Joseph Stadler's unknown probate file
On 17 March 1771, the shoemaker Joseph Stadler died of tuberculosis in the house Mariahilf 73, "Zum goldenen Greifen" (today Stiftgasse 3).
The entry in the municipal death register concerning Joseph Stadler's death on 17 March 1771 (A-Wsa, Totenbeschreibamt 65, S, fol. 19v). Harald Strebel managed to even mistranscribe this simple entry. In unmerciful incompetence, Strebel also mistranscribed the entry concerning Joseph Stadler's obsequies ([A-Wstm 8, 448] Strebel 2016/2, 39).
Joseph Stadler's probate file (the so-called Sperrs-Relation) has previously been considered lost, and the reason for this presumption is quite curious. As a resident of the suburb of Mariahilf, Joseph Stadler was under the jurisdiction of the Vienna Domkapitel (Cathedral Chapter). Thus, the probate files of the Mariahilf residents form a separate archival holding (A-Wsa, Patrimonialherrschaften, Serie 2.1.1.10.A1b) which is very small compared to that of the municipal civil court and, similar to the Sperrs-Relationen of the Alte Ziviljustiz (A-Wsa, Städtische Justizbehörden, Serie 1.2.3.1.A2), is not subdivided into years and numbers, but initials, fascicles and numbers. In 1771, two people named Joseph Stadler died in the suburb of Mariahilf: the Sperrs-Relation of first one is filed under "S, Fasz. 4–115". Because this file is not extant, the entry "Stadler Joseph seel: Abhdl." in the register (A-Wsa, Patrimonialherrschaften, B10/1) became a misleading bogus find which made researchers stop looking for another person named Joseph Stadler. About the first document Harald Strebel writes the following: "Die Verlassenschaftsabhandlungen[sic!] nach Joseph Stadler (Patrimonialherrschaften, Domkapitel, Abhandlungen lit. S. Fasz. 4–115) haben sich nicht erhalten." (Strebel, 2016/1, 34, fn 93). The second Joseph Stadler, who is the right one, appears two pages later in the register in the entry "Stadler Joseph v. Maria Hilf seel:[ig] Verlass:[enschaft]", with the Sperrs-Relation bearing the shelfmark "S. Fasz. 5–206". Back in 2011, when I did research for my article about Mozart's godson Wolfgang Amadé Nebe (Lorenz 2011), I also thought that the file in question is lost. But I soon continued the search and found the document. The discovery of Joseph Stadler's probate file resolves a number of questions concerning the genealogy of the Stadler family, because it shows which of Joseph and Sophia Stadler's children were still alive at the time of their father's death. Owing to Joseph Stadler's modest assets, his Sperrs-Relation consists of only two folded sheets in folio format: 1) the report (Relation) by the judge Johann Andreas Weigl to the court of the Domkapitel about Joseph Stadler's death and its legal procedural consequences, and 2) a bill, dated 10 May 1771, submitted to the court by the glover Johann Götz, concerning a number of garments that Götz had made, and requested to be paid. The text on fol. 1r of the document has different dates of origin and must be read and edited accordingly. Chronologically, the rubrum, written on a quarter of the first page, is the introduction of the judge's statement on fol. 2v. Then the document must be turned again to read the response of the court.
The biographical implications of the document
Joseph Stadler's probate file allows the following three conclusions to be drawn:
1) Between 1743 and 1763, the Stadler couple did not have ten children, as previously claimed (Strebel 2016/2, 41-44), but twelve. The apparent twins Joseph and Johann Georg Stadler (of whom the latter is mentioned in the above Sperrs-Relation), were born in 1747, in a still unknown place where their parents lived between 1745 and 1749. The first one, Joseph Stadler, died in Bruck an der Leitha on 14 March 1752, at the age of five (Bruck an der Leitha 6, fol. 189r). The second one, Johann Georg, in 1771, had just turned 24, and thus, had reached the legal age necessary to accompany his mother to the court chancellery. He had been drafted into the army and eventually had needed his mother's financial support to buy himself out of the military. At the time of his mother's death in 1790, Johann Georg Stadler was already deceased.
