A Mozart Forgery

In the April 1956 issue of the Österreichische Musikzeitschrift (11. Jahrgang, Heft 4, 146f.), Erich Hermann Mueller von Asow published a short article, entitled "Mozart als Zeuge" ('Mozart as witness'). The article presented a document from 1789, held by the Musik- och teaterbiblioteket in Stockholm. It is a receipt, signed by a certain Elisabeth Rothmann, which allegedly bears Mozart's signature. Mueller von Asow's article begins with the following short introduction.

In its collection of autographs, the Royal Swedish Academy of Music in Stockholm holds a document signed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as a witness, concerning a payment made by Martin Rothmann to his sister-in-law Elisabeth Rothmann, widowed Born. The document, of which the librarian Ph. Lic. Gösta Morin has kindly given us a photocopy, reads as follows.

Mueller von Asow sent a research request to the Vienna Municipal Archives (whose original could not be found in the holdings of the Magistratsabteilung 438). His commentary (Österreichische Musikzeitschrift, 1956, 147) reads as follows.

Nothing can be found about Elisabeth Rothmann (Rottmann?) in the Municipal Archives of Vienna, despite reviewing the probate files of the Schotten and the Vienna magistrate from between 1791 and 1820 (For the arduous search, the author gives thanks to the head of the archive Dr. Geyer, and Dr. Kratochwill).
According to the Hof- und Staats-Schematismus der Residenzstadt Wien from 1791, the following people can be documented: Philipp Rottman, living at Rauhensteingasse 1352 (a new building designed by the civil master mason Franz Jäger), who was an accessist at the department of clerical foundations which was a part of the Royal Hungarian and Transylvanian accounting department, and the council protocolist Ignaz von Rottmann who resided at Preßgasse 464, a house which belonged to a certain Joseph von Weinbrenner. He was born around 1768 in Pilsen, later became privy councilor and president of the Landrechte Court in Lemberg, and died on 26 April 1815 in Venice, leaving behind a daughter Therese who had been born around 1811 (Monatsblatt Adler, vol. XII, 1935, p. 108). It couldn't be cleared up yet if these aforementioned persons had any family relations to Elisabeth Rothmann. The address in Rauhensteingasse could point to a relation to Mozart. On the other hand, that Elisabeth Rothmann signed as "widowed J. A. Born", might suggest that the witnesses von Kunnersdorff and von Spaugk were members of the same Masonic Lodge as Mozart and the well-known geologist and mineralogist Ignaz von Born (1742-1791).
It is to be hoped that the local Viennese historians will be able to uncover more details about the persons that appear in the document and to clarify the reasons for the payment.

Because this receipt was included in the Dokumente (Deutsch, 1961, 304f.), a translation of the document was published in the English edition of Mozart documents (Deutsch, 1965, 348).

Like those of many other documents in Deutsch's Documentary Biography, the above translation is flawed. For unknown reasons Mozart's name is turned into "Mozard", "Spaugk" became "Spaug", and the abbreviation "K." (meaning "Imperial") is mistranslated as "R." ("Royal"). Furthermore, the "mp." (manu propria) after Mozart's name is missing.

When about 20 years ago, I first became aware of Mueller von Asow's article and read the ominous receipt, it made a strange impression on me right away. What particularly aroused my suspicion back then, were the names "von Kunnersorff" and "von Spaugk". Noble families by these names never existed. Apart from the lack of clarity in the text of this supposedly significant receipt, several inaccuracies in Mueller von Asow's commentary also caught my attention. First, his research request to the Vienna City Archives had been incomplete. He should have asked the archivists to find documentary traces of the demise of Elisabeth Rothmann's "much-loved" brother-in-law Martin Rothmann who – according to the receipt – must have died in 1789. Mueller von Asow seems not to have realized this crucial circumstance. Second, it is not clear why Geyer and Kratochwill limited their search for Elisabeth Rothmann in the indexes of the registers to 1791–1820. Such a search must always start with the date of the last known sign of life which, in this case, is the date of the receipt. Mueller von Asow's guesses about Mrs. Rothmann's possible family relation to Philipp Rottmann and Ignaz von Rottmann added no relevant information at all.

When in September 2019, at a flea market, I bought the original issue of the 1956 Österreichische Musikzeitschrift (which contains the first publication of the 1789 receipt), my interest was awakened again. I asked the library of the Musik- och teaterbiblioteket in Stockholm to send me a scan of the original document. What I received from Sweden exceeded my wildest expectations.

Elisabeth Rothmann's receipt, allegedly signed by Mozart (S-Skma, Brev B8:14)

Almost nothing about this document makes any sense. The issue at hand is not whether this receipt is a forgery. It is the question who in God's name would have the audacity to produce such a clumsy piece of work, and how it was ever possible to make anybody believe that this is a genuine Mozart document. The written text – in character as well as in content – is rife with ahistorical (or rather pseudohistorical) details that have no place in a handwritten document from Mozart's time. Some details are reminiscent of the legendary forger Josef Kuderna (1886-1952) whose written forgeries were so clumsy that at one of his trials the prosecutor expressed pity with the defendant. With the exception of Mozart, none of the persons appearing in this document ever existed. With the help of archival registers and catalogs, as well as today's vast digital databases, such as genteam, anno, and matricula, it is actually possible to determine if a person lived in 18th-century Vienna. "Kunnersdorf" and "Cunersdorf" are names of several European towns and villages, but not of a noble family. The same goes for the name "von Spaugk" (or, according to a later transcription, "Spaugh") which is completely fictitious. The two Rottmanns, whom Mueller von Asow introduced in his commentary, had no provable relation to any Elisabeth Rothmann. The first one, the state official Philipp Rottmann, was born in 1758 in Wiener Neustadt, son of the merchant Philipp Rottmann. On 8 May 1787 at the Franziskanerpfarre, he married Maria Anna Melzer (1768-1819) with whom he had three children (of whom only one was still alive in 1819). The couple separated in 1796, when Maria Rottmann began a lifelong relationship with the writer Joseph Schreyvogel with whom she had an illegitimate daughter named Carolina Wölf (1797-1866). Maria Rottmann could afford to leave her husband, because she had inherited a share of the house Stadt 186 from her wealthy father. Her daughter from her marriage, Theresia Rottmann (1788-1855), on 23 September 1810 became the wife of the publisher and art dealer Pietro Mechetti. As witness to the wedding officiated Joseph Schreyvogel whose signature appears in Mechetti's marriage contract (A-Wsa, Serie 2.3.2.A3, Fasz. 3, 1. Reihe, M 104). At the time of his estranged wife's death, Philipp Rottmann was living in St. Pölten (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A2, 2781/1819). A Magdalena Rottman living in St. Pölten is listed as heir of a 50 fl annuity in the 1853 will of Theresia Mechetti, née Rottmann (A-Wsa, Handelsgericht, A51, 36/1856). The second Rottmann, brought up by Mueller von Asow, the president of the Lemberg Landrechte court, Ignaz von Rottmann also had no provable relation to an Elisabeth Rothmann. His first wife, whom he married in Kraków, was Barbara Haller (1767-1805). On 21 July 1810, in Vienna (A-Wd, Tom 82a, fol. 260), Rottmann married again. His second wife was Theresia von Rainer (b. 18 June 1786 in Vienna) who on 5 September 1812, in Lemberg (Slezak, 67), gave birth to a daughter Therese (whom Mueller von Asow mentions in his commentary). Therese von Rottmann married a Count Bobrowski von Bobrówka and died in 1888. Ignaz von Rottmann's probate file (AT-OeStA/AVA Inneres NÖLR Allgemein A 54.5) is currently not accessible due to damage from the 1927 fire at the Vienna palace of justice. Ignaz's brother Vinzenz von Rottmann had died a bachelor on 29 May 1792 in Vienna. The name of their only sister was Josepha (A-Wsa, Akt 3.3.10.FA.791, Haansche Regesten).

Let us consider the legal scenario that is presented in the receipt. A certain Mr. Martin Rothmann has died and (as will be shown below) has left his sister-in-law Elisabeth Rothmann 6,000 gulden, which are being paid out by the executors of his will in three installments of 2,000 gulden. Since Mrs. Rothmann must be the wife of Martin Rothmann's brother, it is not clear why she signs as "widowed J. A Born". After all, since she is the widow of a Mr. J. A Born (not "von" Born!), she cannot legally sign as Elisabeth Rothmann. Equally unclear is why her husband – Martin Rothmann's brother – who should be his brother's main heir, does not take over the inherited money from the civil court. Or has he died as well? No Martin Rothmann is documented to have died in Vienna between 1785 and 1789. That the alleged executors of Martin Rothmann's will paid out the money to his sister-in-law, is highly unusual. The law demanded that such high amounts of money should remain in the safekeeping of the court. It was far too risky to leave such assets in the hands of private individuals. The use of three witnesses is also at odds with the customary legal practice at the time. Mrs. Rothmann was the legal heir of her brother-in-law's bequest. The simple process of receiving this bequest did not require three witnesses. Multiple witnesses were only needed for contracts that contained important legal agreements, such as business, purchase, and wedding contracts.

It comes as no surprise that there is also no member of the Born family that could serve as a candidate of Elisabeth Rothmann's allegedly deceased husband. Ignaz von Born, the famous mineralogist, died but in 1791. His widow, whose maiden name had been Magdalena von Montag, died on 3 April 1818. Ignaz's younger brother Franz Xaver von Born died on 2 April 1821 at the age of 77. The name of his wife, whom he had married in 1768, was Josepha von Bolza. She died on 9 December 1825. The third Born sibling, a captain in the infantry regiment No. 56 of the I. & R. Austrian Army, on 22 August 1767, in Brunn am Gebirge, married Antonia von Rieger, daughter of an I. & R. court councilor. No relation can be established between the von Born family and a person named Elisabeth Rothmann. It is quite obvious that the name "Born" was only put on the receipt to add a touch of Mozart's social environment.

Several passages in the document show a gross ignorance of basic historical and genealogical facts. The use of a single "K." before the names, instead of the usual "K.K." (meaning "Kaiserlich Königlich") is highly unusual. The amount of money in a receipt was always written in numbers, and, if necessary, in additional words. Never in words alone. The term "Floriner harten Geldes" ("Florins in hard cash") did not exist in Mozart's Vienna, because at that time there was no gulden coin. In 1789 Vienna hard cash consisted of Spezies- and Konventionstaler, various types of ducats, and kreuzer whose silver twenty coin was the most frequently used piece of currency. A sum of two thousand gulden would most likely have been paid out in ducats. The word "gegeben" before the date of a document was not used in Vienna; at least I have never seen it being used this way in any of the thousands of historical documents that I have scrutinized.

The constant inclination of the letters, together with the very characteristic and desperately made to look old-fashioned letter "g" are telltale signs that the whole document was written by one single person. The descriptive line "Madame Rothmannins quittierung [...]" at the top, with the ludicrously fake-historical word "fyr" (which actually reads "fgr") already shows the hand of the person that signed as Mrs. Rothmann, and also produced all the signatures of the alleged three witnesses. The letter "g" in "Ignatz" gives away the scribe. The "Mozart" signature was done with a stronger effort of disguise, but to no avail. Not only had the forger obviously never seen a genuine Mozart signature, he also had no idea what the "mp" (manu propria) sign after a signature was supposed to look like. Hence he produced the following curiosity, with an "mp" that looks like a capital "A" enclosed in a "C". The hook of the "z" and the inclination of the letters again give away the same hand.

To illustrate the absurdity of the above forgery, let us look at a genuine Mozart signature from Mozart's letter to Sebastian Winter from 30 September 1786: the "mp" is only a zigzag line below the name, the "ca" at the end of the signature is Mozart's characteristic shortening of the attribute Cavaliere.

Mozart's closing formula in his letter to Sebastian Winter (D-KA, Don Mus. Autogr. 45)

During the 1770s, Mozart's typical "Ca" token was much more distinct. Here is another example, at the end of his signature in the letter of 3 July 1778 to Abbé Bullinger.

Mozart's return address and closing formula in his letter of 3 July 1778 from Paris to Abbé Bullinger in Salzburg (current owner unknown)

The signatures of the witnesses Johann Carl Cetto von Kronstorff, Franz Gilowsky De Urazowa, and Johann Thowarth on Mozart's 1782 marriage contract nicely show how genuine "mp" signs were supposed to look like.

The seals and signatures on Mozart's marriage contract(GB-Lbl, Zweig MS 69). This document once was an integral part of Mozart's Sperrs-Relation (probate file) where it had the legal function (vis testamenti) of Mozart's will. At some time between 1856, when the Landesgerichts-Directionsadjunkt Joseph Laimegger (1814-1895) made a copy for Otto Jahn, and the death of its first private owner Franz Hauser in 1870, the contract must have been stolen from the archive of the Vienna Landesgericht. That the text and the location of the contract on 19 December 1857 were published in the newspaper Die Presse, certainly did not increase the safety of the document. To disguise the origin of the contract, already in the catalog of the 1905 auction, the sellers created the narrative of "two different versions of the contract, one for Mozart and one for the bride" (Boerner, 1905, 17). Such discrepancies, however, would have been against the law. The note in Mozart's Sperrs-Relation proves that there was only one copy of the contract. The dissimilarities between Jahn's edition and the original were based on Laimegger's transcription errors. In 1905 the contract was bought by Edward Speyer from whose collection in 1935 it went to Stefan Zweig.

When in 1991 Cliff Eisen's collection New Mozart Documents: A Supplement to O.E. Deutsch's Documentary Biography was published, it became known that there is a second copy of Elisabeth Rothmann's receipt. Sven Hansson, a Swedish collector, to whom Eisen gave thanks in his preface (Eisen, 1991, XVI), owns the receipt for another payment to Elisabeth Rothmann, dated 10 August 1789. Eisen's edition of the third receipt shows two differences from Müller von Asow's transcription: "Spaugk" is now spelled "Spaugh" and the "mp" after Mozart's name is again missing. The fact that one month later Frau Rothmann had exactly the same three witnesses at hand is yet another quite suspicious circumstance.

The first publication of Sven Hansson's copy of Mrs. Rothmann's receipt (Eisen, 1991, 62)

Curiously enough, the German edition of the privately held receipt, which was published in 1997, shows even more discepancies from Eisen's English edition and the previously published earlier copy of the receipt. "Kunnersdorf" is now again "Kunnersdorff", the name Ignatz is abbreviated to "Ign.", the names Mozart and Spaugh have an "mp" again, and the "J. A." before the name Born is missing. The most significant difference appears in the phrase "a sum of two thousand florins hard cash" which is now "eine summe von zweÿtausend florinern baares[sic] geld", a wording that is also at odds with the text of the receipt published in 1956. Given that meticulous accuracy can be expected from a scholarly edition of primary sources, these discrepancies are astonishing.

The first publication of the original text of Sven Hansson's copy of the receipt (Eisen, 1997, 63)

Since this receipt is marked "N° 3", and the one from July 1789 bears the number 2, it can be presumed that there must be a third copy which confirms the first payment of 2,000 gulden in June 1789. This copy, if it exists, has yet to surface.

Since Mueller von Asow had a photocopy of the original receipt and undoubtedly knew what real Mozart signatures look like, he bears the main responsibility for the erroneous attribution of these two documents. The whole matter, as curious as it appears today, should serve as a reminder that we must always remain suspicious. Who knows how many Mozart documents, that have been published in print, also have nothing to do with Mozart?

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Bibliography

Boerner, C.G. (ed.). 1905. Katalog der Bibliothek Hauser Karlsruhe, Leipzig.

Deutsch, Otto Erich. 1961. Mozart Die Dokumente seines Lebens. Mozart. Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke, Serie X: Supplement, Werkgruppe 34. Kassel. Bärenreiter.

Deutsch, Otto Erich. 1965. Mozart: A Documentary Biography. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Eisen, Cliff. 1991. New Mozart Documents: A Supplement to O.E. Deutsch's Documentary Biography. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

–––––––. 1997. Mozart. Die Dokumente seines Lebens. Addenda, Neue Folge. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke, Serie X, Werkgruppe 31, vol. 2. Kassel: Bärenreiter.

Mueller von Asow, Erich Hermann. 1956. "Mozart als Zeuge", Österreichische Musikzeitschrift, 11. Jahrgang, Heft 4.

Slezak, Friedrich. 1987. Beethovens Wiener Originalverleger, Forschungen und Beiträge zur Wiener Stadtgeschichte 17, Vienna: Deuticke.

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© Dr. Michael Lorenz 2020. All rights reserved.

The Death of Chopin's Godson Alexander Steinkeller

In the article "A Godson of Frédéric Chopin", which on 5 September 2015 I published on this blog, I reported the discovery of a godparenthood of Chopin who took over this duty during his second stay in Vienna in 1831. In this article I was able to shed new light on the events during Chopin's second Vienna sojourn, a period of the composer's life which previously had been considered completely covered by Chopin scholars. Chopin's godson was Alexander Steinkeller, who was born on 4 March 1831, son of the Polish industrialist Peter Steinkeller and his wife Anielą, née Anthonin, and was baptized three days later in the parish church of St. Johann Nepomuk in the Viennese suburb of Leopoldstadt. On 6 March 1831, the Sunday following Alexander Steinkeller's birth, Frédéric Chopin was scheduled to give a concert at the Vienna Redoutensaal and did not have time to visit the Leopoldstadt before that event. The Sunday concert was eventually postponed and on the following Monday the christening could take place with the parish priest Joseph Gorbach officiating.

The entry concerning the baptism of Peter Alexander Steinkeller on 7 March 1831 (St. Johann Nepomuk, Tom. 5, fol. 64)

Anna Bittmann's and Chopin's signatures in the baptismal entry of Alexander Steinkeller. After Chopin had written down his address, but not his profession, the priest Joseph Gorbach crossed out the address and added the words "Privatier alldort, wohnhaft dermalen in Wien, in der Stadt Nro 1151" (St. Johann Nepomuk, Tom. 5, fol. 64).

Alexander Steinkeller's second godparent Anna Bittmann (1803-1854) was chosen, because she was a cousin of the child's father Peter Steinkeller.

Alexander Steinkeller's father Piotr Antoni Steinkeller. Portrait from Henryk Radziszewski's and Jan Kinderski's book Piotr Steinkeller. Dwie Monografie (Warsaw 1905)

After the discovery of Chopin's godparenthood in December 2013, Alexander Steinkeller's life was not a topic of my research. My work was focused on the publication of previously unknown information related to Chopin's circle of friends in Vienna. Only a systematic examination of all wills submitted to the Vienna district courts in the period from 1850 until 1938 brought about the astonishing discovery that Alexander Steinkeller, as if driven by an ominous force of homesickness, returned to Vienna where in 1906 he put an end to his life by jumping out of a window of his apartment.

The earliest source for Alexander Steinkeller's presence in Vienna is a Meldzettel (certificate of registration), signed by Steinkeller's landlady Marie Münster and dated 27 February 1906, which documents Steinkeller's new address at that time as Dresdner Straße 53, and his previous residence as Volkertplatz 7 in Vienna's second district. Curiously, Steinkeller's notice of departure from this abode is given as 13 April 1906 in this document. A telling note on the right margin of the Meldzettel, however, reveals the circumstances of Steinkeller's exodus: "Mit Selbstmord geendet am 15./4 1906" ("Ended with suicide on 15 April 1906"). The word "geendet" was crossed out and replaced with "gestorben".

Alexander Steinkeller's last certificate of registration which documents his move on 28 February 1906 from Volkertplatz 7 to his last residence Dresdner Straße 53, and his demise by suicide (A-Wsa, BPD Wien: Historische Meldeunterlagen, Serie 2.5.1.4.K1 - B-Antiquariat)

On 27 February 1906 Steinkeller moved from Volkertplatz 7 in the Leopoldstadt to Dresdner Straße 53 in the district of Brigittenau.

Alexander Steinkeller's next-to-last residence, the house Volkertplatz 7 in Vienna's second district

Steinkeller moved into apartment no. 19 on the first floor (second floor American scheme) of Dresdner Straße 53 which is located in the right southeastern part of the building facing the Kampstraße.

Alexander Steinkeller's last residence, the house Dresdner Straße 53. The left part of the facade faces the Dresdner Straße, the right one faces the Kampstraße.

Because of a complete renovation of the apartments on the first floor in 2019 which included the merging of two apartments into one, the original door of Steinkeller's last apartment does not exist anymore.

The situation in June 2019 on the first floor of the house Dresdner Straße 53 where the door of Alexander Steinkeller's apartment was previously located. Two apartments have been merged into one and a new wall has been built with a new apartment door.

On 10 April 1906 Alexander Steinkeller wrote a will in which he bequeathed all of his property to his housekeeper Karoline Vetschy. This will was written on the official letter paper of Steinkeller's employer, the Moscow Fire Insurance Company.

The will of Alexander Steinkeller (A-Wsa, BG II, A9, 19/6). The reference number A IX 241/6 refers to Steinkeller's not extant probate file.

The transcription of this document reads as follows.

Administration of the Moscow Fire Insurance Company Moscow, on .... 189 ...

Published on April 18th, 1906, at the Leopoldstadt district court, section I

I declare in full consciousness that after my death I bequeath all objects, without distinction, which are in the apartment no. 19 on the first floor in the house Dresdnerstrasse no. 53, to my maid Karoline Vetschy who took care of me until the end of my life. Nobody else has the right to appropriate something from the apartment after my passing.

Given on April 10th, 1906               Al[exander] Steinkeller
David Münster, janitor, as witness
Aloisie Ognar as witness

I accept this gift
Karoline Vetschy

Karoline Vetschy, Steinkeller's universal heir, was born on 3 February 1881 at Vienna's General Hospital (Alservorstadtkrankenhaus, Tom. 121, fol. 152), illegitimate daughter of Agnes Vetchy. The child's godmother was the midwife Josefine Schemel. Nothing is known about Karoline Vetschy's later fate.

Because probate records from the A9 series of the Leopoldstadt district court are only preserved from the years 1899 to 1905, Alexander Steinkeller's probate file BG II, A9 241/6, which certainly would have provided vital biographical information, is not extant. On 15 April 1906, Alexander Steinkeller committed suicide by jumping from a window of his apartment onto the sidewalk of the Kampstraße. The cause of this act remains unknown. It seems likely, however, that Steinkeller was confronted with severe health issues.

The southeastern side of the house Dresdner Straße 53 towards the Kampstraße. From one of the four windows in the right-hand part of the first floor, Steinkeller jumped to his death.

The entry concerning Alexander Steinkeller's death in the Totenbeschauprotokoll (municipal death register) contains the note "Selbstmord d. Sturz v. I. Stockwerke" ("Suicide by falling from the first floor").

