In 2015 the Styrian publishing house
Leykam published a book about Austria's most prominent baroque composer, titled
Johann Joseph Fux. Leben - musikalische Wirkung - Dokumente, edited by
Rudolf Flotzinger, professor emeritus of musicology at the
University of Graz. This book, which is a collection of articles by several musicologists on the composer's life and work, is structured in three main sections: 1) Life and work, 2) Compositions and writings and 3) Documentation und interpretation. The chapters dealing with the composer's biography and work ("Leben und Wirken") and the documents related to Fux's life were written by Flotzinger, the chapter dealing with Fux's compositions and writings by a number of other Austrian Fux specialists. The cover of this book is special already, because it bears a different title than the
title page inside the book ("Dokumentation" versus "Dokumente").
According to the blurb on the back cover, this book "contains extensive appendices concerning original documents". In a
twelve-page chapter in the book's appendix, titled "Dokumente zur Biographie" (biographical documents), Flotzinger presents transcriptions of Fux documents, dating from between 1680 and 1741. Of course this collection of documents only leaves an apparent impression of completeness. There are too many Fux documents to present all of them, most of which have been published in 1872 in
Ludwig von Köchel's book
Johann Josef Fux, Hofcompositor und Hofkapellmeister der Kaiser Leopold I., Josef I. und Karl VI. von 1698 bis 1740 (Vienna: Alfred Hölder, 1872). But this basic fact is never addressed in this book and the editor's arbitrary choice of documents is essentially problematic.
When I began to do research on Fux documents I planned to write a short piece about the costs of Fux's obsequies. But as I delved deeper into the body of known Fux documents, I realized that I had come across a plethora of unreliable pieces of documentation and flawed transcriptions. Owing to limited paleographic expertise, the available transcriptions of Fux documents contain hundreds of mistakes of which only the most serious can be addressed here. What follows is not a review of the above book. I do not claim to be a Fux expert and I do not intend to delve into Fux's musical oeuvre, or to draw up a list of all the transcription mishaps in the said book's documentary chapter. However, if eighteenth-century sources, on which I profess to have a modest expertise, are mistranscribed or misinterpreted, I dare to take issue. The goal of this blogpost is to present a number of unknown Fux documents, to address the worst mistakes in the already published material and to point out a few directions of possible future research.
Fux's Obsequies
On 13 February 1741 the retired Court Kapellmeister Johann Joseph Fux died of "hectica Fieber" (tremorous fever) in the house "Zum goldenen Bären" on the Fleischmarkt (today
Fleischmarkt 14). The house was named after an inn which at that time was run by the house's owner Mathias Müllner. The
Wienerisches Diarium of
18 February 1741 and several other sources give 14 February as Fux's date of death, but the fact that Fux's will was already opened on February 13
th proves that he died one day earlier. Fux's obsequies and burial took place in the evening of Wednesday, 15 February 1741 at St. Stephen's Cathedral. Since the source concerning this ceremony is the entry in the so-called
Bahrleihbuch (protocol of funeral fees) of St. Stephen's, Flotzinger presents a transcription of this entry. Not only is this transcription flawed and incomplete, it is also interpreted in a way that does not meet scholarly standards. I have been spending years studying the
Bahrleihbücher of St. Stephen's and eighteenth-century funeral ceremonies in the Cathedral. In 2014 my research led to the publication of the article
Haydn Singing at Vivaldi's Exequies: An Ineradicable Myth where the four different classes of peal of bells are described and the expenses for various types of funeral procedures at St. Stephen's Cathedral are explained in detail. As far as funeral rites at St. Stephen's in 1741 are concerned, I consider my work pioneering and indispensable for musicologists who want to delve into this special topic. If Flotzinger actually checked the 1741
Bahrleihbuch himself (which I have reasons to doubt), he certainly did not read any other entries similar to the one related to Fux's obsequies. He apparently took notice of only one entry which is the kind of narrow perspective that often leads to a source being misinterpreted. The situation is reminiscent of Mozart scholars who write about Mozart's
Sperrs-Relation (probate file) while the only
Sperrs-Relation they actually know (meaning whose flawed transcription they have read) is Mozart's. Time and again it can be seen that the ability to read eighteenth-century Viennese
Kurrentschrift is not enough to transcribe and understand historical documents. Equally important is the
knowledge of large bodies of archival documents and the general context of these sources. Lacking sufficient insight into eighteenth-century Viennese burial procedures and their costs, Flotzinger, who was obviously impressed by the cost of 180 florins 52 kreutzer of Fux's obsequies, mistakenly considers this amount "extraordinarily high". In his book he describes Fux's burial as having been conducted "with great efforts" with costs of "almost 190 fl,–" and claims that these efforts and the burial in the crypt of the Cathedral "were requested by the Court" (Flotzinger, 76). On 1 February 2016 Flotzinger appeared as guest on the Austrian classical music radio program
Apropos Musik where he talked about his new book. He elaborated his personal point of view concerning Fux's burial and – unsupported by any research – presented the following assertions:
- Fux's obsequies were carried out with a "wahnsinniger Aufwand" (incredible effort).
- "The Emperor[sic]" paid for the ceremony.
- "The Emperor" was present at Fux's obsequies.
- The Court chapel took part in the obsequies.
- The boy Joseph Haydn took part in the ceremony.
- The whole chapter of the cathedral attended the ceremony.
Apart from the fact that by February 1741 Fux's former employer, Emperor
Charles VI had been dead for four months, none of the above claims is tenable. Fux's obsequies were carried out according to the rate of a regular half-price
Großgleuth with an additional Requiem, an effort that in 1741 everybody could receive at the Cathedral whose relatives were willing to pay for it. Given that Fux was able to bequeath 10,000 florins to his nephew Matthäus, his relatives certainly did not need the financial support of
Maria Theresia to pay for the ceremony. In the evening of 15 February 1741 Maria Theresia was not present at Fux's obsequies, because at exactly that time she was receiving
Joseph Wenzel I, Prince of Liechtenstein in audience, who had just returned from Paris. This information was published in the
Wiener Diarium, on the same page as Johann Joseph Fux's death notice.
The Wiener Diarium reporting the return of Prince von Liechtenstein in the evening of 15 February 1741 and his following reception in audience by "Her Majesty the Queen" (Wiener Diarium 1741, 149)
The Court chapel did not take part in Fux's funeral ceremony, because its collaboration would only have been allowed in the Cathedral (a premise that was subject to municipal administration), if the Court musicians had performed without pay. The entry concerning the obsequies of
Antonio Caldara in 1736 shows that such a
gratis performance was explicitly registered in the
Bahrleihbuch (see below). The six
Kapellknaben (one of whom at that time was Haydn) never took part in funeral ceremonies that were performed according to the valid
Stol-Ordnung (regulation of ceremony fees). They took part in activities of the
Domkapelle, such as High Masses on Sundays and feast days.
Let me begin with the most important source concerning Fux's obsequies: the entry in the 1741
Bahrleihbuch of the parish of St. Stephen's. The transcription of this entry, which Flotzinger presents in the chapter
"Dokumente zur Biographie" (biographical documents), shows that he did not fully understand this source. His transcription is flawed and incomplete.
Flotzinger's transcription of the entry concerning Fux's obsequies (Flotzinger, 2015, 369)
The author of this transcription obviously never saw even one other entry in an eighteenth-century
Bahrleihbuch. These entries always begin with the date of the burial (if it was the first on that day) and not with the word referring to the time of day. The word "Nachtbestattung" did not exist at that time. The term that was used was "Nachtbegräbnis" (which actually means "funeral after dark" and not "during the night" as claimed by Flotzinger).
An example of the word "Nachtbegröb[nis]" from 1683, before the abbreviation became shorter (A-Wd, BLB 1683, fol. 62v)
"Krufften" is a well-known misreading of the downward-bent upper horizontal stroke of the "f" as a second letter f. Decades of work with eighteenth-century handwritten documents made me realize that this is only one single letter and that the "double f appearance" is actually a phenomenon of an illusion, caused by a learned visual pattern. The second vertical stroke causes an almost irresistible visual "double f" impression. For more examples, related to this particular issue, see my article
A Little Leitgeb Research. A special phenomenon connected with this misreading is the fact that it soaked into contemporary printed sources which are now taken as "proof" that this is a double f.
The word "Kruften" in Fux's Bahrleihbuch entry. This is a single f with the upper horizontal stroke drawn downwards to avoid lifting the pen and to have backswing space for the following t.
The word "Clafter" in a 1744 property register (A-Wsa, Patrimoniale Herrschaften, B106/17, fol. 174r). Every example of eighteenth-century handwriting I present in this blogpost stands for thousands of similar examples. Flotzinger always mistranscribes this combination of letters as "fft".
The word "Hofmaisterin" in the entry concerning the death of Princess Maria Theresia von Auersperg in 20 January 1741. Again the horizontal line of the f is curved downward to avoid having to make a horizontal line to the left (A-Wsa, Totenbeschreibamt 42, fol. 184v).
Two more words from the 1741 municipal death records with the kind of single f that is usually mistranscribed: "Apfel" and "Tauf" (A-Wsa, Totenbeschreibamt 42)
The signature of Gottlieb Muffat on the will of his friend Heinrich Holzhauser, the father of the singer Theresia Reutter. Technically this is a single f and the signature reads "Mufat". I located this signature (A-Wsa, AZJ, Test. 3945/18. Jhdt.) in 2012 for the cover of Alison Dunlop's book The Life and Works of Gottlieb Muffat.
The word "Hofcamerath" in an endowment deed of 1737 (A-Wsa, Stiftungen, A2/5254). The misreading of this single f lead to the origin of the family name "Hoffmann", a profession that does not exist.
The
Wienbibliothek holds an anonymous "Schreibbuch" (writing textbook) from 1780 (originating from
Radkersburg in Styria) where two comparative alphabets in Latin and Kurrent script nicely show the "double-stroke" small f as having been a single f.
A Latin and a Kurrent alphabet in an anonymous "Schreibbuch" from 1780 (A-Wst, H.I.N. 142.902)
The misreading of a single f as a double f is the cause of countless transcription mishaps in Flotzinger's book. Many of these mistakes are copied from
Herwig Knaus's three-volume book
Die Musiker im Archivbestand des kaiserlichen Obersthofmeisteramtes (Vienna:
VÖAW, 1967-69).
The entry in the municipal death records concerning the inspection of Fux's body by the coroner on 14 February 1741 (A-Wsa, Totenbeschreibamt 42, fol. 207r)
The above entry of course reads "Hof-Capellmaister" and "Hectica-fieber" (the latter of which was correctly published by Köchel (Köchel, 288). The note "Motteten mit Sart" in Fux's
Bahrleihbuch entry completely mystified Flotzinger.
The words "Motteten mit Sart" in Fux's Bahrleihbuch entry (A-Wd, BLB 1741, fol. 36v)
Flotzinger's transcription of the above words as "Moteten[
sic] mit Sait[eninstrumenten]" – albeit amusingly creative – is wrong. In 1741 Vienna the technical term "Saiteninstrumente" (string instruments) was not yet in use. The modern meaning of this collective term was coined but in the nineteenth century. The word in the
Bahrleihbuch is not "Sait", but "Sart" which is the abbreviation of "Sartin". This item is explained in my aforementioned
article about Vivaldi's burial and a Google search quickly leads to the solution of this mystery. The question at hand is of course: is an author of a biography of Fux, which is published in 2015, under the obligation to google? The issue of the "Sartin" will be dealt with below. The real blunder in Flotzinger's transcription of the
Bahrleihbuch entry comes at the end, as it becomes apparent that the last two lines of the original entry are missing. Entries related to burials of the four main classes ("Großgleuth", "Fürstengleuth", "Bürgergleuth" and "Kleingleuth") never end with the total sum of the expenses. They always end with a note concerning the picture on the bier, the peals at various chapels in the city and the possible cortege, consisting of "Steuerdiener" (tax payers), "Spitaller" (poor people) or children. Even the modest "Kleingleuth" ceremonies (unless they were obsequies of children) featured at least the picture of the
Pelican (symbolizing the Passion of Christ) which is listed at the end of the entry. The entry concerning Fux's obsequies (merged into one picture) looks as follows:
The entry concerning Johann Joseph Fux's obsequies on 15 February 1741 at St. Stephen's (A-Wd, BLB 1741, fol. 36)
The correct transcription of this document reads as follows (the amounts are florins and kreutzer):
den. 15. Febr.[uarii] / Nachtb[egräbnis] / Fux. /
Der |:tit[u]l[o]:| herr Johann / Joseph Fux, Weÿl:[and] der / R.[ömischen] K.[ayserlichen] M.[ajestät] Hof Capelmai=
/ ster, ist beÿm gold[enen] bärn / am alten fleischmarkh / an hectica
fieber b[e]schaut / worden, alt. 81. Jahr, zu / St. Ste:[phan] in die
kruften. /
grossgleüth
" 9"41" / herrn Canonici " 24"―" / herrn Curaten " 6"―" / bahrtuch "
8"30"/ Pfarrbild " 1"12" / grabstell " 50"―"/ Musici " 10"―"/ Motteten
mit Sart[in] " 15"―"/ bahrleicher und Mesner " 3"―"/ Kirchendiener "
–"30 / 8. bahrsteller mit mantl " 6"―" / 14. Kuttenbuben " 2" 6" / bahr "―"45"/ baumeister und todten=
/ graber " 4"―" / 3. altar " 2"15" / 12 stüll " 3"―" / fürstengleüth
zum / Requiem vorgeleüth " 4"20" / herrn Curaten " 6"―" / 2. accolidi "
1"―" / Lat:[us] "157"19" / [fol. 36v] f. xr. / Latus herüber "157"19"/ Musici "
15"―" / bahrleicher und Mesner " 2"―" / Kirchendiener "―"30" / 2.
Kuttenbuben "―"18"/ 3. altar " 2"15"/ 12. stüll " 3"―"/ grabtuch und
leichter " ―"30" / S[umma] "180"52" / gleüth: Magd.[alena]
Lorenzerin.[nen] / Pelican. 12. Steü[e]rd.[iener] (A-Wd, Bahrleihbuch 1741, fol. 36)
On 15 February [1741]. Evening burial. The honorable Sir Johann Joseph Fux, Court Kapellmeister of
his late Majesty, the Roman Emperor, was inspected at the Golden Bear on the Old Fleischmarkt as having died of tremorous fever, 81 years of age, [buried] in the crypt of St. Stephen's.
Peal of the great bell " 9"41" / canons " 24"―" / curates " 6"―" / shroud "
8"30"/ parish picture " 1"12" / gravesite " 50"―"/ musicians " 10"―"/ motets with muted brass "15"―"/ bier renter and sexton " 3"―"/ sacristan "
–"30 / 8 bier setters in coats" 6"―" / 14 cowlboys " 2" 6" / bier "―"45"/ builder and gravedigger " 4"―" / 3 altars " 2"15" / 12 chairs " 3"―" / Peal of the Fürsten bell as peal preceding the Requiem " 4"20" / the Curates " 6"―" / 2 acolytes "
1"―" / subtotal "157"19" / [fol. 36v] florins. kreutzer. / overleaf subtotal "157"19"/ musicians "
15"―" / bier renter and sexton " 2"―" / sacristan "―"30" / 2 cowlboys "―"18"/ 3 altars " 2"15"/ 12 chairs " 3"―"/ shroud and lampstands " ―"30" / total "180"52" / peals at St. Magdalene's and the convent of St. Laurenz / [picture] Pelican. 12 citizens [as cortege].
