I. Music at Royal Residences and the Seats of the Aristocracy

1. Music at the Court of Innsbruck

Duke Friedrich (1382-1439), the first ruler of the Tyrol to reside in Innsbruck, had already kept trumpeters, trombonists, timpanists, pipers, lutenists and harpists at his court. His son and heir to the throne, Duke Sigmund (1427-1496), institutionalized a court choir and instrumental ensemble (Hofkantorei). As documented from 1463 on, it was the focus of the cultivation of music at court, first under the direction of the organist Niklas Krombsdorfer, and from 1478 on under Paul Hofhaimer (1459-1537), who was lauded already by his contemporaries as the “monarcha organistarum.”[1]

Duke Sigmund may have disbanded this court ensemble towards the end of his reign, for in March 1490 King Maximilian (1459-1519) took over from his cousin, along with regency of the land of Tyrol and the retinue of attendants that went with it, only a few instrumentalists in the way of court musicians: six trumpeters, one trombonist and timpanist each, and the organist Hofhaimer. These musicians were at the disposal of both King Maximilian and the abdicated Duke Sigmund until 1594.[2] Maximilian apparently soon set up a smaller choir and instrumental ensemble in Innsbruck again. They replaced the Latin schoolmaster and his singers to provide a liturgical musical setting for the court’s divine services at the parish church. However, hardly any documentary evidence of this ensemble has survived.

Through his first marriage to Mary of Burgundy in 1477, while sojourning in the Low Countries for several years, Maximilian had learned to appreciate the world-famous ensemble of singers and instrumentalists at the Burgundian court, where the refinement of the arts and intellectual life was an example to all of Europe. The most respected musicians of the day were in service there and lent Burgundian court music that extraordinary splendor that Maximilian was always intent on impressing upon his own court ensemble of singers and instrumentalists (Hofkapelle) later. Maximilian’s second wife, Maria Bianca Sforza was also of art-loving lineage and must have had an influence on the abundant musical activity at the imperial court as a patroness. Despite the knowledge of considerable detail on Maximilian’s court ensemble, the extent of her influence is not completely clear. This lack of information is mainly due to the fact that the royal household moved frequently. From time to time the Hofkapelle would be divided up into ensembles in Augsburg, Vienna or Innsbruck. Furthermore, a number of musicians were on the road with Maximilian’s entourage during his travels. Several musicians were only casually employed at court, which also makes it difficult to get clear on the court ensemble’s circumstances.[3] After Maximilian handed over the regency of the Low Countries along with the Burgundian court music ensemble to his son Philipp in 1494, he began building up a new group for himself, for which some singers and instrumentalists were transferred to Innsbruck.[4] One of these was again Paul Hofhaimer. Maximilian had already met him in 1486 in Frankfurt am Main as Duke Sigmund’s envoy at the Princes’ Diet (Fürstentag) when he was elected Roman King.

Having Hofhaimer in Innsbruck meant having the most renowned organist of his day in town until after 1500. Based there, Hofhaimer cultivated his connections to the day’s authoritative players and patrons of music at home and abroad, and became the model for a whole new generation of important organists. Maximilian was well aware of the uniqueness of the artist in his service: he doubled Hofhaimer’s salary that had originally been chartered by Duke Sigmund for his lifetime; in Innsbruck in 1494 he decreed that Hofhaimer was to accompany him to the Imperial Diets (Reichstage), granting him an extra all-inclusive travel fee, and thus presenting the extraordinary standard of his court music to the public; he raised Hofhaimer to the nobility in 1515 and allowed him to keep his “head organist” status when he moved to Passau, Augsburg and Salzburg in the service of others.[5] Hofhaimer’s high rank as a musician is also indicated by the unusually large number of portraits made of him by Albrecht Dürer, Lukas Cranach, Hans Burgkmair and Hans Weiditz. Music at the Innsbruck court profited not only from his genius in practical organ playing and composition but also from his expertise in building organs. Of the three organs that Maximilian had built for the Innsbruck parish church, the first was built under Hofhaimer’s direction in 1491/92 and the third by Jan Behaim of Dubrau with Hofhaimer’s collaboration in 1512-1515.[6]

