Maria Wilhelmine von Thun und Hohenstein

In the 1750s, the young Countess Uhlfeld studied keyboard with imperial court organist Wenzel Raimund Birck (1718–1763), a respected teacher and composer.

[5] Whether, as has been suggested, she also studied with Joseph Haydn is difficult to determine, since the source indicating this only gives the title "Countess Thun;" this name was also held by other women over time.

The visiting English musicologist Charles Burney praised her harpsichord playing in print, saying that she "possesses as great skill in music as any person of distinction [i.e., aristocrat] I ever knew.

[16] Thun may have played an essential role in Mozart's career when she arranged for him to perform extracts from his recent (1780) opera Idomeneo in her home before a set of guests that included Count Orsini-Rosenberg, the manager of the Imperial Theater.

The Count "applauded warmly",[18] and not long thereafter gave his agreement to the plans to commission Mozart for the opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail, which turned out (1782) to be his first great success in Vienna.