In June 2016, by pure chance, while doing research on the painter Thomas Ender, who at a later point of time also lived at this address, I was able to identify the house where Giuliani and Anna Wiesenberger shared an apartment. Some time around 1815, they are documented to have lived together in apartment no. 4 at Stadt 1083 (today Seilergasse 3).
Anna Wiesenberger and her lover Mauro Giuliani on a conscription sheet of Stadt 1083 from around 1814 (A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt, Stadt 1083/4r)
In 1811, the quarters in question were inhabited by Germain Trotter (1768–1836), a tradesman from Fiera di Primiero in Tirol. Trotter had a close relation to other Italians and musicians in Vienna, such as his business partner and sole heir, the widowed merchant Rosa Motta, née Dischendorfer (b. 30 Aug 1773 [Stockerau 9, 124], sister-in-law of the wife of the composer Paul Wranitzky and a cousin of Rudolf von Arthaber), and Antonio Salieri with whom in 1816 he served as witness to the wedding of the I. & R. cabinet courier Anton Kemperle.
Germain Trotter ("Burg Handelsmann") and Antonio Salieri ("primo maestro di Cappella della Corte Imp: e Reale Cavaliere della Legion d'Onore") signing as witnesses to the wedding of Anton Kemperle on 12 June 1816 (A-Wstm, Am Hof, Tom 3, fol. 193)
It is possible that in April 1814, before he moved to his sister Josepha in the Trattnerhof, Trotter recommended his apartment to Giuliani. But the reason why Giuliani chose to live in this particular house lies in the family relations of Anna Wiesenberger which will be dealt with below. This apartment seems to have been the quarter where Giuliani attracted the attention of the Vienna police, which in 1815, suspected him of "providing procuration for persons of higher social status". Two details in connection with the entry in the conscription sheet are intriguing: first, that none of the couples illegitimate daughters are listed in the record. The first one, Maria Willmuth, had been born on 20 April 1808, the third, Emilia, on 23 April 1813. Like their deceased sister Aloysia (1810–12) they were obviously living in foster care. And second, that Michele, Giuliani's son from his marriage, lived together with his father and Anna Wiesenberger. This suggests that at some point, Giuliani's wife may have become fully aware of her husband's extramarital love life. The entry in the conscription sheet reads as follows:
Germain Trotter 768 ofentl[icher] / Handl[un]gs associe / ledigAnna Wisenberger 786 Großhändlerstochter
Anna Lanzenmeier 781 Anv[erwandte]
Mario[sic] Güliany Künstlervonaus Italien
S.[ohn] Mich: 802
(A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt, Stadt 1083/4r)
It was not possible to identify Wiesenberger's alleged relative Anna Lanzenmeier whose name I tend to consider a pseudonym. People by the names of "Lanzenmeier" and "Lanzmeier" (in all possible different spellings) cannot be documented to have lived in Vienna at that time. This name appears in Viennese records only after 1850. The different handwriting in the note "Künstler aus Italien" after Giuliani's name shows that it was added at some later time. It is not known when Giuliani moved out of Stadt 1083, and if he immediately moved to Stadt 939 (last numbering 885, Singerstraße 13) where he is documented to have lived at the time of Anna Wiesenberger's death in 1817. Giuliani's successors as tenants of this apartment were the licensed jeweler Johann August Veith (b. 1787) and his wife Rosalia, née Herzog (b. 1792). Soon after, on 1 August 1811, Veith had received his official license as "privilegirter Goldarbeiter", he married on 3 November 1811, at the parish church of St. Ulrich (St. Ulrich, Tom. 34, fol. 27).
The House Stadt 1083
From 1951 until 1958, the Austrian amateur historian Paul Harrer-Lucienfeld worked on the second (expanded) edition of his magisterial eight-volume work Wien - seine Häuser, Geschichte und Kultur which comprises the history of all buildings in Vienna's Inner City from the Middle Ages into the twentieth century. Fundamental as Harrer's work is, its main deficiency is the fact that Harrer mainly based his research on the land registers in the Vienna Municipal Archives and a selection of out-dated secondary sources on local history. This resulted in Harrer's work being a history of sequences of ownership. The real, much more extensive history of the houses, which would cover their architectural design, based on the surviving evaluations and exact descriptions of the buildings, remains yet to be written. What follows is not only meant to serve as a model for a more ambitious level of research on the history of Viennese houses, it also answers the question as to why Mauro Giuliani chose to live at the house Stadt 1083.
