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The Saxon Crown Prince Friedrich Christian and Music: the Dresden Diaries and Account Books 7 /3 Music at Central European Courts in the Eighteenth Century, I

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The Saxon Crown Prince Friedrich Christian and Music: the Dresden Diaries and Account Books 7 /3 Music at Central European Courts in the Eighteenth Century, I 5 /1 Introduction mong the rich holdings of the Sächsisches Staats­ archiv – Hauptstaatsarchiv Dresden,1 there exists a series of diaries and account books once belong­ Aing to the Saxon Crown Prince and Elector, Friedrich Christian (1722–1763),2 the eldest son of Saxon Elector and Polish King August III and his consort, Electress and Jóhannes ÁGÚstsson Queen Maria Josepha. These sources contain a wealth of Reykjavik previously unknown information relating to the musical life at the Saxon­Polish court in Dresden, especially prior to Friedrich Christian’s marriage in 1747 to the Bavarian Princess Maria Antonia, and provide an unprecedented The Saxon Crown Prince insight into the musical opinions and patronage of this music­loving family. They also cast a fresh light on the Friedrich Christian and music: Music at Central European Courts in the Eighteenth Century, I rich collections that are today the pride of the Music Department of the Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats­ The Dresden diaries und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden (SLUB). and account books* The sources The Dresden diaries of Friedrich Christian, the musical entries of which are transcribed in Appendix 1, are held in four bound volumes. The first dates from 1732 to May 1738. Up to mid­1736 this diary is partly preserved For Maureen in the form of drafts of letters this Prince wrote to his parents while they were away from Dresden. Unfortu­ 1 D­Dla. 2 Friedrich Christian succeeded his father as Saxon Elec­ tor in October 1763, but passed away only weeks later, on Content: 17 December. Introduction ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 5 The sources ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 5 The diaries ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 6 Abstract The account books ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 9 The music library of Friedrich Christian ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 13 This article presents a rich collection of newly discovered Conclusion ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 18 sources showing that the Saxon Crown Prince Friedrich Appendix 1: The musical entries in the diaries of Christian (1722–1763) was an attentive music listener, an Friedrich Christian ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 19 important collector of musical manuscripts, and a gener­ Appendix 2: The private accounts of Friedrich Christian 47 ous benefactor of musicians. New insights are provided Appendix 3: The correspondence between Wackerbarth into the music performed at the Saxon­Polish court in and Gersdorff 56 Dresden, and the musical patronage of Friedrich Chris­ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ tian’s parents, Saxon Elector and Polish King August III Appendix 4: The music library of Friedrich Christian 61 and his consort Maria Josepha. Also highlighted is the Appendix 5: A previously unknown catalogue of importance of music in the lives of Friedrich Christian music brought to Dresden from Munich by Maria and his consort Maria Antonia, before and after their Antonia in 1747 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 61 marriage in 1747. Index of persons and works ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 68 Keywords: history of music; Saxon­Polish court; Freder­ ick Christian, Elector of Saxony; Augustus III of Poland; * This article presents an expanded version of a paper given at Maria Josepha of Austria; Maria Antonia of Bavaria; the conference Sammeln – Musizieren – Forschen. Zur Dresdner Saxony; Dresden; Bavaria; Italy; Grand Tour; diaries; ac­ höfischen Musik des 18. Jahrhunderts. International Kollo quium, count books; music library; Hasse, Johann Adolph; Ris­ Sächsische Landesbibliothek, Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek tori, Giovanni Alberto; Zelenka, Jan Dismas; Vivaldi, Dresden, held in Dresden 21–23 January 2016. I am most grate­ Antonio; Pergolesi, Giovanni Battista; Metastasio, Pietro; ful to Maureen Cassidy­Geiger for sharing with me her knowl­ Pallavicini, Stefano Benedetto; Wackerbarth­Salmour, edge on all things Friedrich Christian and especially his Grand Joseph Anton Gabaleon; Gersdorff, Nicolaus Willibald Tour. I want to thank Michael Talbot for his advice and for Number of characters / words: 262 106 / 43 966 providing all translations in the text. Special thanks go to Number of figures: 9 Claudio Bacciagaluppi and Janice B. Stockigt for sharing infor­ Number of tables: 5 mation on the music collected by Friedrich Christian during his Number of appendices: 5 Grand Tour. The music librarians at the SLUB are thanked for Secondary language(s): French, German, Italian their assistance. Finally, I am very grateful to the archivists at Index of persons and works the Sächsisches Staatsarchiv – Hauptstaatsarchiv Dresden for allowing me to reproduce the scans used in this article. © Association for Central European Cultural Studies Clavibus unitis 9/1 (2020), pp. 5-74 6 Jóhannes ÁGÚSTSSON /2 nately, it contains some gaps, some