2) At the time of her husband's death in 1771, Sophia Stadler had a fourth son whose existence she chose to conceal from the authorities. Her eldest son Leopold Lorenz Stadler had been born on 15 November 1745, in Vienna. The entry concerning Leopold's baptism is of minor relevance, but since Strebel was unable to correctly transcribe it, it is included here.
3) Sophia Stadler's statement that "her two younger sons' musical education had cost her a lot of money" is the first and only documented reference to the actual costs of the musical training of Anton and Johann Stadler. This points to several years of taking lessons with a clarinet master and consigns all considerations regarding a possible autodidactic training of these two legendary virtuosos to the realms of fantasy.
The next installment of this series will deal with important Stadler documents that Harald Strebel declared "lost", because he never had the time to do the necessary work in Vienna's archives.
Bibliography
© Dr. Michael Lorenz 2021. All rights reserved.
Updated: 19 February 2026
On 17 March 1771, the shoemaker Joseph Stadler died of tuberculosis in the house Mariahilf 73, "Zum goldenen Greifen" (today Stiftgasse 3).
[Martÿ 771 den 17t]Joseph Stadler and Sophie Altmann, the parents of the clarinetist brothers Anton and Johann Stadler, had married on 21 October 1743, at St. Michael in Vienna. The reason for choosing this church was the fact that the bride lived in the Windmühle suburb which was then located in the parish of St. Michael's. The following entry in the parish's Verkündbuch concerning the publication of the banns for this wedding has never been published correctly. Strebel's transcription of this entry (based on a photograph I sent him in 2010) contains a number of stunning mistakes, such as a "Volekonisches Haus auf dem Stockmarkt[sic!]", and the nonsensical words "ultra quodam decem anni" (Strebel 2016/2, 38). Strebel's musings about Michael Altmann's possible ancestors (Strebel 2016/1, 24f.) are completely erroneous.
Stadler Joseph Schuster ist beÿn gold[enen] Kreifen zu
M: Hülf an der Lunglsucht b[e]sch[au]t worde[n] alt
52 J[ahr] Abents um 5 Uhr v[er]sch[ieden] AH:
Stadler Joseph, shoemaker at the Golden Griffin in
Mariahilf was inspected to have died of tuberculosis at the age
of 52 years, passed away at 5 p.m. Anton Hochmayr [coroner]
The entry concerning the three publications of the banns, beginning on 28 September 1743, for the wedding of Joseph Stadler and Sophie Altmann (A-Wstm, Verkündbuch 22, 82).
28 7bris 1743. copulati sunt 21 8bris[translation:]
Joseph Stadler ein Schuchmacher von Tellershaimb
in Öestreich gebürthig des Andres Stadler und
Susannæ beeder Ehl[icher] Sohn Nimbt zur Ehe die
tugendsame Jungfr[au] Sophia Altmanin alhier
gebürthig des H. MichaëlHAltman und Fraue[n]
Barbaræ beeder Ehl[iche] Tochter beÿ d[em] grüne[n]
Thor auf der windmühl beede wonhaft.
Test[es] H. Ignatius Flackl bürg[erlicher]
Goldarbeiter in Volckerische[n] Haus
auf d[em] Kollmarckt. H: Martin
Horn ein schreiber beÿ d[em] Schwartze[n]
Rössel in der Rossau.
Ambo in Parochia
Sponsus ultra quadrantem
anni et
Sponsa semp[er] ibidem.1.2.3. adsunt.
On 28 September 1743. They were united on 21 October [1743]
Joseph Stadler, a shoemaker born in Döllersheim in Austria, legitimate son of Andreas and Susanna Stadler, takes as wife the virtuous maiden Sophia Altmann, born here, legitimate daughter of Michael Altmann and his wife Barbara, both living at the Green Door [Windmühlgasse 7] in the Windmühle [district].