Although the house in question was torn down in 1895, and replaced in the following year with a five-story building, it is possible to get an impression of the appearance of the original building using various archival sources. These materials comprise:
- The building consent, issued by the municipal Unterkammeramt
- Werner Arnold von Steinhausen's 1710 map of Vienna
- Joseph Daniel von Huber's 1778 and 1785 maps of Vienna (the so-called Vogelschaupläne)
- The Josephinische Steuerfassion Formular II (the municipal tax register) of 1787/88, and (most importantly)
- The descriptions and evaluations of the building by master builders which are preserved in the probate files and commercial court records of the house's various owners
The future house Stadt 1083 (above the word "Rosen"), still consisting of two units, on Steinhausen's 1710 map (A-Wsa, Kartographische Sammlung, Akt 3.2.1.1.P1.234). At that time, the broad section of the Seilergasse was still named "Rosen=Gassen".
On 21 June 1723, the house on the left of the above map was bought by Bartolomeo Patuzzi (1674–1736), a spice trader from Limone sul Garda. On 24 November 1733, Patuzzi also purchased the other house, and on 21 June 1734, he applied for the permission to completely tear down his own and the desolate "Schinaglisches Haus", which had once belonged to Johann Baptist Schinagl (1673–1727), and replace them with a single new building. One of the ground plans of the houses is marked "dermahlige Patuzische Behaußung" and "Erkaufte schinaglische Behaußung". The area of the yard bears the note: "This is now only one house, only the yard was built differently".
The ground plan of Bartolomeo Patuzzi's house on the left and the house, newly purchased from Johann Schinagl, on the right
(A-Wsa, Unterkammeramt, A33, Alte Baukonsense 388/1734)
One of Patuzzi's arguments for the new edifice was the smooth facade line of the new structure that would "increase the street area" (which it actually did not). The plan he submitted to the municipal Unterkammeramt bears the following notes, referring to the projected new (A) and the old exterior wall (B):
Demolition of both of the Patuzi houses
A: Newly projected line of the two houses providing regularity.
B: Old corner of both houses by which the City street gains a very useful section.
The 1734 ground plan of Bartolomeo Patuzzi's new house in the Seilergasse (A-Wsa, Unterkammeramt, A33, Alte Baukonsense 388/1734)
Bartolomeo Patuzzi died on 27 May 1736, and his three sons inherited the house. The official evaluation of this building in Patuzzi's probate file does not survive. Because his file was later filled with documents related to the estate of his widow (1743) and the transfer of the spice business to his son Joseph (1750), the material from 1736 was discarded (A-Wsa, Alte Ziviljustiz 140/5). In 1776, the total balance of Patuzzi's business amounted to 172,064 fl 57 x (A-Wsa, Alte Ziviljustiz 240/10). The 1785 edition of Huber's map shows the building in the Seilergasse with its yard.
The house Stadt 1083 (then 1094) on Joseph Daniel von Huber's 1785 map Die Kays. Königl. Haupt und Residenz Stadt Wien. Wie sie im Jahr 1785 unter der Regirung Josephs des Zweyten stehet (W-Waw, Sammlung Woldan).
The yard of Stadt 1083 was a little smaller which can be seen on the map of Robert Messner's standard work Die Innere Stadt Wien im Vormärz. All red colored buildings on this map date from before 1846.
The area around "Stock im Eisen" on Messner's map (Robert Messner, Die Innere Stadt Wien im Vormärz. Historisch-topografische Darstellung auf Grund der Katastralvermessung Wien 1996-1998,. Band 1)
The house Stadt 1083 (then 1094) in the Josephinische Steuerfassion (A-Wsa, Steueramt B34/5, fol. 77)
The earliest estimate of the house can be found in the probate file of Bartolomeo Patuzzi's son Joseph who died on 4 October 1776, at the age of 54. The estate of Joseph von Patuzzi (who had been ennobled in 1763) was evaluated at 26,341 fl 45 x. The value of the house was estimated at 24,000 gulden and, because Joseph von Patuzzi owned it together with his brother Karl, his half is given as follows in his list of assets.