This entry describes an ordinary "grossgleüth" ceremony with an additional Requiem, preceded by a separate "fürstengleüth". The "peals at St. Magdalene's and the convent of St. Laurenz" (missing in Flotzinger's transcription) refer to
St. Magdalene's Chapel south of the Cathedral and the chapel of the convent of
St. Laurenz on the Fleischmarkt, close to Fux's last residence. This ceremony was expensive, but it was not "incredibly" expensive. As a matter of fact there were several items that could have raised the price even higher which in Fux's case were not employed, such as a higher count of clergymen, altars (on several consecutive days), more cowlboys and acolytes (at one florin apiece). It was always possible to have a number of altars set up for several days in different apses (with chairs that had to be paid extra), a luxury that could cost more than 80 florins extra. Fux's status as non-noble citizen precluded him from receiving a peal of the "Josephinische Glocke" (the old
Pummerin) and the fact that his body was not transferred to the Cathedral in a carriage with six horses – an effort which on 29 June 1742 was applied at the funeral of the architect
Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach (A-Wd, BLB 1742, fol. 174r) – exposes Flotzinger's claim of "ein wahnsinniger Aufwand" as gross misunderstanding. There were several obsequies in the Cathedral in 1741 whose efforts exceeded Fux's burial. The most expensive funeral of 1741 was that of Johann Caspar Joseph Kolb von Kollenburg, "Weÿl[and] der K.K. M[ajestät] Unter Stabelmaister" (deputy staff holder of His late I. & R. Majesty), which cost 195 florins and 16 kreutzer. It included a Großgleuth, a tomb in the crypt, a Requiem with a
Fürstengleuth, 30 cowlboys and five altars. What makes his funeral significant in regard of the alleged "incredible effort" at Fux's is the fact that the musicians that were employed for Kolb's Requiem cost nine florins more than those that performed in the Requiem of the deceased Court Kapellmeister.
The entry concerning the obsequies of Johann Caspar Joseph Kolb von Kollenburg on 13 January 1741 (A-Wd, BLB 1741, fol. 10v and 11r). The expense of 24 florins for the Requiem was extraordinary. This was basically the highest possible cost for exequies in 1741, except for a possible additional peal of the Pummerin and additional altars.
The only way to get a factual perspective on the relative costs of Fux's funeral and the effort that it implied, is to compare it to similar ceremonies that took place at that time in the Cathedral. One of the most suitable sources for such a comparison is the entry concerning the obsequies of Fux's wife Clara Juliana on 9 June 1731. Unfortunately this document is not included in Flotzinger's collection of Fux documents.
Clara Juliana Fux, née Schnitzenbaum died on 8 June 1731 of internal gangrene at an approximate age of 60 (as will be shown below, she was not born in 1671). Her death was reported on the
following day in the
Wiener Diarium. This note was already published in 1872 (Köchel, 1872, 295).
The announcement of Clara Juliana Fux's death in the Wiener Diarium of 9 June 1731
Neither Köchel nor Flotzinger published the entry in the municipal death records (the
Totenbeschauprotokoll) concerning the death of Fux's wife.
The previously unpublished entry in the Totenbeschauprotokoll concerning the death of Clara Juliana Fux (A-Wsa, Totenbeschreibamt 34, fol. 244r)
Den. 8. Junÿ. 731. / Dem Wohl Edl gestrengen Herrn Joh. Joseph Fux, Kaÿ[serlichen] / Hof-Capell-Maistern, sein Frau Clara Juliana, gebohrne / Schnizenbaumin, ist beÿm gold[en] Bärn am alten Fleisch= / marckt an innerlichen-Brand und Seiten-stech[en] b[e]sch[au]t, / alt. 60. Jahr.
June 8th, 1731. The honorable and stern Imperial Kapellmeister Johann Joseph Fux's wife Clara Juliana, née Schnitzenbaum was inspected at the Golden Bear as having died of internal gangrene and side stitch, 60 years of age.
Also missing in Flotzinger's book is the entry in the regular death records of St. Stephen's concerning Juliana Fux's burial.
The entry concerning the burial of Juliana Fux in the regular Sterbebuch of St. Stephen's (A-Wd, Tom. 20c, p. 756). Note the single f in "Hof Capelmaister".
d.[en] 9. dito. [Junii] des Wohl Edl gestr:[engen] herr Joseph / Fux, Kaÿ[serlichen] Hof Capelmaisters / seine Frau Julia[n]a, zu St: Ste[phan] / grossgleüth " 6"―" / Requiem " 6"―"
The costs of Juliana Fux's obsequies on 9 June 1731 immediately relativize those of her husband's ten years later. Her funeral ceremony cost 130 florins 10 kreutzer, but, apart from a much cheaper grave, the ceremony included the exact same effort as her husband's. Why did a simple wife of a Kapellmeister receive a
grossgleüth with a Requiem? Because her husband was willing to pay for it. The difference of over 50 florins between the costs in 1731 and the costs of Fux's burial in 1741 was mainly caused by the fact that Juliana Fux did not get a grave in the crypt for 50 florins, but only an ordinary one in the cemetery around the Cathedral which only cost a tenth of that amount. Her burial also saw fewer biersetters and cowlboys. No builder for a crypt had to be paid. On the other hand, the music for her Requiem cost even three florins more than the one of the Court Kapellmeister in 1741 (which was probably caused by special musical efforts requested by Fux). The relation of these amounts – which are starkly at odds with Flotzinger's claim of a unique and "incredible" effort at Fux's obsequies – prove that Fux and his wife were not buried according to their social, but according to their
financial status. Compared to most of his colleague musicians, who were holding higher positions (such as Caldara or
Reutter), Fux was a very wealthy man. His wealth was based on his annual income of 3,100 fl as of 1715, a one-time gift of 8,000 fl from the Court in 1723 and the fact that beginning in August of 1733 – owing to the extraordinary merits of his uncle – Fux's nephew Matthäus was granted an annual "Scholarengehalt" (Court scholarship) of 360 florins (A-Whh, OMeA, Prot. 14, fol. 203v). This important detail is not mentioned in Flotzinger's book.
The entry concerning the obsequies of Clara Juliana Fux on 9 June 1731 at St. Stephen's (A-Wd, BLB 1731, fol. 155)
den. 9. Junij. [1731] / Nachtb[egräbnis] / Fuxin. /
Des Wohl Edl gebohrnen / herrn Johann Joseph Fux, / Kaÿl: Hof Capelmaisters, / sein frau Clara Julia[n]a, / gebohrne Schnizenbaumin, / ist beÿm golden Bärn am / alten fleischmarckh / an Innerl:[ichem] Brand und sei= / tenstechen b[e]schaut / wor= / den. alt. 60. Jahr, zu / St. / Stephan. /
grossgleüth " 9"41" / herrn Canonici " 24"―" / herrn Curaten " 6"―" / Pahrtuch " 8"30"/ Pfarrbild " 1"12" / Lat:[us] "49"23" / [fol. 155v] F. xr. / Latus herüber "49"23"/ grabstell am fürstenbichl" 5"―"/ Musici " 10"―"/ Motteten mit Sart:[in] " 15"―"/ Pahrleicher und Mesner " 3"―"/ Kirchendiener " ―"30 / 6. Pahrsteller mit mäntl " 4"30" / 12. Kuttenbuben " 1"48" / Pahr "―"45"/ todtengraber "―"36" / 3. altar " 3"―" / 8. stüell " 2"―" / den 2t[en]. tag d[a]s fürsten= / gleüth zum / Requiem vor / geleith worden " 4"20" / herrn Curaten " 6"―" / Musici " 18"―" / Pahrleicher und Mesner / " 2"―" / Kirchendiener "―"30" / 2. Kuttenbuben "―"18"/ 3. altar " 3"―" / 8. stüell " 2"―" / S[umma] "130"10" / gleith. Magd.[alena] Lorenzerin.[nen] / Pelican. Joh.[ann] Nep:[omuk] / 12. Steü[e]rdiener. (A-Wd, Bahrleihbuch 1731, fol. 155)
On 9 June [1731]. Evening burial. The well and noble-born Sir Johann Joseph Fux, Court Kapellmeister's wife Clara Juliana, née Schnizenbaum was inspected at the Golden Bear on the Old Fleischmarkt as having died of internal gangrene and side stitch, 60 years of age, [buried] at St. Stephen's.
Peal
of the great bell " 9"41" / canons " 24"―" / curates " 6"―" / shroud "
8"30"/ parish picture " 1"12" / subtotal "49"23" / [fol. 155v] florins. kreutzer. / overleaf
subtotal "49"23"/ gravesite at the Fürstenbühel ("Counts' Hill") " 5"―"/ musicians " 10"―"/
motets with muted brass " 15"―"/ bier renter and sexton "
3"―"/ sacristan "
–"30 / 6 biersetters with coats" 4"30" / 12 cowlboys " 1" 48" / bier
"―"45"/ gravedigger "―"36" / 3 altars " 3"―" / 8 chairs " 2"―" / on the 2nd day the peal of the Fürsten bell was pealed before the Requiem " 4"20" /
the Curates " 6"―" / musicians "
18"―" / bier renter and sexton " 2"―" / sacristan "―"30" / 2 cowlboys
"―"18"/ 3 altars " 3"―" / 8 chairs " 2"―" / total "130"10" / peals at St. Magdalene's and the
convent of St. Laurenz / [pictures] Pelican and St. John of Nepomuk. 12 citizens [as cortege].
Another document that puts Fux's funeral expenses into a much more realistic perspective (and which is also missing in Flotzinger's book) is the entry concerning the obsequies on 20 May 1749 of the composer's sister-in-law Maria Theresia Schnitzenbaum. Again we are faced with the intention to show off by consecrating an unmarried woman of basically no exceptional social status, but surprisingly large financial means, with a
grossgleüth and providing her with a tomb in the crypt of the Cathedral. Maria Theresia Schnitzenbaum's ceremony cost 141 florins 16 kreutzer and again included expenses of 30 florins for the clergy, 50 florins for the tomb and 25 florins for the music (again with "Moteten mit Sardin"). The difference of about 40 florins to the cost of Fux's burial was caused by Fräule von Schnitzenbaum not receiving an extra Requiem.
The entry concerning the obsequies on 20 May 1749 of Fux's sister-in-law Maria Theresia Schnitzenbaum (A-Wd, BLB 1749, fol. 80). Again the bells of the churches in the vicinity of the last residence were pealed: at St. Salvator's and Maria Stiegen.
Countless entries in the
Bahrleihbuch prove that the presumption of Fux having been buried with "incredible effort" has no basis. The sources related to Fux's family alone provide enough documentation to reveal the facts. The burial of Fux's brother-in-law Paul Anton Schnitzenbaum took place on 17 March 1740 in the Cathedral. Although he had only been a
k.k. Cammer-Concipist, his relatives again had his burial ceremony performed in style: he received a
grossgleüth, 30 florins were paid for the presence of clergymen, 50 florins for a tomb in the crypt and 25 florins for the music which of course included "Motteten mit Sardindl".
The entry concerning Paul Anton Schnitzenbaum's obsequies on 17 March 1740 (A-Wd, BLB 1740, fol. 70v-71r). Note again the peal of bells at St. Magdalene's and the chapel of St. Laurenz on the Fleischmarkt.
Here are two more entries in the
Bahrleihbuch which are of relevance to the assessment of the supposed "extraordinary effort" at Fux's obsequies and Flotzinger's claim that the court requested and paid Fux's funeral expenses. The court organist
Georg Reutter the Elder (father of the more prominent composer
Johann Georg Reutter) died on 28 April 1738. He received a
Fürstengleüth for 4 fl 20 x including a Requiem. The total price of his burial amounted to 65 fl 23 x, a relatively modest effort which was caused by the fact that Reutter had died without leaving any savings. Following a resolution by the City Council the price of Reutter's grave in the crypt of the Cathedral was reduced by 80% to ten florins. The significant detail is that this discount was recorded in the
Bahrleihbuch (and it is recorded in the 1738
Oberkammeramtsrechnung): "Grabstell von Statt Rath placitirt worden" ("the grave was approved by the City Council").
The entry concerning the obsequies of the Court organist Johann Georg Reutter on 30 August 1738 (A-Wd, BLB 1738, fol. 224f.)
The burial of
Antonio Caldara, who for twenty-two years had served as Imperial deputy Kapellmeister, is an interesting case as well. Caldara's obsequies took place on 29 December 1736 in the Cathedral. Although Caldara had drawn an annual salary of 3,900 florins and had received a one-time payment of 12,000 florins (4,000 more than Fux), at the time of his death all the money had been spent and Caldara's widow, his daughter and his mother-in-law, were left in debt. This, and Caldara's artistic merits, were the obvious reasons as to why the musicians of the Cathedral chapel performed free of charge ("Musici gratis") at his obsequies. Of course this gratis collaboration was
recorded in the
Bahrleihbuch. This would also have been the case, if any members of the Court orchestra had taken part in Fux's obsequies, because these musicians were not permitted to receive payment for activities at the Cathedral within the jurisdiction and financial administration of the Vienna Magistracy. That Caldara received an expensive burial in the crypt was based on the fact that Fux was able to persuade the Emperor (against an earlier agreement) to grant Caldara's widow an annual
Gnadenpension (pension of grace) of 400 fl. Although Caldara had drawn a much higher salary than Fux, his burial cost about 100 florins less, which is yet another proof that burial efforts were not determined by "requests and payments from the court", but by the financial means of the bereaved.
The entry concerning the obsequies of Antonio Caldara on 29 December 1736 (A-Wd, BLB 1736, fol. 288f.)
A Digression: The Sartin
The
Sartin (or
Sardin) was the particular Viennese term for what in northern Germany was called
Sordun: a
wooden mute for brass instruments which in Vienna was used
pars pro toto to refer to the use of muted trumpets or trombones in burial ceremonies. The use of muted brass had to be paid extra. While a regular performance of the song "
Der grimmig Todt" cost six florins, the note "mit Sardin" refers to the additional use of muted brass instruments which raised the price to ten florins (suggesting the use of four instruments). In his treatise
Versuch einer Anleitung zur heroisch-musikalischen Trompeter- und Pauker-Kunst (Halle, 1795)
Johann Ernst Altenburg writes the following (p. 86f.):
The Surdun (or Sordin) has its name from Surdus, which means weak or muted. It is basically a turned tool made of hard and firm wood which does not produce a sound itself; if it is put into the trumpet, it not only provides the instrument with a totally different, almost oboe-like sound, it also, if it is turned well, raises the pitch by a whole tone. [...] The essential use of the Surdun consists of the following: 1) If an army is to decamp in silence so that the enemy does not become aware of it. 2) At funerals and burials. [...]
The Toccata at the beginning of
Monteverdi's
L'Orfeo is preceded by the following (rarely observed) instruction: "Toccata che si suona avanti il levar de la tela tre volte con tutti li strumenti, & si fa un Tuono più alto volendo sonar le trombe con le sordine."
In early 2012 the late musicologist Alison Jayne Dunlop entered into a little fun competition with me on who would be the first to find a Viennese eighteenth-century source that documents the use of the word
Sartin as a local term for
Surdun. I was eventually able to locate such a handwritten document: on the second page of his will, written on 18 September 1726, the Court trumpeter Tobias Andreas Pernebmer (b. 17 August 1666 in
Mauthausen [Mauthausen 407/01, p. 51], d. 17 June 1727 in Vienna) addresses the distribution of his instruments and refers to the accessories of his two small brass trumpets.
A clip from the autograph will of Tobias Andreas Pernebmer (A-Wsa, AZJ 4940/18. Jhdt.)
Die Silberne Trompetten gehört der Frau Wittib Catharinæ, welche in dem Kaÿßerl: Hof futter=Ambt kan außgelöst werden, doch ohne Mundstükh, wonit, so kan sie es verkaufen nach ihrem Belieben. Von denen zweÿ kleinen Mesßingen Trompetten, soll ein ieder Sohn eine haben, sambt Mundstükh und Sartin.
The silver trumpet belongs to the widow Catharina and can be redeemed at the Imperial Court fodder-office, but without mouthpiece, if not, she can sell it at her convenience. Each son should get one of the small brass trumpets, including mouthpiece and mute.