Maximilian visited Innsbruck repeatedly, accompanied by his imperial ensemble of singers and instrumentalists. It was directed in Vienna by Hans Kerner as the “head curate and choirmaster (Cantor)” from 1496 on, and after his death by Georg Slatkonia as the “head choirmaster” and “director of music” (Capellenmeister). This ensemble followed the monarch around on his political travels and other representational undertakings. Their itinerary lists the following sojourns in the Tyrol: in the fall of 1500 in Tyrol, on 30 November in Bruneck; in Innsbruck in 1501, again in September-October 1503, from the fall to December 1511, and from October 1518 on.[7] In Innsbruck and its surroundings in the fall of 1503, Maximilian’s court singers and orchestra and Philipp’s Burgundian court singers and orchestra came together when Philipp and his wife Johanna stopped in the Tyrol to visit his father from 12 September to 5 October on their way home from Spain to Brussels. Performing not only alone but also together, both court ensembles provided resonant splendor, as described repeatedly in the travel diary of Philipp’s chamberlain, Antoine de Lalaing, for instance on 17 September 1503: “The singers of the king [Maximilian’s court orchestra] and of my lord [Philipp’s court orchestra]sang the mass and played the organ resounding with all the instruments [...] It is the most melodious music you could ever hear.”[8] On 26 September 1503 two masses were sung in the Innsbruck parish church for Maximilian’s deceased brother-in-law Hermes of Milan: “The first, the Requiem mass,was sung by the above-mentionedBishop [of Bethlehem] and the singers of my lord [...]The second mass was [...] sung by the king’s singers [...] the king’s trombone players began the Graduale and played the Deo gratias and Ite missa est, and my lord’s singers sang the Offertorium.”[9] Perhaps the masses (for the dead) by Pierre de la Rue or Heinrich Isaac (ca. 1450-1517) were played on that occasion.[10]

Isaac belonged to Maximilian’s court orchestra from 1496 to 1517; the outstanding composer had already stayed at the Innsbruck court briefly as early as 1484. It was from Innsbruck that Maximilian appointed this former singer (Kapellsänger), who had been summoned from Augsburg to Vienna in 1496, to be his court composer on 3 April 1497. Isaac perpetuated the memory of the city of Innsbruck by arranging an Alpine folk-tune twice for several parts: his polyphonic social song (Gesellschaftslied) “Innsbruck ich muss dich lassen” (Innsbruck I must forsake thee) is one of the best known of this genre.[11]

In October 1518 upon its return from the Imperial Diet in Augsburg, Maximilian’s court ensemble of singers and instrumentalists moved to its winter quarters in Innsbruck and stayed on after the death of their lord in Wels in January 1519. After the initial decision to keep the trumpeters in Innsbruck, Emperor Charles V gave orders to disband the court ensemble in September 1520. Finally, in Innsbruck in 1523, came the dismissal of all the singers and instrumentalists.[12]

During the reign of Maximilian’s grandson and successor Ferdinand I (1503-1564), which was shaken by constant crises, there was no court music ensemble in Innsbruck; the principal royal residence was in Vienna. The parish choir and instrumentalists (Pfarrkantorei) sang at court masses in Innsbruck, sometimes reinforced by singers from Hall, Schwaz or Imst. The government in Innsbruck continued to appoint nothing but the organists of the parish church. However, it also commissioned the organ builder Jörg Ebert († before 1582) of Ravensburg in 1555 to set up an organ for the new court church under construction since 1553. Completed in 1558, this instrument in a mean-tone temperament (with eight perfect thirds), a tuning pitch of a = 445 Herz (at 11° C) and 15 stops, after being altered and restored several times, has been playable again since 1976. It is the oldest surviving medium-large-sized church organ north of the Alps. Innsbruck thus possesses a unique musical monument of the Renaissance.[13]

When Archduke Ferdinand II (1529-1595) moved his royal residence from Bohemia to Innsbruck in 1567, the city developed into a musical center of international European stature. Wilhelm Hofhaimer, the organist at St Jakob until 1540, and Hans Schachinger the Younger had taught the son of Emperor Ferdinand I music in his youth; his relatives being the dukes of Bavaria, Mantua, Ferrara and Tuscany, all of them excellent art lovers, also contributed to making Ferdinand II develop the full splendor of a perfect Renaissance prince at his court in Innsbruck. As the governor of Prague, Ferdinand had taken musicians into his service from 1548 on: a court music ensemble with the singers, the organist and a lute player, as well as a court orchestra (Hofmusik) with the instrumentalists under the direction of a “head musician” (Obristmusicus). He took both ensembles with him to the Tyrol. Internationally renowned virtuosos with the best backgrounds assembled at the Innsbruck court in those days. The singers came mainly from the Netherlands and southern Germany, the instrumentalists from Italy. For example, the court music directors Wilhelm Bruneau (†1584) and Jakob Regnart (in office 1585-1596), the singer and later assistant music director Alexander Utendal (in office 1566-1581), and the assistant music director Georg Flori (from 1584) were from the Low Countries, the “head musician” Orfeo de Cornay (until 1568) and his successor Peter Maria de Losij (until 1596) were from Milan.

