Empress Marie Therese and Music at the Viennese Court, 1792–1807
Empress Marie Therese and Music at the Viennese Court, 1792–1807
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Empress Marie Therese, second wife of Emperor Franz II, devoted much of her life to music. She played piano and sang, compiled a large music library and supported professional musicians and composers. This comprehensive survey of the Empress as musician and patron is based upon John Rice's discovery and analysis of extensive unpublished material from her private collection. In this work Rice introduces readers to the musical and cultural worlds of the Viennese court at the end of the eighteenth century.
- Offers a fresh view of musical patronage in a period of crucial importance in the history of western music
- Demonstrates the important role played by a woman in a system of musical patronage hitherto thought to have been dominated by men
- Includes primary source material such as diaries, correspondence and documents
Reviews & endorsements
"...[a] erudite, detailed, and copiously documented work, the first in-depth study of one of the most important friends of music in the late Classical era." Chester Lane, Symphony
"Assembling detailed information on Viennese musical life at the turn of the 18th century, this well-documented volume makes a significant contribution to the field of musicology... Recommended." Choice
"One cannot help but stand in awe of the scholarship presented in this volume."
Caryl Clark, Journal of the American Musicological Society
Product details
- Published: August 2003
- Format: Hardback
- ISBN: 9780521825122
- Length: 408 pages
- Dimensions: 242 × 163 × 27 mm
- Weight: 0.718kg
- Contains: 21 b/w illus. 12 tables 22 music examples
- Availability: Available
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgements
- List of illustrations
- List of tables
- List of musical examples
- List of abbreviations
- Two intertwining family trees: the Habsburg-Lorraines of Austria and the Bourbons of Spain and Naples
- A note about quotations and transcriptions of documents
- Introduction
- 1. The empress as collector of music
- 2. Marie Therese's musicians
- 3. The empress as soprano
- 4. Private concerts
- 5. Celebrations of Franz's birthday and nameday
- 6. Musical caprice
- 7. Marie Therese's influence on music in the public sphere
- 8. The empress as conceiver, commissioner and shaper of musical works
- 9. Il conte Clò: a birthday cantata from inception to performance
- 10. Joseph Haydn and Beethoven between court and nobility
- Epilogue
- Appendix 1: Marie Therese's collection of church music
- Appendix 2: Marie Therese's musical diary, 1801–3
- Appendix 3: Paer's letters to the empress
- Appendix 4: Correspondence between Paisiello and Marie Therese
- Appendix 5: Documents pertaining to the development and performance of Paer's Il conte Clò
- Bibliography
- Index.
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