The entry concerning Alexander Steinkeller's death in the municipal death register (A-Wsa, Totenbeschreibamt 775)

On 17 April 1906 Steinkeller's burial was entered in the records of the Zwischenbrücken parish. Since the note in the death register is somewhat contradictory, it is not clear which spiritual ceremony was conducted by the parish priest and if the deceased received a catholic burial at all. The most significant parts of the entry read as follows: "Steinkellner[sic] Alexander, katholisch, Privat, wohnh. Wien, XX. Dresdnerstrasse 53. Witwer, geboren am Dat[um] unbekannt in Wien, ? zuständig unbekannt. [Gestorben] an Selbstmord durch Sturz vom Stockwerke. Im Zentral Friedhofe. Nicht eingesegnet."

The entry concerning Alexander Steinkeller's obsequies on 17 April 1906. On the far right is the note "nicht eingesegnet" (not consecrated) (Pfarre Zwischenbrücken, Tom. 1, fol. 16).

Alexander Steinkeller was buried in the Zentralfriedhof, in a shaft grave in group 36, row 5, no. 213. These collective graves were provided for a time of 15 years, after which they were abandoned and leveled. In the years thereafter, group 36 was redesigned several times. Today, this group consists of several areas for decedents of different faiths.

That Steinkeller was a Russian citizen – and thus of Polish origin – is proven by the notice of convocation of possible heirs and creditors, issued on 7 May 1906 by the district court, which on 7, 9, and 12 June 1906, was published in the Wiener Zeitung.

The notice in the Wiener Zeitung concerning the convocation of Alexander Steinkeller's possible heirs and creditors (Wiener Zeitung 7 June 1906, p. 696)

                                   Alexander Steinkeller.
On 15 April 1906 the Russian citizen Mr. Alexander Steinkeller, agent in Vienna, XX., Dresdnerstraße 53, door 19, where he had his regular abode, died with the provision of a last will.
According to § 137 and 138 of the Imperial decree of 9 August 1854, Imperial Law Gazette No. 208, all heirs, recipients of a bequeathment, and creditors who are Austrian citizens or foreigners currently staying in the country, are being requested to file their claims to the estate with the undersigned court until 20 June 1906 the latest, in default whereof the estate, in disregard of these claims, can be released to the foreign authority or individuals legitimized by this authority.
I. & R. Leopoldstadt district court I, section IX, Vienna, on 7 May 1906.  [5541-1]

As far as research about Alexander Steinkeller's life is concerned, much work remains to be done. Several announcements in the newspaper Kurjer Warszawski, published during the late 1850s (for example on p. 751 of no. 144/1859), show that at that time Alexander Steinkeller was a business partner of his uncle Rudolf Steinkeller. According to the useful, but very often unreliable and fragmentary genealogical site www.geni.com, Alexander Steinkeller was married to Karolina Michalina Wojciechowska, daughter of Jan Nepomucen Wojciechowski. This name, of course, suggests a direct family relationship of Alexander Steinkeller's wife with Chopin's friend Tytus Wojciechowsky, a presumption that is also supported by the fact that Alexander Steinkeller had a cousin named Tytus Steinkeller who could well have been a godson of Chopin's friend. A photograph of Tytus Steinkeller, taken in the 1860s by Karol Beyer, is held by the photographic collection of the National Library of Poland.

Alexander Steinkeller's cousin Tytus Steinkeller (photograph by Karol Beyer, Pl-Wn, Ikonografii F.81274/W)

It is to be hoped that Polish researchers will take a closer look at Alexander Steinkeller's life. The reaction to the discovery of Chopin's godchild so far, however, does not suggest that Chopin scholars will soon address this matter.

The coat of arms of the Steinkeller family

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Bibliography

Lorenz, Michael. 2015. A Godson of Frédéric Chopin. Internet publication, 6 September 2015.

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© Dr. Michael Lorenz 2019. All rights reserved.

Upcoming Posts

• Robert Franz Müller: the Unknown Part of his Estate
• About Arthur Kaufmann
• A Rediscovered Score by Joseph Lanner 
• The Will of Carl Ferdinand Pohl 
• 'In spite of all my misfortune and bad luck in all variations, my life has been rich and wonderful.'  –  New Light on the Life of Paula Wolf Kalmar
• The Original Will of Natalie Bauer-Lechner
• The Marriage Documents of George Szell
• A Donizetti Discovery
• Unknown Stadler Documents (Part I)
• The Rediscovery of Carl Czerny's original Will
• The Family of Carl Schlechter
• The Violinist Dobieerczil: a Snapshot of Current Mozart Scholarship
• Two Seals of Joseph Haydn
• An Unknown Letter by Aloisia Lange 
• The Seal of Emanuel Schikaneder

This list is not complete. For obvious reasons some topics of research cannot be revealed in advance.

Updated: 16 February 2020

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Some readers have expressed concern regarding the decrease of the frequency of my posts during the last two years. As I explained in June 2015, my research is very time-consuming and I'm not getting paid for my publications. If readers are not willing to support this blog with donations, it will have to be discontinued. I would also like to state that questions and inquiries submitted via e-mail cost time to be answered. And since time is not free, requests can only be answered if they come with a donation.

On the occasion of a recent copyright infringement, I have to point out once again that all the digital copies of historical documents on this blog  (unless otherwise indicated) are first publications. The unauthorized use of these files, whose creation is based on a lot of personal work, represents a violation of copyright. While most archival documents are in public domain, their digital copies are not.

Josepha Disenni: Haydn's Last Surviving Godchild

In a blog post titled "Three Unknown Godchildren of Joseph Haydn", which in September 2014 was published on this site, I dealt with three of Haydn's godchildren that had remained unknown to Haydn scholars. The third of these children was Josepha Barbara Disenni, a granddaughter of Haydn's sister-in-law Barbara Keller (1726 - ca.1803-08). The parents of this child were Franz Disenni (1760-1827) and Barbara Scheiger, a niece of Haydn's wife. At their wedding, which took place on 13 January 1801, Haydn offciated as witness of the bride.

Paul Johann Sirbeck's and Joseph Haydn's signatures as witnesses of Franz Disenni's and Barbara Scheiger's wedding on 13 January 1801 (Wieden, Tom. 2, fol. 293).

Franz Disenni's handwriting in a divorce file of the Vienna municipal civil court where Disenni was employed as bailiff (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A6, 2/1800).

Josepha Disenni was born on 1 January 1803 and baptized in Vienna's Paulanerkirche with the composer ("Joseph Haydn Doktor der Tonkunst") standing godfather.

The baptismal entry of Josepha Barbara Disenni (Wieden, Tom. 4, fol. 51)

At the time of her father's death, on 10 July 1827, Josepha Disenni was referred to as "Marchand des Modes" (fashion saleswoman) living at the "Kleines Königsklosterhaus" on the Windmühle (Windmühle 69, today Gumpendorfer Straße 14).

Josepha Disenni being referred to in her father's probate file as "l[edigen] St[ands] Marchand des Modes an der Wien im kleinen Königsklosterhause" (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A2, 2820/1827)

Regarding Josepha Disenni's fate after 1827, in 2014 I wrote the following:

I have not yet been able to shed light on Josepha Disenni's life after her father's death and to determine her date of death. The fact that she inherited 1,900 gulden in 1827 makes it very likely that she got married at a later time which – owing to the change of her name – makes it difficult to pick up her trace again. She turns up in the sources in 1830 as living with her stepsister and her stepmother Theresia Disenni at Wieden No. 473. In August 1830, the Vienna Magistrate, which had been unable to determine Josepha Disenni's whereabouts, published a citation in the Wiener Zeitung in which Disenni was requested to come forward on the occasion of the upcoming auction of the house Landstraße 159 (today Schimmelgasse 2-8/2). That Disenni was listed as "Satzgläubiger" (hypothecary creditor) of this house shows how she had invested her inheritance. It is not yet known if Disenni showed up at the auction, but future research in the Landstraße land registers will probably yield more information on what became of her after 1830.

Although the sources covering Viennese citizens become scarce between the end of the Konskriptionsbögen in 1856 and the beginning of the surviving Meldezettel in 1910, historic persons of even the slightest interest rarely escape the scope of modern-day researchers. The so-called "Kartei der Ausgeschiedenen" (catalog of discarded persons) in the holdings of the Vienna conscriptiion office provides information about Josepha Disenni's status – she was registered as "Beamtenswaise" – and her addresses. In 1856 she was living at Landstraße 665 (today Salesianergasse 23), as of 1857 she resided at Wieden 331 (today Neumanngasse 7).

Josefa Disenni's card in the catalog of discarded persons of the municipal conscription office (A-Wsa, 1.3.2.116.K1/KA - Heimatrolle: Kartei der Ausgeschiedenen, 19)

At Landstraße 665 Josepha Disenni lived as subtenant in the apartment of the mason (and janitor) Johann Burgstaller and his wife Maria.

Josefa Disenni registered in 1843 as subtenant at Landstraße 665 (A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt, Landstraße 665/1r)

Disenni is not registered in the conscription sheets of Wieden 331. On 24 October 1886 Josepha Disenni signed a will in the form of a written donation. She bequeathed all her movable assets to her attendant and friend Maria Spitalmüllner "for her devoted sympathy, her faithfulness, attendance, and care during a time of more than seven years".

Josepha Disenni's will signed on 24 October 1886 (A-Wsa, BG Wieden, A9, 23/1888)

This document reads as follows:

                                                  Kundgemacht am 7. März 1888.
                                                 D[oktor] K[arl] Kropatschek
                                                 KK Notar
                                                 als Ger.[ichts} Kommissär.

                                                  Schenkung.
[50 Kreuzer Stempelmarke]
Die viele freundliche und aufopfernde Theilname, die Treue, Pflege und Wartung, welche mir die Frau Marie Spitalmüllner durch mehr als sieben Jahre bereits erwiesen hat, haben mich bewogen, derselben meine, wie immer Namen führende Küchen= und Zimmer=Einrichtung, als: Tische, Stühle, Betten und Kästen u.s.w. dergestalt zu schenken, daß sie dieselben aus meinem Nachlasse als Eigenthümerin beheben kann.
Zur vollkommenen Sicherung ihres Eigenthumes begebe ich mich hiermit des Rechtes, diese Schenkung zu widerrufen und händige ihr diese Schenkungsurkunde ein, welche sie vor den drei anwesenden Zeugen zum Beweise, daß sie die Schenkung wirklich angenommen hat, unterschreibt.
                  Wien am 24. Oktober 1886.

     Bernard Forster       XXX i.e.
     als Zeuge              Josefa Disseni
                                  als Geschenkgeberin.
     Dr Josef Neubauer    Maria Spittalmüllner
        als Zeuge.             als Geschenknehmerin.
     Jos Katzele
     Als Zeuge.

                                              Published on March 7th, 1888.
                                             Dr. Karl Kropatschek
                                             I. & R. notary
                                             as court commissioner.

                                         Donation.
[50 Kreuzer revenue stamp]
The many friendly and self-sacrificing acts of sympathy, the faithfulness, attendance, and care, that Ms. Marie Spitalmüllner has already rendered me for more than seven years, have induced me to donate to her all the furnishings my kitchen and my room, whatever name they may have, such as: tables, chairs, beds and cabinets, etc. in such a manner so that she can take them from my estate as owner.
In order to fully secure her property, I hereby waive the right to withdraw this donation and hand this deed of donation over to her which she signs in the presence of three witnesses to prove that she has really accepted the donation.
                      Vienna, October 24th, 1886.

    Bernard Forster    XXX i.e.
    as witness           Josefa Disseni
                                 as gift giver.
    Dr Josef Neubauer    Maria Spittalmüllner
       as witness.             as gift recipient.
    Jos Katzele
    As witness.

Haydn's last surviving godchild never married. She died on 26 February 1888, at the age of 85, in her Wieden apartment at the house "Zum Blauen Anker" (today a garden area) at Kleinschmidgasse 3. In 1888, at this address, she is even registered as main tenant in Lehmann's allgemeiner Wohnungs-Anzeiger.

The entry in the Wieden parish records concerning Josefa Disseni's death on 26 February 1888 (Wieden, Tom. 26, fol. 10)

Josefa Disenni's estate was modest. As an orphaned daughter of an I. & R. civil servant she was entitled to draw an annual benefit of 60 gulden CM from the treasury of the Lower Austrian government. In addition to that she received 150 gulden per year from the Michael Schäffer'sche Stiftung (the Michael Schäffer charity foundation) and 50 gulden per year from the charitable Johannes-Spital-Stiftung. Disenni's assets were exceeded by the funeral costs and Marie Spitalmüllner's outstanding salary for her last three years of service.

The cover sheet of Josepha Disenni's probate file (A-Wsa, BG Wieden, A4 - A, 380/1888)

Disenni's probate file bears the following note:

According to the servant Katharina Zach, living at IV, Kettenbrückengasse No. 6, who showed up instead of the sick Marie Spitalmüllner, the estate of the deceased consists of only a few heavily time-worn pieces of furniture and bed clothes, of which all items have almost no value at all, and of the due charitable earnings. The amount recorded in two account books of the funeral insurance society was used to cover the burial costs.
The abovementioned items are in the safekeeping of Miss Marie Spitalmüllner who lives at the address of the deceased. Vienna, March 7th, 1888.

On 28 February 1888 Josefa Disenni was buried in Vienna's Central Cemetery.

The bill for Josefa Disenni's funeral written by the "Konduktansager" and sexton of the Wieden parish Laurenz Fuchs (A-Wsa, BG Wieden, A4 - A, 380/1888)

Disenni's relatively expensive funeral, which included a requiem, the "rich" pall, six candles, a two-horse carriage, and six pallbearers in uniform, cost 58 gulden 10 neukreuzer. The deposit with the local "Leichenverein" (burial insurance) covered 40 gulden 60 neukreuzer of the expenses, the rest was paid for by Marie Spitalmüllner.

Josefa Disenni's existence as Haydn's last surviving godchild can surely be counted among the less important trivia of Haydn research. But just like mountains need to be climbed "because they're there" these side issues need to be pursued as soon as the scientific opportunity arises.

© Dr. Michael Lorenz 2018.

The Godchildren of Emanuel and Eleonore Schikaneder

On 1 December 2006, at the symposium Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Die Zauberflöte: sources – interprétations at the Université libre de Bruxelles, I presented a paper titled "New Archival Documentation on the Theater auf der Wieden and Emanuel Schikaneder". Two years later I published an extended translation of this paper, titled "Neue Forschungsergebnisse zum Theater auf der Wieden und Emanuel Schikaneder" in: Wiener Geschichtsblätter, 4/2008, (Vienna: Verein für Geschichte der Stadt Wien, 2008, 15-36). Since a major part of my essay consisted of delving into the social environment of Schikaneder and his wife, I came across a surprisingly large number of godchildren of the Schikaneder couple. These children came from different backgrounds, not only from families whose contact with Schikaneder was known, but also from families that had previously not been associated with the theater entrepreneur. When I did research for my paper for the 2006 conference in Brussels, I found twelve godchildren of the Schikaneders. By the time I published the German article in 2008, this number had increased to fourteen. On the occasion of the belatedly projected publication of the 2006 conference report by the publisher Peter Lang, I decided to revisit this topic. I undertook another search to update my work and extended my research concerning the parents of these children. It is to be noted, however, that certain limits had to be observed regarding this research. If every lead were followed and every source published, this project could easily result in a book which is of course not the objective of this blog.

A little known caricature of Emanuel Schikaneder from 1831 (Der Gesellschafter oder Blätter für Geist und Herz. Ein Volksblatt, 6/1831, 30) 

As of July 2017 the number of known godchildren of Emanuel and/or  Eleonore Schikaneder is twenty: one joint godchild, eight godchildren of Emanuel and eleven of Eleonore Schikaneder. The exploration of the family backgrounds of these children also includes several members of Schikaneder's and Mozart's circle of friends on which no detailed research has ever been done. Presented in chronogical order, according to their date of birth, these twenty children are the following:

1)  Emanuel Jakob Neukäufler

In 1779 Schikaneder fathered a son with the actress Juliana Moll who was born on 15 March 1780 in Laibach. To spare himself any possible embarrassment Schikaneder asked Jacob Neukäufler, another member of his company, to confess to the paternity. This scheme did not keep Schikaneder and his wife from standing joint godparents at the child's baptism. At the ceremony, which took place at St. Peter's Church in Laibach, they had themselves substituted ("per procuratorem") by the actor Johann Michael Michl (born 1754 in Neumarkt) who had joined Schikaneder's company in 1778 in Nürnberg.

The entry concerning the baptism of Schikaneder's son Emanuel Jacob Neukäufler on 15 March 1780 in Laibach (Ljubljana, Nadškofijski Arhiv, Liber Baptizatorum 23, 1775-8, 195, St. Peter). The actor Michael Michl's name is misspelled "Mihel". Baur 2012 states that the note "fil: leg:" (legitimate son) in this entry is written by a different hand in a different ink, but this claim is based on a misunderstanding.

In September 1780 Schikaneder's company arrived in Salzburg where his illegitimate son Emanuel Jacob died on 10 January 1781. Schikaneder's ruse would never have become known, had not Neukäufler, in a phase of bad conscience, confessed to the parish priest of St. Andrä that he was not the child's father. The priest wrote a note on a piece of paper which he put into the death register and added the following reference to the entry concerning the child's burial: "sed si necesse, vide Secretum ad hunc Librum" (but if necessary, see the secret note in this book).    

The entry concerning Jakob Neukäufler's death on 10 January 1781 (Salzburg, St. Andrä, Tom. 3, 281)

In 1935 the Salzburg historian Friedrich Breitinger (1887-1966) found the loose piece of paper ("Secretum pro Libro mortuorum") in the parish register and on 31 August 1935 published the whole story under the title “Emanuel Schikaneders Kuckucksei" (Schikaneder's Cuckoo's Egg) in the Salzburger Volksblatt. The secret note has gone missing since then. In his article "Emanuel Schikaneder and Jakob Neukäufler: Family Affairs", Mozart Studien 17 (Tutzing: Schneider, 2008) the American singer Henry Price presented a highly interesting account of the affair.

2) Joseph Hofer

Joseph Hofer, a previously unknown nephew of Constanze Mozart, was born  on 17 May 1789 at the house Stadt 587 (today Graben 26) and baptized at St. Peter's Church with Eleonore Schikaneder standing godmother to the child. Joseph Hofer was the first child of the court violinist Franz Hofer (1755-1796) and his wife Josepha, née Weber (Mozart's first Königin der Nacht). Constanze Mozart's favorite midwife Maria Anna Kaudelka, who lived at Stadt 882 (the Trienterhof, today Domgasse 4), served as midwife. The child's father Franz Hofer is given as "Hofmusikus" in the baptismal records, the mother is referred to as "Kurpfälzischen Kammervirtuosens Tochter", and the godmother Eleonore Schikaneder as "Aktrice[!] von der Schauspielergesellschaft auf der Wieden".

The entry concerning the baptism of Joseph Hofer on 17 May 1789 in St. Peter's Church (A-Wstm, St. Peter, Tom. 1, 191) 

That I was able to discover Joseph Hofer's existence only in February 2017, was mainly caused by the fact that this child's baptism does not appear in the old, original baptismal register of St. Peter's. The last to delve into Franz Hofer's family was Emil Karl Blümml who published the following two articles about Hofer and his wife in the 1919 Mozarteums-Mitteilungen: 1) "Josefa Weber-Hofer. Die erste 'Königin der Nacht'", and 2) "Der Violinist Franz de Paula Hofer. Freund und Schwager Mozarts". In 1923 these articles were republished in Blümml's book Aus Mozarts Freundes und Familienkreis, a collection that is still one of the most frequently cited sources related to Mozart's circle. Some of the false stereotypes coined by Blümml, such as the "wicked mother-in-law Maria Cäcilia Weber", the "uneconomical housekeeping of the long-sleeping Weber sisters", and the "grinding poor Franz Hofer", will probably live on forever in the Mozart literature. Because Blümml convincingly stated that Franz and Josepha Hofer had only one child – the daughter Josepha who was born on 29 August 1790 in the Freihaus – it occurred to nobody that there could have been another child.

Franz Hofer and Mozart's sister-in-law Josepha Weber got married on 21 July 1788 in the Eligius Chapel of St. Stephen's Cathedral. The following entry in the Cathedral's original Rapular concerning this wedding has never been digitized or published. Unlike the one that Blümml referred to, it bears the autograph signatures of the two witnesses: Johann Thorwart (who in 1782, at her wedding, had been Constanze Mozart's witness) and the lawyer (and future convict) Dr. Jakob Ignatz Jutz (1755-1796).

One of the two entries concerning Franz Hofer's and Josepha Weber's wedding on 21 July 1788 (A-Wd, Rapular 1784-89, fol. 333)

When Deutsch claimed that Hofer became a court musician only in 1789 (Dokumente, 282), he had obviously forgotten that Blümml had already confirmed Hofer's employment as having begun in 1788 (Blümml 1923, 28). The fact that Franz Hofer was already a member of the court orchestra in 1782 was published in 1992 by Dexter Edge (Edge 1992, 72). At the time of her wedding in 1788, Josepha Weber was living together with her mother and her sister Sophie at the house Stadt 1084, "Zur Goldenen Schlange" ("At the Golden Snake", today Kärntnerstraße 12) as subtenants of the physician Lukas Johann Boër.

Josepha Weber's landlord in 1788: Lukas Johann Boër (A-Wn, PORT_00076359_01)

Dr. Boër (1751-1835) was a gifted amateur musician (he owned a quartet of string instruments) who in 1793 married Valentin Adamberger's sister-in-law Eleonora Jacquet (St. Augustin 4, fol. 68). Blümml paints an idyllic picture of how "right after the wedding the newlyweds [the Hofers] moved to the Starhembergisches Freihaus auf der Wieden" (Blümml 1923, 126), but the sources reveal a different course of events. First, Josepha Hofer moved in with her husband at Stadt 587, into an apartment on the fifth floor that consisted of three small rooms and two chambers. This abode had to be shared with Franz Hofer's older sisters Josepha and Ludwiga and their father Markus Hofer whose annual salary of 225 gulden as violinist at the Cathedral did not cover the total rent of 250 gulden.

Franz Hofer's father Markus Hofer listed as main tenant at the "Petonisches Haus", Stadt 587, in the 1788 municipal tax register (A-Wsa, Steueramt, B34/3, fol. 456)

Second, Josepha Hofer's move to the Freihaus auf der Wieden took place only after May 1789. After having been hired by Johann Friedel in 1788, she appeared on the Wieden stage until 21 February 1789, when she performed as the daughter-in-law in the singspiel Die schlaue Nanette, oder: die Katze läßt das Mausen nicht for which she received a positive review in the Kritisches Theater-Journal von Wien. Because in 1789 Lent began on 25 February and theaters had to take a break until Easter (which fell on April 12th), this may well have been Hofer's last appearance before the birth of her first child on 17 May 1789. It can be ruled out that Josepha Hofer took part in the performances of Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Freihaus that were announced on 30 April 1789 in the journal Der Wienerbothe. At that time Eleonore Schikaneder had already taken over the administration of the theater from her colleague Johann Friedel who had died on 31 March 1789 of tuberculosis at the age of 38.

