“…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.
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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:
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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).