Witnesses: Mr. Ignatius Flackl, civil goldsmith at Count Volkra's house [Kohlmarkt 7] on the Kohlmarkt, and Mr. Martin Horn, scribe at the Black Horse [Bauernfeldplatz 4] in the Rossau.
Both are living in the parish
The groom for more than a quarter of a year, and the bride has always been living at the same place.
1st 2nd 3rd [publication of the banns] The couple is present.
Joseph Stadler's probate file (the so-called Sperrs-Relation) has previously been considered lost, and the reason for this presumption is quite curious. As a resident of the suburb of Mariahilf, Joseph Stadler was under the jurisdiction of the Vienna Domkapitel (Cathedral Chapter). Thus, the probate files of the Mariahilf residents form a separate archival holding (A-Wsa, Patrimonialherrschaften, Serie 2.1.1.10.A1b) which is very small compared to that of the municipal civil court and, similar to the Sperrs-Relationen of the Alte Ziviljustiz (A-Wsa, Städtische Justizbehörden, Serie 1.2.3.1.A2), is not subdivided into years and numbers, but initials, fascicles and numbers. In 1771, two people named Joseph Stadler died in the suburb of Mariahilf: the Sperrs-Relation of first one is filed under "S, Fasz. 4–115". Because this file is not extant, the entry "Stadler Joseph seel: Abhdl." in the register (A-Wsa, Patrimonialherrschaften, B10/1) became a misleading bogus find which made researchers stop looking for another person named Joseph Stadler. About the first document Harald Strebel writes the following: "Die Verlassenschaftsabhandlungen[sic!] nach Joseph Stadler (Patrimonialherrschaften, Domkapitel, Abhandlungen lit. S. Fasz. 4–115) haben sich nicht erhalten." (Strebel, 2016/1, 34, fn 93). The second Joseph Stadler, who is the right one, appears two pages later in the register in the entry "Stadler Joseph v. Maria Hilf seel:[ig] Verlass:[enschaft]", with the Sperrs-Relation bearing the shelfmark "S. Fasz. 5–206". Back in 2011, when I did research for my article about Mozart's godson Wolfgang Amadé Nebe (Lorenz 2011), I also thought that the file in question is lost. But I soon continued the search and found the document. The discovery of Joseph Stadler's probate file resolves a number of questions concerning the genealogy of the Stadler family, because it shows which of Joseph and Sophia Stadler's children were still alive at the time of their father's death. Owing to Joseph Stadler's modest assets, his Sperrs-Relation consists of only two folded sheets in folio format: 1) the report (Relation) by the judge Johann Andreas Weigl to the court of the Domkapitel about Joseph Stadler's death and its legal procedural consequences, and 2) a bill, dated 10 May 1771, submitted to the court by the glover Johann Götz, concerning a number of garments that Götz had made, and requested to be paid. The text on fol. 1r of the document has different dates of origin and must be read and edited accordingly. Chronologically, the rubrum, written on a quarter of the first page, is the introduction of the judge's statement on fol. 2v. Then the document must be turned again to read the response of the court.
Fol. 1r of Joseph Stadler's Sperrs-Relation with the judge's rubrum in the lower right quarter (A-Wsa, Patrimonialherrschaften, Serie 2.1.1.10.A1b, lit. S, Fasz. 5–206). The court's response is written on the remaining space of the page.
[fol. 1r]
Stadler Joseph
ps. 10 April 1771
Metropolitan Dom Capitl
Ex offo erstattende Relation
Johann Andre Weigl p:t: Richters zu Maria Hilf
Den beÿ dem goldenen Greifen ab intestato verstorbenen Inwohner Joseph Stadler und beÿ inberührten weiteren beliebigen Erkanntnus betref[end]
Fol. 1v of Johann Andreas Weigl's report to the Domkapitel court (A-Wsa, Patrimonialherrschaften, Serie 2.1.1.10.A1b, lit. S, Fasz. 5–206).
