“…The Prince on the Move…” The Cultural Practice of Music on the
Transcription
“…The Prince on the Move…” The Cultural Practice of Music on the
“European Networks in the Baroque Era” – International Conference held at the “Josephinum” in Vienna, Austria (September, 26-29, 2012) Andrea Zedler “…The Prince on the Move…” The Cultural Practice of Music on the Grand Tour as Exemplified by the Bavarian Electoral Prince Karl Albrecht (1715–1716) Among the German nobility of the early modern period – including the princes of the electorate of Bavaria in the early eighteenth century – the Grand Tour of Italy was an important and final element of noble education. The aim of the journey was to demonstrate acquired knowledge (e.g. of Latin or Italian), to refine aristocratic manners, to establish or to strengthen diplomatic relations favorable to dynastic interests, and to visit the centers of art and culture. Papal audiences and visits to cardinals and the respective nobility of the major Italian cities were highlights of the journey of Karl Albrecht, the later Emperor Karl VII. On the basis of diplomatic reports, private correspondence, extant diaries, and reports published in early modern periodicals (including the Wienerische Diarium, the Gazzetta di Mantova, and the Gazzetta di Napoli), it is possible to reconstruct not only the routes, sights, and main actors within the nobility and clergy, but also the cultural practice of both – the sojourner and the particular host. In connection with the journey of the Electoral Prince Karl Albrecht, the vast amount of music played is obvious. Analyzing the context in which the music was played provides clues not only about the author (composer, librettist, and patron) but also about the integration of music within a context that is to be considered as entertainment as well as a matter of prestige and politics. Specifically, we are dealing with diverse musical genres such as opera, oratorio, cantatas, musical masses and music for balls, which were presented or explicitly dedicated to the Electoral Prince. A few notable examples are Antonio Vivaldi’s La costanza trionfante degl'amori e degl'odi and Tomaso Albinoni’s L'amor di figlio non conosciuto. Cantatas whose librettos make direct reference to Karl Albrecht, such as the Cantata a tre. Il Genio della Baviera, la Gloria la, la Fama, which was performed in Rome on May 25, 1716 at the palazzo of Count Ferdinando Bolognetti, have also been preserved. The aim of my contribution is on the one hand to reassign on a broad source base works to their composers and to reconstruct the particular cultural context of their musical performance and to pursue the question of the (political) function of the given music on the other. ___________________________________ Andrea Zedler University of Graz, Institute of Musicology Mozartgasse 3, A-8010 Graz Phone: 0043 316 380 2409 Email: [email protected] CURRICULUM VITAE Andrea Zedler completed her M.A. in musicology at Karl-Franzens-University in Graz (2005), where she wrote a thesis on early Italian renaissance dance. She completed her study of recorder with a focus on early music at the Johann Joseph Fux Conservatory, Graz in 2007. From April 2007 to May of 2010 she was an employee in the field of teaching and student services at the University of Graz, responsible for curriculum development and teaching. She completed her Masters in "Applied Knowledge Management" at the University of Applied Sciences Burgenland in 2010. She was fellow at the Istituto Storico Austriaco in Rome from 2009 to 2010 . She became a lecturer in 2008, and has been a researcher and PhD student at the Institute of Musicology at the University of Graz since October of 2010. She is writing her thesis on the Viennese cantatas of Antonio Caldara. Current Publications: Antonio Caldaras Kantatenschaffen zwischen römischen Conversazioni und dem Zeremoniell des Wiener Hofs, in: Studien zur Musikwissenschaft 58, 2012 (in print). „alle Glückseligkeit seiner Education dem allermildesten Ertz=Hause Oesterreich zu dancken“. Die musikalische Ausbildung des bayrischen Kurprinzen Karl Albrecht während seiner „Gefangenschaft“ in Graz (1712-1715), in: Historisches Jahrbuch der Stadt Graz (accepted for publication) … und der Vorhang hebt sich zum ersten Male oder warum man junge Hunde und erste Opern ins Wasser wirft… Opernuraufführungen im Grazer Stadttheater zwischen 1899-1919, in: Salome von Richard Strauss. „unvergleichlich gesungen, berückend getanzt, erschütternd gespielt“ – Die Grazer Erstaufführung der Salome unter Richard Strauss und die Grazer Oper um 1900, Michael Walter/Andrea Zedler (Ed.), Graz 2012 (in print). Kritiken und Berichte zur Grazer Erstaufführung der Salome, in: Salome von Richard Strauss. „unvergleichlich gesungen, berückend getanzt, erschütternd gespielt“ – Die Grazer Erstaufführung der Salome unter Richard Strauss und die Grazer Oper um 1900, Michael Walter /Andrea Zedler (Ed.), Graz 2012 (together with Michael Walter, in print). Salome von Richard Strauss. „unvergleichlich gesungen, berückend getanzt, erschütternd gespielt“ – Die Grazer Erstaufführung der Salome unter Richard Strauss und die Grazer Oper um 1900, Graz 2012 (edited togehter with Michael Walter, in print) Musikwissenschaft studieren. Arbeitstechnische und methodische Grundlagen, München 2012 (edited together with Kordula Knaus) Wissenschaftliche Arbeitstechniken. Von der Themenstellung zur Abschlussarbeit, in: Musikwissenschaft studieren. Arbeitstechnische und methodische Grundlagen, Kordula Knaus/Andrea Zedler (Ed.), München 2012, 17–108 (together with Adrian Kuhl).