17. After these there marched a trumpeter on horseback with Sardin, dressed in black, a cavalry captain, a lieutenant, a cornet, holding an ancient, richly embroidered with gold and silver, draped with a black crape, together with a company of riders, constituted by the Brotherhood of the Poor Souls from Aschau, consisting of four men that followed. [...]
19. A timpanist with timpani covered with black cloth, with flags and four trumpeters on foot blowing with Sardin.
The meaning of the word
Sart[in] reveals itself quite easily, as soon as one is willing to read complete volumes of the Cathedral's
Bahrleihbücher.
Fux's Marriage Entry
It is fascinating to see that some of Flotzinger's transcription errors date all the way back to
Ludwig von Köchel's biography of Fux. Not only did Köchel lack the necessary expertise on eighteenth-century handwritten sources, he probably delegated some research and transcription work to an assistant who was not really up to the task. A case in point is Köchel's edition of the entry in the records of St. Stephen's concerning Fux's wedding. Köchel avoided some of Flotzinger's errors, but he also committed transcription mistakes that Flotzinger was to obediently copy 143 years later. The reasons for these errors were lack of experience and limited knowledge of a greater body of sources. On 5 June 1696 Fux married Clara Juliana Schnitzenbaum, daughter of the deceased secretary with the Lower Austrian government Johann Joseph Schnitzenbaum and his second wife Maria Ursula, née Crän. Fux's marriage entry in the records of the Cathedral looks as follows:
The entry concerning Johann Joseph Fux's wedding on 5 June 1696 at St. Stephen's Cathedral (A-Wd, Tom. 33, p. 85).
Köchel transcribed this document as follows:
Flotzinger
manages to improve on Köchel's flawed edition, but he repeats some of Köchel's mistakes, or replaces them with new ones.
Flotzinger's transcription of Fux's marriage entry (Flotzinger 2015, 359)
Since
the three vertical dashes at the beginning of the entry refer to the three publications of the banns,
they must be transcribed. Flotzinger's transcription "copulaty à" is
wrong. The apparent y in "copulaty" is a common form of the Latin end syllable "-us". The transcription "à" is meaningless. The note on the left reads "copulatus e[st]" (which is proved by thousands of similar entries). The correct spelling of the month is "Junij". The missing genitive case "Mariæ Ursulæ" is essential and the fact that the mistranscription of the final note "Tax. a Scotensibus" already appears in Köchel's edition and is disimproved by Flotzinger into "Test[es] tax[ati] à Scotensib[u]s" ("the witnesses were taxed by the Schotten parish"), does not make it less nonsensical.
The note at the end of Fux's marriage entry that neither Köchel nor Flotzinger could unriddle (A-Wd, Tom. 33, p. 85)
The dash above the "a" is not a kind of grave accent (in Latin?), but a common abbreviation sign. The g-like letter at the end of "Scotensibus" is not an abbreviation, but literally means "us". Witnesses of a wedding were not taxed by a parish. The note at the end of the entry reads: "Test[imonium] den[untiationis] a Scotensibus" (i.e. "certificate of proclamation from the Schotten [parish]").
There is another, earlier entry concerning the publication of the banns of Fux's wedding in the records of Fux's home parish (Pfarre
Schotten,
Tom. 16, fol. 37r) which has also never been published correctly. In
his smaller
monograph about Fux (which was published in 2015 by the
Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt Graz) Flotzinger gives a wrong
folio number of this document and again misdates it as having been written "on 4 June 1696", not
realizing that this date refers to the wedding date of the preceding entry and thus cannot pertain to that of Fux, whose banns had to be
published on three consecutive Sundays before 5 June 1696. This basic circumstance dates Fux's
entry at the Schotten parish to around 20 May 1696 which is also corroborated by the fact that the couple, that was entered into the records right after Fux, got married earlier than the composer, namely on 31 May 1796. Flotzinger also mistakenly claims that the bride's witness Paul Schmuderer "owned a house in the Singerstraße". In April 1702 Schmuderer bought two houses from his brother-in-law: the "
Eisgrübel" near St. Peter's and a "Soldatenhäusl" in the
Krugerstraße. He did not own a house in the
Singerstraße.
Fux's Will
Fux's will, which the composer wrote and signed on 5 January 1732, was first published in 1872 by Ludwig von Köchel.
The last two pages of Fux's will (A-Wsa, Hauptarchiv, Persönlichkeiten A1. F14, fol. 3v and 4r)
As of today there are three different editions of the text of this document: 1) Köchel's transcription (Köchel, 287), 2) a transcription by Michael Hochedlinger in the book
"Mein letzter Wille". Kulturhistorisch bedeutende Testamente und
Verlassenschaftsabhandlungen in Wiener Archiven (16.-18. Jahrhundert) (70f.), and 3) the transcription in Flotzinger's recent book (Flotzinger 2015, 366f.). None of these transcriptions is complete and fully correct. Köchel's effort cannot be judged by modern scholarly standards, because he was under no obligation to completely transcribe every document, let alone provide exact shelfmarks of his sources. Hochedlinger's transcription (of which Flotzinger is unaware) is astonishingly flawed, which is even more surprising, given the fact that Hochedlinger has held university courses in paleography and in 2009 published a text book, titled
Aktenkunde. Urkunden- und Aktenlehre der Neuzeit (Vienna: Böhlau). Because Hochedlinger observes a totally arbitrary regimen of transcription – disregarding the capitalization of letters and the compounding of separate words – his edition of Fux's will contains more than 60 mistakes. In addition to that there are silently resolved abbreviations and classic transcription errors that are caused by ignorance of historical orthography. Again, only a few examples can be addressed here (and these also relate to Flotzinger's transcription problems). The beginning of Fux's will looks as follows (fol. 2r):
The beginning of Fux's will (A-Wsa, Hauptarchiv, Persönlichkeiten A1. F14, fol. 2r)
Köchel, Hochedlinger and Flotzinger (being unable to disengage their minds from modern spelling rules) mistranscribe the headline as "Letzter Wille". That the important note ("præs 13 Febr 1741"), written right after the headline by the clerk of the Obersthofmarschallamt, is missing in Köchel can be tolerated. But it is also missing in Hochedlinger (70) and silently resolved in Flotzinger (366). Hochedlinger (to name only a few of his many mistakes) turns all capital Ms into small ones, colons into commas, transcribes "Matthæus" as "Matthaeum", compounds the words "zehen tausend" and silently resolves all abbreviations of words and final syllables. On folio 3v of the document, all three editors of Fux's will were unable to pass what I call "the litmus test of eighteenth-century paleography": the correct transcription of the so called "Fahnen-h" which looks like a regular Kurrent "h", but doubles the following consonant. The following phrase reads "In fall aber".
The "Fahnen-h" in the word "fall" in Fux's will (A-Wsa, Hauptarchiv, Persönlichkeiten A1. F14, fol. 3v)
It is obvious that Köchel was unaware of this orthographic intricacy which in the second half of the nineteenth century had already been forgotten. The disappearance of this practice from the public memory led to countless mistranscriptions of German family names, such as "Reihsner", "Bihler" and "Muhm" and the transformation of the word "Gföll" (i.e. Gefälle ) into the name of the Lower Austrian town
Gföhl. This particular use of a doubling-h is repeatedly mistranscribed by Hochedlinger and Pangerl in their edition of wills of prominent historical figures int the aforesaid book. It appears in the wills of
Paul Strudel ("genohmen"),
Johann Michael Rottmayr ("Fahl", "Todtsfahl"),
Georg Reutter the Elder ("einfahlen", "gleichfahls"), and Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach ("genohmen"). Since I have already dealt with the issue of the Fahnen-h in an
earlier blogpost, I shall only present three examples here: two double-ls from the 1740s and one of the very rare cases where the "Fahnen-h" actually doubles a following r.
The word "Todenfall", written on 14 July 1744, with a doubling "Fahnen-h" before the l (A-Wsa, Patrimoniale Herrschaften, B106/17, fol. 172r)
The words "vier Zoll" (A-Wsa, Patrimoniale Herrschaften, B106/17, fol.178v)
The only word I have found so far, where the "Fahnen-h" doubles an r, is the word "Pfarr" (parish). This way of spelling "Pfarr" and "Pfarrer" appears in the also probate file of Johann Anton Chumar, the parish priest of St. Marein, which is published in appendix II (other sources) of Flotzinger's book. But Flotzinger did not understand this spelling.
The word "Pfarr", written with a capital "Fahnen-h", on the title page of a marriage register of the Viennese parish of St. Leopold's (St. Leopold, Trauungsbuch Tom. 6, 1716-21)
The spelling "St: Ulrich=Pfarr" with a "Fahnen-h" in a marriage document from 1758 (A-Wsa, Konfessionelle Behörden, St. Ulrich, A2/2)
Probably influenced by Herwig Knaus, Flotzinger continuously misunderstands the eighteenth-century practice of shortening the German final syllable "-en". Because he thinks that this common
Kürzel is an n without an e, he transcribes the following words (and many others in Fux's will) with an "n" at the end, for example: "zu theilln" and "nach Christlichn".
(A-Wsa, Hauptarchiv, Persönlichkeiten A1. F14, fol. 2v)
And yet this
Kürzel is actually an e without an n, and in the above cases it should be transcribed "theille[n]" and "Christliche[n]". In all three published editions of Fux's will a mysterious comma appears right after the composer's signature. This comma does not exist in the autograph. It is the result of a collective illusion that originated with Köchel: all three authors misread the upward hook of the letter "x" in Fux's name as a comma.
(A-Wsa, Hauptarchiv, Persönlichkeiten A1. F14, fol. 4r)
Flotzinger, who, influenced by Köchel, also turns the "ma" at the end of Fux' signature into an "mp", includes the following note after Fux's signature as "angehängter Amtsvermerk". After marring the text with the usual rate of mistakes (wrong are: "Haint", "Matthei", "H. Obrl:", "publiciert", "hievon", "abschrifften", and "ertheilln"), he forgets to include the signature of the Obersthofmarschall, Prince
Heinrich Joseph von Auersperg. Like Hochedlinger, he also fails to include Fux's inscription on the outside of the will: "Lezter Wille / mein / Johann Joseph [Fux] / Kaÿl. HofCapelM[aister ma]" (this signature was garbled by paper loss when the will was opened).
Fux's will consists of four leaves and is the type of document where the envelope was an integral part of the will and bears handwriting on both sides. Unusual about Fux last disposition is that it bears no signature of a witness. A close-up examination of the original shows that the early paper losses, caused by the opening, were replaced sometime in the twentieth century and (with the exception of the seal) the will was fully laminated with 1 g/m² gossamer tissue. This high-quality restoration measure protects the paper and (more importantly) forestalls expectable ink corrosion. Spaced holes in the fold of the paper also show that at some time the document was part of a bound bundle of papers.
Gossamer tissue, covering the partly torn fold of the inner leaf of Fux's will (A-Wsa, Hauptarchiv, Persönlichkeiten A1. F14, fol. 2v and 3r)
The area around the seal on Fux's will which shows the section that is not covered by tissue. The beginning of the laminated area is clearly visible above the seal and in the flattening of the ink in the letter K. The area left of the seal is an older paper replacement. Note the tail of a horse in Fux's seal which will appear again below (A-Wsa, Hauptarchiv, Persönlichkeiten A1. F14, fol. 4r).
A backlight shot of the outside inscription on Fux's will which shows the old replacement of the paper loss and the gossamer tissue circumventing the seal (A-Wsa, Hauptarchiv, Persönlichkeiten A1. F14, fol. 4v).
Fux Documents in the City's Alte Registratur
Three documents in the so-called "Zusammengelegte Akten" (merged files, A-Wsa, Alte Registratur, Serie 1.2.1.A1) of the municipal administration from between 1700 and 1759 refer to Fux's employment at St. Stephen's. Two of these files are decrees, issued in 1706 and 1707 by the City Council to the
Kirchenmeister (the financial administrator of the Cathedral), regarding the distribution and the boarding of the choirboys. One is a complaint from 1714 by the Council that some of the church musicians (and their substitutes) fail to fulfill their duties in the services at the miraculous image of
Our Lady of Pötsch. Excerpts of these three documents were already published (without complete shelfmarks) by Köchel. Flotzinger's new edition of these sources claims to be complete, but it is not and furthermore it is fraught with errors of which some were demonstrably copied from Köchel. Out of many mistakes only the most serious shall be addressed. The following passage in the file A-Wsa, AReg. A1, 153/1706, referring to the replacement of inept choirboys of the Cathedral with six more able ones from the
church of the Bürgerspital, was
transcribed by Köchel as follows: "Von denen Sachsen[
sic], welche in dem Burgerspital instruirt werden, heraussgenomben[
sic] [...]".
A clip from a decree of 1 July 1706 from the City Council to the Kirchenmeister concerning the replacement of choirboys (A-Wsa, Alte Registratur, 1.2.1.A1, 153/1706)
Since it changes the meaning of the sentence, the mistranscription "Sachsen" (Saxons) – instead of the correct and quite obvious "Sechsen" (the six) – is not a minor flaw. How does Flotzinger treat this text and how does he improve on Köchel's version? On p. 58 and 361 of his book he writes: "Von denen Sachsen, welche in dem burgerSpittal instruirt werden, Heraußgenomben [...]". In his transcription of the file A-Wsa, AReg. A1, 92/1707 Flotzinger twice misreads the name of the Cathedral's
Kirchenmeister Leopold Friedrich Pfeifer as "Pfeister" and at the end of the decree from 1706 the transcription ends with the note "[außen ...]" (outside), but apart from the note "Expedirt den 3
ten Jan
707", the text on the file's cover was not considered worthy of publication. The same applies to the file from 1707 whose
rubrum also remained unpublished.
The cover of the decree from 1707 which so far has escaped publication. Note the Kirchenmeister's correct name being "Leopold Friderich Pfeifer" (A-Wsa, AReg. A1, 92/1707).
Fux Documents in the Kirchenmeisteramtsrechungen
The so-called
Kirchenmeister was the municipal accountant in charge of the Cathedral's budget. Since between 1712 and 1715 Fux served as
Essentialkapellmeister at St. Stephen's, the costs of Fux's employment are recorded in the account books of the
Kirchenmeisteramt. The series of these records is not complete and furthermore these records represent a special situation, because they have never been united and today are held by three different Viennese archives: 1) the Vienna City Archive, 2) the Domarchiv (the archive of the Cathedral) and 3) the Diözesanarchiv (the archive of the Diocese of Vienna). The years 1712 and 1714 only survive in a preliminary draft versions in the Domarchiv and the year 1715 seems to be lost. The entries related to Fux always appear in two different sections of the books: first, under "Außgab auf gestüffte Heilige Messen, Litaney, Angst und Jahrtäg" (expenses for endowed Holy Masses, litanies, days of anxiety and anniversaries), and second, under "Außgab auf die Cantorey beÿ S. Stephan" (expenses for the music at St. Stephen's). For six litanies at the Madonna's miraculous image on six Marian feast days Fux was paid 36 florins. For each of the four endowed Requiems in 1712, which were celebrated on Ember days, he received 6 florins 30 kreutzer.
The first appearance of Fux's name in the 1712 Kirchenmeisteramtsrechnung (A-Wd, Kirchenmeisteramtsrechnung 1712, fol. 47r). The sloppy handwriting marks the draft character of this copy.
Außgab
Auf gestüffte H.[eilige] Mesßen, Litaneÿ,
Angst, und Jahrtäg ./.
Erstl:[ich] bezalte Ich dem Hn Capell=
N° 99. Maister Fux lauth N° 99. umb
Will[en] d Anno 1712. An den[en] 6.
Frauen täg gehaltene[n] litaneÿe[n],
beÿm alte[n] Marianisch[en] G[na]d[en] bildt.