[fol. 2v][translation:]
Hochwürdiges Metropol[itan] Dom Capitl
Gnädige Herren demnach der Joseph Stadler gewester Inwohner beÿ den goldenen Greifen zu Maria Hilf ab intestato verstorben, und 3 Söhne benanntl:[ich] Johann Georg 24 Jahre Anton 18 und Johannes 15 hinterlassen, habe ich die gewöhnliche Juris dictions Spörr angeleget, beÿ untersuchung des Vermögens aber von der Wittib vernommen, wie daß dieser ihr Ehemann wegen seiner angehaltenen langwirrigen Krankheit nicht einen Kreützer verdienen können, und dahero nebst ihrem alltägl[ichen] Verdienst annoch in einer Schulden Last pr 208 fr verflochten wäre, allermassen sie nebst beÿ dem grösseren Sohn von dem Soldaten Leben loß gekaufet, und dieser wie auch die andern 2 mit erlehrnung der Music sehr vieles gekostet hätten;
Welche umstände ich hiemit ex offo einberichten, und des weiters beliebige gnädigen Erkanntnus anheimstellend mich zu beharrliche[n] Hulden und Gnaden empfehlen sollen
Euer Hochwürden und Gnaden
Gehorsamer
Johann Andre Weiglmpia
p[leno] t[itulo] Richter alda
[fol. 1r continued]
Diese Relation beÿ der Canzleÿ aufzubehalten, und solle invermelte Wittib Beÿ Nächster session ex offo fürgeforderet werd[en].
Per Cap[itulum] Metrop[olitanum] Vienn[ens]e
den 10 April 771
0
Beÿ der anheunt über des abintestato ohne Hinterlassung einiger Mittel verstorbenen Joseph Stadler, gewesten Innwohner beÿ dem goldenen Greifen zu Maria Hilf vorgenommenen Abhandlungs Comission ist in Eines Reverend[issi]mi Cap[ituli] Metrop[olitani] Sÿndicats=Canzleÿ persöhnl[ich] erschienen die Sophia Stadlerin Wittib mit ihrem Majorennen Sohn Johann
0
Georg Stadler, und nachdeme Sie Stadlerische Wittib vorgestellet hat, wie daß ihr Ehemann wegen seiner angehalten[en] langwehrig[en] Krankheit nicht eines Kreützers werth verdiene[n] können, folgsam auch nichtes verlass[en], sondern Sie Wittib selbsten sich um ihre Kinder in Verdienst zubring[en], und etwas erlehrne[n] zulass[en] annoch 208 f:, gemäß den eingelegten attestatione[n] schuldig seÿe, folgsam also ihren hinterlassenen dreÿe[n] Kindern von ihren väterl[ichen] Erbs=Antheil nichtes auswerfen könnte, sondern Sie selbste[n] von dem als Hebam alltäglichen Verdienst leben müste. Welches auch der gegenwärtig geweste majorene Sohn Johann Georg Stadler comissionaliter contestiret, als will Ein Reverend[issi]mum Cap[itulum] Metrop[olitanum] veranlasset haben:
Daß beÿ diesen sich ausserenden Schuld[en] Umständ[en] d[er] Sophia Stadlerin Wittib ihres Ehewirths Joseph Stadler seel[igen] Verlassenschaft gratis eingeantwortet, und die Jurisdictions Spörr hinwiderum auf weiteres Anlangen angenommen = die eingelegte Attestata aber beÿ diesen Abhandlungs = Acten aufbehalten werd[en] sollen.
Per Cap[itulum] Metrop[olitanum] Vienn[ens]e
den 10ten Maÿ 1771.
Revered Metropolitan Cathedral ChapterThe second leaf in Joseph Stadler's Sperrs-Relation is a bill submitted by the glover Johann Götz who had manufactured a number of garments for the Stadler couple which had not yet been paid.