Josepha Hofer, miniature on ivory (Wienmuseum. H.I.N. 38.102)

In summer 1789 Franz and Josepha Hofer must have moved from Markus Hofer's apartment on the Graben to the Wieden. It can not be determined if they moved to Wieden 362 (today about Operngasse 8), or if they moved to the Freihaus immediately and put their newborn son into foster care at Wieden 362, a house that was located very close to the theater.

The southern part of the Freihaus on the Wieden with its theater wing. The house Wieden 362 (bearing its last number 778 on this map) is in the Adlergasse at the lower center (Robert Messner, Die Wieden im Vormärz, Vienna: Verb. d. wiss. Ges. Österreichs, 1975). On 27 October 1789 the violinist Joseph Mayseder was born in this house. The number "363" in Mayseder's baptismal entry is a mistake (St. Karl, Tom. 2, fol. 180).

Eleonore Schikaneder's godson Joseph Hofer died on 23 August 1789 of "Fraißen" (fever cramps) at the house Wieden 362.

The entry in the municipal death register concerning Joseph Hofer's death on 23 August 1789 (A-Wsa, Totenbeschreibamt 91, H, fol. 40r)

Hofer H: Franz, K:K: Hof Musicus s: K: Josephus, ist im / Sertlischen haus N° 362 auf der Wieden an / Fraißen versch[ie]d[en] alt 15 Wochen       F: S:

Franz Hofer, I. & R. Court musician, his child Joseph died of fever cramps at [Johann Peter] Sertl's house No. 362 on the Wieden, aged 15 weeks.   Franz Schmidt [coroner]

On the following day the child was buried in the Matzleinsdorf Cemetery. The ceremony, which cost 90 kreuzer, is documented in the Bahrleihbuch of St. Stephen's Cathedral.

The entry concerning Joseph Hofer's obsequies on 24 August 1789 (A-Wd, Bahrleihbuch 1789, fol. 287v)

Franz and Josepha Hofer's second child Josepha, whose godfather was Schikaneder's business partner Joseph von Bauernfeld, was born on 29 August 1790 at the Freihaus. She became a piano prodigy and opera singer. On 7 January 1813 she got married to the "k.k. Hofkammer-Buchhalterey-Accessist" Karl Hönig (1789-1832). The information (probably concocted by Karl Maria Pisarowitz) that Josepha Hofer's husband was the exchange commissioner Karl Hönig von Henikstein (MBA VI, 331) is false. Franz Hofer died on 14 June 1796 of "Brand" (gangrene) in the house Penzing 19 (today Penzinger Straße 35). He was buried two days later in the old Penzing cemetery which was located around the church of St. Jakob.

The seal and signature of the court musician Franz Hofer on the marriage contract of his sister Josepha (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A2, 50/1794)

Only a small number of sources related to the Hofer family can be presented here, because they are part of a different and much more detailed research project that cannot be covered in a blog post.

3) Eleonora Haibel

Jakob Haibel's daughter Eleonora was born on 26 June 1789 at Wieden 260 (today Margaretenstraße 30) and baptized by Franz Cantes in the Paulanerkirche, the Wieden parish church, with Eleonore Schikaneder officiating as godmother. There are two entries in the Wieden church records concerning this event. In the earlier one the father is referred to as "Jakob Heübel ein SchausPieler" and the godmother as "ma[tri]na Eleonora Schikanederin".

The earlier of two entries concerning the baptism of Eleonora Haibel on 26 June 1789 (Wieden, Tom. 1, 426)

Eleonora Haibel died on 1 October 1789 of “Gedärmbrand” (intestinal inflammation). She had been living in foster care at "The Golden Lamb", at Neustift 55 (today Neustiftgasse 77).

The entry in the municipal death register concerning the death of Eleonora Haibel on 1 October 1789. Jakob Haibel is referred to as "Sänger am Friedlischen Theater" (A-Wsa, Totenbeschreibamt 91, H, fol. 47r).

At a cost of 30 kreuzer Eleonora Haibel was buried in the old St. Ulrich cemetery.

The entry concerning Eleonora Haibel's burial (St. Ulrich, Tom. 25, fol. 77r)

There's a small problem in connection with Eleonora Haibel's first name, because the sources show that she had an older sister who was born in 1785 and died on 30 September 1793 at the "Golden Capon", at Wieden 6. According to the records related to her death and burial, this girl's first name also was Eleonora which appears to reveal a mistake in the sources. Haibel certainly did not have two daughters of the same name at the same time.

The entry concerning the obsequies on 1 October 1793 of Haibel's (first?) daughter whose name was allegedly also Eleonora (A-Wd, BLB 1793, fol. 242r)

It is not known when and where Jakob and Katharina Haibel got married. One of their children, Antonia, who may have come to Vienna with her parents, died on 5 September 1789 at Wieden 260, at the age of 15 months. As of 1789 Haibel worked for Schikaneder as a comedian, actor and singer of tenor roles, among them the role of Monostatos in the 1798 production of Das Labyrinth, the sequel of Die Zauberflöte. Haibel supplied the theater with singspiele and incidental music. His most successful work was Der Tyroler Wastl (with its still popular song "Die Tiroler sind lustig"), based on a libretto by Schikaneder, which was performed 118 times at the Wiedner Theater. This number was only surpassed by the 223 performances of Die Zauberflöte.

The fact that in January 1807 Haibel married Mozart’s sister-in-law Sophie Weber has totally diverted attention from his first wife Katharina and the still unanswered question as to how and when Haibel actually made the acquaintance of Constanze Mozart’s youngest sister. The false notion that Haibel "left Vienna in 1806 after the death of his first wife" is based on an unsubstantiated claim by Hellmut Federhofer in his article about Haibel in the old MGG (vol. 5, col. 1322). When Katharina Haibel died of tuberculosis on 14 February 1806 at Leopoldstadt 466 (St. Joseph 1, 277), her husband had already left Vienna for an unknown location, together with his eleven-year-old daughter Rosalia. A note in Katharina Haibel's probate file reads as follows:

Nachgelassene Ehegatt Jakob Heibel, welcher sich noch vor Absterben seiner Ehewirthin mit nachbenannt seinem leibl:[ichen] Kinde auf das Land, dessen Ort aber namentlich nicht angegeben werden könnte, begeben hätte.

Husband Jakob Haibel who already, before the death of his wife, has left for the country with the undermentioned legitimate child, the name of which location can not be determined.

The note concerning the absence of Katherina Haibel's widower in her Sperrs-Relation (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A2, 2312/1806). Haibel and his first wife had a least six children of which in 1806 only Rosalia, born 16 February 1794 (St. Karl, Tom. 3, fol. 100), was alive.

Haibel’s alleged disappearance before the death of his first wife, which (based on Anton Schmid's notes in A-Wgm) is also addressed in Wurzbach's Lexikon (vol. 7, 203), suggests that he started his relationship with Sophie Weber while his first wife was still alive. New archival discoveries shed more light on the course of events. In 1798 Haibel bought a small house and two pieces of land in Obermeidling from the theater entrepreneur Franz Scherzer who in that year left Vienna to take over the theater in Znojmo. Haibel had become acquainted with Scherzer, because in 1797, at the time of his second wedding (St. Karl 3, fol. 46), Scherzer had worked for Schikaneder as stage manager at the Wiednertheater. This important detail in Scherzer's biography completely escaped Gustav Gugitz's attention (Blümml & Gugitz 1925, 271-307). Haibel's house was "An der Schönbrunner Gartenmauer. Das vormahlige K.K. Militair Wacht Häusl ober der Eisgrube", i.e. the former military guardhouse above the ice pit, at the wall of the gardens of Schönbrunn Palace (today Grünbergstraße 18, now replaced by a building from 1966). Together with the house Haibel also purchased two pieces of land beside the house: a garden of 100,5 square Klafter (361,3 m2) and a bigger piece of land (Meidling No. 52) "for the building of lodgings for the janitor and the enlargement of the aforesaid house and garden" (A-Wsa, Patrimoniale Herrschaften B20/96a, 123).

The entry concerning the owners of the house Obermeidling 31 between 1796 and 1849 in a Klosterneuburg land register (A-Wsa, Grundbuch B20/96a, 121). The list of owners begins with Scherzer, followed by Haibel. In 1849 the "Villa Metternich" (as the new building was called then) was bought by the steamship entrepreneur Joseph John Ruston, the great-grandfather of Audrey Hepburn. Ruston's name appears in this document above the entry in red ink.

In 1805 Haibel sold his house and gardens to Princess Maria Beatrix von Metternich-Winneburg, née von Kageneck (1755-1828) who had the house rebuilt into a villa.

The location of Jakob Haibel's house Meidling 31 between the wall of the gardens of Schönbrunn Palace (visible at the top) and the Grünbergstraße. This map from 1845 already shows No. 31 as a later, much enlarged building (a map from Messner 1975)

On 5 March 1806 Constanze Mozart already knew of her sister's marriage plans, when she wrote to her son Karl: "Sophie, who at Easter is going to marry Mr. Haibel, unites her wishes with mine" (Schurig 1922, 30). It is very telling that Haibel married Sophie Weber not in her home parish (as it was customary), but in his new hometown Đakovo. Haibel's early departure from Vienna may also have been caused by a lawsuit that he was facing, after he had taken a mortgage on a house in Klosterneuburg which he was unable to pay. In January 1807 the lumber trader Mathias Schauenstein, a real estate owner who lived on the Alsergrund, published an ad in the Wiener Zeitung, titled "Erinnerung an Jakob Haibel", in which he informed Haibel of the pending lawsuit and requested him to come forward and pay a debt of 1,000 gulden. Haibel was obviously planning his move to Croatia at a relatively early point of time. As of 1799 (under pressure from his creditor Martin Kollmann whom he owed 1,224 gulden) Haibel was suing several people at the Vienna civil court to scrape together money that they owed him. Among these debtors were the dancer Franz Kees, the actor Heinrich Herbst, the prompter at the Burgtheater Franz Schrensner (who in 1794 had already been second prompter at the Wiednertheater), the playwright Joachim Perinet, the Kapellmeister Franz Teyber, and the clarinetist Johann Stadler. A lot of research remains to be done concerning Haibel's financial situation, the circumstances of the purchase of his two houses and his departure from Vienna. A more detailed exploration of the sources in the archive of the Klosterneuburg Monastery is part of a different, more extensive research project.

4) Eleonora Gerl

Franz Xaver Gerl's first child Eleonora was born in the house Wieden 102 and baptized on 1 January 1790 in the Karlskirche, with Eleonore Schikaneder officiating as godmother.

The entry concerning the baptism of Eleonora Gerl on 1 January 1790 in the Karlskirche (St. Karl, Tom. 3, fol. 1). The godmother is given as "Ehegattin des H: Schikaneder Directeurs vom Theater im Freÿhauße". Because he never saw the original source, Orel (1957, 221) gives a wrong date of birth and a wrong name of the officiating priest. Orel's claim that the house number 102 "is a mistake and should read 103" is unfounded. There is no reason to doubt the sources.

That in 1790 Gerl lived at Wieden 102 (today Schleifmühlgasse 18) can hardly have been a coincidence. A newly discovered source shows that this house was also the residence of the actor and librettist Karl Ludwig Gieseke who was a member of Schikaneder's theater company. The municipal tax register lists Gieseke as tenant of apartment No. 6 of this building which at that time belonged to the tobacco dealer Anton Krieghammer. In 1791 the house Wieden 102 was bought by Gieseke's friend and colleague mineralogist, the mineral dealer Johann Weiß (1749-1812) (Hofbauer 1864, 307). In 1796 the actor Kaspar Weiß lived in this house (see below) and from 1798 until 1800 Gerl's and Gieseke's colleague Matthäus Stegmayer also lived there.

Karl Ludwig Gieseke appearing as "Johann Gießecker", tenant at Wieden 102, in the 1788 municipal tax register (A-Wsa, Steueramt, B34/11, fol. 173). Giesecke is one of several members of Schikaneder's circle who has been ignored by modern-day research while everybody keeps rehashing the old literature, back to Blümml 1923. Not a single author, for instance, has so far acknowledged the fact that during his stay in Vienna Gieseke (as he always signed his name) had a wife and children.

Eleonora Gerl died on 22 March 1791 in the "Geroldisches Haus", Wieden 103 (today Kühnplatz 5), and was buried two days later in the Matzleinsdorf cemetery.

The entry concerning the death and burial of Eleanora Gerl (St. Karl, Tom. 2, fol. 113). The cause of death was "Zahnfraisen" (toothing cramps).

The entry in the municipal death register reads as follows:

Gerl Franz, Schauspieler s. K. Eleonora, ist im / Gerholdischen hauß N° 103. auf der Wieden/ an Zahnfraßen v[er]sch[ieden], alt 14 Monat / C: R:

Gerl Franz, actor, his child Eleonora died of toothing cramps in Mr. Gerold's house No. 103 on the Wieden, aged 14 months. Christoph Reitter [coroner]

The entry in the Totenbeschauprotokoll concerning Eleonora Gerl's death (A-Wsa, Totenbeschreibamt 95, CGK, 33r)

Franz Xaver Gerl, Mozart's first Sarastro and a vastly underrated composer, is so famous in his hometown, the Upper Austrian village of Andorf, that he has his own memorial. Thanks to the research of Komorzynski and Orel we are well-informed about Franz Xaver Gerl's life. His biography, which has been dealt with extensively by several authors during the last 60 years, is outside the scope of this blogpost.

The entry concerning Franz Xaver Gerl's baptism on 30 November 1764 in St. Stephen's in Andorf (Andorf, Tom. 101/03, 226)

On 2 September 1789, at the Paulanerkirche, Gerl married the actress Barbara Reisinger. Emanuel Schikaneder and his associate Joseph von Bauernfeld served as witnesses to this wedding. The entry concerning this event at the Paulanerkirche was squeezed between two others and thus the signatures of two witnesses on the far right of the following picture belong to the entry of the previous wedding.

The entry concerning the wedding of Franz Xaver Gerl and Barbara Reisinger on 2 September 1789 (Wieden, Tom. 1, fol. 158)

The ballpen correction of the wrong year "1798" and the addition of the final syllable "-in" in the bride's profession were probably done by Orel whose transcription of this source (like Komorzynski's) is flawed. The couple's address was "auf der Wied[en] 417", a detail that was to lead to some confusion in the course of later research. Also notable is the fact that – although in 1789 Barbara Reisinger was demonstrably underage – in the marriage entry her age is incorrectly given as twenty-five.

The place and date of birth of Gerl's wife Barbara Reisinger are still a mystery. New Grove and MGG give "Vienna or ?Pressburg 1770", the Österreichisches Musiklexikon – bold and unreliable as always – gives "11. Dezember 1770 Pressburg" as Reisinger's date and place of birth. This information is false and not supported by any sources. The claim that Barbara Reisinger was born on 11 December 1770 in Bratislava is the result of a series of errors and bouts of autosuggestion. In 1955 Orel refers to several of Reichard's Theater-Kalender which – according to Orel – repeatedly give 1770 as Reisinger's year of birth and "Pressburg" as her hometown (Orel 1955, 73). The fact that these almanachs do not give Pressburg, but "Petersburg" as Reisinger's place of birth (1787, 161) could not distract Orel who declared this to be a simple error for "Pressburg".

Barbara Reisinger's place of birth given as "Petersburg" and her debut as having taken place in 1779 (Theater-Kalender auf das Jahr 1787, Gotha 1787, 161)

A closer examination of the Theater-Kalender, however, suggests that "Petersburg" means St. Petersburg. The 1787 Kalender (to give only one example from the series) lists a "Friedrich Maximilian Klinger, Lieutenant bey der Marine [the navy] in Petersburg" (124), and in the description of theater companies the theater in Pressburg has its own paragraph (201) titled "Presburg".

The beginning of the paragraph about the theater in Pressburg in a Theater-Kalender which, according to Orel, refers to this town as "Petersburg" (Theater-Kalender auf das Jahr 1787, Gotha 1787, 201)

That "Petersburg" in the Theater-Kalender does mean "St. Petersburg" becomes obvious in the 1780 issue of this almanach where the chapter about the Russian theater begins with the paragraph "I. Hoftheater in Petersburg".

The "Hoftheater in Petersburg" at the beginning of a paragraph about the Russian theater (Theater-Kalender auf das Jahr 1780, Gotha 1780, 280)

In 1960 the genealogist Herbert A. Mansfeld tried to shed light on Barbara Reisinger's immediate Viennese relatives and her possible Viennese origin. He was able to locate a copy of Gerl's and Reisinger's marriage documents in the archive of the Paulanerpfarre of which the originals (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A3, 493/1789) do not survive in the holdings of Vienna's Municipal Archives. Because baptismal certificates were too valuable to be left with the authorities, Gerl's marriage documents do not contain the bride's baptismal certificate (Orel's claim that Reisinger did not have to produce such a document before her wedding, because she was pregnant, is not tenable). Mansfeld checked the entry concerning the house Wieden 417 in the 1788 Steuerfassion and fell victim to a hallucination. In the list of tenants of this house, in apartment 6, he found a name of a woman whom he declared to have been "Anna Reisinger, the widow of the chicken monger Franz Reisinger who had died on 19 April 1789" (Mansfeld 1960, 111). This is false on two counts: First, the name in the tax register does not read "Anna Reisinger". It reads "Anna Reisin" [i.e. "Reis"]

A certain Anna Reis listed in the 1788 tax register as tenant of apartment 6 in the house Wieden 417 (A-Wsa, Steueramt, B34/11, fol. 551)

Second, because the Steuerfassion was drawn up in 1788 (see my 2009 article "Mozart's Apartment on the Alsergrund"), at a time when the chicken monger Franz Reisinger was still alive, his name should appear in the register. Although Reisinger died at Wieden 417 (today Schönbrunnerstraße 22), there is no proven connection between him and Gerl's wife Barbara Reisinger. Mansfeld's research in the Vienna church records did not produce any usable results either. He found the baptism of a Barbara Reisinger on 4 February 1770 in St. Leopold's, the daughter of a Schiffknecht (ship laborer) Franz Reissinger from Linz. Neither an identity nor a family relation of these people to the actress Reisinger could be established and Mansfeld's musings were essentially moot. His claim that there is no other candidate for Gerl's wife, i.e. no other Barbara Reisinger born around 1770 in Vienna, was also false. On 5 December 1770 a Barbara Reisinger was born in "der goldenen Saag" ("The Golden Saw", today Zieglergasse 33) in Oberneustift and baptized in St. Ulrich's, a daughter of the servant Adam Reisinger and his wife Theresia (St. Ulrich, 33, fol. 143v). But this piece of information is a dead end, just like the data presented in 1960 by Mansfeld. It is very unlikely that Barbara Reisinger was born in Vienna. In 1963 the German Kapellmeister and researcher Karl Maria Pisarowitz (1901-1979) decided to solve the Reisinger riddle and turned his attention to the Bratislava church records. Following his custom method of research by mail, he wrote a letter to the Bratislava regional archives, asking them to find the baptism of a Barbara Reisinger in the records of St. Martin's Cathedral. No baptism of a Barbara Reisinger between 1760 and 1775 could be found in the Bratislava records, because there is none. This is proved by the familysearch.org database which, in the meantime, was set up by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Pisarowitz was sent the only baptismal entry of a Reisinger girl that took place in 1770 which is that of a Maria Anna Reisinger on 11 December 1770.

The entry concerning the baptism of Maria Anna Reisinger on 11 December 1770 at St. Martin's Cathedral in Bratislava (Sv. Martina [Part II], Bratislava, Slovakia, line 854, reference ID 90, state regional archives, Slovakia; FHL microfilm 2,437,379). Another daughter of Joseph Reisinger was Anastasia Josepha who was born on 6 December 1768.

This Maria Anna Reisinger was a child of the frameator magister (master swordsmith) Joseph Reisinger and his wife Magdalena. Her godparents were the fusor magister (master founder) Johannes Trageni and his wife Anastasia. The fact that Barbara Reisinger debuted on the stage at the age of nine strongly suggests that her parents were professional actors. Thus neither Maria Anna Reisinger from Pressburg, nor the daughter of the Schiffknecht from Vienna had anything to do with the first Papagena. This could not keep Pisarowitz from using the above source in his article. He "solved" the problem by declaring the girl's first name irrelevant and – without providing any details or documentation – by boldly introducing the information in his text as follows:

Endlich wissen wir, daß diese Barbara den 11. Dezember 1770 in Preßburg als Töchterchen "Maria Anna" eines Joseph Reisinger zur zwielichtigen (Bühnen-)Welt gekommen ist. (Pisarowitz 1963, 39)

Eventually we know that this Barbara entered the shady world of the stage on 11 December 1770 in Bratislava as daughter "Maria Anna" of a Joseph Reisinger.

Pisarowitz's curious make-believe method of producing biographical data of members of Mozart's friends out of thin air resulted in countless bits of misinformation that still mar the commentaries in MBA, because the editor Joseph Heinz Eibl treated Pisarowitz's privately communicated data as gospel. In 1991 Heinz Schuler could not provide any new information on Reisinger's origin. He only confused the issue by erroneously transferring her alleged place of birth (combined with Mansfeld's wrong date) from Vienna to Linz (Schuler 1991, 100). The source situation can be summarized as follows: Barbara Reisinger, Mozart's first "Papagena", was neither born in Vienna nor in Pressburg. Although the Theater-Kalender are known for their notorious unreliability, it is very likely that Reisinger was born in St. Petersburg, daughter of members of the local German theater company.

5) Emanuel Haibel

Jakob Haibel's son Emanuel was born on 30 September 1790 at Wieden 270 (the Schleifmühle, today Schleifmühlgasse 19) and baptized in the Karlskirche by the priest Adalbert Dvořák. Emanuel Schikaneder officiated as godfather.

The entry concerning the baptism of Emanuel Haibel on 30 September 1790 (St. Karl, Tom. 3, fol. 16). Jakob Haibel is given as "Opernsänger".

The baptismal entry of Emanuel Haibel – written exactly one year before the premiere of Die Zauberflöte – shows a special feature. Schikaneder personally signed his name and it is his only known signature where he wrote out both his first names: "Johann Emanuel".

Johann Emanuel Schikaneder's autograph signature ("K: privilegirter Schauspiel unternehmer auf der Wieden") in the baptismal entry of Emanuel Haibel (St. Karl, Tom. 3, fol. 16)

The child Emanuel Haibel died on 9 May 1791 of "Gedärmentzündung" (intestinal inflammation).

The entry concerning the death of Emanuel Haibel on 9 May 1791: "Häÿbel H: Jakob, Schauspieler s: K: Emanuel ist in der Schleifmühl N° 270 auf der Wieden an der Gedärmentzünd: vsch alt 6 Monat" (A-Wsa, Totenbeschreibamt 95, H, fol. 36v)

Haibel's last two children had other godparents. The godfather of Ignaz Haibel (b. 20 May 1792, d. 16 Sep 1792, St. Karl, Tom. 3, fol. 55) was the soap maker Ignaz Schwindler who lived in the same house as Haibel (at Wieden 6) and was the brother of Haibel's landlady. The godmother of Rosalia Haibel (b. 16 Feb 1794, St. Karl, Tom. 3, fol. 100) was Rosalia Haller who also lived in this house. Rosalia Haibel was the child whom her father eventually was to take with him to Croatia.