Several choirboys in the court ensemble were later professional musicians and composers, e.g. Simon Kolb (until 1572, tenor singer 1577-1591), Melchior Schramm and Blasius Amon (both until 1577). Blasius Amon (* about 1560 at Hall in the Tyrol, †1590 in Vienna) was ultimately the first Austrian to go to Venice to study, in particular the technique of polychoral music. The Vienna necrology of 15 August 1590 speaks highly of him as“such a distinguished musician that Germany had no one comparable.”

Besides the court music directors, several members of the ensemble were composers of repute themselves, including Michel Charles Du Buisson (about 1565), Christian Hollander (1565-1569), Johann Flori (1573-1580), Antoine de La Court (1574-1590), Nikolaus Sales (1581), Franz Sales (1580-1587), Melchior Neusiedler (1580/81), Tiburtio Massaini (1589/90), Sebastian Hasenknopf (1590/91) and Johann Faber (I) (in office 1564-1595). The court organist Servatius Rorif (1566-1587) was also active as an organ builder.

Under Jakob Regnart (about 1540-1599), who had already been appointed assistant court music director after Utendal’s death in 1581, the number of members of the court ensemble in Innsbruck increased to 32, excluding the court chaplains, with an additional 15 members of the trumpeter corps. Musical life at court acquired its glory not only from the resident artists but also from foreign musicians with court connections, including Rudolf di Lasso, Annibale Padovano, and Antonio Scandello. Orlando di Lasso, Cyprian de Rore, Jakobus Vaet, Philipp de Monte and Andrea Gabrieli dedicated compositions to the court of Innsbruck, some of them commissioned and some at their own request. Andrea Gabrieli’s six-part madrigals (RISM A/I G 72) are dedicated to Archduke Ferdinand and must also have been heard in Innsbruck. Thus Innsbruck court musicians interpreted works in the most modern musical genre of the day. Connections and even the exchange of musicians were kept up with the court singers and orchestras of Vienna, Munich and the Swabian Hohenzollern court of Hechingen. Several Munich court musicians stayed in Innsbruck between 1581 and 1588, this time without their director of music Orlando di Lasso, who was there at least briefly in 1582 and 1584.[14]

Archduke Ferdinand II also collected rare and unusual kinds of musical instruments according to museum principles for his Kunstkammer, or cabinet of art. His collection included not only bowed stringed instruments, e.g. by Gerolamo de Virchi, Gasparo da Salò, Georg Gerle, but also “Turkish shawms,”“Persian army drums,” and mechanical musical instruments. Although Ferdinand had disposed by will that the collection should remain at Ambras Castle “not divided up and for all time,” Emperor Franz I gave orders for it to be moved to Vienna because he thought it endangered by the Bavarian occupation. Most of the surviving instruments have been kept in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna since the end of the 19th century.[15] Emperor Rudolf had an inventory of all the instruments made after Ferdinand’s death. It also lists the written and printed music in the Kunstkammer, to which the Archduke had added manuscript choir-books and splendid printed music from Italy, France, Germany, and the Low Countries.[16] The musical repertoire at the Innsbruck court at the time of Ferdinand II consisted of liturgical music for the church and madrigals, canzonettes, villanellas, chansons, as well as songs to be sung at table and in the chamber. Theatrical performances took place at the royal residence (Hofburg) and at Ambras Castle, for which famous singers and theater companies from Italy such as the Comici Gelosi were engaged. Ferdinand’s predilection for the theater also shows in the “Schöne Comoedi Speculum Vitae Humanae” (A Pretty Play on the Mirror of Human Life)that he wrote in 1584, for which his court music director Regnart composed “motets and song.”[17] The ruler always kept salaried “dancers and acrobats” at his court, most of them Italians, who also gave dancing lessons to court society.[18] After Archduke Ferdinand II died in 1595, the court ensemble of singers and instrumentalists was disbanded along with the royal household in 1596.

