Maria Theresia von Paradis (1759 – 1824)
Maria Theresia von Paradis was born in Vienna. She was named after Empress Maria Theresa, for whom her father served as a royal court secretary.
At a very early age, Maria Theresia suddenly lost her eyesight. With the help of her father’s political connections, she was provided a good education and displayed an early aptitude for music. By the time she was a teenager, she was performing in public, and at the age of 20 she went on an extensive concert tour of Europe.
In 1784, Paradis performed as pianist in a Mozart piano concerto, but it’s not known if it was the Piano Concerto No. 19 in B♭ major (K. 456), which Mozart dedicated to her. Antonio Salieri and Joseph Haydn also wrote compositions for her.
During her European concert tour, Paradis began composing using a pegboard system designed by family friend and librettist Johann Riedinger. After Valentin Haüy opened the first school for blind youth in Paris in 1785, Paradis helped him develop the music curriculum.
Maria Theresia von Paradis is best known for the beguiling Sicilienne in E-flat major for violin and piano and adapted for many other instruments. Sicilienne is enormously popular. It’s been performed and recorded by many famous violinists and cellists, and it was recently played at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Sicilienne also overwhelmingly dominates YouTube performances of Paradis’s music, to the extent that other Paradis compositions are hard to find.
But, as should be obvious from its anachronistic romantic style, Sicilienne is not by Maria Theresia von Paradis. It is very likely a musical hoax by violinist Samuel Dushkin, who published the piece in 1924.
This Fantasie in G Major for piano is much more likely to have been composed by Maria Theresia von Paradis.