6) Emanuel Suche

Emanuel Suche was a son of Schikaneder's "Musikdirektor" Joseph Suche and his wife-to-be Susanna, née Richter. The child was born on 17 November 1790 in the house Wieden 106 (very close to the theater, today Schleifmühlgasse 14) and baptized by Adalbert Dvořák in the Karlskirche with Eleonore Schikaneder officiating as godmother.

The entry concerning the baptism of Emanuel Suche on 17 November 1790 (St. Karl, Tom. 3, fol. 20). The three crosses below Schikaneder's name do not mean that she was illiterate.

The so-called "Störckmacherhaus", Wieden 106, where Suche lived in 1790 and 1791, belonged to the civil starch and hair-powder maker Lorenz Penzenauer. The Bremen-born actor Johann Nikolaus Starke (1756-1805) – third slave in the premiere of Die Zauberflöte – also lived in this house from 1793 until 1805, probably in Suche's former apartment. Kaspar Biedermann (1750-3 Sep 1795), the prompter of the Wiedner Theater, was Starke's subtenant in this house. Between 1793 and 1805, five of Starke's seven children were born at Wieden 106 (436), but none of them were godchildren of the Schikaneder couple (St. Karl 3, fol. 73, 106, 139, 169, 202). As godparents Starke preferred members of the starch maker families Penzenauer and Pettenkofer who lived in the same house.

A photograph from 1910 of the front section of the house Schleifmühlgasse 14 (Wieden 106) by August Stauda (A-Wn, ST 2904F)

In this house, Joseph Suche's son Emanuel Suche died on 14 June 1791 of "Kopffrais" (feverish head cramps).   

The entry in the Bahrleihbuch of St. Stephen's concerning Emanuel Suche's obsequies on 15 June 1791 at the Karlskirche (A-Wd, Bahrleihbuch 1791, fol. 181v)

Suche / Rub: 8va Pfarr St: Carl / Dem Herrn Joseph Suche Music Di= / rector im Neuwiedner Theater, sein / Kind Emanuel, auf der Wieden in / Störckmacherhaus N° 106. an Kopf= / fraisen beschaut, alt 7. Monat.
Im Freydhof A:[ußer] Mazlstorf
p: 1 f 30 x          Bezahlt         1. – – 30.

Schikaneder's concert master Joseph Suche has so far not received much attention from music historians. Although his career as violinist and orchestra leader spanned several decades, he has no articles in the major music encyclopedias, such as The New Grove, MGG, or the Österreichisches Musiklexikon. The reasons for this seem to be twofold: first, Suche's early activity before 1783 is very poorly documented; and second, after Suche had left Schikaneder's orchestra, he mainly worked as violinist in Vienna's church orchestras which kept him away from public attention. Joseph Anton Suchey (as was his original Czech name) was born on 1 July 1751 in Saaz (today Žatec) and baptized the following day in the local parish church. His parents were Joseph Suchey and Franziska, née Mayer who had married on 29 July 1747 in Saaz (Strední oblasní archiv v Litomericích, sig. 189/27, 182).

The entry concerning the baptism of Joseph Suche(y) on 2 July 1751 in Saaz. The child's godfather was Anton Franz Grundt. Franz Karl Bauer and Barbara Elisabeth Keller served as witnesses (Strední oblasní archiv v Litomericích, sig. 189/9, 64).

Suche's presence in Vienna is first documented in the 1784 edition of the Theater-Kalender where he is listed as "Direktor" of the orchestra at the Kärntnerthortheater which in 1783 was managed by David Friedrich Gensike (Theater-Kalender 1784, 221f.). Suche's acquaintance with Schikaneder probably began in 1783 when the latter, who at that time led the Pressburg theater, made a guest appearance in Vienna in the title role of Babo's play Otto von Wittelsbach. The Theater-Kalender is however contradicted by the 1783 theater account book which gives Michael Hofer (Franz de Paula's brother) as orchestra leader at the German theater (A-Whh, HA GIdHTh SR 20). Suche first appears in the roster of  the Kärntnertortheater in the season 1785/ 86, as first violinist with a monthly salary of 12 fl 30 x, right after the orchestra leader Paul Wranitzky (A-Whh, HA GIdHTh SR 22). Suche was employed at the Kärntnertortheater until 29 February 1788, when the theater was closed due to the cutting measures that resulted from the Turkish War. Together with several other musicians, such as Karl Menzl, Franz Deabis, Felix Stadler and Anton Dreyssig, who all lost their jobs at the court theater, Suche switched to the orchestra of the Theater auf der Wieden.

Emanuel Suche was was born almost ten months before his parents' wedding, and yet, he was not even their first child. On 9 October 1789 Suche's girlfriend Susanna Richter gave birth to a son who was baptized Andreas and who was passed off as legitimate by his parents with the help of the midwife Marianna Meyer at whose apartment at Krebsgasse 459 (today Marc-Aurel-Straße 3) the child had been born. By claiming that the child was too weak to be baptized in the parish church of St. Peter's, the midwife had the priest Joseph Petz perform a home christening, presenting the child as born in wedlock and making use of the fact that the priest was not acquainted with the parents. Even earlier children of Suche and Richter may yet be discovered.

The original entry concerning Andreas Suche's baptism on 9 October 1789 in the house Stadt 459 (A-Wstm, St. Peter [original copy], Tom. 1788-93). The second slash in the last column of the entry's left half marks the child's marital birth. The godfather was Andreas Reiner, a civil locksmith. The note on the far right reads: "Im Hause getauft wegen angeblicher Schwäche des Kindes". This excuse that also appears in the original entry concerning the home baptism of Mozart's daughter Theresia on 27 December 1787 (Lorenz 2009 and 2010).

It is obvious that for a certain time Suche and his future wife lived together near the Freihaus and passed themselves off as married couple. How to get married in such a situation without alerting friends and neighbors to the previous "sinful" lifestyle, was a wide-spread problem in eighteenth-century Vienna. Most couples, who wanted to keep their earlier unmarried status secret, applied for a dispensation from the public proclamation of the banns and were allowed to be married in secrecy. The actor Johann Nikolaus Starke (who appeared as third slave in the premiere of Die Zauberflöte) had the exact same problem: in 1788 he fathered a daughter with his then girlfriend Katharina Pretzky and passed this child off as legitimate to the priest. When he finally got married in July 1793, he was kindly dispensed from all three proclamations (St. Karl 3, fol. 7). To save their reputation, Suche and his girlfriend went for a different method: they used a summer stay in the country as an occasion to get married outside of Vienna, far away from their colleagues at the theater. On 7 September 1791 Joseph Suche and Susanna Strauss, née Richter, got married in the parish church in Meidling with a local locksmith and a taylor officiating as witnesses. In the marriage entry the priest explained the circumstances: "The bridal couple has been living in Meidling in the summer, they received a dispensation from two publications of the banns and an oral permission from the priest of St. Karl parish where they had been living earlier". The couple gave Meidling 35 (today Meidlinger Hauptstraße 3) as their address.

The entry concerning Joseph Suche's and Susanna Richter's wedding on 7 September 1791 in Meidling. The groom is described as "Musik Direktor im K.K. Privilegirten Theater in Wien auf der Wieden" (Pfarre Meidling, Tom. 1, fol. 21). Susanna Richter had been born on 3 August 1761 (A-Wd, Tom. 84, fol. 216r), daughter of the footman Johannes Richter. On 29 October 1781 she had married her first husband, the hairdresser Johann Martin Strauss (A-Wd, Tom.74, fol. 106r) with whom she had two children.

Suche's wife brought a son into her second marriage named Joseph Strauss (b. 24 September 1783) who died on 24 October 1792 of convulsive cough and was buried under his stepfather's name (A-Wd, Bahrleihbuch 1792, 297r). Joseph and Susanna Suche had four more children: Andreas (see above), Eleonora (see below), Wilhelmine, and Karl of whom only the last one reached adulthood. On the occasion of the baptism of his son Karl on 18 December 1798, Suche is referred to as "Musik Direktor von Widner Theater" for the last time (Wieden 3, fol. 276). His and Schikaneder's ways seem to have parted shortly before the theater moved to the new building north of the Wienfluss. Suche never moved to the neighborhood of the Theater an der Wien on the Laimgrube. Susanna Suche died on 25 January 1802 of consumption in the house Wieden 290 ("Zum Goldenen Gewicht", today Waaggasse 15). In her Sperrs-Relation her husband is addressed as simple "Musikus".

Joseph Suche's seal and signature in the will of the stockbroker (and proficient musician) Franz Brabée (1759-1831) which was written on 13 August 1811 (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A10, 654/1831)

The fact that Suche reached the high age of 89 may also be related to the fact that he was lucky enough to live in the household of his son Karl and to be cared for by his family. Karl Suche (who had started out as "Protocollist" at the council of war) in 1826 had married the daughter of a "Branntweiner" (St. Karl 7, fol. 96) and was working as "Solizitator" (paralegal). In the records of the municipal conscription office Joseph Suche first appears as roommate of his son's family in 1827 at Wieden 480 (today  Margaretenstraße 23). On a conscription sheet he is described as "gew k Hofth[ea]t. Musikus v Satz Bohm".

Joseph Suche listed on a conscription sheet of the house Wieden 480 as housemate of his son Karl and his daughter-in-law Magdalena Suche (A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt, Wieden 480/8r).

After the death of his daughter-in-law, Joseph Suche, with his son and his two grandchildren Joseph and Franziska, moved to St. Ulrich 5 (today Neustiftgasse 17) where he was registered at some time during the 1830s, together with his relatives, as "Joseph Suchy Vater des Obigen [father of the above ] v. Stz in Böhm".

Karl Suche, his two children and his father Joseph on a conscription sheet of St. Ulrich 5 (A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt, St. Ulrich 5/5r and 5v)

In this house, St. Ulrich 5, Joseph Suche died on 5 August 1840 of "Lungenlähmung" (lung failure) and was buried in the Schmelz cemetery. The date of his death given in the Totenbeschauprotokoll (187, S, fol. 61) is contradicted by the parish register which gives 4 August 1840. In all records his age is erroneously given as 95. Suche's probate file (Schotten, A10, 43408) is unfortunately not extant. Reminiscent of Freystädtler and Gebauer, Suche was one of the long-lived close colleagues of Mozart of whose possible service as first-hand witnesses local music historians remained completely unaware.

7) Emanuel Kistler 

Emanuel Kistler, son of the actor at the Wiedner Theater Michael Kistler and his wife Viktoria, née Bollinger, was born in the Freihaus and baptized on 13 December 1791 in the Karlskirche, with Emanuel Schikaneder officiating as godfather. The child's additional Christian names "Michael Urban" came from his father and Schikaneder's brother Urban.

The entry concerning the baptism of Emanuel Kistler on 13 December 1791. The godfather is referred to as "Schauspielunternehmer auf der Wieden" (St. Karl, Tom. 3, fol. 44).

Because he was not born in Vienna, did not get married in Vienna, and obviously also died somewhere else, biographical information concerning Michael Kistler is difficult to ascertain. His presence in Vienna is first documented on the occasion of the death of his six-month-old daughter Maria Antonia on 25 May 1790 in the "Seilerisches Haus" on the Landstraße (today Landstraßer Hauptstraße 78) where she had been living in foster care (A-Wsa, TBP 93, CGK, fol. 64v). On 21 November 1790 Kistler's wife already bore a daughter (St. Karl 3, fol. 20) named Anna (d. 9 Oct 1791). This child's godmother was Anna von Bauernfeld (1767-1806), wife of Schikaneder’s business partner Joseph von Bauernfeld and younger sister of Baron Peter von Braun (1758-1819) who a decade later was to become Schikaneder’s most determined rival in the theater business. Kistler was  hired by Schikaneder in 1790. As of 11 September 1790 he appeared as Nadir in Der Stein der Weisen. In the premiere of the Die Zauberflöte Kistler got his share of immortality by playing the second priest. Kistler's son Emanuel already died on 18 February 1792 (Wieden 3, fol. 438) of "Gedärmfrais" (intestinal cramps) in the house Wieden 381 (today Preßgasse 13) and was buried the following day in the Matzleindorf cemetery.

The entry concerning the obsequies and burial of Emanuel Kistler on 19 February 1792 (A-Wd, Bahrleihbuch 1792, fol. 51v)

By 1798 Kistler had already left Schikaneder's company. According to the Allgemeine deutsche Theater-Zeitung from that year he was in Preßburg in 1798 from where, at Easter 1798, he went to Linz. Nothing is known about his life hereafter.

8) Eleonora Suche

Joseph Suche's daughter Eleonora Franziska was born on 16 July 1792 in the house Wieden 263 ("Adam und Eva", today Margaretenstraße 24) and baptized in the Paulanerkirche. Her godmother was "Eleonora v: Schickaneder Gemahlin des Herrn Unternehmers obbesagten Theaters" – the word "obbesagt" referring to Suche's description as "Music Director vom K:K: privil: Wiedner Theater".

The entry concerning the baptism of Eleonora Franziska Suche on 16 July 1792 (Wieden, Tom. 2, fol. 8)

The house Wieden 263, "Adam und Eva" (last concription number 769), where Joseph Suche lived in 1792-93. Photograph by August Stauda from 1903 (A-Wn, ST 1527F)

Eleonora Suche died of smallpox on 4 October 1793 (Wieden 3, fol. 512) in the house Wieden 263 and was buried the following day in the Matzleindorf cemetery.

The entry concerning the obsequies and burial of Eleonora Suche on 5 October 1793 (A-Wd, Bahrleihbuch 1793, fol. 246r). The child's wrong age "11 Monat", which also appears in the parish register, is based on an error in the Totenbeschauprotokoll.

9) Johann Emanuel Henneberg 

Johann Baptist Henneberg was born on 5 December 1768, son of the organist Andreas Henneberger (1727-1791), and baptized the following day in the Schottenkirche. Henneberg's wrong dates of birth, published by Orel (MGG 6, 151) and Komorzynski (1955, 243), were caused by an oversight by both authors who misinterpreted the word "eodem" and disregarded the note "heri hora 10ma noctis" ("[born] yesterday at the 10th hour of the night") in Henneberg's baptismal entry.

The entry concerning the baptism of Johann Baptist Andreas Nikolaus Lambert Henneberger on 6 December 1768 (A-Ws, Tom. 37, fol. 71v). Henneberg's father, Andreas Henneberger, was born on 22 November 1727 in the Lower Austrian village of Rassing (Kapelln, Tom. 6, 220). The fact that on 18 July 1771 Maria Anna Kayser (the future Maria Anna von Genzinger) officiated as godmother of Andreas Henneberger's daughter Maria Anna Henneberger (1771-1795), suggests that Andreas Henneberger was von Genzinger's piano teacher (A-Ws, Tom. 37, fol. 229v).

In late 1789 Henneberg was hired by Schikaneder as Kapellmeister for the Wiedner Theater. Despite his young age, Henneberg proved to be a first rate composer and orchestral leader who raised the artistic level of the musical forces and contributed significant works to the repertory. In 1791, while Mozart was in Prague, he supervised the rehearsals of Die Zauberflöte and conducted the opera as of its third performance. Apart from his own works he also arranged the piano scores of Süßmayr’s Der Spiegel von Arkadien, von Winter’s and Gallus-Mederitsch’s Babylons Pyramiden and Das Labyrinth. A number of sources show that Henneberg kept his post as organist at the Schottenstift during his activity as theater musician. Because he was a fatherless minor, before he could marry, Henneberg in September 1792 had to apply to the municipal civil court for a marriage permit.

Henneberg's application for a marriage permit written on 20 September 1792. This document is not autograph (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A3, 109/1792).

                           Löbl: Magistrat!
Unterzeichneter Johann Henneberg, dessen Vater Andreas Henneberg erst im Junius 791. unter dieses löbl: Magistrats Gerichtsbarkeit verstorben ist, ist gesonnen sich mit der Maria Henriette Petit zu vereheligen, und bittet daher, da er noch minderjährig ist, um die obervormundschaftliche Bewilligung zu dieser seiner Verbindung, aus folgenden Gründen:
1.tens Hat er zeuge Taufscheins A. (A. wird zur Tagsatzung gebracht.) bereits 23. Jahre zurückgeleget, und es mangelt ihm nur noch kurze Zeit zur Erlangung seiner Großjährigkeit;
2.tens Hat er als Theatralkapellmeister und Organist ein solches Einkommen, daß er im Stande ist, davon sich, und eine Familie anständig zu ernähren;
3.tens Wird niemand weder der Braut noch dem unterzeichneten in Ansehen ihres sittlichen Betragens und ihres Lebenswandels die mindeste gegründete Ausstellung machen können.
4.tens Sind mit dieser Verbindung sowohl des unterzeichneten Mutter Marianna Henneberg, als auch dessen Vormund H. Augustin[sic] v: Baumberg einverstanden und finden sie vortheilhaft.
                 Wien den 20ten 7b[er] 792.
                           Johann Henneberg
                             Kapellmeister.

    Honorable Magistrate!
The undersigned Johann Henneberg, whose father Andreas Henneberg only passed away in June 1791 under this honorable magistrate's jurisdiction, intends to marry Maria Henriette Petit, and therefore, because he is still a minor, requests to be granted the superior custodian's permission to this marriage for the following reasons: 1) He is already 23 years of age and has only a short time to reach majority; 2) As a Kapellmeister at the theater and organist, his income enables him to decently support himself and a family; 3) Nobody will be able to make the least justified objection in regards of the moral conduct and life of the bride and the undersigned. 4) Both, the signatory's mother, Marianna Henneberg, and his guardian, Mr. Augustin von Baumberg, agree to this marriage, and find it advantageous.
            Vienna, September 20th, 1792.
                 Johann Henneberg
                   Kapellmeister.

The name "Augustin von Baumberg" in the above document is an error. Henneberg's guardian was Johann Florian Baumberg (1729-1801), head of the Court Chamber archive and father of the poet Gabriele Baumberg (1766-1838) whose poem Als Luise die Briefe ihres ungetreuen Liebhabers verbrannte was set to music in 1787 by Mozart.

The seals and signatures of Johann Baptist Henneberg, his bride Maria Henriette Petit, and his guardian Johann Florian Baumberg on a list of the couple's joint property which on 9 October 1792 they submitted to the municipal civil court (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A3, 109/1792)

Henneberg got married on 29 October 1792 in the Schottenkirche (A-Ws, 38, 65). His bride was Marie Henriette Petit, daughter of Alphonse Petit, a Netherlands-born chamberlain with Count Karl Joseph Batthiány.

The first page of Johann Henneberg's and Marie Petit's marriage contract which is misdated "18t Oktober 797". The witness of the bride was the physician Dominik Vivenot (A-Ws, Mag. ZG, A10, 487/1814).

Henneberg had obviously made the acquaintance of his wife through his mother who in May 1792 (A-Ws, 38, 42) had married Martin Hagedorn (1733-1814), the father-in-law of Marie Petit's brother Karl.

The Hagedorn and Henneberg families listed on a conscription sheet of the Schottenhof from between 1805 and 1820 (A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt, Stadt 136/10r)

Johann Baptist Henneberg and his first wife had the following nine children.

1. Johann Emanuel, b. 14 Aug 1793 in Vienna (see below)
2. Maria Magdalena, b. 24 Aug 1795 in Vienna (see below)
3. Elisabeth, b. 19 Nov 1796 in Vienna (see below)
4. Emanuel Karl, b. 5 Jul 1798 in Vienna (see below)
5. Anna, b. 2 Sep 1799 in Vienna, goddaughter of Ignaz von Seyfried, on 19 Aug 1822 married Johann Kraus (A-Ws, Tom. 43, 94), employee of the I. & R. Nationalbank (1799-1851), acquaintance of Joseph Carl Rosenbaum, d. after 6 May 1851
6. Josepha, b. 16 Aug 1802 in Vienna, goddaughter of Ignaz von Seyfried, d. before 15 Mar 1805
7. Josepha, b 15 Mar 1805 in Hof am Leithaberge (Hof 4, 89), d. 23 Oct 1806 in Hof am Leithaberge (Hof 4, 79)
8. Theresia, b. 19 Jan 1808 in Hof am Leithaberge (Hof 4, 101), d. after 27 Nov 1822
9. Walburga, b. 24 May 1809 in the woods (where her parents were hiding from the French troops) near Hof am Leithaberge (Hof 4, 107), d. after 27 Feb 1824

Henneberg's first child Johann Emanuel was baptized on Wednesday, 14 August 1793, in the Schottenkirche, with Emanuel Schikaneder standing godfather. The child again received both of Schikaneder's Christian names, Johann and Emanuel. The baptismal entry shows Schikaneder's two forenames, but this time he did not sign personally. The father is given as "Organist beim Stift Schotten und Kapellmeister des KK privilegirten Theater auf der Wieden".

The entry concerning the baptism of Johann Emanuel Henneberg on 14 August 1793 in the Schottenkirche (A-Ws, Tom. 44, fol. 26).

Johann Emanuel Henneberg already died on 24 August 1793 at 7 a.m. of "Fraißen" in the house Stadt 1342 on the Elendbastei where he seems to have been in the care of a nurse (A-Wsa, Totenbeschreibamt 98, H, fol. 47v). The child was buried on the following day in the Währinger Allgemeiner Friedhof.

The entry concerning the burial of Johann Emanuel Henneberg (A-Ws, Tom. 15, fol. 14)

10) Theresia Hirsch

Theresia Hirsch was born on 9 March 1794 in the Freihaus and baptized at the Karlskirche, with a certain Theresia Eid serving as proxy for the godfather Emanuel Schikaneder. The child's parents were Joseph Hirsch and his wife Katharina, née Lederer. Hirsch worked as Hausknecht (manservant) at the Freihaus and it could well be that he was the "Joseph Hirschel" that is listed as Schikaneder's "Instrumentdiener" in Schönfeld's Jahrbuch (Schönfeld 1796, 96). Theresia Eid may have been the woman who on 17 January 1796 bore an illegitimate daughter at Wieden 424 (Pfarre Wieden, 2, 167).

The entry concerning the baptism of Theresia Hirsch on 9 March 1794 (St. Karl, Tom. 3, fol. 102)

Theresia Hirsch already died on 25 June 1794 of "Dörrsucht" (diarrhea), probably in foster care, at Wieden 103 (today Mühlgasse 14).

The entry concerning Theresia Hirsch's death on 25 June 1794 and her burial on the following day (St. Karl, Tom. 2, fol. 178)

Relatively little is known about Theresia Hirsch's father Joseph Hirsch. His presence in Vienna is documented for the first time on the occasion of his wedding on 1 June 1783 in the Augustinerkirche. At that time he was a groom in the service of Count Franz Anton Nowohradzky-Kolowrat ("k.k. wirklicher geh. Rath und Kämmerer, ehmaliger Präsident der Hofkammer in Münz und Bergwesen"). According to the marriage entry in the records of St. Augustin, Joseph Hirsch was born on 2 February 1752 in Vollbach and baptized in Moltendorf in Lower Austria. Because there was neither a village Vollbach, nor a parish Moltendorf in Unterösterreich, the place of Joseph Hirsch's birth is yet to be determined. Hirsch's wife Katharina Lederer was born on 31 August 1756 in Stranzendorf (Pfarre Stranzendorf 1, 94).