Sixteen musicians followed the new governor Archduke Maximilian (1558-1618, known as the “Deutschmeister,” i.e. German Master of the Teutonic Order) from his residence in Mergentheim to Innsbruck in 1602. Johann Pettauer, the music director taken along with them, was replaced in 1603 by Johannes de Fossa the Younger and in 1607 by Johann Stadlmayr (ca. 1575-1648). At what was now a rather modest royal household, the court singers’ and orchestra’s duties primarily concerned church music. In addition, German songs and Italian madrigals were performed at mealtimes and in the guests’ honor, as evidenced by a list dated 1619 of the court orchestra’s music. After the death of the regent, the Innsbruck court ensemble was once again fated to disband in 1618.[19]

Archduke Leopold V (1586-1632) resided in Innsbruck periodically from 1619 on and had most of his court musicians follow him there from his bishop’s residence in Zabern (Alsace). In 1624 Johann Stadlmayr was able to regain his position as the court music director of what was by now an enlarged court ensemble of singers and orchestra. Thus the leading representative of south German and Austrian early Baroque sacred music was committed to Innsbruck. He even preferred his post there to his appointment by the imperial court to Vienna. Stadlmayr’s fame had already spread far beyond the Tyrol during his lifetime. Two famous contemporary music theorists paid tribute to him by name: Michael Praetorius termed Stadlmayr an “excellent contrapuntist and musician” and Abraham Megerle (1607-1680), once a choir boy under Stadlmayr around 1620, later a treble singer and organist with the court music ensemble at Innsbruck, called his teacher “an eternal distinction and honor for all composers” in his autobiography of 1672.[20]

The marriage of Archduke Leopold to Claudia de Medici 1626 in Innsbruck was the occasion for grand festivities accompanied by music both at the church ceremonies and at mealtimes, where 40 “musical artists” entertained the guests, or at balls, where there was dancing in “French, Italian and German styles.” Italian songs provided the music for a ballet.

Leopold had been most impressed by Italian musical drama in Florence. In 1628 he therefore decided to replace the hitherto improvised stages in the royal residence (Hofburg) and in Ambras Castle with a fixed theater. The court architect Christoph Gumpp was sent to Italy to draw theater plans in Parma, Mantua and Florence. Finally, the building used for recreation north of the Hofburg in Innsbruck, built around 1584 by Archduke Ferdinand, was converted from 1629 to 1631 into a theater with an auditorium. This opera house (Comedihaus) was one of the first in the entire German-speaking world. The building survived until its destruction in 1944, albeit serving other purposes over the course of time, e.g. as a tollhouse (Dogana) in the 19th century. The singer, conductor, composer and choreographer Francesco Compagnolo (†1630) summoned by Leopold to Innsbruck was one of the day’s leading figures of international musical drama, but he did not live to see the completion of the new venue. In 1632 the Archduke died as well, probably even before a regular theater program had begun. During her solo reign, the prince’s widow economized at court because of the Thirty Years’ War and dismissed most of the musicians, including all the Italians except the one who was also the court chaplain. Nevertheless, the ensemble comprising only thirteen singers and instrumentalists as well as four choirboys had an excellent reputation under Stadlmayr.[21]

To Archduke Ferdinand Karl (1628-1662) the arts and their patronage were more important than state affairs. Almost obsessed by music, he spared no expense to hire the best virtuosos even when this meant financial ruin for the country. The court singers and orchestra used for church services were reinforced by instrumentalists who also performed in the chamber and in the theater. Succeeding Stadlmayr as the musical director in 1648 was the court organist Ambrosius Reiner (1604-1672). The largely German independent group of court trumpeters provided mainly outdoor musical entertainment. The chamber musicians, the virtuoso singers including castrati and the instrumentalists, were all Italians except for the English gamba virtuoso William Young (ca. 1610-1662) and the bassoonist Siegmund Albrecht Händl. They formed the core of the opera company. They included the singers Antonio Melani, Giovanni Antonio Pandolfo Mealli, the future Viennese court music director Antonio Pancotti, and the violinists Roberto Sabbatini and Antonio Maria Viviani, the latter also being the “superintendent” of this ensemble and court chaplain. He did have a superior, however, who was Pietro Antonio (Marc’Antonio) Cesti (1623-1669), already a “musical miracle” in his day and still considered one of the most important opera composers of the 17th century. It was through him that opera spread from Italy to Vienna and southern Germany. He composed many magnificent operas in and for Innsbruck and helped raise musical drama in Innsbruck to what was a unique flowering for a German-speaking ducal court.