Gentlemen, after Joseph Stadler, former resident at the Golden Griffin in Mariahilf has died without leaving a will, and has left 3 sons named Johann Georg, 24, Anton 18, and Johannes 15 years old, I applied the usual jurisdictional restraint. While investigating the estate, however, I learned from the widow that her husband, because of his prolonged and protracted illness, could not earn a single kreuzer and therefore, in addition to her everyday earnings, she is entangled in a debt of 208 gulden, because, in addition to all this, she bought out her elder son from the military, and this son, like the other two, with their musical education cost her a lot of money.
I hereby want to report these circumstances ex officio, and furthermore, by leaving them to the gracious verdict, I commend myself to your persistent favors and graces
Your Reverence's and Grace's
obedient
Johann Andre Weiglmpia
p:t: local judge
This report should be kept at the office, and the widow mentioned therein should be summoned ex officio to the next session.
From the Viennese Metropolitan Chapter
April 10th, 1771
At today's settlement commission concerning Joseph Stadler, former resident at the Golden Griffin in Mariahilf, who died without leaving a will or any funds, the widow Sophia Stadler appeared in person at the most venerable Metropolitan Chapter's syndicate office, together with her full-aged son Johann Georg Stadler. And after the widow Stadler had shown that her husband, owing to his prolonged protracted illness, was unable to earn anything worth one kreuzer, and therefore left nothing behind, but the widow, to bring her children into a job, and have them learn something, (according to the submitted certificates) is now 208 gulden in debt herself, and therefore could not give her three children any share of their paternal inheritance, but has to live from the daily income as a midwife. Which the present full-aged son Johann Georg Stadler also testifies to the commission, therefore a most venerable Metropolitan Chapter requests to have arranged the following:
That in these indebted circumstances the widow Sophia Stadler should be given her deceased husband Joseph Stadler's estate free of charge, and the jurisdictional restraint, on the other hand, should be accepted. The submitted certificates, however, should be kept with these probate files.
From the Viennese Metropolitan Chapter
May 10th, 1771.
The front of the glover Johann Götz's bill in Joseph Stadler's Sperrs-Relation (A-Wsa, Patrimonialherrschaften, Serie 2.1.1.10.A1b, lit. S, Fasz. 5–206)
[3. K. Stempel] Conto[translation:]
Was ich endes bemeldter vor die Frau
Stadlern an Hosen und Handschuh
arbeit verferttiget Habe als
f. Xr.
3 Baar Handschuh à 51 X das Baar – 2 – 33
1 Baar Zacklinn Hosen – 2 30
1 Baar Schwarze BockHauttene – 4 30
2 baar Hirsch Hauttene Hosen das baar à. 5 f – 10 –
mehr 2 baar Handschuh a 51 Xr – 1 42.
21 f 15 X.
Wien d[en] 10ten Maÿ 771
Johan Götz Hand=
Schuhmacher
[3. kreuzer revenue stamp] Bill
The trouser and glover work that I, the undersigned, have made for Mrs. Stadler, is the following
3 pairs of gloves, 51 kreuzer a pair 2 gulden 33 kreuzer
One pair of trousers made of sack linen 2 gulden 30 kreuzer
One pair of black buckskin trousers 4 gulden 30 kreuzer
Two pairs of deerskin trousers, 5 gulden a pair 10 gulden
Vienna, May 10th, 1771
Johann Götz glover
The back of Johann Götz's bill showing the probate file's shelfmark "Fascic: 5tens S. N° 206" (A-Wsa, Patrimonialherrschaften, Serie 2.1.1.10.A1b, lit. S, Fasz. 5–206)
The biographical implications of the document
Joseph Stadler's probate file allows the following three conclusions to be drawn:
1) Between 1743 and 1763, the Stadler couple did not have ten children, as previously claimed (Strebel 2016/2, 41-44), but twelve. The apparent twins Joseph and Johann Georg Stadler (of whom the latter is mentioned in the above Sperrs-Relation), were born in 1747, in a still unknown place where their parents lived between 1745 and 1749. The first one, Joseph Stadler, died in Bruck an der Leitha on 14 March 1752, at the age of five (Bruck an der Leitha 6, fol. 189r). The second one, Johann Georg, in 1771, had just turned 24, and thus, had reached the legal age necessary to accompany his mother to the court chancellery. He had been drafted into the army and eventually had needed his mother's financial support to buy himself out of the military. At the time of his mother's death in 1790, Johann Georg Stadler was already deceased.