Concerning the house in the CityI likewise have to refer to the original estimate of 24,000 f:, deposited with the honorable municipal account chamber of wards, whereof, because according to the certificate B Karl Patuzzi owns an equal half, the following amount must be listed here ― "12,000" ―
The value of the Patuzzi brothers' house in the Seilergasse given as 24,000 fl in Joseph von Patuzzi's probate file (A-Wsa, Alte Ziviljustiz 240/10)
The earliest detailed description of the house Stadt 1083 (then 1094) survives in volume five of the 1787/88 municipal tax register (the Josephinische Steuerfassion). At that time, the building belonged to Karl Patuzzi who, together with his son Franz, ran a spice shop at Graben 1150 named "Zur Weißen Rose" (The White Rose). At that time, spice dealers also sold wine and Patuzzi's shop was known to offer the best French and Italian vintages. The tax register shows the following thirteen-unit layout of the five floors (with annual rents in gulden).
Ground floor: seven shops and one "Handgewölb" (salesroom) which was not used between 23 April 1787 and 23 April 1788 [one shop at 50 fl and the others at 65 fl each]First floor [second floor, American counting]: one apartment with 5 rooms, 2 chambers, kitchen; one attic room and a chamber on the 4th floor 450 fl. One apartment with 3 rooms, 2 chambers, kitchen, cellar and an attic 350 flSecond floor: one apartment consisting of 5 rooms, 2 chambers, kitchen, cellar, attic; one chamber on the ground floor 450 fl. One apartment with 3 rooms, 2 chambers, kitchen, cellar and an attic 325 flThird floor: one apartment with 8 rooms, 4 chambers, kitchen, cellar and attic; one attic room and 2 chambers on the 4th floor, and [on the ground floor] a very damp salesroom [see above] 280 fl [corrected to 480 fl]Fourth floor: one apartment with 3 rooms, 4 chambers, an extra chamber, kitchen, a firewood vault and an attic 200 fl
In 1788, the taxable rental revenue of Stadt 1083 was 2247 gulden. The house owner Karl Patuzzi lived in the eight-room apartment on the third floor, a fact that is also documented in his will of 1 June 1791 (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A2, 3391/1793). The two five-room apartments on the first and second floor were the most expensive ones, but their relatively low rent of 450 fl suggests that the rooms were rather small and the apartments did not have much daylight. The number of Giuliani's apartment on the conscription sheet points to the smaller, three-room apartment on the second floor as Giuliani's quarters in 1814.
On 7 December 1793, the house owner Karl Patuzzi died of tuberculosis. His house was bequeathed as "a grandfatherly token" to his three grandsons Joseph, Karl and Franz Patuzzi, while his son Franz was granted the life-long benefit of half of the rental revenue. Because on 4 May 1794, a fire had partially destroyed the fourth floor (which had been fully built of wood), Franz Patuzzi on 19 May 1794 (in the name of his sons), applied for the permission to restore this floor with a less flammable brick-built structure (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A2, 3391/1793). After in March 1798 Franz Patuzzis son Joseph had bought the spice business of his colleague Johann Philipp Weiß to establish his own shop, "Zur goldenen Gans" at Haarmarkt 776, he had to prove that he owned the financial assets that were required for registering his own business. He did this by presenting a description and evaluation of the house Stadt 1083 (then 1150) of which he owned a third (A-Wsa, Patrimoniale Herrschaften, B1.24, fol. 106). The estimate, signed on 28 June 1798 by the master builders and sworn appraisers Joseph Millinger and Liborius Gerl, and the carpenter Joseph Knötzl, is the earliest surviving document of this category related to Stadt 1083. This description does not distinguish between apartments, but simply lists all rooms on each floor.
Appraisalwhich we, the undersigned sworn master-workmen, conducted in the Patuzzi house located in the City in the Seilergasse N° 1150 and where we assessed the following.
Below the ground.41 wooden steps deep three midsize and five small cellars, 18 steps above them eleven vaults for wood and two smal cellars, from the above depth a stone stairway leading to the ground floor.
On the ground floor.A vaulted driveway from the Seilergasse with a draw well in it; the toilets have a seperate connection to the sewer, seven shops, each with a display window toward the street, two storerooms, then five vaulted chambers. One vaulted room with a chamber.
On the first floor.Three hallways of which two are stuccoed and one is vaulted, one vaulted and one stuccoed kitchen, two vaulted and six stuccoed rooms, one storeroom and three stuccoed chambers.
On the second floor.One vaulted and one stuccoed hallway, two kitchens, eight rooms, one of which has an alcove, three chambers, everything stuccoed.