In d[er] Kürch[en] die Gebühr mit // 36. f. ―
[…]
Mehr dem Capellmait: Fux
N° 101. Craft Qitt[ung] N° 101. weg[en] der
Fraue[n] Salome Siglpaurin, Elisabeth
Müllnerin, Veronica Kertenkalchin,
und Caspar Franckh seel: qua=
temberliche 4. Requ[i]em pro Anno
1712. // 26. f. ―
In the section "Außgab auf die Cantorey" the expenses for the musicians are listed. Fux's annual salary at the Cathedral was 300 florins with an additional "Kleydgeldt" (clothing allowance) of 24 florins. For the six choir boys, whom he had to teach and sustain, Fux in 1712 received 1,200 florins per year. As can be seen in my
article about Vivaldi's obsequies, these amounts were to remain unchanged for the next 30 years. In 1713 Fux seems to have had his duties at the Madonna's image reduced. Three of the choristers were transferred into the care of Georg Reutter who for these three boys received an additional "Zimmerbeyhilf" (housing allowance) of 60 florins. The distribution of the six boys between Fux and Reutter and the payments of 600 fl to each of them is documented on the following page of the 1713 account book.
Fux's and Reuter's salaries and compensation fees in the 1713 Kirchenmeisteramtsrechnung (A-Wsa, Handschrift A41/21, fol. 63r). This is a representative final copy.
Außgab
Auf die Cantoreÿ beÿ St. Stephan.
Erstl: erichte ich dem H. Johann Joseph
Fux Capell=Maister sein ordinari Be=
soldung und Kleider gelt pro Anno 1713
N° 230. undter N° 230. mit // 324. f. ―
Mehr weg[en] der 3. Capell=Knaben Ihr Ver=
pflegungs gelt auf solch gantzes Jahr ut
N° 231. N° 231. // 600. f. ―
N° 232. Item nach Weißung N° 232. dem H. Georg
Reiter Capell Maister zum Gnaden Bildt
daß Verpflegungs=gelt von seinen dreÿ
Capell=Knaben vor daß angezeigte gantze
Jahr // 600. f. ―
Verrers dem H. Reiter sein Zimmer
beÿhilf auf bemelte dreÿ Knaben,
N° 233. und solches gantzes jahr nach zeugnuß
seiner Quittung N° 233. // 60. f. ―
In 1713 Fux is also referred to as having examined the work of the Cathedral's music copyist Lambert Graf. A pdf that I made of all entries related to Fux in the
Kircheneisteramtsrechnungen from 1712-14 can be downloaded
here. The account books of the
Kirchenmeister of St. Stephen's Cathedral belong to the many historical records that have been sadly ignored by Austrian musicologists.
Fux Documents in the Account Books of the Municipal Oberkammeramt
Vienna's municipal
Oberkammeramt (superior chamber office) was responsible for the entire City's finances. Although its a
ccount books, the so-called
Oberkammeramtsrechnungen (the earliest of which fragmentarily survive from the
fourteenth century) are a priceless source regarding the City's finances and payroll expenses, they have hitherto been steadfastly ignored by Fux scholarship. Of course this was caused by the fact that Köchel did not become aware of these sources. But Köchel's work should really not be the defining benchmark of modern Fux research. In 1705 Fux was appointed deputy Kapellmeister at St. Stephen's where he took over
Johann Michael Zächer's musical duties at the miraculous image of Our Lady of Pötsch (which at that time was still located on the Cathedral's main altar). In 1712 Fux succeeded Zächer (the spelling "Zacher" is wrong [A-Wsa, AZJ 1827/18. Jhdt.]) as
Essentialkapellmeister at the Cathedral, a post he kept until the end of 1714. Between 1712 and 1715 (the time Fux held the Kapellmeister post at the
Cathedral) the following types of entries related to the composer can be found in the
Oberkammeramtsrechnungen:
- An extraordinary payment in April 1712 for Fux's musical scores (A-Ws, OKA Rechn B1/228, fol. 105v)
- Five biannual payments of 215 florins (in May and November) for Fux's supervision of the
"Litaneÿ am Hof" (the litany on Saturdays at the Marian column Am Hof) (A-Ws, OKA Rechn B1/229, fol. 66v and 67r. B1/230, fol. 70v. B1/230, fol. 130r. B1/231. fol. 61v. B1/231. fol. 115v)
- Two payments of ten florins each for ordinary musical services that are not specified in more detail (A-Ws, OKA Rechn B1/230, fol. 250r. B1/231. fol. 228r)
- Payments for Fux's musical services "beÿ Unsern Herrn", a term that refers to the Passion altar in the Cathedral's Apostle Choir behind the tomb of Emperor Frederick III. These services included music for a Mass (A-Ws, OKA Rechn B1/230. fol. 135v), the celebration of an unspecified anniversary, possibly the Our Lady of Pötsch festivity on 6 November 1712 (B1/229, fol. 142r), Rorate coeli
services (B1/229, fol. 143r. B1/231. fol. 229r), and Masses and Requiems which were paid for by the City and were held at this altar for deceased members of the City Council (B1/230, fol. 244r. B1/230, fol. 247v. B1/232, fol. 229v and 230r.)
Since it is not possible to publish all fifteen Fux entries in the five account books in question (A-Wsa, OKA Rechn B1/228-232) in a blog post, I shall only provide the shelfmarks and limit the presentation of these sources to a few examples. Between 1705 and 1712 Fux's name does not appear in these records and his service at the Madonna's miraculous image is never mentioned. The earliest reference to Fux in the
Oberkammeramtsrechnungen can be found in the first account book of 1712 which was the very last ledger that the
Ober-Kämmerer Johann Sebastian Höpffner von Brendt (b. 1657, d.
13 July 1712) drew up. On 11 April 1712 the municipal treasurer paid 300 florins to Fux as compensation for the compositions that Fux had given to the Cathedral when he had resigned from his post as deputy Kapellmeister.
The entry in the municipal Oberkammeramtsrechnung
concerning the City's payment of 300 florins on 11 April 1712 for Fux's musical scores (A-Wsa, OKA Rechn. B1/228, fol.
105v)
Am 11t dito [April 1712] zalte Ich Herrn Johann / Joseph Fux, alßwelcher die Cap= / pelmaister Stöll beÿ dem Gna= / den Bildt zu St: Stephan resignirt, / anbeÿ seine Compositiones der Kirchen Hinterlasßen hat, die / Ihme desßentweg[en] angeschafte[n] / Dreÿ Hundert Gulden, vermög / berathschlagten Anbring[ens] (13.), undt Quittung (14.) Hiebeÿ Id e[st] 300 f " –: –:
On April 11th, I paid Johann Joseph Fux, who resigned from his post as Kapellmeister at the Miraculous Image at St. Stephen's and left the scores of his compositions to the church, 300 florins which were put aside for this according to the assessed application no. 13 and the attached receipt no. 14. That is 300 f " – : –:
On 30 November 1712 the City treasurer paid Fux a half year's fee of 215 florins for the litanies at the Marian column Am Hof.
Two pages from the 1712 Oberkammeramtsrechnung. The entry concerning Fux's fee for the 1712 litanies Am Hof is at the lower left and upper right (A-Wsa, OKA Rechn, B1/229, fol. 66v and 67r).
Ingleichen zalte Ich Herrn Johann / Joseph Fux Capellmaistern / beÿ St: Stephan, die wegen der / Litaneÿ am Hof den Lezten / 9bris auf ain halbes Jahr / verfallene Zweÿ Hundert [fol. 67r] und Fünfzehen Gulden, Laut / Quittung (18.) Hiebeÿ Id e[st] 215 f " –: –:
Likewise on the last of November [1712] I paid to Johann Joseph Fux, Kapellmeister at St. Stephen's 215 florins for the litany Am Hof for half a year according to the attached receipt no. 18. That is 215 f " – : –:
On 24 December 1712 the City paid Fux 33 florins for the music at the Rorate service at the Passion altar.
The entry concerning the payment of 33 fl. for the Rorate service in December 1712 at the Cathedral's Passion altar (A-Wsa, OKA Rechn, B1/229, fol. 143r)
Den 24t: dito [Decembris] zalte ich Herrn Joseph / Fux Capellmaistern beÿ St: Ste= / phan, wegen d[em] Rorate dienst / beÿ Unsern Herrn, die der ge= / sambten Music gebührendte / Dreÿ und dreÿßig Gulden. In= / halt Quittung (3.) Hiebeÿ Id e[st] 33 f " –: –:
On December 24th [1712] I paid to Joseph Fux, Kapellmeister at St. Stephen's, because of the Rorate service at Our Lord's [altar], the 33 florins that were due for the whole music ensemble. According to the attached receipt no. 3. That is 33 f " – : –:
On 19 August 1713 the
Oberkämmerer paid Fux 20 florins for the Mass and the Requiem that were held in connection with the obsequies of the councilman Johann Nicola Ruckebaum.
(A-Wsa, OKA Rech, B1/230, fol. 244r)
Den 19t: dito [Augusti 1713] zalte Ich Herrn / Johann Joseph Fux Capell= / maistern beÿ St: Stephan / wegen d[er] Beÿ Unßern Herrn / für Weÿl: Herrn Johann / Nicola Ruckhebaumb deß / Inneren Statt Raths seniore / seel:[ig] gehaltene Lob: und / Seel Ämbter, die d[er] Music / gebührendte Zwainzig / Gulden, Laut Quittung (5.) / Hiebeÿ Id e[st] 20 f " –: –:
On August 19th I paid to Johann Joseph Fux, Kapellmeister at St. Stephen's, for the sung Mass and the Requiem performed at the Passion altar for the deceased Herr Johann Nicola Ruckhebaum, senior member of the Inner City Council 20 florins, due for the musicians, according to the attached receipt no. 5. That is 20 f " –: –:
The burial of the councilman and superintendent of the
Bürgerspital Johann Nicola Ruckenbaum (1639-1713) had taken place on 5 August 1713 in the Cathedral. The information that the City paid Fux 20 florins for the music is an interesting addition to the entry in the
Bahrleihbuch concerning Ruckenbaum's obsequies. The City not only paid for the music, but also for the grave in the crypt. The musical items that cost twenty gulden cannot be exactly identified. They could have been the "Musici" for 10 fl. and the performance of "der grimige Todt mit Sartinln" for 10 fl., but the note "für gehaltene Lob: und Seel Ämbter" in the account book suggests that the 20 florins either covered the 18 fl. for "Musicis vor d[a]s Requiem mit Sartinln" (with the remaining amount unaccounted for), or the free musical service is nor recorded in the
Bahrleihbuch.
The entry concerning the obsequies of Johann Nicola Ruckebaum on 5 August 1713 in the Cathedral (A-Wd, BLB 1713, fol. 141v and 142 r)
The four other obsequies that are referred to in the 1712-15 account books, and for which Fux each time was paid 20 florins, were that of the following members of the Vienna City Council (all of whom were also house owners):
- Augustin von Hirneis, I. & R. councilor, senior member of the City Council and superintendent of the Bürgerspital, buried on 30 August 1713 (A-Wd, BLB 1713, fol. 155)
- Johann Fürth, member of the citizen council and municipal Ober=Raith=Handler (superior accountant), buried on 22 November 1713 (A-Wd, BLB 1713, fol. 166v and 167r)
- Ferdinand Philipp von Raidegg, member of the citizen council, buried on 14 March 1715 (A-Wd, BLB 1715, fol. 35v and 36r)
- Adam Schreyer, buried on 22 March 1715, (A-Wd, BLB 1715, fol. 40v and 41r)
The burial services of the two last councilmen are especially interesting, because Fux was obviously still involved in the musical services at the Cathedral in March of 1715, at a time when he had already resigned from his post as Kapellmeister.
The entry concerning the payment of 40 fl to Fux for the music at the obsequies of the councilors von Raidegg and Schreyer (A-Wsa, OKA Rech, B1/232, fol. 229v and 230r)
Den 30t: dito [Martij 1715] zalte Ich Herrn Johann / Joseph Fux Capellmaistern / [fol. 230r] wegen gehaltenen Requiem für / Weÿl:[and] Herrn V: Raidegg, und / Herrn Schreÿer seel: die der / Music gebührendte vierzig / Gulden, ut Quitt: (85.) Hiebeÿ Id e[st] 40 f " –: –:
On the 30th of the same month I paid Kapellmeister Johann Joseph Fux for the Requiem, held for the late Herr von Raidegg and the late Herr Schreyer, 40 florins which were due for the music ensemble, according to the attached receipt. That is 40 f " –: –:
My research in the account books of the
Oberkammeramt is still ongoing. Other references to Fux in these records may yet be found.
Fux Documents in the Court Archives
Documents of the Obersthofmarschallamt
The two important Fux documents in the holdings of the Imperial Court's judicial authority, the Obersthofmarschallamt (OMaA) are the probate files of Fux's wife from 1731 and that of Fux himself from 1741. Flotzinger's edition of these documents is a strange mixture of an original update and a simple copy of Köchel's age-old, heavily shortened transcriptions (Köchel, 286f. and 289f.). Flotzinger seems to have checked the original sources, but he does not completely transcribe them and repeats some of Köchel's mistakes. Since he is not familiar with regular non-noble
Sperrs-Relationen in the Obersthofmarschallamt, he also fails to realize that both files are far from complete and have been heavily reduced by removal of material. A
Sperrs-Relation was supposed to essentially deal with the assets of a deceased person, but such documents are missing from both, Fux's and his wife's files. A good example of a typical probate file is that of the (relatively poor) sculptor
Georg Raphael Donner (A-Whh, OMaA, 5008/1741) which contains the usual lists of belongings and expenses and a marriage contract which originally may also have existed in Fux's probate file. Only two examples will suffice to demonstrate Flotzinger's way of mingling Köchel's old mistakes with new superficiality. On 29 August 1731 Fux's declaration of inheritance was submitted to the Obersthofmarschallamt. The following document was published in 1872 by Köchel in a flawed and incomplete edition (Köchel, 286). Köchel mistranscribed the "p[erge]" as "etc." (I shall not address all the wrong double fs, or the transcription "Auffleg" instead of "auflag") and he chose to ignore the whole
rubrum (summary) of Fux's application. The only notes from the
rubrum (on the right half of the left part of the following picture) that Köchel transcribed are the number "2048" and the words "praes. 19. August 1731". The rest is missing and it is also missing in Flotzinger's edition where a lot of Köchel's mistakes reappear, including the unresolved abbreviation "abstè" (meaning
absolute) and the mistranscription "K.
Martinitz" as the signature of Obersthofmarschall Count Adolf Bernhard
von Martinitz (Flotzinger, 365f.). In his transcription of the accompanying letter Flotzinger mistranscribes the abbreviation "p[erge]" as an ampersand. The previously unpublished part of this document reads as follows:
O:[berst] H:[of] M:[arschall] / gehor[samst] erstate Erbs= / Erklärung sine beneficio / legis et Inventarij / Von mir Jos[e]ph Fux: Kaÿl: Hof=CapellMeister alß / ab intestato Erklärt[en] Erben / über Weÿl: Clara Juliana / Meiner Ehewührtin seel: hin= / terlassene Verlassenschaft / Pr[o] ingebettene acceptier[ung] / invermelter Erbs=Er= / clärung und weitere / verfügung betr[effend] [vertatur]
Fux's Erbserklärung in the probate file of his wife Clara Juliana (A-Whh, OMaA, Karton 687, 3454/1731). There is no information in Flotzinger's edition concerning the appearance of Fux's seal and the autograph signature.