From 1652 to 1654 Archduke Ferdinand Karl had a new opera house (Komödienhaus) built next to the royal residence on the site of today’s Tiroler Landestheater. It was designed according to Venetian models but eventually outdid them. Italian skilled craftsmen equipped it with every possible kind of artistic and technical furnishings. With a seating capacity of about a thousand, it was the first detached opera house in the German-speaking world and the first German stage that employed salaried personnel. The building was inaugurated in 1654 with “La Cleopatra,” Cesti’s adaptation of “Il Cesare Amante” for Innsbruck. Itinerant actors from the Low Countries, Italy and Germany later also played there. One of them, Laurentius von Schnüffis (1633-1702), was even granted the title of poet laureate. Archduke Ferdinand Karl decided around 1660 to convert the opera house into a riding school with an attached theater. It featured the most sophisticated technical equipment allowing, for instance, ships to float in water on stage. Overwhelming musical experiences were provided in the late fall of 1655 for guests attending the visit of Queen Christina of Sweden: she was led into the city by eighteen trumpeters and two timpanists and, after making her profession of the Catholic faith in the court church, she attended a mass accompanied by “choice music.” Among other entertainments, Archduke Ferdinand Karl hosted a grand theatrical spectacle in her honor: the performance of the opera “L’Argia” by Cesti, based on a text by the Innsbruck court poet Johann Philipp Apollonio. It comprised eight acts and four ballets executed by the best and most expensive performers. Queen Christina’s second sojourn in Innsbruck in 1662 was another occasion for the composition and performance of a magnificent opera. This time Cesti set “La Magnanimità d’Alessandro” to music.[22]

When Archduke Sigmund Franz (1630-1665) took office in 1663 he put an end to the luxury of his brother’s household in order to rehabilitate the state budget. He reduced the number of court and chamber musicians and dismissed actors, but kept Cesti in his service. While the inventory of Archduke Sigmund Franz’s estate lists a wealth of musical instruments, music, and portraits of composers, reasons of economy would hardly have allowed him to expand the collection himself. Cesti had already composed a new opera for the marriage of his lord (“Semiramis ossia la schiava fortunata”), but the latter died before the wedding celebration.

The Tyrol then fell to Emperor Leopold I. He abolished the royal household in Innsbruck in 1665. Once again the Innsbruck court musicians lost their jobs; only a few were taken over by Vienna. However, as early as the next year Leopold engaged a few musicians in Innsbruck to provide music in the court church and for the prince’s widow Anna de Medici and princely guests.[23] The 18 musicians originally comprising this “imperial court orchestra” (kaiserliche Hofmusik) were subordinate to the Viennese court via the Innsbruck officials of the treasury. After the death of Ambrosius Reiner, Giovanni Buonaventura Viviani (1638-after 1692) took over the musical direction of the ensemble from 1672 to 1676, followed by Severin Schwaighofer (†1700), who had hitherto been the court organist and became well known through his compositions for Jesuit dramas.[24]

Eleonore of Austria, the wife of Duke Karl of Lorraine who was appointed governor of the Tyrol in 1678, appreciated music of quality and distinction at her Innsbruck residence. She not only had musicians in her personal service but even a court composer of her own, Carlo Agostino Badia (ca. 1672-1738). Opera and oratorio performances and the promotion of Jesuit drama demonstrated the duchess’s appreciation for the arts (†1697).[25]

A new governor did not come to the Tyrol until 1707. Duke Karl Philipp von der Pfalz-Neuburg (1661-1742) had his Silesian orchestra accompany him to Innsbruck; his director of music Johann Jakob Greber (before 1700-1731) joined his players up with the “imperial court orchestra” in Innsbruck to form an ensemble numbering over 40. Duke Karl Philipp, his wife Theresa and his daughter Elisabeth were each able to play an instrument or sing excellently themselves. Family festivities at court and the visits of ducal guests were once again given a festive setting with musical drama, ballet, and Jesuit drama. During Holy Week they listened to oratorios (“Sepolcri”). The opera house was renovated in 1709. After the death of his brother Johann Wilhelm, Duke Karl Philipp took over the government of the Palatine patrimonial lands. He moved his royal household to Neuburg and Heidelberg in 1717, to Mannheim in 1720. The most able performers of Innsbruck court orchestra moved with him, forming the basis of the Mannheim Orchestra that was to play a decisive part in the development of the classical style of music under Johann Stamitz and his successors.[26] For the musicians who remained in Innsbruck, now only responsible for the music at divine services in the court church, Emperor Leopold I appointed Bernardo d’Aprile (ca. 1687-1781) as the director of music in 1720. In the course of imperial efforts at centralization, however, the latter was relieved of his post again in 1724. From then on Johann Heinrich Hörmann (1694-1763) served as the director of the court orchestra whose dissolution had been officially decreed in 1724. Positions becoming vacant were no longer filled. In 1748 the last four surviving Innsbruck court musicians either retired or took over an office in the government chancellery.[27]

