Regina Schlick née Strinasacchi (c. 1761 - June 11, 1839) was a violin virtuoso in a time when women rarely performed on the violin in public. She is best known as the musician for whom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...

 composed the Sonata in B flat for Violin and Keyboard, "Strinasacchi," (K.

Köchel

Köchel, Koechel is surname of:* Ludwig Alois Ferdinand Ritter von Köchel , composer, musicologist, botanist, writer* Köchel catalogue...

 454).

Strinasacchi was born in either 1761, 1762 or 1764, at in Ostiglia near Mantua

Mantua

Mantua is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name. Mantua's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family, made it one of the main artistic, cultural and notably musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole...

. In addition to her skill at the violin, she played guitar and composed, having studied at Vivaldi's school, the Ospedale della Pietà

Ospedale della Pietà

The Ospedale della Pietà was a convent, orphanage, and music school in Venice.Like other Venetian ospedali, the Pietà was established as a hostel for Crusaders...

in Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

. She toured Italy, France and Germany between 1780-1783, arriving in Vienna in 1784, where she met Mozart. In a letter to his father, Mozart wrote: "We now have here the famous Strinasacchi from Mantua, a very good violinist. She has a great deal of taste and feeling in her playing. I am this moment composing a sonata which we are going to play together on Thursday at her concert in the theater." On April 29, 1784, she performed a concert with Mozart for Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II

Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor

Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...

, where they debuted the sonata. Famously, Mozart performed his piano portion without sheet music. In 1785, Strinasacchi married Johann Conrad Schlick, cellist & konzertmeister of the Gotha

Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg

Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg was a duchy ruled by the Ernestine branch of the House of Wettin in today's Thuringia, Germany.It was nominally created in 1672 when Frederick William III, the last duke of Saxe-Altenburg, died and Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha , inherited the major part of his possessions...

 ducal band. Their son, Johann Friedrich William Schlick, was born in 1801 and became a cellist and instrument maker. Upon her husband's death in 1818, she moved with her son to Dresden

Dresden

Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....

, where she lived out the remainder of her life.