On the third floor.Three hallways, two kitchens, eight rooms one of which with an alcove, three chambers, everything stuccoed.
On the fourth floor.A hallway, three kitchens, nine rooms, one of which with an alcove, five chambers, two panties, everything stuccoed.
There is a stone staircase from the ground floor to the attic, in the yard there are three connecting corridors arched on each other, four consecutive wooden walkways with iron railings, the attics are paved with bricks, the roof is tiled. This house is five stories high, is in good building condition and is evaluated at sixty-thousand eight-hundred gulden.
To strongly confirm this the three appraisers have personally signed
Joseph Millingermp civil master builder and sworn appraiser
Liborius Thade Gerlmp civil master builder and sworn appraiser
Jos: Knötzl civil appraiser of carpentry
The appraisers' description and evaluation of Stadt 1083 (then 1150) from 28 June 1798 (A-Wsa, Merkantil- und Wechselgericht, A3, Firmenakten 1. Reihe, BP 132)
On 11 April 1801 (A-Wsa, Patrimoniale Herrschaften B1.25, fol. 36r), Joseph Patuzzi and his brother Franz sold the house in the Seilergasse to the silk manufacturer Sebastian Rosenkart (1756–1809) and his wife Barbara who, already on 27 November 1801, sold it to a certain Katharina Himpel (A-Wsa, Patrimoniale Herrschaften, B1.25, fol. 81v). It was Katharina Himpel who in 1814 was to be Mauro Giuliani's landlady. On 2 April 1822, the house Stadt 1083 was bought by Lorenz Aumüller and his wife Barbara (A-Wsa, Patrimoniale Herrschaften, B1.28, fol. 103). Lorenz Aumüller, who had been born in 1752 in Obergänserndorf (Pfarre Niederhollabrunn, Tom. 4, 167) and had come to Vienna before 1774 (St. Ulrich, Tom. 27, fol. 359v), started out as a modest ribbon weaver and during the following fifty years established one of Vienna's most sucessful productions of silk ribbons. When Aumüller died on 27 December 1827 at his house Schottenfeld 349 (which he had appropriately named "Zur Aumühl"), he owned five houses and a garden which were estimated at a total value of 262,192 fl 24 x. This was only half of his overall assets. Among the three houses, that Aumüller owned in the Inner City, was Stadt 1083 which in January 1830, was evaluated at 93,200 gulden by the municipal appraisers. Aumüller's probate file contains a detailed description of the house. Compared to the assessment from 1798 the building was basically unchanged. The only alteration on the second floor (Giuliani's presumable quarters) was a "Communicationsgang" (connecting corridor) that had been added. The third floor now had two more rooms.
The second and third page of the 1830 appraisal of Stadt 1083 in the probate file of Lorenz Aumüller (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A2, 881/1829). This document was signed by the master builders Joseph Adelpodinger, Wenzel Deimmel, Georg Rueff, and the master carpenter Joseph Fellner.
After the death of Lorenz Aumüller's widow Barbara on 5 October 1831, the house Stadt 1083 was described and evaluated again. The appraisal, drawn up on 26 November 1831, evaluated the house at 97,200 gulden, an increase of 4,3% within two years, which sheds light on the inflation rate at that time. In 1833, the house went to Aumüller's five grandchildren. One of them, Barbara Aumüller in 1830 had married Joseph Bujatti (an elder brother of the industrialist Franz Bujatti) and thus, had become a family member of one of the most prominent dynasties of Austrian silk manufacturers. When her brother Karl Grienauer (1808–1883) was ennobled in 1876, he chose the predicate "Edler von Auenegg" in memory of his grandfather Lorenz Aumüller. In 1896, the house Stadt 1083 was replaced with a new building. As far as I could determine, no photograph of the old house exists.
The house Seilergasse 3 today
The Wiesenberger-Hauptmann-Patuzzi Family Connection
Giuliani's choice of residence was based on the relations between the Wiesenberger and the Patuzzi families. In spring of 1798, Joseph Patuzzi, who at that time still owned a third of the house where he had been born in 1773 (A-Wd, Tom. 91, fol. 31v), realized the marriage plans which were to become the basis of his family relationship with Mauro Giuliani's extramarital family. On 12 April 1798, he applied to the Lower Austrian Government for a permission to marry Theresia Hauptmann, the daughter of the goldsmith and appraiser Johann Kaspar Hauptmann. "Since I am about to open a trading business", Patuzzi wrote, "a wife is absolutely indispensable for the management of my household".