The edition of the composer's probate file from 1741, the second document in the OMaA, is rife with similar problems. Flotzinger publishes the report of the
Amtstrabant Paul Anton Bernhard (with the usual mistranscriptions, such as "Hoff" and "vorgenohmen"), but he fails to include the text on the second leaf of the document, i.e. the
rubrum and the final note which is signed by the Obersthofmarschall Prince von Auersperg. We are presented with the transcription of the
Erbserklärung of Fux's niece Eva Maria (with one telling mistake that is copied from Köchel), but the note "[seitlich Vermerk]" (side note) beside the heiress's signature proves that – contrary to the claim on p. 357 of Flotzinger's book – the text is not a transcription of the original document, but a mere copy of Köchel's edition. This alleged "side note" only appears in Köchel (Köchel, 290), but it cannot be found on the second page (fol. 4v) of Eva Maria Fux's original
Erbserklärung. In the original file this note is part of a longer entry on an entirely different page of the document (fol. 5v) and it comes as no surprise that the text on this page is missing in Flotzinger's edition. Of course one could claim that these notes contain no important information. But such a negligent approach should not be the rule of a scholarly edition of documents. With the exception of the note "præs 21 Febr 1741" (which, as can be seen, is really not a "seitlicher Vermerk" beside a signature) the text on the left half of the following picture has never been published.
The pages 5v and 4r of the Erbserklärung of Fux's niece Eva Maria Fux. I underlined the supposed "note beside her signature" in red. The signature proper is not visible, because it is located on the other side of this document (A-Whh, OMaA, 5006/1741).
Documents of the Obersthofmeisteramt
The Court's Obersthofmeisteramt (OMeA) was responsible for the employment and remuneration of court officials. Since Fux had to evaluate all employments of musicians and raises of their salary, the largest stock of Fux documents is located in the holdings of this court authority in Vienna's
Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv. In appendix VI (376-453) of his book, Köchel published 260 of Fux's autograph assessments from between 1715 and 1740 which can be found on the back side of the original applications that were submitted to the Emperor or the Obersthofmeister.
Gottlieb Muffat's application for a Court scholarship for his son Joseph, which was submitted on 16 October 1732 to the Emperor, is a nice example for such an assessment by the Court Kapellmeister:
The cover page of Gottlieb Muffat's 1732 application for a scholarship for his son: on the lower right are the address and the rubrum, the rest of the page contains Fux's autograph assessment (A-Whh, OMeA, Alte Akten, Karton 29). For a transcription see Köchel, p. 437.
Fux's comments in the files of the Obersthofmeisteramt can be considered the most interesting documents related to the composer's personality. In these written statements, which show great sympathy and are mostly in favor of the musicians' requests, Fux's character comes to life in an uncanny way. That Flotzinger does not include a single one of Fux's assessments in his collection of "documents related to Fux's biography", is surprising. Totally inexplicable however is the fact that he does not even mention the existence of these documents or their earlier publication by Köchel. From hundreds of Fux documents in the archive of the Obersthofmeisteramt Flotzinger presents three documents from between 1698 and 1702 that
Herwig Knaus already published in 1969. It turns out however that Flotzinger also has problems copying printed material, because he adds a lot of curious mistakes to Knaus's texts. The misspellings "Virtzuoso" and "allerdgnädigst" are plain typos, the word "weder" instead of "wegen" (in the protocol of 19 August 1702) is just the result of sloppiness. Knaus's term "seitlicher Vermerk" (side note) for the text on the left half of a two-column document is already very problematic. Flotzinger's changing of Knaus's term into the even less applicable "Rand-Vermerk" (marginal note) is just bizarre. It looks as if Flotzinger has never actually seen the original documents.
A page of the Obersthofmeisteramt protocol of 19 August 1702 concerning Fux's transfer into full court service (A-Whh, OMeA, Karton 12, fol. 160r). The address to the Emperor and his handwritten decision on the left half of the page are described as "side note" by Knaus and "marginal note" by Flotzinger. Knaus's three-volume edition of the Obersthofmeisteramt protocols is fraught with hundreds of mistranscriptions that render this edition basically worthless. Knaus was so incompetent, he even transcribed "musicus" as "musicq" and "a[nn]us" as "aq". Any scholar who wants to do research on these documents should ignore Knaus's work and go to the sources proper. Countless transcription mistakes in his 1959 dissertation about Techelmann prove that Knaus was more or less an amateur. He was a student of Erich Schenk from whose legendary sloppiness and lack of paleographic expertise Viennese musicology has still not fully recovered.
The other three files in Flotzinger's presentation of OMeA files are Fux's applications to the Emperor for gifts of grace from 6 March 1727 (Köchel, 301), 3 January 1727 (Köchel, 304) and 9 April 1733 (Köchel, 307). Flotzinger's edition of these documents – which he mislabels as belonging to the Obersthofmarschallamt (instead of the Obersthofmeisteramt) – are again a mixture of Köchel's old errors, new mistakes and omissions. One is hard pressed not to bore the reader with a list of mistakes that suggest that Flotzinger's texts were not copied from the original sources, but from Köchel's 143-year-old book. The main problem with the presentation of Fux's applications is that for them to make sense they have to be published within their context, i.e. together with the detailed legal arguments on which the final resolutions were based. A case in point is the concert commission's long argument in the report of 29 April 1727 concerning the historical precedents of granting pensions to the widows of
Schmelzer,
Draghi and
Ziani (A-Whh, OMeA, Alte Akten, Karton 23). Lack of space cannot be a reason for not including these important documents in Flotzinger's book, given the fact that in the chapter "Sonstige Quellen" there is enough room for a quote from the 1943 article "Das Weihnachtsgeschenk 1940 des Reichsgaues Steiermark an den Führer" (Flotzinger, 387). In March 1733 Fux wrote a relatively long letter to Count Johann Ferdinand von Lamberg concerning the abilities of the singer Maria Sophia Navetschan and the organ builder Giovanni Moysè. This document, which, apart from Fux's will, is the longest document in the composer's handwriting, does not appear in Flotzinger's book. There is no conceivable reason as to why this letter should not be published in a chapter titled "Documents concerning Fux's biography".
Pages 3 and 4 of Fux's autograph letter to Count von Lamberg which on 6 March 1733 was presented to the Obersthofmeisteramt (A-Whh, OMeA, Alte Akten, Karton 29). For a transcription of this document see Köchel, p. 314f.
As far as the documents of the Obersthofmeisteramt are concerned, a lot of work remains to be done that – for obvious reasons – Köchel never considered necessary: in theory the entries on the protocols of the OMeA are mere copies of the decrees in the files of the sessions. But a check of a number of protocols shows that this is not the case and these protocols contain additional information that is still waiting to be published.
The Schnitzenbaum Family
The maiden name of Fux's wife was Clara Juliana Schnitzenbaum. What does the Fux literature tell us about her? Flotzinger writes: "The bride Juliana Clara was the supposedly eldest daughter of Johann Joseph Schnitzenbaum (d. 5 October 1683), a secretary with the Lower Austrian government, and his wife Maria Ursula. She was about ten years younger [than Fux], born around 1671, because at the time of her death on 6 June 1731 she was 60 years of age. Important dates concerning the family were determined by Köchel." (Flotzinger, 38). After this, Flotzinger immediately proceeds to present information regarding Fux's sisters-in-law, all of which can already be found in Köchel. In the modern Fux literature the central missing piece of information concerning the Schnitzenbaum family is never addressed: when exactly was Fux's wife born and why is her exact date of birth still unknown? In 1872 Köchel outlined the "important dates" of the Schnitzenbaum family in the following family tree (with Fux's wife appearing at the bottom left):
The Schnitzenbaum family tree according to Köchel (Köchel 1872, 294)
Several details in this fragmentary genealogical outline immediately draw attention: the unspecific dates of birth of the family members prove that Köchel never checked any baptismal records of Viennese parishes. What was Köchel's source for the identity of the grandfather of Fux's wife Josef Schnitzenbaum and his two marriages? What was the source for "19 September 1664" as Josef Schnitzenbaum's date of death? How did he know about the existence of Josef Schnitzenbaum's two other children, Johann Georg and Anna Maria? Of course Köchel did not give his sources and in 1872 he was not obliged to do so. But it is rather surprising that in the following 143 years no Fux scholar ever tried to answer these questions. Many authors simply chose not to address these issues at all and, instead of trying to find answers, simply ignored this topic of research.
Biographical research concerning people who lived in Vienna in the seventeenth century is aggravated by the scarcity of sources. There are only fragmentary series of probate files in the archives of governances and because at some point 33 earlier volumes were destroyed, the municipal death records only survive from 1648 on (with a 26-month gap between 1656 and 1659). The church records (especially the death records) are not complete and have unreliable indexes which sometimes are sorted according to first names. Biographical information from the early seventeenth century can basically only be obtained from four types of archival material: 1) church records, 2) wills in the holdings of the old municipal civil court and various other dominions, such as the Obersthofmarschallamt, the Schotten, the
Bürgerspital or the
Domkapitel (these wills are very scarce, but probate files are even rarer), 3) records of the municipal financial administration, such as the accounts of the
Oberkammeramt (beginning in 1424) or the
Steueramt (as of 1500), and 4) municipal property registers of which the earliest date from around 1300 (but these sources are of course limited to owners of real estate). Because of this difficult source situation, several missing biographical dates of members of the Schnitzenbaum family are unlikely to ever be determined.
Hanns and Sophia Schnitzenbaum
The earliest appearance of the family name Schnitzenbaum (Schnizenpaumb, Schnitzenpämer) in a Viennese source occurs in 1616. On June 5
th of that year, Hans Schnitzenbaum, a fellow (Geselle) from
Hall in Tirol, married Sophia Eisang. Sophia (born ca. 1575), daughter of the furrier Anton Kurz, was the widow of the stone accountant ("Stainschreiber") and former trumpeter Elias Eysang, whom she had married on 15 July 1598 (A-Wd, Tom. 8, fol. 87r).
The entry concerning the wedding of the Tyrolese Hans "SchnitzenPämer" on 5 June 1616 at St. Stephen's (A-Wd,Tom. 11, fol. 15v)
1.2.3. / Cop:[ulatus] 5 Junij / Der Erbar und fürnemb Hanß Schnitze[n]= / Pämer, von Hall auß Tirol ein ledige[r] / gesell, nimbt fraue Sophia, weilland / Herrn Eliaß Eÿsanngge[ns] Khaÿl: / Stainschreibers hind[er]lass:[ene] Wittib.
Hans and Sophia Schnitzenbaum turn up in the sources again in August of 1625, when they bought the house Stadt No. 215 (on today's area of the
Concordiaplatz) at the corner of
Tiefer Graben and
Salzgries, which at that time of course bore no number, and in the land register was described as "ein Hauß alhier Innerhalb deß Werther Thor, mit ainem thaill zunechst Balthasar Puchhauser Stainmezen seel: Erbns Hauß gelegen". By 1625 Hans Schnitzenbaum was a "Haringer" (herring vendor) by profession and "out of conjugal love and faithfulness" he shared the ownership of the house with his wife ("Welcher alßdann sein Hausfrau Sophia, auß Conlicher Lieb und Threu, neben ihme an Nuz und Gewör schreiben lassen").
The beginning of the entry in the municipal land register concerning the granting of ownership ("Gewähranschreibung") of the house Stadt 215 on 29 August 1625 to Hans and Sophia Schnitzenbaum (A-Wsa, Patrimoniale Herrschaften, B1/14, fol. 28v)
Because the municipal death records only begin in August 1648 and the death records of the Schotten parish only in 1649, Sophia and Hans Schnitzenbaum's dates of death can only be conjectured from other sources. Sophia Schnitzenbaum died in 1630, because her will – written on 22 August 1626 – was submitted to the court on 25 June 1630. At that time the Schnitzenbaum couple seems to have still been in good financial standing. In her will Sophia Schnitzenbaum decreed various charitable bequests, she refers to a house in
Penzing and vineyards that she owned, and bequeathed 600 florins, silverware and linen to Maria Jacobina Schmitmaier, a daughter from her first marriage. Each of the five witnesses of her will received a gold ducat for their service. Especially touching in Sophia Schnitzenbaum's will is the passage where she writes "I wish to be buried in the cemetery of St. Stephen's, beside the morgue where the large linden tree is and where all my friends are buried".
The envelope of Sophia Schnitzenbaum's will from 1626 (A-Wsa, AZJ 3143/17. Jhdt.)
The following events are only documented in a copy of a report of a municipal
Raithandler (administrative accountant) which only on 22 June 1660 was copied into the land register on the occasion of a later sale of the house. Hans Schnitzenbaum died before 1633. Because his estate was insolvent, it was put under sequestration. The house remained unsold which led to tax debt, loss of rental revenues and the desolation of Schnitzenbaum's vineyards: "in deme nicht allein, die Weingarten ungepauter gelegen, undt in merckhliche aböedtung gerathen, sondern auch engestangezogenes Hauß, durchgehendt Lähr verbliben, undt kheinen Zinns ertragen, hingegen, von dem darauf gehaften Saz: deßgleichen, über dreÿhundert Gulden, im ausstandt sich befundtenen Steuern, die Interesse täglicher fortgelofen, undt also disorths, denen sambentlichen interessierten ein mehrerer schaaden zuegewachsen" (A-Wsa, Patrimoniale Herrschaften, B1/15, fol. 602). To avoid more damage to the interested parties, on 1 October 1633 the house was sold
ex officio by the City Council to a butcher from St. Ulrich. Owing to the lack of a will and a probate file, Hans Schnitzenbaum's family relation to Joseph Schnitzenbaum (the grandfather of Fux's wife) cannot be determined. Another likely relative of Clara Juliana Fux could have been the Veith Schnitzenbaum who in August 1650 – according to an entry in the municipal
Oberkammeramtsrechnung – paid an acceptance fee of two florins in the course of being appointed a Viennese
Bürger.
The entry in the Oberkammeramtsrechnung concerning Veith Schnitzenbaum paying a fee for being appointed Viennese citizen. His name is the second in the list of August 1650, after the Khranzlbinder Veith Pfanzeldter (A-Wsa, OKA Rechn. B1/172, fol. 34r)
Joseph Schnitzenbaum
Because of missing sources, biographical information concerning the grandfather of Fux's wife, Joseph Schnitzenbaum, is difficult to ascertain. The dates and location of his birth and two weddings have yet to be located. The pivotal al source related to his life is his will which he signed on 31 May 1662. The date "19 7bris
664", written on the envelope of this document, was Köchel's source for the supposed
date of Joseph Schnitzenbaum's death (Köchel, 294).
The envelope of Joseph Schnitzenbaum's will, bearing his and his four witnesses' seals and signatures. The date "19 September 1664" appears twice: at the left of the seals and at the end of the note on the right margin (A-Wsa, AZJ 7609/17. Jhdt.).
Joseph Schnitzenbaum's will can be summarized as follows: After eighteen years of government service Schnitzenbaum's annual salary as "N:Ö: Regierungs Canzleÿ Verwandter" (Lower Austrian Government official) was 278 florins. For his burial at
St. Rupert's Church he bequeathed fifteen florins. With his second wife Anna Maria he had a small son, named Johann Richard, to both of whom he bequeathed his
Gnadengeld of 300 florins in equal shares, his small amount of silverware and all his "Vahrnuß" (movables). From his first marriage with Susanna, three children were still alive (a son Johann Leonhard, born on 18 March 1640, had already died in May 1641): Johann Joseph (Fux's future father-in-law), Johann Georg and Anna Maria (b. 28 July 1635), to whom he still owed their mother's inheritance of 100 thaler. This debt was to be covered with the 1,026 florins that Schnitzenbaum had deposited with the Lower Austrian government. He appointed the three children from his first marriage universal heirs of his remaining assets, but since these three children had already received a major inheritance from their mother, and their nourishment, sustenance, education and other expenses had cost him a lot ("sie mich mit ernehr. und nothwendiger underhaltung, studire[n], und andere[n] aufwendtunge[n] nit wenig gecostet"), he requested them to cover all immediate expenses and observe his bequest to his wife and his youngest son.
A very special feature of Joseph Schnitzenbaum the elder's will is the fact that it contains handwritten personal requests to the four witnesses who were the following individuals: the government official Philipp Ludwig Rinkhensatl, the surgeon barber Michael Planckh, the salt accountant and member of the Citizen Council Johann Georg Reißner, and the mayor of
Bruck an der Leitha, Johann Fronhofer.
