolates, and ultimately culminating in an ugly trademark court battle.  Regardless of the drama  surrounding Mozart's namesake confections,  if chocolate be the food of love, it clearly  plays  on.

Affectionately known as ‘Mozart Balls,’ the chocolates are all variations on the same theme; chocolate, marzipan, pistachio. Whether foil wrapped in red and gold or silver and blue, the marriage of Mozart and chocolate has created more jobs and more revenue than Mozart ever knew. Unfortunately, he never tasted the confection and sadder still, never presented a box to his beloved Constanze. Imagine the hearts he might have won had he been able to post on his profile, “Likes long walks by the Danube, playing the piano and namesake chocolate.”
 
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