The first page of Joseph Patuzzi's 1798 marriage application to the I. & R. Lower Austrian Government (A-Wstm, St. Peter, Verkündakt 35/1798)
The entry concerning Joseph Patuzzi's and Theresia Hauptmann's wedding on 13 May 1798. Johann Georg Wiesenberger's name appears at the upper right. The original copy of the marriage register with the witnesses' original signatures does not survive (A-Wstm, St. Peter, Tom. 1, 442).
In 1792, seven months after the death of his first wife, Johann Georg Wiesenberger had married nineteen-year-old Maria Anna Hauptmann (A-Wstm, St. Peter, Tom. 1, 294) who had lived in the Trattnerhof on the same floor as Wiesenberger.
The apartments of Johann Georg Wiesenberger, Andreas Annes, and Johann Kaspar Hauptmann on the fourth floor of the Trattnerhof, listed in the 1788 tax register (A-Wsa, Steueramt, B34/3, fol. 464)
The last page of Johann Georg Wiesenberger's and Maria Hauptmann's marriage contract which was drawn up on 30 August 1792. This document was signed by the bridal couple, the bride's parents Johann Kaspar, and Rosalia Hauptmann, the bride's uncle Franz von Bergauer, and Wiesenberger's best man, the merchant Andreas Annes (1735–1814) (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A2, 3545/1802).
Only one document from Georg Wiesenberger's marriage file survives: on 1 September 1792, Anton Leopold Haßlehner, the inspector of the Trattnerhof, attested to the bride's long-time residence at this building.
The certificate of residence, issued on 1 September 1792, for Maria Anna Hauptmann (A-Wst, St. Peter, VKA 65/1792). I extend my gratitude to the incomparable Constanze Gröger for making the publication of this document possible.
It is herewith certified that the very noble Johann Kaspar Hauptmann, civil goldsmith, I. & R. sworn jeweller and jewelry appraiser, has been residing continuously at the Trattnerhof N° 591-596 in the City on the Graben into the 20th year, beginning on 23 April 1773, and that his legitimate daughter Anna Maria was born there and until now has really been living there with him. Vienna, September 1st, 1792That Joseph Patuzzi and Johann Georg Wiesenberger became brothers-in-law was to have long-term consequences. After the death of Karl Patuzzi (the youngest of the three brothers), who died in February 1799 during his apprenticeship in Rovereto, Karl's third of the house Stadt 1083 (then 1150) went to Joseph and Franz Patuzzi (A-Wsa, Patrimoniale Herrschaften, B1.24, fol. 320v). The death of their father Franz Patuzzi senior on 10 February 1799 sounded the economic decline of the family business. At the time of his wedding, Joseph Patuzzi still declared himself a "bürgerlicher Handelsmann", but he soon followed the career of many other Viennese tradesmen, whose business suffered under the unfavorable political circumstances, and became a commodity broker. Since Joseph Patuzzi, between 1799 and 1814, fathered eleven children, it is easy to trace his steps in the following years, steps that – not surprisingly – lead back to Stadt 1083, the house of his ancestors. In 1798, Patuzzi lived at Stadt 585 (the birthplace of Haydn's wife) at Hoher Markt 4. 1801 saw him residing at Stadt 685 (Rotenturmstraße 21), and 1802 at Stadt 799 (Bäckerstraße 5). On 14 October 1803, his daughter Anna Theresia Patuzzi was born at Stadt 518 (Rabensteig 8). Her godmother was her aunt Maria Anna Wiesenberger, Johann Georg Wiesenberger's widow.
[L.S.] Ant: Leop: Haßlehnermpia Inspector
The entry concerning the baptism of Anna Theresia Patuzzi at St. Stephen's (A-Wd, Tom. 103, fol. 248)
From 1806 until early 1810, Patuzzi lived at Stadt 1017 (Seilerstätte 18), but as of February 1810, he is documented to have moved back to his place of birth, Stadt 1083 (then 1150), where on 4 February 1810, his son Moritz was born (A-Wd, Tom 105, fol. 213). Patuzzi's return to the house in the Seilergasse eventually led to Anna Wiesenberger and Mauro Giuliani move there as well. Joseph Patuzzi, his wife Theresia and their second child Joseph show up in a conscription sheet of Stadt 1083 where they lived until 1815.