even lasting months on end, but here the official Ober- hofmarschallamt journal of Friedrich Christian is useful when reporting on the many concerts A he attended, either at the court, in his apartments, or in the chambers of his younger sister R Maria Amalia. The second diary begins in September 1740 and ends on the final day of 1742, T while the third begins in 1743 and halts in the first week of 1746. This diary contains spo­ radic entries; for example, in 1744 it breaks­off in mid­July, and in 1745 the entries are few I and far between. In addition to these three diaries, the prayer journal of Friedrich Christian’s C novena worship of Saint Francis Xavier contains revelatory reflections on the role of music in U the period leading up to and during Holy Week. This journal was maintained from 1739 to 1746. Whether the Prince kept a diary between the years 1746 and 1751 is not known, but if L he did it is now missing. Friedrich Christian’s secret political diary from 1751 to 1757 is now I held in Paris and is of a different nature to his previous diaries, containing only a handful of references to music.3 Some of the musical entries in Friedrich Christian’s diaries are complemented by payments listed in his account books, see Appendix 2. On his eleventh birthday, 5 September 1733, the Prince was allocated an annual amount for his private expenditure. This was the so­called Chatullen account, which was administered by his Italian Oberhofmeister, count Joseph Anton Gabaleon Wackerbarth­Salmour. When Friedrich Christian reached the age of twenty­one he received full control of his purse. This important source has survived intact and documents thirty years of spending on musical manuscripts, gratuities, bonuses to his Hofstaat, payments to the poor, and various services and purchases. Another source for Friedrich Christian and his relation to music is found in the vast correspondence of Wackerbarth, a highly respected minister and a connoisseur of music and the arts. Friedrich Christian is no stranger to the music literature, thanks first and foremost to the landmark article of Alina Żórawska­Witkowska, which excerpted entries of musical interest from the Grand Tour diary of the Prince.4 In May 1738 he accompanied his sister Maria Amalia, the newly­wed Queen of the Two Sicilies, to Naples, where he took the famous baths at Ischia in the hope of finding a remedy for his illness. From birthFriedrich Christian had been crippled by scoliosis and cerebral palsy, leaving him unable to walk without assistance.5 Sadly, nothing came of the much­hoped­for cure, but while in Ischia and Naples the Prince was at least able to enjoy the rich and varied musical life on offer. His stay in the Neapolitan capitol was fol­ lowed by a lengthy sojourn in Rome and Venice ( Fig. 1). In both cities Friedrich Christian visited the many opera houses and musical institutions, for example the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice, where music composed by Antonio Vivaldi was performed in his honour. The impor­ tance of the Italian sojourn of Friedrich Christian for the music in Saxony is well described in a recent article of Claudio Bacciagaluppi and Janice B. Stockigt, who have uncovered a number of manuscripts of sacred music that were collected by the Prince and members of his retinue on this journey.6 The diaries Already at the age of ten Friedrich Christian was writing musical entries of interest, but not without assistance from Wackerbarth and his secretaries. Their drafts, edits and corrections to the school­boy French of the young Prince can be seen as lessons in the art of correspondence and how to maintain a diary. In late April and early May 1733, shortly after his father’s suc­ cession as Elector of Saxony, Friedrich Christian provided an amusing description of concerts held in the castle of Moritzburg, where he sang opera arias alongside the Italian alto castrato Domenico Annibali for his mother Maria Josepha and members of the court. These are the only 3 Horst SCHLECHTE (ed.), Das geheime Tagebuch des Kurprinzen Friedrich Christian 1751 bis 1757 [= Schriftenreihe des Staatsarchivs Dresden, 13] (Weimar: Hermann Böhlaus Nachfolger, 1992). 4 Alina ŻÓRAWSKA-WITKOWSKA, ‘Federico Cristiano in Italia. Esperienze musicali di un principe reale polacco’, Musica e storia 4 (1996), pp. 277–323. Maureen Cassidy­Geiger has transcribed in full not only the complete Grand Tour diary of Friedrich Christian, but also the weekly diary Wackerbarth dispatched to August III, and the incomplete diary (1738–1739) of count Hans Moritz von Brühl, a member of the retinue of the Prince. The complete transcription of Cassidy­Geiger, which adds much new information and context to the article of Żórawska­Witkowska, is consultable on the internet: https://comtedelusace. wordpress.com (accessed 29. 1. 2020). 5 Extensive contemporary documentation about the health of Friedrich Christian is provided by Maureen Cassidy­Geiger, see https://comtedelusace.wordpress.com. 6 Claudio BACCIAGALUPPI and Janice B. STOCKIGT, ‘Italian Manuscripts of Sacred Music in Dresden: The Neapolitan Collection of 1738–1740’, Fonti Musicali Italiane 15 (2010), pp. 141–179. Clavibus unitis 9/1 (2020), pp. 5-74 © Association for Central European Cultural Studies The Saxon Crown Prince Friedrich Christian and music: The Dresden diaries and account books 7 /3 Music at Central European Courts in the Eighteenth Century, I Fig.
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