The entry concerning the wedding of Joseph Hirsch and Katharina Lederer on 1 June 1783 (St. Augustin, Tom.  1, 7). The groom lived at the Johanneshof No. 1008, the bride was in service "am Karnerthor Mittelwachtstube N. 1313" (St. Augustin, Verkündbuch 1, 25f.).

Nothing more is currently known about Joseph Hirsch and his family – which should not be counted among the major lacunae of Schikaneder research.

11) Karl Emanuel Weiß

From 1790 until his death, Kaspar Weiß (1759-1807) was active as actor, first at the Wiedner Theater in Schikaneder's company, then at the Theater an der Wien. He was typecast as “Könige, Geister, gemeine Spitzbuben and komische Ehemänner” (Kings, ghosts, nasty scoundrels and comical husbands). Until 1801 he also ran a business as music copyist in the Freihaus (at "Stiege 16 Nro. 139 im ersten Stock" and "Stiege 27 im ersten Stock"). His work as a professional copyist gained him posthumous fame, when the American musicologist David Buch examined a score of the opera Der Stein der Weisen that had returned from Russia in 1991 to the Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg and found entries by Kaspar Weiß, indicating the authorship of two unknown pieces by Mozart. Weiß’s close acquaintance with all important members of Schikaneder’s company is supported by several pieces of archival evidence of which Schikaneder's godparenthood is only a small facet. When on 13 February 1791 the widower Weiß married (the already pregnant) Anna Schenk, Franz Xaver Gerl (the first Sarastro) and Benedikt Schak (the first Tamino) served as witnesses at the wedding.

The entry concerning the wedding of Kaspar Weiß and Anna Schenk on 13 February 1791 in the Karlskirche (St. Karl, Tom. 2, fol. 107). At the time of his wedding Weiß lived at Wieden 99 (Rechte Wienzeile 13), his bride lived at the Freihaus. That Weiß's first wife Josepha, née Aingner, died outside of Vienna is proved by the fact that in October 1794 the Vienna Magistrate, on behalf of the municipal court of Frankfurt am Main, published three ads in the Wiener Zeitung inquiring if Josepha Weiß was still alive.

Benedikt Schak's and Franz Xaver Gerl's autograph signatures in Kaspar Weiß's marriage entry. The note on the right reads: "The banns were published three times, the groom produced the death certificate of his first wife" (St. Karl, Tom. 2, fol. 107). 

When on 1 February 1798 Constanze Mozart’s niece Maria Antonia Meier was baptized, Weiß stood in as godfather for the leathermaker Anton Senft (1771-1810).

The entry concerning the baptism of Friedrich Sebastian Meier's daughter Maria Antonia on 1 February 1798. On the far right is the note "Statt dessen Kaspar Weiß." (St. Karl, Tom. 3, fol. 195).

A similar thing happened, when on 27 June 1794 Weiß’s son was baptized in the Karlskirche: the official godfather Schikaneder could not attend the ceremony and sent his friend Karl Ludwig Gieseke as substitute who duly augmented the child’s Christian name from "Emanuel" to "Karl Emanuel".

The entry concerning the baptism of Karl Emanuel Weiß on 27 June 1794 (St. Karl, Tom. 3, fol. 109). The child was born at Wieden 268 (today Schleifmühlgasse 13).

A note in the baptismal entry reads:

[Pathe] Emanuel Schikaneder Schauspieler und Directeur an dessen Statt hob das Kind aus der Taufe Karl Ludwig Gieseke Schauspieler.

[Godfather] Emanuel Schikaneder actor and director in whose stead the actor Karl Ludwig Gieseke officiated as the child's godfather.

 

The boy Karl Emanuel Weiß died on 23 August 1795 of diarrhea and was buried the following day in the Matzleinsdorf cemetery. The entries in the Totenbeschauprotokoll and the church register suggest that the child was called just Emanuel.

The entry concerning the death and burial of Emanuel Weiß in the records of the Karlskirche (St. Karl, Tom. 3, fol. 12)

With his second wife Kaspar Weiß had four more children:

1.  Andreas, born 4 Aug 1791 at Wieden 136 (Schönbrunner Straße 15), godson of the Tafeldecker Andreas Unger and his wife Rosina, died of Nervenfieber on 19 Dec 1801 at Wieden 470 (Schikanedergasse 8) (St. Karl 3, fol. 111)
2. Franziska Romana Maria Anna, born 9 Sep 1796, goddaughter of Franziska Werbacher (St. Karl 3, fol. 163), died of Zahnfraisen on 6 Feb 1798 at the Freihaus (St. Karl 3, fol. 52)
3. Franz Xaver, born 21 Mar 1799 in the Freihaus, godson of Franz Weiß, a bookkeeper who may have been the child's uncle (St. Karl 3, fol. 225), died between 1807 and 1829
4. Maria Magdalena, born 18 Jul 1800 at Wieden 428 (Schleifmühlgasse 15), goddaughter of Magdalena Hüller, wife of Sigismund Hüller, tenor at the Wiedner Theater (St. Karl 4, fol. 32). At the time of her mother's death in 1829, Magdalena Weiß is given as "unmarried cook, living at Wieden N° 16" (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A2, 2550/1829)

The actress Josepha Weiß, a daughter from Kaspar Weiß's first marriage, died of a stroke on 3 February 1798, aged 17, in the Freihaus (St. Karl, Tom. 3, fol. 51). When the Theater auf der Wieden moved across the Wienfluss to the Theater an der Wien, Weiß remained a member of the company. Except for short stands at the Theater in der Josephstadt and the Theater in der Leopoldstadt in 1806, he appeared on the stage an der Wien until shortly before his death. For most the last six years of his life Weiß lived at Laimgrube 27 (today Linke Wienzeile 8), the so-called "Fokonetisches Haus", beside the Theater an der Wien. In this building's conscription records Weiß is registered together with a number of other employees of the Theater an der Wien, such as Joseph August Röckel, Friedrich Demmer, Franz Clement, Karl Friedrich Krüger (who was Eleonore Schikaneder's universal heir) and Philipp Jakob Riotte.

The names of Kaspar Weiß, his wife Anna and their children Franz and Magdalena on a conscription sheet from 1805 of Laimgrube 27. Other theater people registered on this document are the actor and stage manager Friedrich August Grohmann (b. 26 Sep 1772 in Börnichen) and his first wife, Felix Milder (Anna Milder's father), and Franz Clement. Note that, because sometimes the names of later tenants were written into remaining free spaces, the name of Magdalena Weiß appears below the Grohmann couple (A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt, Laimgrube 27/10r).

Shortly before the end of his life Weiß had to move to Laimgrube 8 which was a small, hut-sized building in the court of the theater's painting workshop. Weiß died of "Abzehrung" (consumption) on 29 June1807 in Vienna's Allgemeines Krankenhaus. The entry in the musicipal death register mistakenly gives his place of birth as "von Grätz aus Steuermark" (Weiß hailed from Pettau, today Ptuj in Slovenia).

The entry in the Totenbeschauprotokoll concerning Weiß's death on 29 June 1807 (A-Wsa, Totenbeschreibamt 123, W, fol. 44r)

That Weiß died in the hospital indicates that he had no money to pay for the treatment by a private physician. Weiß's Sperrs-Relation (probate file), in which Franz and Magdalena are given as his surviving children, provides a grim picture of utter poverty. Half of Weiß's salary was already under attachment by his creditors. A note on the file's cover sheet reads as follows:

An Vermögen. nichts und wäre die wenige Leibskleidung des Verlebten im allg: Krankenhause verblieben. Es wurde daher keine Sperr angelegt.
Nach neuerlicher Auskunft der Wittwe ist auch kein Besoldungsrückstand vorhanden, und hätte Verlebter selbe nur zur Hälfte, die andere Hälfte aber die Gläubiger bezohen, mithin nichts als wahres Elend vorhanden seÿe. Auch hatte derselbe nicht einmal ein Dekret.

Of assets. Nothing and the few clothes of the deceased remained in the general hospital. No ban was therefore applied.
According to the widow's recent report, there are no arrears of salary, and the deceased received only half of it anyway, the other half went to the creditors. Therefore there is nothing but true misery. Neither did the aforesaid even have a decree of employment.

The note regarding Kaspar Weiß's assets on fol. 2r of his probate file (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A2, 1399/1807) 

The widow proposed her brother, the Imperial footman Mathias Schenk, as guardian of her children. For more details on Weiß's biography and his significance as music copyist, see Buch 2000 and 2004, as well as Edge 2001.

12) Franz Emanuel Kellner  

Franz Emanuel Kellner was born on 8 February 1795 in the "Bittermannisches Haus", Wieden 260 (today Margaretenstraße 30), and baptized in the Paulanerkirche with "Eleonora Schickanederin Widner Theater Unternehmers Frau" standing godmother. The child's parents were Jakob Kellner, cashier of the Wiedner Theater, and his (second?) wife Elisabeth, née Klement.

The baptismal entry of Franz Emanuel Kellner. The father is described as "Cassier v: Widner Theater" (Wieden, Tom. 2, fol. 125)

Very little is known about Jakob Kellner's origin.  He was born around 1747 and could be identical with the servant Jakob Kellner, son of a baker in Neugedein (Kdyně) in Bohemia, who on 16 January 1769, in the Schottenkirche, married Christina Wogritsch.

The entry concerning the wedding of Jakob Kellner and Christina Wogritsch in 1769. The groom lived at the "Ullfeldisches Haus" (today the area in front of Löwelstraße 8) (A-Ws, Tom. 32, fol. 209v).

In case this Jakob Kellner from Bohemia was really the later theater cashier, his second wedding should have taken place before 1788. That this wedding to Elisabeth Klement does not appear in the Vienna church records, speaks against the identity of the above servant with Schikaneder's employee. The child Franz Emanuel Kellner died of consumption on 22 May 1795. The entries in the Totenbeschauprotokoll and the church register show that the child was simply called Emanuel.

 The entry concerning the death of Emanuel Kellner on 22 May 1795 (A-Wsa, Totenbeschreibamt 102, CGK, fol. 42v)

Kelner H Jakob Kassier im Widnertheater s: Kind Emanuel so im / Bittermannischen H: N° 260 auf der Wieden an der Abzehr= / rung besch[au]t worden, alt 15 Wochen.    Pibitz

The cashier of the Wiedner Theater Mr. Jakob Kellner's child Emanuel was inspected as having died of consumption in Bittermann's house No. 260 on the Wieden, aged 15 weeks. Pibitz [coroner]

Four more children of Jakob and Elisabeth Kellner are documented so far:

1. Elisabeth, b. 1788, d. 16 Nov 1796 (St. Karl 3, fol. 32)
2. Susanna, b. 1789, d. after 5 Dec 1797
3. Josepha, b. 1794, d. after 5 Dec 1797
4. Gregor, b. 3 Feb 1796, godson of Gregor Murschhauser, Tölz-born tenor and member of Schikaneder's company (St. Karl 3, fol. 147), d. 25 Mar 1796 (St. Karl 3, fol. 21)

Schikaneder's cashier Jakob Kellner died of "Faulfieber" (gangrenous fever) on 5 December 1797 in his room in the Freihaus, at "Stiege No 29, Zimer No 229". He was survived by his wife and two children for whom their mother proposed the "Anhalt-Zerbstischer Legationssekretär" Remigius Schäfer as guardian.

A section of the cover sheet of Jakob Kellner's Sperrs-Relation. Anton Wißmann, the judge of the Herrschaft Konradswörth, under whose jurisdiction the Freihaus fell, crossed out the printed title of the Vienna Magistrate and replaced it with the note: "der Herschaft Konratswerth fürstl. stahremb. freÿhauß an[sic] der wieden No. 454" (A-Wsa, Patrimoniale Herrschaften, A103, 9/1797).

Jakob Kellner died a pauper. His probate file closes with the note: "Vermögen. Keines" (assets: none).

13) Maria Henneberg    

Johann Baptist Henneberg's second child Maria Magdalena was born on 24 August 1795 in the Schottenhof and baptized on the same day in the Schottenkirche. Emanuel Schikaneder, who served as godfather, is referred to in the records as: "Direktor der KK privilegirten Schaubühne auf der Wieden".

The entry concerning the baptism of Maria Magdalena Henneberg on 24 August 1795 (A-Ws, Tom. 44, fol. 109)

On 23 July 1820, in the Schottenkirche, Maria Henneberg married Johann Baptist Hampel von Waffenthal, a captain of the I. & R. Infantry Regiment Prince Esterházy No. 32. The groom (born around 1778 in Lipnica Murowana) was a son of the I. & R. Army major Anton Hampel von Waffenthal (1726-1797) who had been ennobled in 1780 by Joseph II. Maria Henneberg's acquaintance with her future husband had probably been established during her father's service for Prince Esterházy. In 1820 the groom lived at the Esterházy'sches Majoratshaus in the Wallnerstraße, the bride at Stadt 163 (today Renngasse 2). Wittnesses to the wedding were the physician Dr. Dominik Vivenot (1764-1833) and Peter von Heydendorff, cavalry captain and first Second-Wachtmeister of the Royal Hungarian guard (a son of the historian Michael Conrad von Heydendorff).

The entry concerning Johann Hampel von Waffenthal's and Maria Henneberg's wedding on 23 July 1820 (A-Ws, Tom. 43, fol. 12)

The couple had the following four children (the dates of birth from the Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels are still unverified).

1.  Maria, b. 27 Jan 1823, d. 26 Mar 1874 (Alservorstadt 20, fol. 30)
2. Anton, b. 30 Mar 1824, d. 15 Sep 1831 (Am Hof 3, fol. 135)
3. Carl, b. 22 Jul 1827, d. 5 Jun 1883 in Agram, captain of the Infantry Regiment "Erzherzog Friedrich" No. 52
4. Nikolaus, b. 21 Apr 1827 (presumably a godson of Nikolaus II, Prince Esterházy), d. 15 Aug 1831 (Am Hof 3, fol. 134)

The Hampel von Waffenthal family with to of their children on a conscription sheet of Stadt 403 (Judenplatz 1) where they lived between 1824 and 1830. The name "Anna" is a mistake (A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt, Stadt 403/12r).

On 13 February 1824 Maria Hampel von Waffenthal submitted a request to the court to grant stipends to her two minor sisters Theresia and Walburga, "orphans of the court organist Henneberg". The Obersthofmeisteramt referred the application to the court chamber which declined the request due to the absence of several crucial documents. On 27 February 1824 Prince Ferdinand von Trauttmannsdorff informed the I. & R. Hofmusikgraf Moritz von Dietrichstein that the applicant also had to hand in her father's decree of employment, all her siblings' baptismal certificates to prove that Henneberg had left behind at least four children, and, finally, her mother's death certificate.

The first page of the Oberhofmeister's notice of missing documents related to Maria Hampel von Waffenthal's application (A-Whh, HMK 13, 37)

On 7 April 1824 the Emperor granted both orphans 100 gulden each (A-Whh, HMK 13, 69f.). Johann Baptist Hampel von Waffenthal, who on 29 May 1822 had served as best man at Johann Baptist Henneberg's second wedding (St. Karl 7l, fol. 2), died of exhaustion on 26 February 1837 and was buried on 1 March 1837 in the Gersthof cemetery (St. Michael 12, fol. 152).

 The second page of the will of Johann Hampel von Waffenthal which was written on 22 November 1822 (OeStA, KA Terr GenKdo Wien JudDel, Testament 390)

Schikaneder's last surviving godchild Maria Hampel von Waffenthal died of cardiac arrest on 28 May 1864 at Kärntnerstraße 34. She was not buried in her husband's grave in Gersthof, but in the Matzleinsdorf cemetery.

The entry concerning Maria Hampel von Waffenthal death and burial in May 1864 (St. Augustin, Tom. 9, fol. 8)

Relatives of Johann Hampel von Waffenthal are still alive today, but because they descend from Johann's younger brother Maximilian (1779-1841), they are not blood-related to Henneberg's daughter.

14) Elisabeth Henneberg

Johann Henneberg's third child Elisabeth was born on 19 November 1796 in the Schottenhof and baptized on the same day in the Schottenkirche with Emanuel Schikaneder again officiating as godfather. In the records Schikaneder is described as "Schauspielunternehmer auf der Wieden".

The entry concerning the baptism of Elisabeth Henneberg on 19 November 1796 (A-Ws, Tom. 44, fol. 161)

Elisabeth Henneberg died of tracheitis on 18 December 1813 at Alsergrund 29 (today Florianigasse 10) where she had been livingwith her parents after Johann Henneberg's return from his service as deputy Kapellmeister in Eisenstadt.

The first page of Elisabeth Henneberg's probate file. Note that her father is described as "gew:[esener] Fürst Esterhazischer Vize=Kapellmeister" (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A2, 4213/1814).

15) Emanuel Karl Henneberg     

Johann Henneberg's third child, Emanuel Karl Johann Baptist Othmar, was born on 5 July 1798 at 8 a.m. in the Schottenhof and baptized in the Schottenkirche with Emanuel Schikaneder serving as godfather. The child received the additional names after his father and the officiating Benedictine priest Othmar Koffler. In the baptismal register the godfather is referred to as "Entrepreneur des K.K. priv[ilegirten] Wiedner Theaters".

The entry concerning the baptism of Emanuel Henneberg on 5 July 1798 (A-Ws, Tom. 44, fol. 220).

Emanuel Karl Henneberg died of scarlet fever on 31 October 1804 in Hof am Leithaberge No. 5 where his parents had moved in the same year.

The entry concerning the death of Karl Henneberg on 31 October 1804 (Hof am Leithaberge, Tom. 4, fol. 72)

At this point it is time to take a closer look at Henneberg's financial circumstances which in 1804 enabled him to temporarily quit his job as a Kapellmeister and move to the country.

In 1767 Johann Henneberg's father, the organist Andreas Henneberger, had already bought a small house on the Schottenbastei. In 1771 he bought the adjacent building, Stadt 1278, from his parents-in-law, Andreas and Theresia Spatz and had the two houses converted into a single one (the file related to this conversion, A-Wsa, Unterkammeramt, Baukonsens 1554/1771, does not survive). In 1791 Andreas Henneberger died a wealthy man. Together with his house, which in 1791 was estimated ed at 8,050 gulden, his huge stock of wine, and his movables, the value of his estate was estimated at 9,917 gulden 26,5 kreuzer.

Andreas Henneberger's house Stadt 1278 on the Schottenbastei on Huber's Vogelschauplan One of Henneberger's tenants in this house in 1788 was the court cellist Joseph Orsler.

The appraisal of the house from 1791 shows that it consisted of a cellar and four storeys, each of which comprised four rooms and four chambers. It had two entrances from the Bastei (originating from the earlier two houses), its own draw well, and two small atriums.

The "Haus-Schätzung" of Andreas Henneberg's house Stadt 1278 which was drawn up on 6 July 1791 by three municipal appraisers (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A2, 1752/1791)

In 1791 one half of the house Stadt 1278 was inherited by Henneberger's widow and the other half by his three children Johann Baptist, Kajetan and Maria Anna. Maria Anna died in 1795, Kajetan before 1803

In 1804 Henneberg resigned his function at the Wiedner Theater to Ignaz von Seyfried and moved to Hof am Leithaberge, a village in Lower Austria, at what was then the Hungarian border. Henneberg became deputy Kapellmeister in the service of Nikolaus II, Prince Esterházy. In 1813 he was back in Vienna and at the time of the death of his daughter Elisabeth in 1813, he was living next door to the house, where one year earlier his former employer Emanuel Schikaneder had died. A mere coincidence?

The title page of Johann Baptist Henneberg's Sperrs-Relation (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A2, 2008/1822)

Johann Baptist Henneberg died on 27 November 1822 on which day he signed his will, with the oboist Joseph Elßler junior among the witnesses (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A 10, 565/1822, for a detailed description of Henneberg's estate see Lorenz 2013).

Johann Baptist Henneberg's coat of arms: a hen on a mountain (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A2, 943/1795)

16) Eleonora Vamy    

Eleonora Vamy was born on 4 August 1801 in the house Wieden 432 (Schleifmühlgasse 18) and baptized in St. Karl with Eleonora Schikaneder standing godmother. The child's mother is given as "Victoria Wamy ledige Person" (unmarried person). The place of birth can hardly have been a concidence: this was the house where Franz Xaver Gerl and Karl Ludwig Gieseke are documented to have lived at some earlier point of time (see above).

The entry concerning the baptism of Eleonora Wamy on 4 August 1801 (St. Karl, Tom. 4, fol. 58)

The mother of this illegitimate child was Victoire Vamy who had been born in Paris in 1781, daughter of the steel manufacturer Jacques Vamy. It is not known when she came to Vienna. She began her acting career in Vienna by appearing under the stage name "Fräulein Sommer" in various roles at the Theater an der Wien. On 17 May 1803 she became the second wife of the comedian and playwright Joachim Perinet whose first wife had died on 20 September 1798. At the time of their wedding, Perinet and his bride were living together at Wieden 437 (Schleifmühlgasse 12). It is notable that in the marriage records of the Karlskirche Victoire Vamy is mistakenly given as widow.

The entry concerning the wedding of Joachim Perinet and Victoire Vamy on 17 May 1803 in the Karlskirche (St. Karl, Tom. 3, fol. 127)

That Joachim Perinet was indeed Eleonory Vamy's father is proved by the entry concerning the child's death in the records of the parish of St. Johann Nepomuk in the suburb of Leopoldstadt. There the girl is registered as "dem H: Joachim Perinet Schauspieler s: K: Eleonora" and as having died of Fraisen on 3 January 1805 in the house Leopoldstadt 353 (Praterstraße 65). The Perinet family had moved there when in October 1803 both parents were engaged at the Leopoldstädter Theater by Karl Friedrich Hensler.

The entry concerning the death and burial of Eleonora Perinet (St. Johann Nepomuk, Tom. 2, fol. 83)

Neither Perinet nor Vamy were lucky with the choice of their spouse. Like her husband, Vamy was a somewhat restless and fickle personality and she created quite a stir among Viennese theater lovers when she became the mistress of the Russian General Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov. (see Gugitz 1904, 201). While her husband was still alive she is documented to have lived alone at all kind of scattered Viennese addresses. There is no conscription document from after 1805 in which the Perinets actually appear together as married couple. Between 1805 and 1808 Frau Perinet resided in the Freihaus auf der Wieden, together with her younger sister Caroline Vamy.

Victoire Perinet and her sister Caroline registered in a conscription sheet of the Freihaus in the former apartment of the musician and composer Andreas Träg. The names of two of Träg's daughters appear at the bottom: Barbara Träg (1787-1864) was to become the mother of Leopoldine Blahetka, Theresia Träg died on 29 April 1808, shortly after her father, in Guntramsdorf (Pfarre Guntramsdorf, Tom. 4, fol. 11).

