Nissen, Georg Nikolaus

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Nissen, Georg Nikolaus

Nissen, Georg Nikolaus, Danish statesman and music scholar; b. Haderslev, Jan. 22, 1761; d. Salzburg, March 24, 1826. He entered the diplomatic service in 1792, becoming the Danish chargé d’affaires in Vienna in 1793. He commenced a friendship with Mozart’s widow, Constanze (1797), and later became her husband (1809). After a period in Copenhagen (1810–20), he settled in Salzburg. He collected materials for a biography of Mozart, which was completed and publ. by Johann Feurstein as Biographie W.A. Mozarts: Nach Originalbriefen, Sammlungen alles über ihn Geschriebenen, mit vielen neuen Beylagen, Steindrucken, Musikblättern und einem Facsimile (Leipzig, 1828; suppl., 1829; 2nd ed., 1849).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis Mclntire