Köchel (or his assistant) did not understand the meaning of the date on the envelope of Schnitzenbaum's will. It does not refer to the date of death, but to the date the will was presented to the civil court. Joseph Schnitzenbaum already died on 28 July 1664 in the "Marinisches Hauß auf der Fischerstieg[en]". The cause of death was a stroke, his age is given as 58.
The entry in the municipal death records concerning the death of Joseph Schnitzenbaum on 28 July 1664 (A-Wsa, Totenbeschreibamt 7, fol. 54r)
As he had requested in his will, Joseph Schnitzenbaum in the evening of 28 July 1664 was buried in St. Rupert's Church. His
Kleingleuth cost 11 florins 42 kreutzer. The summation in the
Bahrleihbuch concerning his burial is not correct, because two "Pueben mit Kutten" did not cost 54, but 18 kreutzer. For the calculation in the records to be correct, there must have been four cowlboys, costing 36 kreutzer.
The entry in the Cathedral's Bahrleihbuch concerning Joseph Schnitzenbaum's burial at St. Rupert's Church: "Der Joseph Schnizenbaumb im Marinischen Hauß auf der Fischerstiegen ist am schlaag bsch. alt 55 Jahr / Nachtbegröbnus. In der Kirchen St. Rueprecht". The text at the lower left refers to the next burial (A-Wd, BLB 1664, fol. 83v).
Joseph Schnitzenbaum's seal, showing a tree in the coat of arms (A-Wsa, AZJ 7609/17. Jhdt.)
The signature of Joseph Schnitzenbaum the elder (A-Wsa, AZJ 7609/17. Jhdt.)
On 25 November 1664 Joseph Schnitzenbaum's widow Anna Maria married Wilhelm Franz Hirsch von Hirschfeld, an army lieutenant stationed at the Castle of
Raab (A-Wd, Tom. 23, fol. 52r).
The "Adelsburgisches Haus"
Joseph Schnitzenbaum died in the "Marinisches Hauß" which in 1770 was to be numbered Stadt 455. In the second half of the seventeenth century this building was named after the lawyer Marini de Thomasis who had bought it in 1652. In 1689 the house was sold to Maria Elisabeth Koch von Adlersperg which led to its being misnamed "Adelsburgisches Haus". In some sources this house is also referred to as "Bei Unsern Herrn" (A-Wd, BLB 1703, fol. 161r).
The "Marinisches (later Adelsburgisches) Haus", Stadt No 455 at the corner of the Salvatorgassel and the Fischerstiege, on Joseph Daniel von Huber's 1778 map of Vienna. On the upper right is the church of Maria am Gestade.
In this house members of the Fux and the Schnitzenbaum families are documented to have lived
between 1664 and 1773. In 1749 Fux's sister-in-law Maria Theresia Schnitzenbaum
died there and so did Fux's niece Maria Fux in 1773.
A view into the Salvatorgasse towards Maria am Gestade in 1907: visible on the far left is the portal of the St. Salvator, the building in the foreground is the "Adelsburgisches Haus", Salvatorgasse 8 (A-Wn, ST 2578F).
The special, previously unknown, significance of the "Adelsburgisches Haus" for the history of music is the fact that on 3 March 1766
Joseph Sonnleithner, the co-founder of the "
Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde" and librettist of Beethoven's
Fidelio, was born in this house.
Johann Joseph Schnitzenbaum
Johann Joseph Fux's father-in-law Johann Joseph Schnitzenbaum was born around 1631. Like several other sources concerning the Schnitzenbaum family his baptismal entry turned out to be untraceable. Only four of his siblings could be located in the records of the Cathedral: Anna Maria, b 28 July 1635 (A-Wd, Tom. 11, fol. 243v), Johann Leonhard, b. 18 March 1640 (A-Wd, Tom 13, fol. 289r), Joseph, d. May 1641 (A-Wd, Tom. 9, p. 13). An elder brother named Adam officiated as best man at his brother's first wedding. Johann Joseph Schnitzenbaum was married twice. On 4 November 1653, at St. Rupert's Church, he married Anna Maria Hirsch who may have been a relative of the second husband of Schnitzenbaum's stepmother.
The entry concerning the first wedding of Joseph Schnitzenbaum on 4 November 1653 (A-Wd, Tom. 20, fol. 110r)
1.2.3. / copulatus e[st] / Der Edl und Gestrenge Herr Joseph / SchnitzenPäumb. der Ro: Kaÿ: Maÿl: und / N. O. Regierungs Canzlei Verwanter p. / nimbt die Edl Ehrntugentreiche Junkhfrau / Annam Mariam Hirschin. weilent des / Edl und Gestrengen Herr[n] Jacobi Ernreich / Hirsch. der R: Kaÿl: Maÿl: geweste[r] Haubtman / und Annæ Dorotheæ seiner Ehelichen / Hausfraun, beeder Seelig Eheliche hinterlasen[e] d[o]chte[r] / Testes. H Joan. Wagner. d N.O: L[andtschaft] p. Expeditor / H Adam SchnitzenPaumb. Frater sponsi. / H. Hanß Jacob Weinzierl. I. Ehw. Contralor. / H. Ferdinandus Jurcko. Camerdiener J. Ehw: / ad S. Rupert[um] / 4. Novb. [1653]
With his first wife Johann Joseph Schnitzenbaum is documented to have had two sons: 1) Johann Ferdinand, born on 9 June 1655 (A-Wd, Tom. 22, fol. 154v) and Johann Richard, born on 21 June 1657 (A-Wd, Tom. 23, fol. 9r). Baptisms of other children from this marriage have yet to be found in the records. Schnitzenbaum's second wedding took place on 3 May 1665 at Vienna's
St. Michael's Church. The entry in the church records concerning the publication of the banns for this wedding contains previously unknown information about Johann Joseph Fux's mother-in-law Maria Ursula Crän. Together with the entry concerning the marriage of her sister Maria Catharina Crän to the Lower Austrian
Landschafts-Expeditor Adolph Cremer on 11 February 1665 (A-Wd, Tom. 23, fol. 69v), this entry in the
Verkündbuch of St. Michael's is the most important source regarding the maternal ancestors of Fux's wife. Fux's mother-in-law Maria Ursula Crän was born in
Regensburg, daughter of Heinrich Khräne (Crän,
Krane), Doctor of Canon and Civil Law, counselor and resident of the Electorate of Cologne at the Vienna Imperial Court, and his wife Maria Clara, née Sinich. At the time of Maria Ursula Crän's wedding in 1665, both her parents were already deceased.
The entry concerning the publication of the banns in April 1665 for the wedding of Fux's parents-in-law (A-Wstm, Verkündbuch 4, p. 219). These entries were crossed out after the wedding had taken place.
Der Edl und wohlgelehrte Herr Hannß Joseph / Schnizebaumb, gebirtig v[o]n Wien in Oësteraich / des Herrn Joseph Schnizenbaumb und fraun Susannæ hinderlaßener Ehelicher Sohn, nimbdt / zu der Ehe die Wollehrn dugentraiche Jungfrau / Maria Ursula Cränin, geborne Sinichin gebirtig vo[n] Regenschburg / des Herrn Heinrich Cränn und frau Mariæ / Claræ geborner Sinnichi[n] beede[r] hinderlaßener Eheliche Tochter 1 2 3 / die tertia Maij 1665 / testes sunt Joannes Conradus Albrecht ed D[ominus] Geor / gius Reisner ed Joannes Georgius Sinich ed D[ominus] / Joannes de Grane
The noble Mr. Hans Joseph Schnitzenbaum, born in Vienna in Austria, son of Joseph Schnitzenbaum and his wife Susanna, takes as wife the honorable and virtuous maiden Maria Ursula Crän, born in Regensburg, legitimate daughter of Heinrich Crän and Maria Clara, née Sinich. The banns published 3 times [the wedding took place] on May 3rd, 1665. The witnesses are Johann Conrad Albrecht, Georg Reisner, Johann Georg Sinich and Johann de Grane.
The actual entry concerning this wedding in the regular marriage records of St. Michael's contains only a fraction of the above information.
The entry concerning the wedding of Johann Joseph Schnitzenbaum and Maria Ursula Crän on 3 May 1665 (A-Wstm, Tom. 33, p. 149)
The wedding of Heinrich Khräne and Maria Clara Sinich, the maternal grandparents of Johann Joseph Fux's wife, had taken place on 31 August 1637 at St. Stephen's Cathedral.
The entry concerning the wedding of Heinrich Khräne on 31 August 1637 at St. Stephen's (A-Wd, Tom. 15, fol. 203r)
Not all entries concerning the baptisms of Johann Joseph Schnitzenbaum's children can be located in the church records which is the reason why the exact date of birth of Fux's wife will probably never be known. Instead of openly addressing the inaccessibility of this important source, the Fux literature has so far treated this issue as if it did not really matter. That several sources concerning births and weddings of members of the Schnitzenbaum family are untracable (especially telling is the missing baptismal entry of Paul Anton Schnitzenbaum from around 1675), suggests that this family had several religious ceremonies performed in a quasi private setting at St. Rupert's Church. Another explanation would be flawed indexes in several of the Cathedral's baptismal registers (Tom. 29 and 31-34), but such a scenario is less likely. From Johann Joseph Schnitzenbaum's second marriage nine children can be documented.
- Anna Maria, b. 26 June 1666 (A-Wd, Tom. 27, p. 185)
- Maria Anna, b. 14 November 1667 (A-Wd, Tom. 28, fol. 182r), d. 16 February 1736 (according to Köchel, 295, but this date is obviously wrong, because her death is neither listed in a parish nor in the municipal death records)
- Joseph Adam, b. 4 June 1670 (A-Wd, Tom. 30, p. 203)
- Jacob Ignaz, b. 25 July 1671 (A-Wstm, Tom. 3, p. 349), d. 9 March 1683 "an Blattern [of smallpox], beim Schmäkherten wurmb in d[er] Pekherstr[aßen]" [Wollzeile 5] (A-Wsa, TBP 15, fol. 158r; A-Wd, Tom. 14, p. 266)
- Clara Juliana (Fux's future wife), b. ca. 1672, d. 8 June 1731
- Paul Anton, b. ca. 1681, d.16 March 1740 "beÿm Golden[en] Bärn am alten Fleischmarckht [Fux's last apartment] an Inner[em] Brand" [of internal gangrene]
- Maria Maximiliana, b. 15 January 1676 (A-Ws, Tom. 16, fol. 286v)
- Franz, b. 23 January 1678 (A-Ws, Tom. 17, fol. 84v)
- Maria Theresia, b. 5 August 1679 (A-Wd, Tom. 35, fol. 49r), d. 19 May 1749 (A-Wsa, TBP 47, fol. 464v; Wiener Diarium, 21 May 1749)
The births of Joseph Adam Schnitzenbaum in June 1670 and that of Jacob Ignaz in July 1671 prove that their sister Clara Juliana (Fux's wife) cannot have been born in 1670 or 1671 (the latter of which is generally given as her year of birth in the Fux literature). The godparents of the seventh child, Maria Maximiliana Schnitzenbaum, were Countess Maria Maximiliana von Collalto, née Countess von Althann and her second husband Count Anton Franz von Collalto (1630-1696). The godparents of the six other children (and most likely also of Clara Juliana and Paul Anton) were Adam Dores and his first wife Anna Maria. Because Dores was employed as accountant of the Moravian county administration in Brno (A-Wd, Tom 28, p. 335), he was sometimes substituted as godfather by the Salzburg-born barber Johann Michael Kreitzthaller and his wife Regina, or assisted by Georg Reisner and his wife Ursula Rosina. Adam Dores left a mark in the history of Moravian geology when in the 1660s he was the
first to describe the
Macocha Gorge north of Brno. Johann Michael Kreitzthaller was a brother-in-law of the ironmonger Paul Schluderer who in 1698 was to serve as witness at Fux's wedding. The ironmonger Georg Reisner in 1658 and 1676 officiated as best man at both of Paul Schluderer's two weddings (A-Ws, Tom. 8, fol. 190r. A-Wd, Tom. 25, p. 112). As of 20 February 1650 (A-Wd, Tom. 19, fol. 130r). Reisner was married to Ursula Rosina Schnitzenbaum, a cousin of Johann Joseph Schnitzenbaum (her parents had been Joseph Schnitzenbaum's brother Adam and his wife Lucia).
Johann Joseph Schnitzenbaum died on 5 October 1683 in the house of Martin Tattenrieder (1618-1683) which was the abovementioned house "
Zum schmeckenden Wurm" ("The Tasting Reptile") between Wollzeile and Lugeck where in 1671 one of Schnitzenbaum's children had died.
The entry in the municipal death register concerning Johann Joseph Schnitzenbaum's death (A-Wsa, TBP 15, fol. 245v)
der wohlEdlgest:[renge] H Johan Joseph Schnitzebaumb N:O: / Regier[ung] Secretarius im H Martin Tadtenrieder haus, / in der wollzeill, ist an Rother Ruhr be[sc]h[aut] alt 53 J[ahr]
That Schnitzenbaum lived in one of Martin Tattenrieder's two houses was not a coincidence. Tattenrieder's father-in-law Johann Pistorius was Schnitzenbaum's colleague at the Lower Austrian Government and in 1665 Schnitzenbaum's friend Johann Michael Kreitzthaller, the aforementioned barber from Salzburg, had served as witness at Tattenrieder's wedding (A-Wd, Tom. 23, fol. 97v). Johann Joseph Schnitzenbaum's obsequies took place in the Cathedral. He was buried in the crypt of the
Augustinian Church.
The entry concerning Johann Joseph Schnitzenbaum's obsequies on 5 October 1683 at St. Stephen's. Note the spelling of the word "wollzeile" with the h-like letter that doubles the following "l" (A-Wd, BLB 1683a, fol. 165r).
Conduct. der H: Johann Joseph
Schnüzenbaumb N:Ö:, / Rg: Secret: in H: Martin Dattenried[erischen] haus
/ in d[er] wollzeile ist Lauth H: dr: Stumpf : / Zeug:[nis] an d[er]
roth[en] ruhr b[e]sch:[aut] alt 53 J: / Zu den[en] P: August:[inern]
Obsequies. Mr. Johann Joseph Schnitzenbaum, secretary with the Lower Austrian government, according to Dr. Stumpf's certificate was inspected to have died of bloody dysentery in Martin Dattenrieder's house in the Wollzeile, 53 years of age, and was buried in the Church of the Augustinian Friars.
Johann Joseph Schnitzenbaum's probate file is not extant in the holdings of the Obersthofmarschallamt.
Addenda and Corrigenda
Maria Fux's Probate File and Will
Johann Joseph Fux's niece Maria Fux died on 6 April 1773 at 7 a.m. in the "Adelsburgisches Hauß N. 455. beÿ St. Salvator" (A-Wsa, TBP 67/II, FVU, fol. 13r). At that time she had been living "von eigenen Mitteln" (on her own resources) which means that her livelihood was based on bank shares that had come from Fux's and Maria Theresia Schnitzenbaum's estates. Köchel published no further details from Maria Fux's probate file, except the following numbers that he considered to describe the final amount of money that the universal heiress received ("demnach blieben der Erbin", Köchel, 292).