Soon after 1816 Victoire Perinet appears as "Schauspielerin Wittwe" in the conscription records of Laimgrube 19 (today Papagenogasse 2).

(A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt, Laimgrube 19/2v)

For a short time, after her husband's death, Victoire Perinet also lived in the so-called "Spaliermacherhaus", Spittelberg 134, at the Glacis (today Museumstraße 5). In the conscription records she is again described as "Schauspielerswittw[e]".

Victoire Perinet registered as "actor's widow" at Spittelberg 134 (A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt, Spittelberg 134/43v)

When Joachim Perinet died on 4 February 1816 his wife had already left him. Curiously, a note in Perinet's Sperrs-Relation refers to her with a wrong first name: "The bereaved wife Eleonora[!] did not live with the deceased and is said to be currently staying in Paris".

The note on Perinet's probate file referring to his wife: "Nachgelassene Ehegatt Eleonora lebte nicht mit dem Verstorbenen, und soll sich derzeit in Paris befinden" (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A2, 3457/1816)

This statement appears to have been based on hearsay, given that Madame Perinet applied for a passport to Karlsbad and Paris only on 6 May 1817. She was not registered at the addresses Leopoldstadt 460 and 540 that appear in the following entry in the municipal passport protocol.

The entry in the 1817 municipal protocol concerning the issuance of Victoire Perinet's, her maid's, and her coachman's passports to Paris (A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt, B4/3, fol. 39).

Victoire Perinet overstayed her one-year passport which in December 1818 caused the Lower Austrian government to issue an official summons that was first published on 20 January 1819 in the Wiener Zeitung. Frau Perinet was ordered to return within one year and justify her absence, in default whereof she would face legal action for breaking § 27 of the 1784 emigration law.

The summons issued by the Lower Austrian government which in January 1819 was published three times in the Wiener Zeitung

When Perinet returned to Vienna she brought her demented mother Jeanne Vamy with her which is documented in her will and her probate file. Victoire Perinet's will, which she signed on 15 November 1821, reads as follows:

Testament.

Ich habe unter Göttlichem Beystande bey gutem Bewußtseyn und Verstande meine letztwillige Anordnung getroffen und zwar:
I. Empfehle ich Gott dem Allmächtigen meine Seele; mein Leichnam soll nach der zweyten Classe, ohne allen Kostenaufwand von meiner Wohnung zur Kirche geführt, allda im Stillen eingesegnet und dann ebenfalls mit dem Todtenwagen zu seiner Bestimung abgeführet. und dann zur Erde bestattet  [werden].
II. Sollen 3 heilige Messen, jede zu 5 fl: W:W: gelesen werden.
III. Da meine wenigen Habseligkeiten kaum hinreichen werden, die Schulden von Herrn J. C. Hofbauer, dann die Leichkosten und die übrigen Auslagen zu bestreiten, so ist kein Universalerbe einzusetzen nothwendig; soll aber
IV. etwas erübriget werden, so ist meine leibliche Mutter ohnehin die natürliche Erbin; da diese aber wegen ihrem schwachen Kopfe kein Vermögen verwalten kann, so ernenne ich Herrn J. C. Hofbauer zu ihrem Vormund, Curator, und Testaments=Executor, mit der Bitte an Ihn, sich meiner Mutter enzunehmen, und sie nicht zu verlassen.
V. Muß ich bekennen, daß das in meiner Wohnung stehende Piano-Forte das Eigenthum des Herrn J. C. Hofbauer ist, und er es mir nur geliehen hat.
Zur Urkund dieses meiner[sic] ernstlichen und wohlbedachten letzten Willens, habe ich meinen Nahmen unterfertiget, und durch drey hiezu erbethenen Zeügen mit unterfertigen lassen.
                                  [L.S.]
    Wien am 15. November 1821. Victoire Perint[sic]mp
                                                                 gebohrne Vamy.
                  [L.S.] Anton Oellermp
                            burgl. Handelsmann
                            als erbettener Zeug.
                [L.S.] Math Jos Hochleitnermp
                        jub: Magist: Regist:
                              Direktor als
                            erbettener Zeug.
               [L.S.] Ig Ritter von Seyfriedmp
                         Operndirektor bey dem
                         K:K: pr: Theater a. d.
                                        Wien,
                            als erbettener Zeuge.

Will.

With divine assistance, with good conscience and understanding, I have made my testamentary disposition, namely:
I. I commend my soul to God Almighty, my body is to be brought according to the second class from my apartment to the church, without any cost, to be consecrated there in quietness and be taken with a carriage to its destiny and be buried in the ground.
II. Three Holy Masses should be read at 5 fl Viennese Currency apiece.
III. Since my few belongings will hardly suffice to cover the debts to J. C. Hofbauer, the burial costs and the other expenses, no universal heir has to be appointed; should, however,
IV. something be spared, my own mother is the natural heir anyway; but, because of her weak mind, she is unable to manage her assets, I appoint Mr. J. C. Hofbauer her guardian, curator and executor of the will, with the request to take care of my mother and not to forsake her.
V. I must confess that the piano that stands in my apartment is the property of Mr. J. C. Hofbauer and that he has only lent it to me.
In witness of of this my serious and well-considered last will I signed my name and also had it signed by three requested witnesses.
                                  [L.S.]
    Vienna, November 15th, 1821. Victoire Perint[sic]mp
                                                                 née Vamy.
                  [L.S.] Anton Oellermp
                            civil merchant
                            as requested witness.
                [L.S.] Math Jos Hochleitnermp
                        retired head of the municipal registry
                        as requested witness.
               [L.S.] Ig Ritter von Seyfriedmp
                         director of the opera at the
                         I. & R. privileged Theater an der Wien
                         as requested witness.

The second page of Victoire Perinet's will written on 15 November 1821 (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A10, 15/1822)

Perinet's creditor Johann Kaspar Hofbauer (1771-1839), whom she requested to take care of her mother, was a wealthy I. & R. stucco and bell maker. In 1822 he lived in the "Glockengießerhaus", Laimgrube 164. Hofbauer, whose acquaintance Perinet had made because he was Ignaz von Seyfried's landlord (A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt, Laimgrube 164F/4r), was a highly educated man and owned one of the Austrian Monarchy's most famous collections of seventeenth-century Dutch paintings (the best-known painting in his collection was Füger's Die Ermordung Cäsars). Victoire Perinet died of consumption on 11 January 1822, at the age of 39. Her last residence Laimgrube 34, near the Theater an der Wien, suggests that she was still pursuing her theater career, but she was unable to overcome her severe health problems. In her Sperrs-Relation (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A2, 1315/1822) she is referred to as "former theater actress". In the house Laimgrube 34 (torn down in 1969, today a part of the Alfred-Grünwald-Park), where Perinet died in 1822, the guitar builder Christian Frederick Martin Jr. was born on 2 October 1825 (St. Josef ob der Laimgrube 17, fol. 59).

The house Laimgrube 34 (Linke Wienzeile 26) where Victoire Perinet died in 1822 and Christian Friedrich Martin Jr. was born in 1825 (© Vintage Vienna, Katharina Meixner Privatarchiv). The website of Martin Guitar erroneously claims that C. F. Martin Jr. (1825-1888) was born in Germany.

At the time of her death Victoire Perinet owned jewelry of surprisingly high value – obviously tokens from her many generous admirers – but her debts to Johann Hofbauer far exceeded these assets.

Victoire Perinet's seal on the outside of her will bearing the initials "VV" (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A10, 15/1822)

17) Franz Seraph Günschl  

The year 1801 saw Schikaneder at the peak of his career. With the help of the merchant Bartholomäus Zitterbarth, who had lent him 130,000 gulden, he was now director of the new Theater an der Wien and his financial situation was splendid. He also was in love again. The lucky object of his affection was his maidservant Franziska Günschl who had come to Vienna from the small village of Gösing am Wagram where she had been born on 28 February 1777, daughter of the vintner Mathias Günschl and his wife Clara, née Sauerstain.

The entry concerning Franziska Günschl baptism on 28 February 1777 in the Gösing parish church (Gösing am Wagram, Tom. 2, 130)

On 6 January 1802 Franziska  Günschl gave birth to Schikaneder's illegitimate son Franz Seraph Günschl. Following a family tradition, Schikaneder chose his wife as a godmother, But, quite understandably, Eleonore Schikaneder had herself be substituted by two young ladies: Josepha Kaiser, daughter of a watchmaker, and Anna Berthold, daughter of the "Sackelträger" (sack-bearer) Anton Berthold.

The entry concerning the baptism of Schikaneder's illegitimate son Franz Günschl on 6 January 1802 in the parish church of St. Joseph ob der Laimgrube (St. Josef ob der Laimgrube, Tom. 4, fol. 2). Another, still unpublished source related to this ceremony shows that the child's place of birth, Laimgrube 46 (Laimgrubengasse 4), was the apartment of the midwife Rosalia Sailer.

 
One might assume that Schikaneder's continued extra-marital love life should have led to an alienation between him and his wife. But quite the contrary: Eleanore Schikaneder's own love affairs had apparently strengthened her tolerance and (certainly for business reasons as well) she continued to live together with her husband and his mistress. This close relationship is particularly evident in Schikaneder's will that he drew up on 17 December 1803. At that time he was financially very well off and had just bought a country house in Nußdorf which he had chosen as a place to retire. After having decreed his burial to be modest and quiet and the selebration of twelve masses for the salvation of his soul, he wrote the following:

Paragraph 6 of Emanuel Schikaneder's will. The deletions on the backside of this page were made by Schikaneder in 1804 when he had to cancel his bequests to Ferdinand Neukäufler and several other people (A-Wsa, Hauptarchiv, Persönlichkeiten S 8, Testament, fol. 1r).

6tens legire ich der Franziska Ginschlin ihrem Kinde Franz Schickaneder dreÿ tausend Gulden; dieses Kapital aber soll in öffentlichen Fonds Obligationen depositirt dem Franz Schickaneder als dem Kinde der oberwehnten Franziska Ginschlin erst nach erlangter Großjährigkeit, und Ausweise der richtigen Benutzung als sein freÿes Eigenthum übergeben werden; von denen abfallenden Interessen aber solle das Kind Franz Schickaneder gehörig unterhalten, und erzogen werden, wie auch den nöthigen Unterricht erhalten. [...] Sollte dieses Kind Franz Schickaneder aber vor erlangter Majorennität mit Todt abgehen, gehören diese dreÿ tausend Gulden dessen Mutter Franziska Gischlin.

6th, I bequeath to Franziska Ginschl's child Franz Schickaneder three thousand florins; but this capital is to be invested in public bonds, to be given to Franz Schickaneder, as the child of the above-mentioned Franziska Ginschl, as his free property, only after he has reached legal age and has produced ample proof of the correct use; from the accrued interests the child Franz Schickaneder should be properly supported and educated, as well as receive the necessary tuition. [...] If, however, this child Franz Schickaneder should die before reaching majority, these three thousand florins belong to his mother Franziska Ginschl.

After Schikaneder's death in 1812, of course, none of his many bequests turned out to be collectible. Franziska Günschl was not only Schikaneder's lover. In the recollections of Andreas Przawerczek, which in 1831 were published in the journal Der Gesellschafter, Günschl is also described as "Schikaneder's cashier, director ["General=Intendantin"] and factotum". Although Przawerczek claimed to have worked for 16 years as bassonist in Schikaneder's orchestra, his name appears in no contemporaneous almanach among Schikaneder's musicians. Therefore his account should be.treated with appropriate skepticism. The third installment of Przawerczek' recollections contains the following passage:

A clip from Andreas Przawerczek's "Herr Emanuel Schikaneder (Aus den Papieren eines verstorbenen Fagotisten)" (Der Gesellschafter oder Blätter für Geist und Herz, 8tes Blatt, 1831, 39). Baur quotes this source, but the fact that she does not even know its correct title suggests that she has never seen the original.

To live and let live was his favorite motto and when somebody was in need and turned to him, he certainly helped if he could, sometimes he couldn't. When there were bills to pay, or somebody asked him for money, he called his "General-Intendantin", the pretty parlour maid, and asked: "Franzerl, do we have any money?" If she answered in the affirmative, she had to bring the required amount; if she complained and affirmed that there was nothing in store, he got into a very bad mood and said: "I tell you, these are bad times, you have to come another time, because this is a shabby and piggish administration that never has any money!"
He had the funny habit of always scolding himself when he was angry. If mistakes occurred in the orchestra or on the stage, he yelled: "This is a pig-administration, a true lumpen-administration!" He did the same when he had hired a singer or actor who did not please the audience. In that case he ran  back and forth on the stage and kept shouting: "This is a lumpen-administration!"

Schikaneder, who in the last few weeks of his life could no longer leave his bed and continuously had to be taken care of, died of "Nervenschwäche" in the house Alsergrund 30, in the apartment of the blacksmith Kaspar Nerpaß and his wife Maria. The reason why Schikaneder lived with this family of all people is quite simple: Maria Nerpaß was the sister of Schikaneder's mistress Franziska Günschl.

Half of he entry concerning the wedding of Kaspar Nerpaß and Anna Maria Günschl on 7 October 1804 (Maria Treu, Tom. 5, fol. 119). The entry "10. März 1939 1365" at the lower left refers to the issuance of a wedding certificate in 1939 for an Ahnenpass which proves that at that time descendants of Nerpaß's son Anton were still alive. On 26 January 1845 Kaspar's son Anton Nerpaß, who was a blacksmith in Dornbach, married Theresia Nimmerrichter with whom he had several children. (Dornbach 3, fol. 11). Maria Nerpaß, née Günschl died on 14 January 1845 in Dornbach (A-Wsa, Patrimonialherrschaften, Serie 2.1.1.127.A1a, 814).

In a report by the Vienna police administration, which in 1812 – following an anonymous complaint –  was submitted to the Polizeihofstelle (AVA, Polizeihofstelle, H 40/1812), two of Nerpaß's children were described as "natural children" of Schikaneder. This claim, which fits with the tendency of the then police to believe even the most curious rumors, is not supported by any sources. Four children of Kaspar Nerpaß are known so far:

1. Sebastian, b. 10 Aug 1805 (Alservorstadt [AV] 7, fol. 121), d. 29 Jan 1806 (AV 4, fol. 261)
2. Friedrich, b. 25 Jan 1807 (AV 8, fol. 7), d. 14 Dec 1808 (AV 5, fol. 104)
3. Anton, b. 12 Apr 1809 (AV 8, fol. 181), d. 11 Oct 1881 (Dornbach 7, fol. 49)
4. Barbara, b. 3 Dec 1816 (Dornbach Trauungsbuch 4, fol. 132), on 10 Sep 1849 married the widower of her aunt, Moritz Elsässer (1795-1865) (Dornbach 3, fol. 54) with whom in 1847 and 1849 she already had had two illegitimate children (Dornbach 6, fol. 52 and fol. 93), on 25 Feb 1868 married Karl Gebhard (Dornbach 4, fol. 132), d. 26 Jun 1884 (Dornbach 7, fol. 68)

After Emanuel Schikaneder's death Franziska Günschl moved to Dornbach, together with her sister Maria Nerpaß. On 8 July 1813, in Dornbach, Schikaneder's former mistress and factotum married the Hessian blacksmith Jakob Hauck whose acquaintance she had certainly made via her brother-in-law. Similar to Kaspar Nerpaß, who had been born in Partenhaim, Hauck was also a Protestant who hailed from Füllbrunn, a village in the Odenwald area.

The entry concerning the wedding of Franziska Günschl and Jakob Hauck on 8 July 1813 (Dornbach, Tom. 2, fol. 45)

Jakob and Franziska Hauck had a son, Anton, who was born on 10 May 1815 (Dornbach 2a, fol. 116) and already died of hydrocephalus on 25 May 1815 (Dornbach 2a, fol. 96). Jakob Hauck, who owned the house Dornbach 9 (today Dornbacher Straße 115), died of Nervenfieber on 4 January 1816 at the age of 28 (Dornbach 2a, fol. 97). According to his marriage contract, which was attested to posthumously by two witnesses, his wife was his universal heir. But Hauck's estate was deeply in debt and was declared bankrupt by the court of the Herrschaft Dornbach (A-Wsa, Patrimonialherrschaften, Serie 2.1.1.127.A1a, 203).  Franziska Günschl's second husband was even younger than her first one: on 4 November 1817, in the Dornbach parish church, she married Moritz Elsässer, a 24-year-old blacksmith from Hirrlingen in Baden-Württemberg who at that time held the post of "Unterschmied" at the I. & R. Academy of Veterinary Medicine.

The entry concerning the wedding of Franziska Hauck, née Günschl and Moritz Elsässer on 4 November 1817 in Dornbach (Dornbach, Tom. 2, fol. 51)

In a marriage contract, which was signed on 5 October 1816, the bride transferred half of her house Dornbach 9 and the license to run a blacksmith's shop ("Schmiedgerechtigkeit") to her future husband. He was to receive half of the house (amounting to 2,000 fl) as dowry which he was to  reciprocate "with his person, since he owns no personal assets". The groom committed himself "to put all his abilities and best diligence into the business, to keep the  blacksmith's shop in good standing and to increase the family assets".

The second page of Franziska Hauck's ("geborene Günschl") and Moritz Elsässer's marriage contract. The dating "1816" could be a mistake (A-Wsa, Patrimonialherrschaften, Serie 2.1.1.127.A1a, 573). A copy of this contract, which was issued as "Aufsandung", survives in A-Wsa, Patrimonialherrschaften, Serie 2.1.1.127.A3(6).

Franziska Elsässer, Schikaneder's former mistress and mother of his son Franz, died on 6 September 1839 in the house Dornbach 9. In the parish register she is described as "Schmidt=Meisterin und Hausbesitzerin", the cause of her death is given as "gänzliche Auflösung der Säfte" (total dissolution of the fluids). She was buried on 8 September at 3 p.m. in the old Dornbach cemetery.

The entry concerning the death of Franziska Elsaßer, née Günschl (widowed Hauck) on 6 September 1839 (Dornbach, Tom. 4, fol. 9)

Franziska Elsässer's Sperrs-Relation, drawn up by the court of the Herrschaft Dornbach, shows that her husband's blacksmith's shop had not been successful. The value of the house, which ín 1839 was estimated at only 3,000 fl, was greatly reduced by a mortgage of 2,200 fl and a number of certificates of debt to various people in Dornbach. Franziska Elsässer's estate only amounted to 54 fl 7,5 x which were reduced to net 13 fl 3,5 x by burial costs, taxes and fees.

The first page of the probate file of Schikaneder's former mistress Franziska Elsässer (A-Wsa, Patrimonialherrschaften, Serie 2.1.1.127.A1a, 573)

As far as Frau Elsässer's son Franz Schikaneder was concerned, he was simply treated as if he had come from a previous marriage. The entry in question in the probate file reads as follows:

Nachgelassene Kinder. Großjährige, und wo selbe sich befinden. – Sohn aus erster Ehe Nahmens Franz Schikaneder, derzeit K.K. Churschmied und in Pohlen befindlich

Surviving children. Of legal age and their whereabouts. – A son from the first marriage by the name of Franz Schikaneder, currently I. & R. farrier and staying in Poland

The entry in Franziska Elssser's probate file concerning her son Franz Schikaneder (A-Wsa, Patrimonialherrschaften, Serie 2.1.1.127.A1a, 573)

On 10 September 1849 Franziska Elsässer's second husband Moritz Elsässer married his wife's niece Barbara Nerpaß (1816-1884). For this marriage he received a papal dispense "from the impediment of 1st and 2nd affinity of marriage" (Dornbach 3, fol. 54).

Relatives of Franziska Günschl (married Hauck and Elsässer) still live today in Gösing am Wagram where members of the Günschl family have been growing wine since ancient times.

The situation of Schikaneder's illegitimate son Franz Günschl, whom his father had left no inheritance at all, was certainly not enviable. Franz Schikaneder (as he soon called himself) completed a blacksmith's apprenticeship, probably in the workshop of his stepfather Moritz Elsässer. On 5 February 1834 (probably with the help of influential admirers of his father) he was lucky enough to secure a position as "certified farrier" in the service of the Vienna Court (A-Whh, OStA, Bd. 22, Nr. 355).

The only signature of Franz Schikaneder that is known so far, in his mother's probate file, below the signature of his mother's second husband Moritz Elsässer (A-Wsa, Patrimonialherrschaften, Serie 2.1.1.127.A1a, 573)

Franz Schikaneder's greatest problem, however, was the fact that he could not marry, because he did not have a valid baptismal certificate bearing his chosen name. Since his father had never professed to the paternity, Franz Schikaneder's legal name was Franz Günschl. In 1837 he applied to the Vienna Magistrate, requesting the correction of his baptismal entry and the permission to keep the surname Schikaneder. The entry in question in the protocol (the file does not survive) begins as follows:

Schikaneder Franz |: eigentlich Franz Günschl :| über dessen Gesuch, um Bewilligung zur Beybehaltung seines bisherigen Namens Schikaneder, und um Abänderung des Taufprotokolls wird derselbe hirmit abgewiesen.

Schikaneder Franz (actually Franz Günschl), regarding his application for permission to keep his present name Schikaneder and to have the baptismal protocol amended, the same is herewith rejected.

The entry in the protocol of the municipal Hauptregistratur concerning Franz Günschl's request to be allowed to keep the name Schikaneder (A-Wsa, Hauptregistratur B1/459, fol. 69v)

Although the authorities turned down his request, Schikaneder was not to be deterred and unlawfully kept his chosen name. He seems to have enjoyed the protection of an influential patron. While he was waiting for an opportunity to get married in secret, he already started a family. Four illegitimate children of Franz Schikaneder (Günschl) are documented so far. The mother of these four daughters was Katharina Kromes, born around 1805 in Auspitz (Hustopeče), a daughter of the shoemaker Wenzl Kromes and his wife Katharina, née Pilan.

1. Franziska, b. 1828, d. 13 Apr 1831 (Maria Treu 9, fol. 184)
2. Carolina, b. 28 Jan 1833 (Maria Treu 13, fol. 127), d. 28 Nov 1914 (see below)
3. Franziska, b. 21 Jan 1840 (St. Ulrich 51b, fol. 12), d. 26 Jul 1840 (St. Ulrich 35, fol. 69)
4. Maria, b. 19 Aug 1841 (baptized Maria Kromes) (St. Ulrich 52, fol. 127), d. 31 Aug 1841 (St. Ulrich 35, fol. 178)

On a conscription sheet of the house Josephstadt 69 (now Lange Gasse 16) from 1831 Franz Schikaneder's name is conspicuously absent. His domestic partner Katharina Kromes is registered as living together with her widowed mother and two of her daughters who are described as "Kath:[arina][sic] Krones 833 Kind der Tocht[er]" and "Franziska Schikaneder 827 Pflegkind [foster child]".