The family of Joseph Patuzzi ("k.k. Waarensensal") registered at Stadt 1083 (A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt, Stadt 1083/1r). Of Patuzzi's eleven children only five were still alive in 1830 (A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt, Landstraße 14/37r).
On 6 May 1810, Joseph Patuzzi's brother-in-law Peter Hauptmann, a goldsmith and jewelry appraiser like his father, married the renowned opera singer Paulina Anna Milder (St. Josef ob der Laimgrube, Tom. 5, fol. 273).
Anna Milder-Hauptmann (who had been Beethoven's first Leonore in all versions of Fidelio) served as godmother of one of Joseph Patuzzi's children. Her godson Sigmund Paul Patuzzi was born on 19 February 1814, at Stadt 1083 (then 1150) and baptized at the Cathedral on the following day. The state official and diarist Mathias Perth, who was the tutor of Patuzzi's children, was present at the ceremony and testified to the child's legitimacy (A-Wst, Perth, Tage-Buch, C H.I.N. 226988/26, 131).
Peter Hauptmann's and Anna Milder's "Verkündigungs Schein", written on 2 May 1810, by the curate of St. Peter's Thomas Huber. This document certifies that the banns for the wedding were published once at St. Peter's, that the couple was exempt from the two other publications, and that there was no legal obstacle to the marriage (A-Wstm, St. Peter, VKA 49/1810). At the time of their marriage, Hauptmann lived in the Trattnerhof (No. 8, 2nd floor, 4th stairway, A-Wsa, Handschrift A 325/1, 959f.), and Milder at the Theater an der Wien (A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt, Laimgrube 26/7r). Peter Hauptmann had been born on 6 February 1779 (A-Wd, Tom. 95, fol. 112r) in the Trattnerhof (the number "691" in the baptismal entry is an error), son of the goldsmith Johann Kaspar Hauptmann (1740–1826) and his first wife Rosalia, née Bergauer.
Anna Milder-Hauptmann (who had been Beethoven's first Leonore in all versions of Fidelio) served as godmother of one of Joseph Patuzzi's children. Her godson Sigmund Paul Patuzzi was born on 19 February 1814, at Stadt 1083 (then 1150) and baptized at the Cathedral on the following day. The state official and diarist Mathias Perth, who was the tutor of Patuzzi's children, was present at the ceremony and testified to the child's legitimacy (A-Wst, Perth, Tage-Buch, C H.I.N. 226988/26, 131).
The entry concerning the baptism of Anna Milder-Hauptmann's godson Sigmund Paul Patuzzi on 20 February 1814. Mathias Perth's signature is at the bottom right (A-Wd, Tom. 106, fol. 113). This child died of measles on 23 September 1815 (A-Wd, Tom. 40a, fol. 209).
It is interesting to trace the further fate of the Hauptmann siblings, Peter Hauptmann, Maria Wiesenberger, and Theresia Patuzzi. In 1815, Anna Milder-Hauptmann was granted an emigration permit and went to Berlin. Her emigrant status was revoked in 1819 by the Emperor and converted into a five-year passport (A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt, Stadt 618/41v). Peter Hauptmann seems not to have accompanied his wife to Berlin, because at the time of his father's death in 1826, he was still living in Vienna (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A2, 1340/1826). Milder-Hauptmann visited Vienna one last time in January 1836, on which occasion she gave a concert at the hall of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. Peter Hauptmann paid rent for his apartment in the Trattnerhof until 29 September 1834 (A-Wsa, Handschrift A 325/3, 97f.). A unique source regarding the last decades of Hauptmann's life survives as an anonymous report titled "Juwelier Hauptmann, der Gemahl der Sängerin Milder" in Vienna's Haus-, Hof-, und Staatsarchiv (A-Whh, StK, Adelsakten 7, fol. 390-402). In 1845, heavy financial problems, which allegedly were caused by his being liable for debts of too many of his friends, caused Hauptmann to leave Vienna. He spent the following two years in Gloggnitz and Ödenburg, and in 1847 – on the advice of Vienna's mayor Ignaz Czapka – moved into the Versorgungsanstalt in Ybbs an der Donau. There he died of old age on 8 February 1858 (Pfarre Ybbs, Sterbebuch der Versorgungsanstalt, Tom. 4, fol. 32).