The amount, that Köchel considered the net inheritance of Maria Fux's foster daughter Josepha Perger, is wrong. Köchel disregarded the fact that the supposedly final amount of 10,149 fl 8 x was still subject to a 10% inheritance tax of 1,014 fl 54 x which reduced Perger's net inheritance to 9,134 fl 14 x. Maria Fux's probate file consists of 43 pages of which Köchel only published two and a half, namely the acknowledgement of receipt which was drawn up on 20 May 1774 in Graz and signed by ten of Maria Fux's Styrian relatives who had inherited 800 florins from the composer's niece. Not only is Köchel's transcription rife with mistakes (Köchel, 292), it is also incomplete, because it disregards the seals and signatures of the eight witnesses who were needed, because all of Maria Fux's Styrian heirs were illiterate and only signed with nine crosses and one circle. It comes as no surprise that, apart from Josepha Perger's declaration of inheritance, Flotzinger limits the material he publishes to Köchel's material and also copies several of Köchel's mistakes. There is no village named "Oberfläding" ("Oberflädling" according to Köchel). The name of the village written in the document is
Oberfladnitz. Flotzinger not only claims that the inheritance of the universal heir Josepha Perger amounted to "11776,41 fl" (incorrectly decimalizing the sexagesimal of florins and kreutzer), he also mistakenly describes this amount as being gross and net at the same time: "After the deduction of legacies, expenses and fees the universal heir is left with 11776,41 fl which includes[
sic] obligations to pay for Mass endowments, legacies and other things" (Flotzinger, 382). I shall not present a detailed list of mistakes here. Flotzinger's method is yet further proof that publishing a heavily abridged version of an eighteenth-century
Sperrs-Relation is always problematic, because it leads to a gross distortion of a historical source. The second page of the receipt, which Maria Fux's heirs signed in 1774,
provides a glimpse on the strangeness of the editorial process at hand: none of the witnesses was considered important enough to be included in Köchel's and Flotzinger's edition of this document.
The second page of the receipt of the "Fuxische Freundschaft" in Graz (A-Wsa, Alte Ziviljustiz, 217/82). All the signatures of the witnesses beside the seals are missing from Köchel's and Flotzinger's transcription.
The eight witnesses were the following administration officials from Graz:
- Franz Xavier Adrinegg, chancery clerk with the Styrian "k.k. Landrecht" (he wrote the receipt)
- Johann Dominicus Lovironi, "Hochgräfl: Kienburg: Gülten Administrator" (rent administrator of Count von Kuenburg)
- Franz Anton Reitter, "grundobrigkeitlicher Administrator"
- Johann Dobida
- Marcus Hermann, lessee of the dominion Stadl in Mitterdorf an der Raab
- Franz Joseph Wagner, administrator of the dominion Oberfladnitz
- Ferdinand Joseph Bezler, administrator of the dominion and the castle of Riegersburg
- Johann Baptist Mossmiller, administrator of the dominion of Mössendorf (today's Messendorf)
Flotzinger's edition of Maria Eva Fux's will is plagued by additional problems. Like Köchel's edition it is fragmentary and marred by a number of mistranscriptions and typos that show the carelessness that this supposedly "minor source" was treated with. The worst mishaps are: "Freundschafft", "Taßend", "numehro", "Bak-Obligationen" and "Landstaffts". Flotzinger's "Frau v. Vittelbach", who appears in paragraph nine of the will, is actually Frau [Maria Anna] von Dittelbach (the surname "Vittelbach" does not exist). The supposed name of the first witness "Stöckl von Gerburger" is a mistake that was copied from Köchel. This privy counselor's name was Ignaz Xaver Stöckl von Gerburg (b. 6 April 1717 in Passau, d. 17 July 1779 in Vienna). The second witness of Maria Fux's will was her physician Franz Pachner (b.
28 January 1718 in
Bad Leonfelden, d. 14 January 1777 in Vienna), a member of the Pachner von Eggenstorf family, whose
nephew in 1790 was granted knighthoood and in 1793 founded the
Neusiedler paper factory.
The seals and signatures on Maria Fux's will (A-Wsa, AZJ, Test. 14129/18. Jhdt.)
For the sake of historical significance alone, Maria Eva Fux's probate file and will should be published in their entirety. 144 years after Köchel we should be able to raise our scholarly aspirations to more than excerpts and summaries of Fux documents. The fact that in her will Maria Fux still used her uncle's seal matrix, has previously been overlooked by Fux scholars. The most beautiful and best-preserved impression of Fux's seal was created thirty years after the composer's death.
Johann Joseph Fux's seal which in 1771 was still used by his niece Maria Fux to close the envelope of her will (A-Wsa, AZJ, Test. 14129/18. Jhdt.)
In her will Johann Joseph Fux's niece Maria established two mass endowments. The deed of the first one, which comprised the establishment of a fund of 1,300 florins for the reading of a weekly Mass on every Monday in the
parish church of St. Marein near Graz, was partly published by Köchel (Köchel, 292f.). Because in Köchel's book the excerpts of Maria Fux's probate file are followed by this Mass endowment deed, Flotzinger assumed that this document was part of Maria Fux's
Sperrs-Relation and he refers to the fact that he could not find it in the probate file with the note "da nicht aufgefunden" (Flotzinger, 382). It could not be found there, because endowment deeds are part of a different archival holding, namely the
Bestand 1.2.4.7.1 - Stiftungen allgemein | 1525-21.Jh. in the Vienna City Archive's
Sonderregistraturen (special registries). The original of Maria Fux's Mass endowment deed shows that Köchel published a heavily cut version of the document. Köchel may already have foreseen
Eduard Hanslik's point of criticism that in his book most of these documents, although of very little interest to nineteenth-century music historians, are quoted much too extensively: "But where diligence and accuracy go so far that almost whole archives are being printed verbatim, admiration easily turns into horror." (Hanslik in the
Neue Freie Presse of
31 October 1871). Because Köchel not only cut the second paragraph of the endowment deed, but also committed several transcription mistakes and modernized the spelling, I present a complete transcription of the document's original text.
The deed of Maria Fux's Mass endowment to the Church of St. Marein in Styria (A-Wsa, Sonderregistraturen, Stiftungen, A4/7372)
Wir Joseph Georg Hörl Burgermeister, wie auch
der gesamte Rath der Kaÿl: Königl: Haupt= und Residentz=Stadt Wienn geben hiemit jedermänniglich zu vernehmen, was mass[en] weÿl: Ma[ri]a Fuxin seel: in ihrem den 6: April 773: beÿ uns, alß derselben rechtmässigen Abhandlungs Instanz eröfneten Testament im 5ten Abschnit der Pfarrkirch St: Marein in Steuermarkt beÿlaufig zweÿ Stund ausser Gratz zu einer wochentl[ichen] heÿl:[igen] Meeß auf einem privilegirten Altar alle Montag für die sammentl:[iche] Fuchsische verstorbene Freÿndschaft zu lesen 1000: f mit dem Beÿsatz verma[c]het habe, daß Wann diese Stiftmeeß nicht angenommen, und für solches quantum gar nicht gelesen werden könnte, deroselben Uni[iver]sal Erb den Abgang, und nöthigen Betrag daraufzuzahlen schuldig seÿn solle.
Wann nun der Erblasserin Testaments Executor H: Frantz Xavier Pach N:Ö: Landschafts Syndicus das Stift Capital mit zuschlag 300: f: folgsam mittels einer den 1te[n] Xbr: 773: mit N° 10614: auf unseres, und g[e]m[eine]r Stadt Grundbuchs Kammer zu 4: pcnto ausgestellter K.K. Kupferamts Oblig[ation] pr aintausend dreÿhundert Gulden berichtiget, auch den innerösterreicher[sch]en Ordinariats Consens dd° Gratz 20te[n] Julÿ dieß Jahrs |: kraft welchem von dem von erdeutten 1300: f: abfallend jährl: Inte[ress]e pr fünfzig zweÿ Gulden für einen jeweiligen H: Pfarrer zu ersagten St. Marein für die jährl[ich] zu persolvirenden fünfzig zweÿ montägige heÿl: Meeßen a: 45: x. dreÿssig neun Gulden, dann dem dortigen Schullmeister a: 6: x. fünf Gulden 12: Kr: und der Pfarrkirch a: 9: Kr: die übrige[n] sieben Gulden 48: Kr: pro paramentis et reliquis requisitis abgereichet werden sollen :| beÿgebracht hat, auch von dem Herrn Pfarrer [....] und deren Kirchen=Vättern zu ermeldten St: Marein wegen getreu und beständiger Ausrichtung der Stifterin obgehört frommen Willensmeÿnung in Folge des den 10: Junÿ h:[uius] a:[nni] berathschlagten Grundbuchsberichts, jedoch gegen richtigen Empfang deren erstausgewiesenen Stipendien die den 3: Augusti a:[nni] c:[urrentis] datirte Reversales behörig eingeleget worden sind, alß haben Wir es beÿ sothaner Stiftung allerdings belass[en] und darüberhin gewöhnliche Stiftbriefe zu errichten verordnet.
Solchemnach sind zu ewiger Gedächtnüß, und Vesthaltung dieser Gottgefälligen Stiftung dreÿ gleichlauttende Exemplarien errichtet, mit unserem grösseren Grundinsigl bestättiget, sodann eines davon der K:K: milden Stiftungs Commission, das zweÿte dem ernannten Gotteshauß hinausgegeben, und das dritte beÿ obbesagten Grundbuch zu den Stift Akten hinterleget worden. Geschehen Wienn den 28ten Aug: 774:
L:S: (Gemeiner Stadt Wienn Grund Buchs Insigl)
Because Maria Fux's second Mass endowment, the one to the
Theatines' Convent in Vienna, was not published by Köchel, it remained unknown to Fux researchers. This is incidental proof that since Köchel no intensive research has ever been done by Fux scholars in Vienna's archives. Maria Fux's second Mass endowment was based on a copper share worth 1,300 florins and was supposed to fund a weekly mass on the weekday on which the foundress of the endowment was to die. This day (6 April 1773) turned out to be an "Erchtag" (Tuesday).
The previously unknown deed concerning Maria Fux's Mass endowment to the Theatines' Convent in Vienna (A-Wsa, Sonderregistraturen, Stiftungen, A4/7373)
Wir Joseph Georg Hörl Burgermeister, wie
auch der gesamte Rath der Kaÿl: Königl: Haupt= und Residentz= Stadt Wienn geben hiemit jedermänniglich zu vernehmen, was mass[en] weÿl:[and] Maria Fuxin seel: in ihrem den 6: April 773: beÿ uns, Als derselben rechtmassigen Abhandlungs Instanz eröfneten Testament im 4tn Abschnied den wohlehrwürdigen P:P: Theatinern allhier beÿ dem heÿl: Kajetan an der hohen Bruken zu dem Ende aintausend dreÿhundert Gulden vermachet habe, auf daß eine wöchentl: heÿl: Meeß für sie auf einem privilegirten Altar jedesmahl an dem Tag ihres Hinscheidens gelesen werde solle.
Wann nun von der Erblasserin Testaments Executore H: Frantz Xaverio Pach N:Ö: Landschafts Syndicus das Stift Kapital mit zuschlag 300: f: folgsam mittels einer den 1: Xbr: 773: auf unseres, und g[e]m[eine]r Stadt Grundbuchs Kammer zu 4: pcnto mit N 10615 ausgestellt, und dorthin erlegten K.K. Kupferamts Obl.[igation] pr 1300: f: berichtiget, und von wohlernannten P:P: Theatinern nach von hochlöbl[icher] N:Ö: Reg: den 24: März dieß Jahrs erfolgten Bestätigung die hochfürstl: Geistl:[ichen] Bewilligung den 8tn April darauf bewürkhet, auch in Folge des von uns den 10ten Junÿ a:[nni] c:[urrentis] berathschlagte[n] Grundbuchs Berichts die den 1te[n] dieß gefertigte Reversales |: kraft welcher die Wochentl: Heÿl:[ige] Meeß jedesmahl an einem Erchtag auf einem privilegirten Altar zu der Stifterin frommen Intention gelesen werden sole :| eingelegt worden sind; Alß haben Wir es Inhalt erstangezogenen Grundbuchs Berichts beÿ sothaner Stiftung allerdings belassen, und darüberhin gewöhnl:[ich]e Stiftbriefe zu errichten verordnet.
Solchemnach sind zu ewiger Gedächtnüß, und Vesthaltung dieser Gottgefalligen Stiftung dreÿ gleichlauttende Exemplarien errichtete mit unserem grösseren Grund=Insigl bestättiget, sodann eines davon der Kaÿserl. Königl: milden Stiftungs Commission, das zweÿte den wohlernannten P:P: hinausgegeben, und das dritte beÿ ged:[achtem] unserem Grundbuch zu den Stift=Akten hinterleget worden. Geschehen Wienn den 4: J[ulÿ] 774
L:S: (Gemeiner Stadt Wienn Grund Buchs Insigl)
The Theatines' Convent at the Hohe Brücke in Vienna (colored engraving after Salomon Kleiner). In the chapel of this convent Mozart and his bride on 2 August 1782 went to their prenuptial confession.
It is not known when the Mass endowment for St. Marein was discontinued. The endowment for the Theatine Friars probably ended when in 1782 the convent was closed by Joseph II.
Josepha Perger
Maria Fux's universal heir (and thus the eventual sole heir of Johann Joseph Fux's estate) Josepha Perger was born on 8 November 1744 in the Lower Austrian village of
Guntersdorf, daughter of the "Herrschafts-Regent" Joseph Perger and his wife Eva Theresia. It is not known why at that time her parents were staying in the country, but her mother seems to have had relatives in Guntersdorf. Joseph Perger's two other children Anton Wenzel (b. 1750) and Maria Elisabeth (b. 1752) were born in Vienna. Perger obviously became an orphan at a very young age which lead to her adoption by Maria Fux.
The entry concerning the baptism of Maria Josepha Perger on 8 November 1744 in Guntersdorf. Her father Joseph Perger is given as "dermahliger Landtgerichtsverwalter", the godmother was Eva Theresia Wurtz, "Verwalterin in dem Johannes Hof zu Wienn" (Pfarre Guntersdorf, Tom. 3, p. 76).
Köchel gives a short list of successors to Fux's estate ("Vererbung des Vermögens des Joh. Jos. Fux", Köchel, 293), but not only are several of Köchel's dates wrong, he also failed to observe the decrease of Fux's assets in the course of their transfer to subsequent heirs. After having signed a marriage contract on 28 August 1774, which included a mutual appointment as one's heir, Josepha Perger on 16 October 1774 married Johann Elias Linck, a head cook in the service of Count Kolowrat-Liebsteinský (Köchel's claim that this wedding took place in September 1774 is wrong).
The signatures and seals of the marriage contract of Johann Elias Link and Josepha Perger (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A2, 3084/1789)
The entry concerning the wedding of Johann Elias Link and Joseph Perger on 16 October 1774 in the Schottenkirche. Note the dates of the three publications of the banns: September 25th, October 2nd and October 9th. The groom hailed from Arnau (today's Hostinné) in Bohemia and lived in the "K.K. Bancohaus" (today Singerstraße 17-19) (A-Ws, Tom. 34, fol. 51r).
On
16 October 1789 Josepha Link died of a stroke (the date given by Köchel is wrong) and was buried three days later in the
St. Marx Cemetery.
The entry concerning Josepha Link's obsequies on 18 October 1789 at St. Stephen's (A-Wd, BLB 1789, fol. 347v)
The list of Josepha Link's assets in her probate file shows that in 1789 a bigger part of her inheritance was already gone. What was left were a 1,000 fl. bond of the "Stadt-Banco" and a 500 fl. "Kupferamts-Obligation".
The list of financial assets in Josepha Link's Sperrs-Relation (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A2, 3084/1789)
On 1 July 1790 Johann Elias Link got married again (the date of this wedding given by Köchel is wrong). His second wife was Maria Theresia Nimpfling, born 12 April 1761 (Graz, St. Peter Tom. 4, p. 377), daughter of a "Tabak-Amts-Officier" in Graz. By the time of Johann Elias Link's death on
24 March 1792 the assets from Maria Fux's estate had been gone. In Link's probate file a copper bond of 250 fl. is listed as deposit of the Schnitzenbaum endowment.