The Kromes family registered at Josephstadt 69 in 1831. Franz Schikaneder's future mother-in-law is given as "shoemaker's widow from Auspitz in Moravia". The names of the daughter Katharina (i.e. Karolina) and Wenzl Kromes ("799 son of the above shoemaker from Auspitz in Moravia") were added in 1833 (A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt, Josephstadt 69/17r)

Franz Schikaneder, his future wife, and his daughters Carolina and Franziska appear on a conscription sheet from 1840 related to the house St. Ulrich 76 (today Lerchenfelder Straße 15, the birthplace of Johann Strauss II). Quite understandably, fifteen years before the couple's marriage, Katharina Kromes passed herself off as Schikaneder's wife. Her husband is described as "kk Curschmied v Wien".

Franz Schikaneder's family registered on a conscription sheet of the house St. Ulrich 76 (A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt, St. Ulrich 76/34v)

Franz Schikaneder, who in a baptismal register is given as "Sohn des Emanuel - eines Schauspielers"  (Maria Treu 13, fol. 127) and who, on the occasion of her baptism, also professed to the paternity of his third daughter Franziska, married the mother of his children but on 16 September 1855 in Reichstadt (today Zákupy). It is obvious that by having this ceremony performed in the remote Bohemian province he wanted to avoid unpleasant questions regarding the legitimacy of his birth.

The note from 20 December 1900 in Carolina Schikaneder's 1833 baptismal entry concerning her legitimizaion by means of her parents' wedding in 1855 in Reichstadt (Maria Treu, Tom. 13, fol. 127)

In 1852 Franz Schikaneder was transferred to the staff of the former Emperor Ferdinand I in Prague. After the dissolution of Emperor Ferdinand's staff in November 1875, he retired with an annual pension of 1,000 gulden. He died of old age on 30 June 1877 in the house Piaristengasse 58 and was buried the following day in Vienna's Zentralfriedhof.

The entry in the Maria Treu parish records concerning Franz Schikaneder's death and burial (Maria Treu, Tom. 17, fol. 145)

On 5 July 1877 his widow Katharina submitted a pension request to the Obersthofmeisteramt (A-Whh, OMeA, Karton 981, r. 130/12.3593). With her daughter Caroline she moved to Penzing, Hauptstraße 70, where she died on 2 November 1886.

The first page of Katharina Schikaneder's probate file drawn up by the Hietzing district court (A-Wsa, BG Hietzing, A4 - A [IV], 489/1887)

Caroline Schikaneder – the granddaughter of the librettist of the Die Zauberflöte – spent the last decades of her life in great material hardship. Owing to bad eyesight, she was unable to continue her profession as seamstress. In 1886 she asked Emperor Franz Joseph I for a gift of grace and was granted an annual pension of 60 gulden by Archduke Karl Ludwig.

The final paragraph of Caroline Schikaneder's autograph application to the Emperor (A-Whh, OMeA, Karton 1129, r. 30/2.341)

Caroline Schikaneder died of cancer on 28 November 1914 in the Lainz nursing home.

The entry concerning Caroline Schikaneder's death on 28 November 1914 (Penzing, Tom. 27, fol. 76)

18) Johann Emanuel  Rundschek        

Johann Emanuel Rundschek was born on 12 January 1802 in an apartment that was part of the living quarters of the Theater an der Wien. The child was baptized on the same day in the church of St. Joseph ob der Laimgrube with Eleonore Schikaneder ("des Emanuel Sch. Schauspieldirektors Gattin") standing godmother.

The entry concerning the baptism of Johann Emanuel Rundschek on 12 January 1802 (St. Josef ob der Laimgrube, Tom. 8, fol. 3)

Emanuel Rundschek's parents were the box office controller of the Theater an der Wien Heinrich Rundschek and his wife Elisabeth, née Wipfel (widowed Wolf). The child already died of "Fraisen" on 9 February 1803.

The entry concerning the death of Emanuel Rundschek (St. Josef ob der Laimgrube, Tom. 4, fol. 85)

This child's father, Martin Heinrich Rundschek, has previously not been the object of Schikaneder research. He was born on 9 October 1778 in the house Wieden 77, "Zur Weißen Rose" (today Wiedner Hauptstraße 26), son of Johann Rundschek, a servant with Count Franz Heinrich von Heussenstamm zu Heißenstein und Gräfenhausen.

The entry concerning the baptism of Maria Catharina Anna Theresia Rundschek and her twin-brother Martin Heinrich on 9 October 1778 (A-Wd, Tom. 95, fol. 27r.). Count Heussenstamm and his first wife Theresia, who stood godparents to the children, were substituted by two members of the comital household staff.

When in September 1801 Rundschek wanted to marry Elisabeth Wolf – who was already five months pregnant – he needed his guardian, the carpenter (and owner of the house Wieden 415) Johann Preiß, to apply to the Vienna municipal court to be granted a marriage permit. Essential for receiving such a permit was a certificate of regular income. This document was written on 21 September 1801 by Rundschek's friend Friedrich Sebastian Meier and signed by his principal Emanuel Schikaneder.

Heinrich Rundschek's certificate of employment, written by Friedrich Sebastian Meier and signed by Schikaneder on 21 September 1801 (A-Wsa, Mag.ZG, A3, 362/1801). Meier is mainly remembered today as first Pizarro in all versions of Beethoven's Fidelio. But since he regularly adapted all kinds of new French operas for the Vienna stage, his influence on the musical taste of the local audience cannot be overrated.

Zeugniß.

Daß Vorzeiger dessen Herr Heinrich Rundschek von Wien gebürtig 23 Jahre alt, Katolischer Religion, bei meinem K.K. priv. Theater an der Wien als Cassa=Controleur mit 300 f jährlicher Besoldung wirklich angestellt seÿ, und seinem mit allem Eifer, und Rechtschaffenheit zu meiner grösten Zufriedenheit seinem Dienste vorsteht, wird auf sein bittliches Ansuchen, indem er sich zu verehlichen gedenkt, zur Steuer der Wahrheit von mir Endesgefertigtem bestättiget.
                                     Emanuel Schickaneder
                                 K:K: priv: Schauspielunternehmer
                                             [L.S.]
    Wien
den 21ten September 1801.

Testimony.

That the producer of this document, Herr Heinrich Rundschek, was born in Vienna, is 23 years of age, Catholic, and really employed as box office controller at my I. & R. privileged Theater an der Wien with an annual salary of 300 gulden, and is carrying out his duty with diligence, integrity and to my greatest satisfaction, is being certified truthfully by me, the undersigned, upon his request, since he's intending to get married.
                       Emanuel Schickaneder
                I. & R. privileged theater entrepreneur [L.S.]
Vienna, September 21st, 1801

Heinrich Rundschek and Elisabeth Wolf got married on 26 October 1801 in the church of St. Joseph ob der Laimgrube. Elisabeth Wolf had been born Elisabeth Wipfel on 13 September 1764 in Wanzenau (Gars am Kamp 14, 121). Her first husband had been Nikolaus Wolf, a gunner with the I. & R. 2nd field artillery regiment Count Kolowrat- Krakowski. Rundschek's best man was the singer Friedrich Sebastian Meier, the bride's witness was Johann Hornik (b. 1769 in Škvorec, d. after 1828), a clarinetist in Schikaneder's orchestra.

The entry concerning the wedding of Martin Heinrich Rundschek and Elisabeth Wolf on 26 October 1801 (St. Josef ob der Laimgrube, Tom. 5, fol. 27)

The signatures of Friedrich Sebastian Meier and Johann Hornik in the above marriage entry (St. Josef ob der Laimgrube, Tom. 5, fol. 27)

Aside from Emanuel the Rundschek couple had no other children. In 1805 Rundschek was registered as "Logenmeister Gehilf" by the conscription officer During the Count Ferdinand von Palffy's tenure at the Theater an der Wien, Rundschek was promoted to the position of "Logenmeister und Billets-Revisor". During his last years he lived near the theater at Laimgrube 15 (today Lehargasse 3).

Heinrich Rundschek ("Logenm[ei]st[er] G[e]hilf"), his wife and their foster-son Eduard Emerl registered on an 1805-17 conscription form of Laimgrube 15 (A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt, Laimgrube 15/1r). Eduard Emerl, born 23 July 1815 (Wieden 7, 32), was a child of Rundschek's sister Aloisia with her second husband, the painter Johann Nepomuk Emerl (1777-1817).

Heinrich Rundschek died of Nervenfieber on 23 June 1820. His wife Elisabeth survived him only by four months. She died of uterine cancer on 26 October 1820 at Laimgrube 11 where, after her husband's death, she had moved in with Katharina Herburger, a daughter from her first marriage (see A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A2, 2410/1820 and 2627/1820).

That Heinrich Rundschek's name appears in two sources related to the Theater an der Wien and Schikaneder, suggests that he was closely connected to Schikaneder's circle. When on 15 October 1804 Michael Schütterer, "Feldwäbl beym KK. priv. Theater an der Wien" (the theater's police officer), married Veronika Gröger, Friedrich Sebastian Meier and Heinrich Rundschek signed their names a witnesses to the wedding.

Meier's and Rundschek's signatures in Michael Schütterer's marriage entry in the records of St. Karl (St. Karl, Tom. 4, fol. 2). Schutterer hailed from Uffhausen in the Breisgau (today a part of St. Georgen), his bride was a furrier's daughter from Auspitz in Moravia. The godparents of this couple's four children had no connection to Schikaneder's circle.

On 19 January 1804 Ferdinand Rumpel, a glassmaker from Reinhausen (today a part of Regensburg), married Anna Günschl, an older sister of Schikaneder's mistress Franziska Günschl. As witness of the bride officiated Heinrich Rundschek, "Controlor im theater an der Wien".

The signatures of the house owner Andreas Prager and Heinrich Rundschek in Ferdinand Rumpel's and Anna Günschl's marriage entry (Alservorstadt, Tom. 4, fol. 124)

The godmother of Ferdinand Rumpel's first two children, Franziska and Anna, was their aunt (Schikaneder's mistress) Franziska Günschl (St. Josef 3, fol. 142 and 177).

19) Eleonora Fischer

Eleonora Maria Anna Fischer was born on 31 January 1803 in the house Wieden 279 (today Große Neugasse 10), illegitimate daughter of Anton Fischer, composer and Kapellmeister at the Theater an der Wien, and his girlfriend Josepha,Steiger. The child was baptized in the Wieden parish church with Eleonora Schikaneder, "Theaterdirektors Ehegattin", standing godmother.

The entry concerning the baptism of Eleonora Fischer on 31 January 1803 (Wieden, Tom. 4, fol. 56). Since in the Wieden parish the years 1802-1808 are recorded in two different baptismal registers, there is a second copy of this entry in Tom. 4a, fol. 30.

Given that Eleonora was born illegitimately, it is very likely that the child's place of birth, Wieden 279, was not the address of the mother, but that of the midwife Elisabeth Stummer.

Eleonora Fischer's place of birth, the house Große Neugasse 10, "Zum kleinen Jordan", on an 1898 photograph by August Stauda (A-Wn, ST 225F)

After a short engagement with the chorus of the Theater in der Josefstadt, Anton Fischer joined Schikaneder's company at the Wiednertheater. He appeared in small roles, composed several singspiele and after the move into the new building an der Wien he rose to the position of Ignaz von Seyfried's deputy Kapellmeister. His stage works (written together with Schikaneder, Castelli and Treitschke), such as Swetards Zaubertal (1805), Das Hausgesinde (1808), Die Festung an der Elbe (1806), and Das Singspiel auf dem Dache (1807) all fell into oblivion. His most significant musical works seem to have been his arrangements of operas by Dalayrac and Grétry which helped to popularize the genre of the Opéra comique in Vienna.

Anton Fischer and Josepha Steiger got married on 31 May 1803 in the Wieden parish church. The couple's witnesses were Anton Teichmann, lieutenant in the infantry regiment Prince Auersperg, and the official at the K:K: Hof- und Landjägermeister-Amt Anton Fürich (later Fürich von Fürichshain). The groom lived at Laimgrube 23 (now Getreidemarkt 1), the bride's address was Wieden 140 (the Wieden community hall, today Floragasse 1). The entry concerning this wedding in the records of the bride's home parish does not follow the regulations and is incomplete (a common problem at the Wieden parish that – as shown above – also veils the origin of Barbara Reisinger).

The entry concerning Anton Fischer's and Josepha Steiger's wedding in the Wieden parish church (Wieden, Tom. 3, fol. 57). On 15 November 1804 Anton Joseph Fürich was to be best man at Joseph von Seyfried's wedding in the Karlskirche (St. Karl, Tom. 4, fol. 4).

The previously unknown entry concerning the publication of the banns in the records of Fischer's home parish St. Joseph ob der Laimgrube is far more informative. Among other important data, it gives the names of the couple's parents and the groom's date of birth. The bride had been born in Prague.

The entry concerning the publication of the banns in the groom's home parish for the wedding of Anton Fischer and Josepha Steiger (St. Josef ob der Laimgrube, Rapular 1802-04, fol. 77). This source has never been digitized.

Fischer and his family lived at Laimgrube 23 which at that time was already owned by the architect Franz Jäger senior, the alleged builder of the "Papagenotor".

The house Laimgrube 23, at the corner of Getreidemarkt and Wienzeile, where Anton Fischer lived from 1805 until 1808 (A-Wn, ST 2019F). Other tenants of this house of musical relevance included Benjamin Gebauer, Zeno Menzel, Friedrich Treitschke, and Joseph Linke. This building, which housed the legendary Café Dobner, was torn down in 1910. In 1840 the value of this building was estimated at 50,800 gulden (A-Wsa, A2, 6561/1839).

In the earliest series of municipal conscription forms Fischer in 1805 is registered as tenant of apartment No. 6 in this building. He appears on this document together with his family, his mother-in-law Josepha Steiger ("Hauptmanns Wittwe mit Pension"), and his sister-in-law Anna.

Anton Fischer's family registered in 1805 in the house Laimgrube 23 (A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt, Laimgrube 23/6r). The note "Wittwe" beside Josepha Fischer's name was added between 1809 and 1810.

Anton Fischer suffered from an insidious desease that was to kill him before his 31st birthday and was to be vaguely described as "Abzehrung" (consumption). On 26 November 1808 Fischer had his will drawn up wherein he made the following dispositions:

First, I commend my soul to the Lord Most High, my body however to the earth whereof it was made and which should be buried according to the Christian rite.
Second, for the benefit of my soul I order the reading of four Holy Masses which should be celebrated at the church of Maria Hilf.
Third, I bequeath to the institute of the poor one gulden and the same amount to the school fund, and finally
Fourth, I appoint my surviving wife universal heir of everything, movables and all that I leave behind after my death, whatever name it may have, namely for the fair reason that all this came from her alone anyway; and therefore nobody else should have the right to make any demand on the aforesaid estate.

On 1 December 1808, in accordance with the codicil mentioned below, Fischer had the following note added on the left margin of the page: "NB. Finally I request and choose as guardian of my minor child Eleonora the Princely Court councilor Mr. Franz v: Haÿmerle". As witnesses to his will Fischer chose his colleagues Philipp Teimer (1761-1817), singer, actor (and former oboist), Benjamin Gebauer (1758-1846), also a former oboist, who in 1808 was employed as violinist, and Ignaz von Seyfried, first Kapellmeister of the Theater an der Wien.

Anton Fischer's will, written and signed on 26 November 1808 (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A10, 648/1808). It should seem possible that the three witnesses, who were all members of Schikaneder's orchestra, also had children that were godchildren of the Schikaneders. But this is not the case. Von Seyfried (who got married in 1804) chose members of his noble family as godparents. Philipp Teimer did not need Schikaneder as godfather of his children, because his wife Barbara Holzmann (whom he married in 1793) was a cousin of Barbara Schmidt, inkeeper's daughter and mistress of the Swiss banker Johann Heinrich Geymüller whom she bore five children before she married him in 1808. Therefore the godparents of most of Teimer's children were Barbara Schmidt and Geymüller. The opera singer Henriette Teimer (1797-1818), who married and divorced Anton Forti, was named after her godfather Johann Heinrich Geymüller. Via her sister Helene, Barbara Geymüller was also distantly related by marriage to the Gebauer family. The baptismal entries of Teimer's children show that in 1808 Teimer also lived at Laimgrube 23 (St. Josef ob der Laimgrube 9, fol. 228). Gebauer's second wife Katharina (whom he married in 1804) had no children. Similar to Joseph Suche, Gebauer was one of the last surviving witnesses of the Wiednertheater's golden age. His ignorant contemporaries never bothered to document his recollections.

On 1 December 1808, the last day of his life, Fischer added a codicil to his will in which he appointed the I. & R. privy councilor Franz Wenzel von Haymerle guardian of his daughter. Haymerle (1745-1825) was a brother-in-law of Fischer's abovementioned best man Anton Teichmann. The codicil was again signed by Fischer's colleagues von Seyfried, Gebauer, and Teimer.

Als Vormund meiner hinterlassenen Tochter Eleonora, benenne ich den K. K. Hofagenten und Fürst Lichtensteinischen Hofrath Herrn Franz Ritter v Haÿmerle, dessen Einwilligung ich bereits hinzu erhalten habe. Wienn den 1ten Dec: 808.

Ig Rvon Seyfriedmp                         Anton Fischer
Capellmeister. [L.S.]                         Kapellmeister [L.S.]

Benjamin Gebauer                           Philipp Teimer
Mitglied des Orchesters                  Sänger und Schauspieller [L.S.]
beym Theater an der Wien [L.S.]

 Anton Fischer's codicil to his will, written on 1 December 1808, the last day of Fischer's life (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A10, 648/1808)

Anton Fischer died on 1 December 1808 and was buried on 4 December 1808 in the Hundsturm cemetery. Mathias Franz Perth attended the funeral and in his diary preserved a copy of the leaflet with a memorial poem by Castelli that was handed out at the cemetery.

(A-Wst, Perth, Tage-Buch, C H.I.N. 226988/16).

Fischer's death certificate, issued in 1810 for Fischer's widow, reads as follows:

Anton Fischer's death certificate written by the parish priest of St. Joseph ob der Laimgrube Prosper Pichler

Ich Joseph Prosper Pichler Pfarrer zu Wien in der Vorstadt Laimgrube bezeuge hirmit, daß Herr Anton Fischer Kapelmeister im K.K. Theater an der Wien katholischer Religion, wohnhaft auf dem Grunde Laimgrube N° 23. alt 31 Jahre, den ersten Dezember des Eintausend siebenhun achthundert und achten Jahrs verstorben, und den vierten darauf zur Erde bestattet worden seÿ.
Zur Urkund dessen habe ich diesen Todtenschein eigenhändig unterschrieben und das Pfarrsiegel beÿgedrückt.
        Wien den 9t April 1810.
        [L.S.] Pichlermp Pfarrer
        bey St. Joseph wie oben.

I, Joseph Prosper Pichler, parish priest in Vienna, in the Laimgrube suburb, herewith certify that Mr. Anton Fischer, Kapellmeister at the I. & R. Theater an der Wien, Catholic and living at Laimgrube No. 23, 31 years of age, died on December 1st of the one thousand eight hundred eighth year and was buried on the following 4th.
In witness whereof I have signed this death certificate with my own hand and printed the parish seal on it.
        Vienna, April 9th, 1810.
            [L.S.] Pichler mp
            parish priest at St. Joseph
            as mentioned above.

Fischer's widow was left in dire financial circumstances and it is very likely that Schikaneder organized a charitable collection in her favor (for a detailed description of Fischer's estate see Lorenz 2013). On his deathbed Fischer had finished his last work, the romantic opera Theseus und Ariadne based on a libretto by Stegmayr.

Josepha Fischer's situation was soon to take a turn for the better. At Laimgrube 23 she had befriended her landlord's son, the master mason Franz Seraph Jäger (1781-1839), whom she married on 10 June 1811 (St. Josef ob der Laimgrube 6, fol. 23). Jäger's best man was Joseph Reymund, one of the architects of the Theater an der Wien. The bride's witness was her daughter's guardian, the abovementioned Hofrat Franz von Haymerle.

The entry concerning the three publications of the banns for Franz Seraph Jäger and Josepha Fischer in June 1811 in the parish of St. Joseph ob der Laimgrube (St. Josef ob der Laimgrube, Rapular 1808-13, fol. 121)

The families of Franz Jäger senior and Franz Jäger junior registered on a conscription sheet of the "Jägersches Haus", Laimgrube 23 (A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt, Laimgrube 23/1r). This document shows five chronological phases: 1) In 1805 the names of Franz Jäger senior ("Steinmetzm[eister] Wittwer") and four of his sons were entered as residents of apartment No. 1. The son Anton Jäger is missing, because he lived in another apartment. 2) After Franz Jäger's death in January 1809, his name was crossed out and the name of  Anton Jäger, one of the new house owners, was added (the name "Andreas" is a mistake). At the very top are the names of the new house owners, Anton and Franz Jäger junior. The names of Jäger's sons were crossed out, except for Franz whose name was overwritten with a bolder script. 3) In 1810, Franz Jäger junior's name was entered for a second time, this time with the note "Mithausinhaber seit 15t Febr 810." 4) After Jäger's wedding the note "ledig" was crossed out and the names of his wife and his stepdaughter ("St Tocht Eleon Fischer 803") were added. 5) After 1821 the note "veh" (married) was added to Eleonora Fischer's name.

The marriage of Eleonore Fischer and Joseph Kornhäusel was facilitated by several inner-family circumstances. Franz Jäger the Elder had been a kind of second father to Kornhäusel, while Eleonore's mother had every reason to feel obliged to her husband who had saved her and her daughter from economical hardship. These circumstances may have contributed to the fact that Kornhäusel, at some point, faced a situation where he agreed to this marriage without being sure of his feelings. Furthermore, in the fall of 1821, Kornhäusel had financial problems and he could be sure that a marriage with Franz Jäger's stepdaughter would ease these problems. Concerning these circumstances, Joseph Carl Rosenbaum, on 6 October 1821, writes in his diary:

Mit Rohrweck in den Wilden Mann, sprachen über Kornhäusels Undank – er ist ihm 10.500 fl. schuldig – von seiner Vermählung am Donnerstag, den 4. mit der Fischer, Stieftochter des Jäger; Nobile war Beistand. [A-Wn, Cod. Ser. n. 203 Han, Bd. 10, 14r]

With Rohrweck to the Wilder Mann, we talked about Kornhäusel's ingratitude – he ows him 10,500 fl. – and of his wedding on Thursday the 4th with Miss Fischer, Jäger's stepdaughter. Nobile was best man.

Joseph Rohrweck (1766-1830) was a wealthy I. & R. glass dealer who owned a shop on the Graben. In 1818 he had accompanied Kornhäusel on a journey to Italy and it seems that Kornhäusels's debts had been contracted during this adventure.

Because Eleonore Fischer in 1821 was a half-orphan and a minor, her guardian and her mother had to apply for a marriage permit to the "Ober-Gerhab", i.e. the Vienna Magistrate. This application is included here, because it is a significant and previously unknown document related to the biography of Joseph Kornhäusel who was one of the most important Austrian architects.