Eleven months after the death of Johann Georg Wiesenberger in 1802, from whom she had inherited 23,500 gulden, his widow Maria Anna bore an illegitimate daughter who on 6 May 1803 was christened Theresia Anna Karolina after her godmother Theresia Patuzzi (Maria Rotunda, Tom. 2, 51f.). The name of the child's father is not given in the records, but later documents show that the father was Joseph Rantsch (b. 4 June 1774, St. Ulrich, Tom. 34, fol. 100r), head accountant with the bank and trading firm of Baron Andreas von Fellner (1751–1819). Rantsch and Maria Wiesenberger got married on 6 May 1806 at Vienna's Dominican Church (Maria Rotunda, Tom. 2, 214f., and A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A10, 156/1827), and eventually had seven more children. The godmother of one of them was their mother's stepdaughter (and Mauro Giuliani's mistress) Anna Wiesenberger.
The entry concerning the baptism of Adolph Alois Rantsch on 1 March 1811 (St. Augustin, Tom. 5, fol. 100). The midwife was Theresia Bernegger who in 1808 had already helped deliver Mauro Giuliani's daughter Maria Willmuth.
Although in 1810 Joseph Rantsch had become a business associate of Baron von Fellner, his business activities seem to have been unsuccessful.
The seals and signatures of the Barons Alexander and Karl von Fellner and Joseph Rantsch on their joint associate contract which was signed on 1 January 1810 (A-Wsa, Merkantil- und Wechselgericht, A3, 1. Reihe, F 80, fol. 69r)
At the time of Joseph Rantsch's death on 13 March 1827, his meager assets were completely compensated by the financial claims of his widow. Maria Rantsch proposed her brother Peter Hauptmann as guardian of her eight children, but Hauptmann refused to accept this appointment (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A10, 156/1827).
The "Großhändlerswittwe" Maria Rantsch and five of her children registered on a conscription sheet from around 1834 (A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt, Stadt 476/9r)
Maria Rantsch died on 18 July 1849 completely destitute. At that time, only four of her children were still alive (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A2, 7815/1849). In her will, written on 13 May 1845, she left all her belongings to her unmarried daughter Maria.
The will of Maria Anna Rantsch, née Hauptmann, widowed Wiesenberger (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A10, 511/1849)
Maria Anna Rantsch's will was closed with the seal of her first husband Johann Georg Wiesenberger.
The seal of Johann Georg Wiesenberger on the outside of Maria Rantsch's will (A-Wsa, Mag. ZG, A10, 511/1849)
Between 1815 and 1820, Joseph Patuzzi and his wife Theresia, née Hauptmann moved from Stadt 1083 to the Landstraße. At that time, Patuzzi began to pull off a rare feat of imposture: he used the sixty-year-old predicate of nobility of his uncle Joseph von Patuzzi and successfully passed himself off as nobleman. All documents from after 1820 show him as "von Patuzzi, according to the produced diploma" (A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt, Landstraße 14/4v).
Joseph von Patuzzi's coat of arms issued by the Court in 1763 (in private ownership)
Patuzzi's ruse was so convincing that his and his wife's estates were settled by the court of the Lower Austrian Landrechte which was responsible for members of the nobility. The two probate files of the Patuzzi couple were destroyed in 1927.
Joseph "von" Patuzzi and his family, registered on a conscription sheet of Landstraße 14 (today Marxergasse 8), dating from around 1835, which was later transferred to Landstraße 43 and 311 (A-Wsa, Konskriptionsamt, Landstraße 14/37r). As can be seen, the son Joseph was a municipal market judge, Ludwig a public servant in Amstetten, and Moritz an office scribe in St. Leonhardt (today's St. Leonhard am Forst).
Theresia Patuzzi, née Hauptmann died on 4 August 1840 at Landstraße 43 (today Marxergasse 16), her husband Joseph on 31 January 1847 at Landstraße 311 (today Rochusgasse 6).
To address marginal issues like the above in a detailed manner may seem hyperbolic. But the knowledge of the historical sources and the broad archival overview, which makes it possible to bring them into an informative context, holds the obligation to address such questions with the greatest possible meticulousness. All my research – may it lead ever so far into peripheral areas – has always two main purposes: to be a model for future efforts and to serve as guidance for my successors.
© Dr. Michael Lorenz 2016. All rights reserved.
Updated: 17 August 2023
For their support during my research for this blogpost my thanks go to Anna Forster-Petrova, Otmar Seemann, David Buch, and Lucia Schuger.