The entry in Johann Elias Link's probate file referring to the Schnitzenbaum endowment (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A2, 1258/1792)
Ein Schnitzenbaumisches Stiftungs Depositum in einer / Kupferamts Obligation sub nro [...] ddto 1t octobris / 793 auf Josepha Bergerin lautt[end] per 250 f
A deposit of the Schnitzenbaum endowment in form of a copper bond with the number [...] dated October 1st, 1793 issued under the name Josepha Berger at 250 florins
Some items in Johann Elias Link's estate nourish the fascinating conjecture that they could still have come from the personal property of Johann Joseph Fux: two old silver shoe buckles, an old golden pocket watch with double glass and varnished casing and an old sword with a silver hilt. On 18 August 1793 (Köchel's date is again wrong) Johann Elias Link's widow married the merchant Michael Anton Constantin (b. 2 February 1767). This chronological sequence of inheritance is of little relevance to Fux research. Its only significance lies in the previously unknown fact that Michael Constantin was an older brother and (as of 1796) guardian of Magdalena Constantin who was
Johann Nestroy's mother. Josepha Perger's long-time heirs had no financial profit from the inheritance. They only kept the right to appoint the beneficiary of Maria Theresia Schnitzenbaum's charitable endowment of four florins 30 kreutzer per month to a resident of Vienna's
St. Johannes Nepomuceni Spital. This endowment will be dealt with below.
Maria Theresia Schnitzenbaum's Will
On 16 September 1743 Fux's sister-in-law Maria Theresia Schnitzenbaum drew up and signed her will. Parts of this document were published in 1872 by Köchel (Köchel, 295). Flotzinger also presents a fragmentary edition of this document (Flotzinger, 379] and not surprisingly manages to botch it in several different ways. First, he falsely describes it as being held by the
Niederösterreichisches Landesarchiv in St. Pölten, while it actually belongs to the files of the Lower Austrian
Landrecht in the
Austrian State Archives which were heavily decimated in the 1927 fire in the
Palace of Justice. Because (possibly owing to her extraordinary wealth) Maria Theresia Schnitzenbaum was erroneously considered a noblewoman, her probate file and will ended up in the holdings of the Lower Austrian
Landrechte Court. The correct shelfmark of Schnitzenbaum's will is
A-OeStA/AVA Inneres NÖLR Test 186 (Karton 4, fol. 160-67). Second, Flotzinger, showing unwillingness to go any further than Köchel, only presents three paragraphs of the will which actually consists of nineteen paragraphs. There is no obvious reason to suppress a large part of Maria Theresia Schnitzenbaum's various legacies which are of significant historical interest, such as her Mass endowments to the
Convent of St. Nikolai, to the
Wiener Herberg and her other pious bequeathments to various clerical institutions. Not surprisingly Flotzinger's supposedly updated transcription of the document is flawed: "derfe" was misread as "diesse", "köne" as "sölle" and "in" as "sie" (to name only the gravest mishaps).
Matthäus Theophil Fux's 1749 "Erbseklärung[
sic]" (declaration of
inheritance) to the estate of Maria Theresia Schnitzenbaum, which Flotzinger describes as "dzt. unauffindbar" ("currently
untraceable", Flotzinger, 379), was part of Maria Theresia
Schnitzenbaum's probate file at the
Landrechte Court. It cannot be located, because it was destroyed in the 1927 Palace of Justice fire. If Flotzinger had looked for this document at the right place, he would have realized this.
Maria Theresia Schnitzenbaum's Charity Endowment Deed
In paragraph twelve of her will Maria Theresia Schnitzenbaum established a charity endowment of 1,500 florins to the
St. Johannes Nepomucenispital, an almshouse in the Viennese suburb of Landstraße. The interests of the endowment were to be used to secure the livelihood of a poor woman who was to be chosen by the foundress's heirs and to be supported with a daily payment of nine kreutzer. The recipient of this charitable endowment received the regulatory free clothing on which she was obliged to carry Maria Theresia Schnitzenbaum's coat of arms. Furthermore the chosen poor woman was obliged to say a daily prayer and to go to confession and attend Communion on every May 19
th, the anniversary of the benefactress's death. Köchel quotes one paragraph from Schnitzenbaum's endowment deed which he located "among the files of the k. k. Statthalterei in Wien" (Köchel, 296). This copy seems to be the one that today is held by the
Lower Austrian Provincial Archives in St. Pölten (Allgemeine Pergament-Stiftbriefsammlung Nr. 242 [Karton 9]) from which Flotzinger published a very short passage (Flotzinger, 380). But Flotzinger's text, although it is presented as if it were an original quote, is just a short extract. There is yet another, previously unknown copy of this endowment deed. In March 1841 a copy of the original was made for the municipal administration which survives in the Vienna City Archive's collection of endowment deeds (A-Wsa, Sonderregistraturen, Stiftungen, A2/5341). The complete text of this document is herewith published for the first time.
Regierungs Stiftungsbriefsamlung
N° 242.
Wir Maria Theresia von Gottes
Gnaden Römische Kayserinn etc.
Bekennen hirmit für Unß, unsere Erben und Nachkommen, welchermassen Weyl: Maria Theresia v. Schnitzenbaum seel. in ihrem unterm Sechzehenten Septembris Ain Tausend Sieben Hundert drey und vierzig verfast und den neunzehenten May Ain Tausend Sieben Hundert Neun und Vierzig bei der N. Ö: Regierung in justiz Sachen publicirten Testament §vo: 17tmo [sic] zur größeren Ehre Gottes zum Trost ihrer Seelen und zum Behuff der verlassenen Armuth eine Ewige Stiftung auf eine erarmte Weibs Person mit Ain Tausend Fünff Hundert Gulden Capital in das St. Johannes Nepomuceni Spital auf der Landstraße allhier dergestalten errichtet habe; daß
Erstens: sowohl die dermalige als zukünftige praesentation oder ersetzung dieses Stiftungsplatzes ihrer instituirten Universal-Erbin Eva Maria Fuxinn und nach derselben zeitlichen [fol. 1v] Hintritt ihren Nächsten anverwandten und befreundten zu allen Zeiten verbleibe, mithin derselben oder ihren besagten Anverwandten und befreunden die jedesmahlige apertur zeitlich erindert und jene Persohn welche praesentiret wird wann solche anderst nach der verfaffung[sic] des Spittals hier erarmt, und sonsten würdig befunden wurde, von der zu Besorgung mehrgemelten Spittals versamleten Congregation ohne aller wider Red angenommen. Dann
Andertens diser Stüfftungs=Persohn zur Portion Tägl. Neun Kreutzer nebst institut mässiger Kleydung gereichet auch sonst sie allenthalben denen übrigen Armen gleichgehalten werde. Daentgegen
Drittens solle dieselbe zur immerwehrenden Gedachtnuß der genießenden Wohlthatt, daß Wappen diser milden Stiffterinn an denen Kleydern führen und nach der Verfassung widerholten Spittels nicht nur ihr tägliches Gebett und übrige Andachtsübungen, sondern anbey alljährlichen an dem Tag der Stifterinn ableibens als den Neunzehenten May eine Heilige Beicht und Communion für sie Stiffterinn zu verrichten schuldig seyn Allermassen auch
Viertens: das hievor angeregte Stifftungs Capital pr: Ain Tausend fünff Hundert Gulden von vorgangs benannter Universal Erbinn Eva Maria Fuxinn vermittels einer Statt Banco Obligation untern Dreÿzehenten Februarij dises zu endstehenden Jahrs an das Spittal St: Joannis Nepomuceni mit der Verordnung richtig abgeführet worden, daß selbes alljährlich bey dasiger [fol. 2r] Spittals=Haubt=Rechnung besonders in Empfang und Ausweisung gebracht, auch auf das aller vorsichtigste, wie es immer die menschliche Kluegheit zulasset administriret und genossen werden solle.
Wann nun dise Stifftungs-Sach von unserer N.Ö. Repraesentation und Cammer nach Verrechnung der zur Besorgung dieses Spittals Versammleten Congregation behörig untersuchet und befunden worden, daß sothane fromme Stifftung zu Vermehrung Christlicher Barmherzigkeit und höchst erwünschlicher Versorgung deren allhiesig Statt=Armen gereiche das hirzu gewidmete Capital auch zur unterhalt eines Armen allerdings zuelänglich sey, mithin wir in ausfertigung des gebettenen Stüfft=Brieffs gnädigst gewilliget, und die beregte Stüfftung in unseren allerhöchsten Schutz genommen haben.
Solchemnach Befehlen wir hiemit gnädigst, und wollen, daß über angezogene Stüftungspuncta festiglich gehalten, zu dem Ende dises Stiftbriefs drey gleichlauthende Exemplaria aufgerichtet hirvon eines bey unserer Closter=Raths=Registratur verwahrlich aufbehalten, das andere widerhohlten St. Joannes Nepomuceni Spittal extradiret auch daselbst in dem Stifftungs-Protocollo ordentlich eingetragen das dritte aber der Stifterinn Universal=Erbinn zu ihrer guten Versicherung ausgehändiget werden solle. Thuen dieses hirmit auch wissentlich mit Urkund dises Brieffs der mit unseren Landesfürstlichen Insigl [fol. 2v] Bekräfftiget und gegeben ist.
Wienn den Sechs und Zwanzigsten Juny des Sibenzehen Hundert Fünfzigsten Jahrs.
P.T. G.[raf] Rosenberg
L.S. Per Commissionem Sacrae Caes Regiae Majestatis in Consilio Repraesentationis et Camerae Inferioris Austriae
Jos. Fr. Edl v Reichmann m/p
Johann Friedrich Edler von Schmidt m/p
Collationirt ex offo: und ist diese Abschrift dem in der Regierungs Stiftungsbrief-Samlung sub N° 242 aufbewahrten original Stiftungsbrief wörtlich gleichlautend. Wien den 23ten März 841.
[L: S:] Ignaz Hirsch mp Regierungs Sekretär und Registraturs Direktor
Maria Theresia Schnitzenbaum's charitable endowment existed way into the late nineteenth century. The last referrence to its bestowal, that I could find in an
Amtsblatt, appeared on 6 September 1878 in the newspaper
Die Presse.
The announcement of an opening funded by the Schnitzenbaum endowment at the beginning of the Amtsblatt of 5 September 1878 (Die Presse [Abendblatt] 6 September 1878, p. 3)
According to the 1898
Kataster der in Niederösterreich verwalteten weltlichen Stiftungen nach dem Stande des Jahres 1893 in that year the Schnitzenbaum endowment had financial assets of 1,915 florins and an annual profit of 78 fl.
Further Mistakes
Flotzinger's article about Fux's life is fraught with more small, not easily noticeable mistakes of which only a few can be addressed here.
- To identify houses in late seventeenth-century Vienna, Flotzinger relies on Johann Jordan's book Schatz, Schutz und Schantz deß Ertz=Hertzogtumbs Oesterreich (Vienna: van Ghelen, 1701). But since this book merely consists of a listing of houses and their owners according to a virtual walk through the city, it is unreliable and cannot be used to exactly determine the modern location of individual buildings. Thus Flotzinger is unable to locate the "Winklerisches Haus" where Fux's bride lived in 1696 (Flotzinger, 38). Flotzinger's statement "Winklerisches Haus" offenbar irrig statt Winkherisch, gegenüber dem Lorentzer Gäßl" is false, because not only is Jordan's name "Winkherisch" wrong, this house is also not located opposite the Laurenzergasse. It is the house "Zur Maria Hilf" (today Fleischmarkt 9, last conscription number 704) which, as of 1693, was owned by the merchant Johann Niklas Winkhler and his wife Maria Apollonia, née Weigl, widowed Wendtenzweig.
The house "Zur Maria Hilf" (Fleischmarkt 9) where Fux's bride lived at the time of her wedding
- Empress Amalia's Kapellmeister Heinrich Holzhauser was not born "c.1685" (Flotzinger, 60), as given in the notoriously flawed Österreichisches Musiklexikon. Holzhauser was born on 10 July 1675 in the Lower Austrian village of Wilfersdorf (Pfarre Wilfersdorf, Tom. 1, 75). He died on 8 March 1726 in his house near the Kärntnertor in Vienna (last conscription number 1033).
- Otto Heinrich Ponhaimer's first name was not "Johann" (Flotzinger, 60).
- Flotzinger's transcription of the entry in the 1773 records concerning the death of Maria Fux is flawed (Flotzinger, 381). The word "wo[n]ach" makes no sense and actually reads "word[en]". The mysterious initials "AH" in this entry, that Flotzinger adorns
with a question mark, refer to the municipal coroner Anton Hochmayr.
- The merchant Johann Baptist Muffat did not get married in September 1691 in the Schottenkirche. Flotzinger mistook the entry concerning the publication of the banns in the records of the Schotten parish for Muffat's marriage entry. Muffat's wedding took place on 19 August 1691 at St. Leopold's Church (St. Leopold, Tom. 1, 484).
- A number of curious oversights suggest that Flotzinger's text never underwent a thorough proofreading process. Botched wordings such as "eine Gedenktafel wurde an Fux angebracht" (12) and "Fuxens zweites Ansuchen von Fux" (364) are not supposed to pass a meticulous editing process. This also applies to the misplaced Latin name "Joannes Fux Styrus Hirtenfeldensis" (368), the repeated misspelling of Köchel's name as "Koechel" (363f., 367), and the curious use of an ampersand in italic Garamond (&) in the title of the journal Music & Letters (412).
- Flotzinger repeatedly refers to Joseph Sonnleithner as "Joseph von Sonnleithner". Unlike his brother Ignaz and his nephew Leopold, Joseph Sonnleithner was not ennobled.
The authors could not agree on the German genitive for Fux's name – Flotzinger prefers "Fuxens", while his colleagues use the word "Fux'". This can be considered an amiable variety.
Conclusions
As far as the edition of documents from Fux's life is concerned, the somewhat unsatisfactory state of Fux research needs no further comment. The situation is reminiscent of O. E. Deutsch's flawed and completely out-of date edition of Mozart documents which will not be replaced by better work in the near future, because the people in charge (and the ones holding the purse strings) are unable to realize the seriousness of the situation. I have
repeatedly addressed this particular problem in my publications, a problem that of course is not limited to historical musicology. An annoying phenomenon in the field of humanities is the fact that there is no reliable authority that is qualified to do a vetting process of palaeographic work on a general academic level. Only too often the scientific institutions that are supposed to teach transcription skills and expertise on archival sources, show themselves to be unable to even assess the skills of their own graduates. Scientific projects, that are funded by major institutions like the
Austrian Science Fund and are based on the transcription and study of historical sources, never even once are faced with a thorough vetting process, because this kind of quality management would not only overburden the sponsor's ressources, the funding institution at some point would also have to rely on outside experts (and possible applicants) whose lack of competence is the cause of most problems in the first place. Concerning this kind of projects I have come up with a rule of thumb which describes the problem at hand: to be safe from any quality control (by the sponsor or your peers), try to base your historical research on the transcription of at least 5,000 files. No evaluation management will then be able to ever check the quality of your work and what you did with your sources. And the same rule – involving much fewer document – applies to the publication of books.
Fux scholars should detach themselves from the influence of Köchel (like Mozart scholars from that of Deutsch), go back to square one and implement the demands of modern editorial practice in their work. A complete edition of all Fux documents should be the first and most important task. For this project the funding that the University of Graz and the State of Styria have already invested in Flotzinger's book will not be available again. A Viennese publishing house, which recently released a new edition of Köchel's
Fux Werkverzeichnis, has begun with the edition of
works by Fux. This publisher would be well advised to also initiate the publication of an up-to-date collection of Fux documents. This project, however, could be facing problems, because the owner of this publishing firm has shown himself unable to work with independent-minded researchers and is also known for paying academically qualified freelancers an hourly fee of only 15 Euros. A member of the staff of this publishing firm explained this stunning stinginess with "the bad economic situation of the construction industry".
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© Dr. Michael Lorenz 2016. All rights reserved.
Updated: 27 July 2017
My thanks go to Cristina Iordache, Janet Page, Maurizio Tomasi, Francesco Centola, Christine Babelon, Nigel Boon, Kris Steyaert, Wolfgang Oehmicke, Joachim Tepperberg, Georg Gaugusch, Reinhard Gruber and Susanne Claudine Pils for their support during my research for this article.