The first page of Franz von Haymerle's and Josepha Jäger's application for a marriage permit for Eleonore Fischer (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A3, 459/1821)

Wohllöblicher Magistrat der K:K: Haupt und Residenzstadt Wien!

Die unterzeichnete Mutter, und Vormünderin ihrer, in erster Ehe mit dem, im Jahre 808. verstorbenen Kapellmeister ob dem K:K: privilegirten Theater an der Wien Anton Fischer erzeugten, und laut Taufschein A. achtzehen Jahre alten Tochter Eleonora Fischer bittet um die obervormundschaftliche Bewilligung: dieselbe mit dem Herrn Joseph Kornhäusel, Architekten, und Kunstmitglied der hiesigen K:K: Akademie verehlichen zu dürfen, und um Begenehmigung des hier sub B. anliegenden Heurathsbriefes.
Bekanntermaßen hat ihre Tochter nach dem Ableben ihres Vaters nicht das mindeste Vermögen ererbt, und es war für Mutter und Tochter ein wahres Glük, daß Unterzeichnete mit dem K:K: Hof- und bürgerlichen Steinmetzmeister Franz Jäger zur zweÿten Ehe geschritten ist, welcher sich nicht als ein Stief- sondern [fol. 1v] wahrer Vater, und Wohlthäter gegen ihre Tochter bewiesen hat, da er derselben nebst allen nothwendigen weiblichen Arbeiten, auch Musik und die französische Sprache lehren ließ, und sich mit der Unterzeichneten bestrebte, ihr eine christliche und sittliche Erziehung zu geben.
Diese Wohlthaten setzet derselbe noch fort, da derselbe auch ihre nothwendige Ausstattung und Haußeinrichtung übernommen hat.
Was nun ihren künftigen Ehegatten Herrn Kornhäusel betrift, so ist derselbe als einer der rechtschaffensten Männer, und geschiktesten Architecten bekannt, der nicht nur ein hinlängliches Vermögen, um seine Ehegattin gut und anständig zu ernähren, sondern auch einen ansehnlichen jährlichen Verdienst besitzet, übrigens, in Hinsicht seines moralischen und guten Characters dem Ehegatten der Unterzeichneten von seiner ersten Jugend an, vollkommen bekannt ist.
Mit diesem Ansuchen vereinigt auch der unterzeichnete Vormund seiner Mündel Elonora Fischer das [fol. 2v] Seinige, welcher nicht nur alles, von der Mutter hier angeführte sowohl in Hinsicht des vortreflichen Stiefvaters, als des Bräutigams, der reinen Wahrheit gemäß bestättiget, sondern auch, als vollkommen mit den dießfälligen Personen, und Familienverhältnißen bekannt, mit voller Überzeugung versichern kann, daß seine wohlerzogene, und ausgebildete Mündel in dieser Ehe nebst ihrer guten Versorgung ihr Glük finden, aber auch jenes, ihres künftigen Ehegatten sicher machen wird.
     Wien am 1t August 821.
          Franz Ritter v Haÿmerlemp als Vormund.
          Josepha Jäger

Most honorable Magistrate of the I. & R. Capital and Residential City of Vienna!

The undersigned mother and guardian of her daughter Eleonora Fischer, from her first marriage with the Kapellmeister of the I. & R. privileged Theater an der Wien, Anton Fischer who died in 1808, and, according to the baptismal certificate A. is eighteen years of age, requests the superior guardian's permission to be allowed to marry her with Mr. Joseph Kornhausel, architect, and artistic member of the local I. & R. Academy, and to approve the marriage contract hat is attached as B.
As is known, her daughter, after her father's death, did not inherit the slightest fortune and for mother and daughter it was a true godsend that the undersigned entered into her second marriage with the I. & R. court and civil master mason Franz Jäger, who not only proved himself as stepfather, but as true father and benefactor to her daughter, since, together with all necessary feminine skills, he also had her tought in music and the French language, and, together with the undersigned, endeavored to provide her with a Christian and moral education.
The aforesaid is still continuing these good deeds, since he also bears the costs of her necessary endowment and furniture.
As far as to her future husband Herr Kornhäusel is concerned, he is known as one of the most righteous men and most skillful architects, who not only has a sufficient fortune to support his wife well and decently, but also has a considerable annual income, and, by the way, in regards of his moral and good character is well known from his earliest youth on to the husband of the undersigned.
With this request, the undersigned guardian of his ward Elonora Fischer also unites his own, who not only, in accordance with the absolute truth, confirms all the statements made here by the mother, both in regards of the virtuous stepfather and the bridegroom, but, as someone who is fully acquainted with the persons and the circumstances of the family, can also assure with full conviction that his well-behaved and educated ward will find happiness together with good care in this marriage, and will also secure that of her future husband.
       Vienna, August 1st 1821.
          Franz Ritter von Haÿmerle as guardian.
          Josepha Jäger

The marriage contract of Joseph Kornhäusel and Eleonore Fischer, written and signed on 13 August 1821 (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A3, 459/1821)

The signatures and seals in the same contract (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A3, 459/1821). The witness Anton Jäger did not sign this document.

Joseph Kornhäusel's and Eleonore Fischer's wedding took place on 4 October 1821 in the church of St. Joseph ob der Laimgrube. The witnesses of the bride were the architect Anton Jäger and her guardian von Haymerle, the groom's witnesses were Franz Jäger, the architect Peter Nobile, and Baron Ignaz von Doblhoff.

The entry concerning Joseph Kornhäusel's and Eleonore Fischer's wedding on 4 October 1821 (St. Josef ob der Laimgrube, Tom. 8, fol. 17)

The newlyweds continued to live in Franz Jäger's house, Laimgrube 23.

Joseph Kornhäusel and his wife registered in 1822 in apartment No. 9 at Laimgrube 23 (A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt, Laimgrube 23/31r)

Kornhäusel's marriage to Jäger's stepdaughter soon began to pay off financially. In January 1824 he managed to secure the contract for the construction of the new Stadttempel of the Jewish community and on 21 August 1824, together with his wife and his parents-in-law, he bought the house Stadt 495 (today Judengasse 14) (A-Wsa, Grundbuch B1/28, fol. 244). Beginning in 1825, the synagogue in the Seitenstettengasse and the neighboring building were rebuilt at the same time. To the house Stadt 495 Kornhäusel added a 35-meter-high tower – the so-called Kornhäuselturm – whose immediate purpose is varyingly described in the literature. The popular information that Kornhäusel built this tower "as his office", or designed it "to be able to escape from his nagging wife" cannot be corroborated by archival sources. In 1830 Kornhäusel and his wife are documented to have still resided at his father-in-law's house Laimgrube 23. At that time they took care of a foster-daughter named Louise Heider (of whom nothing more specific is known). Already during his first marriage, Kornhäusel had provided home for a foster-daughter whose name was Josepha Prischel (or Beschel) (A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt Wieden 29/10r, and Stadt 74/7r).

Joseph ("KK Architekt v. St Wien") and Eleonora Kornhäusel with their foster daughter Louise Heider ("Ziehtochter v St[adt] Wien")  registered in 1830 as tenants of apartment No. 9 at Laimgrube 23 (A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt, Laimgrube 23/44r)

Kornhäusel's father-in-law, Franz Jäger, died in 1839. Since he owned a share of Stadt 495 (in addition to shares of four other houses in the Stadt, on the Wieden and the Laimgrube), his probate file contains a detailed description and evaluation of Stadt 495 and the Kornhäuselturm. This document does not describe the biggest and domed room in the tower as office, but as "Musikzimmer" (music room). This suggests that there was a piano in the room at that time.

The description of the tower in Franz Jäger's Sperrs-Relation referring to a "gewölbtes Musikzimmer" inside the Kornhäuselturm below the tower's upmost floors (A-Wsa, A2, 6561/1839). The original construction plans of the Kornhäuselturm in the holdings of the municipal Unterkammeramt (A-Wsa, Unterkammeramt, Serie 1.1.2.A33, alte Baukonsense 11435/1825 and 12062/1826) have been targetedly removed.

Von einem gemauerten Vorzimmer führt eine eiserne Stiege zu einen gewölbten Musikzimmer und zu einen stokadorten Vorhaus. Von da aus führen die eisernen Stiegen weiter zu einer stokadorten Kammer sammt Stiegenplatz, dann zu einen Stiegenvorhaus mit einer Thür versehen sammt Gang zu einer stokadorten Aussicht, ausser welcher 3 hölzerne Gänge mit eisernen Stützen und derley Geländer angebracht sind.

A section of Stadt 495 with the Kornhäuselturm seen from the south-west. This side of the tower only became visible in 1910 when the adjacent Dreifaltigkeitshof was torn down. In 1840 the value of the house Stadt 495 was estimated at 35,000 gulden. Kornhäusel's father-in-law, Franz Jäger, left an estate of about 104,100 gulden (A-Wsa, A2, 6561/1839).

In 1841 Kornhäusel is documented for the first time as residing at Stadt 495, albeit not definitely. On 29 July 1841 he applied for a one-year passport to Milan and the Austrian states (A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt, B4/30, fol. 363) in which he gave Laimgrube 23 as his main address and Stadt 495 as his "current" residence. In 1842 the passport was extended for one more year. Only in 1846 Kornhäusel and his wife finally moved into their house in the city.

Joseph Kornhäusel ("KK Architekt u Mitglied der Akad: Stdt Wien") and his wife ("Gattin Eleon.") registered in 1846-57 in apartment No. 5 at Stadt 495 (A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt, Stadt 495/20r)

At some point during the 1850s Joseph and Eleonore Kornhäusel got divorced. The exact date cannot be determined, because the file related to this case either burned in 1927, or, if it survived, is damaged and therefore not accessible in the holdings of the Landesgericht für Zivilrechtssachen. The fact that in 1856 Kornhäusel sold his country estate in Hinterbrühl, suggests that in that year he had to pay off his wife. Kornhäusel must have been the guilty party in his divorce case, because already on 1 February 1849 he assigned his share of Stadt 495 to his wife (A-Wsa, Grundbuch B1/2a, fol. 191v). Kornhäusel, who, given his many lucrative commissions, should have died a wealthy man, left assets of only 2,041 gulden 36 1/4 kreuzer which in his will – written on 10 October 1860 – he bequeathed to his housekeeper Barbara Trimmel. The fact that in 1860, at the time of his death, Kornhäusel owned no real estate is the reason why his probate file survived in the holdings of the Bezirksgericht Innere Stadt (as of 1850 the estates of house owners were settled by the Landesgericht für Zivilrechtssachen and mostly burned in 1927, like, for instance, the 1863 probate file of Kornhäusel's mother-in-law).

One of the two original copies of Joseph Kornhäusel's will (A-Wsa, Landesgericht f. ZRS, 3485/1860). This document was damaged in 1927 in the Palace of Justice fire and is therefore not regularly accessible. I was able to scan it with the generous permission from the archive's restaurator.

Beÿ meinem vollen Bewußtsein und aus freÿem willen ernene ich meine treue Dienerin Barbara Trimel zur Universal Erbin meines beweglichen und meines ganzen Unbeweglichen Vermögens, und zur Bestättigung unterschreibe ich es eigenhändig
          Wien den 10ten october 1860
          [L.S.] Joseph Kornhäuselmp
                            K:K: Architect

In 1863, after the death of her mother Josepha Jäger, Eleonore Kornhäusel became the sole owner of the house Stadt 495 (A-Wsa, Grundbuch B1/2a, fol. 191v [the Gewährbuch from that time burned in 1927]). In her will, which she wrote on 20 March 1855, Josepha Jäger decreed the following:

To my beloved daughter, who for her whole life was so childlike and gratefully devoted to me, and who, with me, not only loses her mother, but also her true friend, this, my daughter Eleonore Kornhäusel née Fischer I appoint universal heir of all my assets, while, out of maternal care, to secure her future, I have considered it necessary to make the following provisions:
A) Half of my fortune should go to her as a free statutory share, from the other half she should only draw the lifelong interests.
B) Of the common capital or common property of this second share she can dispose only in her will, but with the exception of a capital of 20,000 f, that is twenty thousand gulden Assimilated Coinage. This capital of 20,000 f, after her childless death, should go to the children of my brother-in-law Karl Jäger, namely Emma Jäger, the aforesaid Mr. Jäger, Josef Jäger and Antonia Jager, married Lochauser, in three equal shares, but with the explicit condition that they may receive the above-mentioned capital of 20,000 f CMz only after the death of my daughter.

Two pages of Josepha Jäger's will written on 20 March 1855. This document survived by pure coincidence (A-Wsa, Serie 2.3.1.1b.A9, 41/1).

On 21 November 1864 Eleonora Kornhäusel married Victor Ignaz Wickerhauser, a widowed cash controler with the Austrian National Bank, who was almost 17 years younger than her. In the records of St. Stephen's the bride is referred to as "Frau Eleonora Maria Anna Kornhäusel, Wittwe des Herrn Joseph Kornhäusel, K.K. Architektens und Mitglieds der K.K. Akademie der bildenden Künste, von Wien, Pfarre zu den Hl. Schutzengeln gebürtig des H. Anton Fischer Musik-Kompositeurs und der Josepha Steiger, beide verstorben und kath. Relig. ehl. Tochter".

The entry concerning the wedding of Victor Ignaz Wickerhauser and Eleonora Kornhäusel (A-Wd, Tom. 90, fol. 90)

Eleonora Wickerhauser, Eleonore Schikaneder's last surviving goddaughter, died of pneumonia on 8 January 1870, at 5:30 p.m. at Stadt 495.

The entry in the records of St. Stephen's concerning Eleonora Wickerhauser's death on  8 January 1870 (A-Wd, Tom. 46, fol. 32)

In her will (which was either destroyed in 1927, or is still inaccessible due to fire damage) she must have expressed the wish to be buried in the Jäger family crypt in the Hundsturm cemetery where her mother and her stepfather were buried. Her burial in this crypt took place on 11 January 1870.

The entry concerning the double crypt of the Jäger family and Eleonora Wickerhauser in the Hundsturm register of crypts (A-Wsa, Kommunalfriedhöfe, 1.2.4.3.2.B1.1 alt: II-B-1 - Protokoll der Grüfte, fol. 120r)

When the Hundsturm cemetery was closed in 1923, the members of the Jäger family were not exhumed. Their grave is lost. Ironically, the unfaithful husband Joseph Kornhäusel, who had been buried in St. Marx, was exhumed in 1934 and transferred to an honorary grave in the Vienna Zentralfriedhof.

20) Eleonora Winter

Cosmas Damian Winter was born in 1761 in Mainz in Germany. From 1784 until 1786 he appeared in performances of Walter's company in Regensburg (Mettenleitner 1866, 265). When in 1787 Schikaneder's company came to Regensburg, Winter joined Schikaneder's troupe, together with his colleague Karl Ludwig Gieseke. In 1790, in Vienna, in the performance of Der Stein der Weisen, Winter played the role of Astur, and in 1791 he took his stake of immortality by appearing as Sprecher in the premiere of Die Zauberflöte. On 30 July 1792 Cosmas Damian Winter married Eleonora Forchtner. The family background of the bride is veiled by the same inexactitude in the Wieden parish records that also hides  the origin of Barbara Reisinger (see above). 

The entry concerning Kosmas Damian Winter's wedding on 30 July 1792 (Wieden, Tom. 1, fol. 214)

The groom's best man was his old fellow actor Karl Ludwig Gieseke.

The signatures of Joseph von Hirschfeldt and Karl Ludwig Gieseke as witnesses of Kosmas Damian Winter's wedding (Wieden, Tom. 1, fol. 214)

Karl Ludwig Gieseke's signature from 30 June 1800 in one of Otto Hatwig's abums (A-Wst, H.I.N. 2607). Already in 1800 Gieseke was a "I. & R. privileged" mineral dealer.

At the time of their wedding Winter and his bride lived at Wieden 119 (now Margaretenstraße 21). Like in the case of Franz Xaver Gerl (see above), Winter's address was no coincidence: from 1789 until 1804 the house Wieden 119 (last number 479) was owned by Gieseke's friend, the mineral dealer Johann Weiß (Hofbauer 1864, 204). A signature of Winter survives in the 1789 marriage records of the Wieden parish. When on 26 October 1789 the scribe Joseph Dimler (possibly an employee of Schikaneder) got married to Magdalena Vormund, Schikaneder's prompter Caspar Biedermann and Cosmas Damian Winter signed as witnesses.

The entry concerning Joseph Dimler's wedding on 26 October 1789 bearing the signatures of Biedermann and Winter (Wieden, Tom. 1, fol. 160)

Cosmas Damian Winter's daughter Eleonora Winter was born on 19 December 1803 in the building of the Theater an der Wien, Laimgrube 26, and baptized in St. Joseph ob der Laimgrube. Eleonore Schikaneder officiated as godmother.

The entry concerning the baptism of Eleonora Winter on 19 December 1803 (St. Josef ob der Laimgrube, Tom. 8, fol. 104)

In 1805 the Winter family was registered by the conscription office as living at apartment No. 2 in the building of the Theater an der Wien. Eleonore Schikaneder's goddaughter appears at the bottom of the list.

Cosmas Damian Winter, his wife and his thre children registered in 1805 as tenants at the Theater an der Wien (A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt, Laimgrube 26/2r).

Winter's younger son Joseph, born on 21 December 1807, also had an interesting godmother: Josepha Hofer, opera singer, and daughter of Franz and Josepha Hofer (at that time already Josepha Meier). This boy's full name "Joseph Friedrich Sebastian" shows that he was also named after his godmother's stepfather Friedrich Sebastian Meier. The godmother is referred to as "des sel. Franz Hofer K. Hofmusikus Tochter".

The entry concerning the baptism of Joseph Friedrich Sebastian Winter on 21 December 1807 (St. Josef ob der Laimgrube, Tom. 9, fol. 209)

Cosmas Damian Winter died of tuberculosis on 18 November 1813. The following entry in the municipal death register is the only source known so far that documents his place of birth.

The entry in the municipal death register concerning the death of Cosmas Damian Winter on 18 November 1813 (A-Wsa, Totenbeschreibamt 135, W, fol. 40r)

Winter Herr Cosmas Damian, Inpizient[sic] / von Theater an der Wien, verheurath / von Mainz in Reich gebürt[ig]. In The- / aterhause N° 26 auf der Laimgrube / an der Lungensucht alt 52 Jr

Winter Mr. Cosmas Damian, stage manager at the Theater an der Wien, married, born in Mainz in the Reich. Inspected to have died of tuberculosis in the theater building No. 26 on the Laimgrube, aged 52 years.

Winter died a pauper. A note in his Sperrs-Relation reads: "Assets: none. The deceased has been buried with borrowed money". Winter left three children, aged 13, 10 and 5 years for whom the widow proposed the actor Matthäus Stegmayr as guardian. Stegmayr's own probate file, however, proves that he had rejected this appointment (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A2, 795/1820).

The title page of Cosmas Damian Winter's Sperrs-Relation (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A2, 4492/1813)

After her husband's death Eleonora Winter had to leave the apartment in the theater building. She moved to Leopoldstadt 376 (today Rotensterngasse 27). Like her husband she suffered from tuberculosis to which she succumbed on 22 December 1815 in the Allgemeines Krankenhaus. Eleonora Winter's Sperrs-Relation provides more information about her three children. They are listed as follows:

3 minor children Ignatz 16 years of age, adopted by the Kapellmeister Philipp Göttinger in Mantua
Eleonora 12 years of age, Joseph 8 years of age, both staying with Jacob Ebenländer, janitor at Leopoldstadt No. 212 at the leather manufacturer Mr. Grünsteidl's house

The list of Eleonora Winter's children in her Sperrs-Relation (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A2, 2013/1816)

Johann Philipp Göttinger, in whose care Winter's eldest son Ignaz Winter had been entrusted, was employed as Kapellmeister and schoolteacher at Baron von Braun's cotton spinning mill in Schönau. In December 1815, probably right after Eleonore Winter's death, Göttinger hurriedly fled to Italy from his creditors. On 29 December 1815 Göttinger's estate was legally declared bankrupt by the dominion of Schönau and the verdict was published as "Konkurs der Gläubiger" (convocation of creditors) on 11 January 1816 in the Wiener Zeitung. It is not known if Göttinger ever returned to Vienna. At the time of their mother's death, Eleonora Winter and her brother Joseph were staying at Leopold Grünsteidl's house Leopoldstadt 212 (today Karmelitergasse 2). Nothing is known so far about the later fate of Eleonora Schikaneder's last goddaughter. But in the course of my research on Haydn's godchildren, experience has taught me that, at some point of time, she will surely cross my path again in some archival document.

Epilogue

The above list does not claim to be exhaustive. After all, with one exception, it only covers Schikaneder's Vienna years. Schikaneder's services as godfather may also have been requested by members of his company while he was on tour, or during his stays in Salzburg, Bratislava, and Brno. Much more research is waiting to be done. If anyone should think that the author of this strangely extensive essay is not aware of the digressiveness by which he explores these particular Schikaneder trifles, he is mistaken. And yet, these biographical details and social relations need to be explored because, contrary to the opinion of many Mozart scholars, they are explorable. Relatively little is known about Emanuel Schikaneder and for this he himself bears the main share of the blame. He was too busy (and possibly too lazy) to write the autobiography whose publication he so grandly announced in 1802. In the announcement of this three-volume book project, in his typical pompous, basically untranslatable prose, he wrote the following:

Mein stärkerer Wille mag daher das schwächere Vermögen ersetzen, und ich weiß Ihnen keinen besseren Beweis meines innigsten Gefühles vorzulegen, als meine reine Absicht, und die Vorsorge, durch die eigene Herausgabe meines unverfälschten Lebenslaufes dem Betruge vorzubeugen, und dadurch zu verhindern, daß nicht dereinst Stümper und Speculations=Genies einige aufgeraffte Anecdoten, oder wohl gar selbst erfundene Histörchen auf meine Rechnung zusammen tragen, und unter dem fälschlichen Gemählde meiner seyn sollenden Biographie die Welt hintergehen und meine Freunde sowohl, als auch alle diejenigen, denen ich als Schauspiel=Director nicht ganz gleichgültig war, durch diesen Kunstgriff zu prellen suchen.

My stronger will, therefore, may replace the weaker capability, and I know of no stronger proof of offering my innermost sentiment, than my pure intention to forestall deception with the publication of my undistorted biography, and thereby prevent it from ever occurring that, some day, bunglers and geniuses of speculation collect some anecdotes, or perhaps even invented stories on my account, and deceive the world under the fake pretense of my alleged biography, and, by this stratagem, try to dupe my friends, as well as all those who were not indifferent to my work as theater director.

Emanuel and Eleonore Schikaneder (anonymous silhouettes, D-Mbs)

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Updated: 27 October 2019

For providing important information during my research I'm grateful to Ian Allan, Peter Prokop, Ted Albrecht, and Heinz Hampel-Waffenthal.

© Dr. Michael Lorenz 2018.