2) At the time of her husband's death in 1771, Sophia Stadler had a fourth son whose existence she chose to conceal from the authorities. Her eldest son Leopold Lorenz Stadler had been born on 15 November 1745, in Vienna. The entry concerning Leopold's baptism is of minor relevance, but since Strebel was unable to correctly transcribe it, it is included here.
The entry concerning the baptism of Leopold Lorenz Stadler on 15 November 1745 (A-Wstm, Tom. 12, 603). The godfather Reinhard Zeiner (1712–1751) was a coffee maker who hailed from Frankfurt. His son Lorenz Zeiner (1739–1790) was to become the municipal coroner who in 1783 inspected the body of Mozart's first child Raimund Leopold (A-Wsa, Totenbeschreibamt 82, M, fol. 30r).
Stadler. Leopoldus, Laurentius, ex P[at]re Josepho Stadler, et / Sophia ejus Cons[orte] |: Schrurmacher[sic] beÿn gold[enen] Ochsen ad / M[ariam] Aux[iliatricem] :| Patr[inus] Reinardus Zeiner, ejus Loco Filius / ejus Laurentius et Rosalia Trostin, obst[etrix] Bezeneggin / a d[omino] Constantino.In 1771, at the time of his father's death, Leopold Stadler worked as servant. On 13 November 1771, he married Maria Anna Peer, daughter of a deceased tailor from Baden (A-Wstm, Tom. 7, 452). Leopold Stadler eventually became a barber and, as of 1777, worked as an army surgeon in a quarantine station in Zemun. He seems to have died there before 1785 (Strebel 2016/1, 565f). The reasons why Sophia Stadler concealed her eldest son from the authorities are unknown. Maybe she considered it unfavorable for her situation, if the existence of her eldest son, who was already earning money, would become known.
Stadler. Leopold Lorenz, son of Joseph Stadler and his wife Sophia, shoemaker at the Golden Ox in Mariahilf. Godfather: Reinhard Zeiner, in his stead his son Lorenz and Rosalia Trost. Midwife: Frau Bezenegg, [the child was baptized] by Father Constantin.
3) Sophia Stadler's statement that "her two younger sons' musical education had cost her a lot of money" is the first and only documented reference to the actual costs of the musical training of Anton and Johann Stadler. This points to several years of taking lessons with a clarinet master and consigns all considerations regarding a possible autodidactic training of these two legendary virtuosos to the realms of fantasy.
A part of the suburb of Mariahilf on Joseph Daniel von Huber's 1778 Vogelschauplan of Vienna. The encircled building is the Goldener Greif, Mariahilf 73, where Joseph Stadler died. On the upper left behind the Church of Mariahilf is the old cemetery where he was buried (W-Waw, Sammlung Woldan).
The next installment of this series will deal with important Stadler documents that Harald Strebel declared "lost", because he never had the time to do the necessary work in Vienna's archives.
Bibliography
Lorenz, Michael. 2011. "Mozarts Patenkind". Acta Mozartiana, 58, vol. 1, (June 2011), 57–70.
Strebel, Harald. 2016. Anton Stadler: Wirken und Lebensumfeld des "Mozart-Klarinettisten". Fakten, Daten und Hypothesen zu seiner Biographie. Vienna: Hollitzer Wissenschaftsverlag.
© Dr. Michael Lorenz 2021. All rights reserved.
Updated: 19 February 2026