2. Music at the Courts of the Prince-Bishops in Brixen and Trent

The royal households of the prince-bishops of Brixen and Trent also included musicians. Some of the bishops had a good knowledge of music themselves: Bishop Paulinus Mayr of Brixen (†1685) had been trained as an organist in Vienna; Bishop Johann VII Platzgummer (ca. 1565-1647) is said to have composed music.[28] He had grown up as a choirboy in Brixen under the cathedral organist Andreas Andre commonly known as “Casletanus” (†1592) and studied theology in Vienna and Rome, both of which were important music centers. In 1609, when Platzgummer was still a canon in Brixen, he wrote down a “Mariale” with Latin four- to ten-part Marian songs, litanies, hymns, etc. for the prince-bishop’s seminary, Domini Andreae, i.e. of his patron Bishop Christoph IV Andreas von Spaur (†1613).[29] On the basis of this “Mariale” he has always been considered a composer. However, as he expressly states in the title: “Mariale [...] scriptum et [e]d[i]tum a Io[anne] Plazgumero” and on folio 81: “Ad laudem et gloriam Dei [...] scripsit. Joannes Plazgumer [...]” he is probably the compiler of the manuscript, not the original composer of the works it contains. As a bishop he was the dedicatee of a collection of motets Certamen Musicum(Innsbruck: Michael Wagner 1641) by one of the major 17th-century Tyrolean composers, Christoph Sätzl (1592/93-1655), who was born in or around Brixen. Sätzl worked as the choirmaster of Brixen Cathedral from ca. 1619 to 1632. During this period he dedicated his collection of motets Ecclesiastici Concentus (Innsbruck: Daniel Paur 1621) to Prince-Bishop Karl I of Austria and another motet cycle Hortus Pensilis (Innsbruck: Johann Gäch 1628) to Prince-Bishop Daniel Zen.[30]

Cardinal Andreas of Austria (†1600) had chosen Jan Le Febure († ca.1612) to be his “maestro di capella” and acquired a substantial collection of music. Brixen had outside musical connections, e.g. to the Innsbruck court ensemble of singers and instrumentalists: religious works by their director of music Johann Stadlmayr were part of the repertoire in Brixen in the early 17th century.[31]

The bishop’s musicians were not only called upon for church music but also had to play at court festivities. Around 1700 the bishops of Brixen would attend performances of operas at their court theater.[32] While designated as operas in the literature, these performances were mainly plays with interpolated music in the style of Jesuit drama. The location of the court theater (“Hochfürstliche Brixnerische Hoftheater”) can no longer be determined today. There is thought to have been a two-story hall in the east wing of the bishop’s fortified castle in the 18th century.[33]

The personnel of the “court and cathedral music ensemble” (Hoff- und Thumb Music) of Brixen, in 1742 for example, consisted of the director of music Leopold Strach (1699-1755), the organist Franz Josef Hopfgartner, the previous (“vorgewesten”) organist Josef Vonclausner, a treble singer, two alto singers, two tenors (one of whom also played the kettledrum), a bass singer and the choirboys (“Capell Knaben”), as well as two violinists (one of whom also played violoncello), a double bass (“Paß-Geiger”) and a viol player (“Violon-Geiger”), two trumpeters (of whom one was also the court gardener and waiter at mealtimes), one “Musicus” and Mathias Andreas Penz, who had no specified function but was remunerated for musical services.[34] This ensemble would be joined by other musicians from the Brixen area or by visitors, depending on the requirements of the occasion. Up to the second half of the 19th century, the canons are said to have “demonstrated their agility in graceful minuets” at court balls, something that Prince-Bishop Vinzenz Gasser (†1879) condemned mercilessly along with the bishops’ theater and all “previous gallantries.”[35]

The prince-bishops of Trent, depending on how pronounced their love of the art of music was, also kept musicians. A musician was first mentioned by name in Trent in 1429; he was called Christoph and was the piper of the prince-bishop.[36] From the mid-15th century on there was a group of trumpeters (“trummetterey”) in service.[37] The festivities at the enthronement of Cardinal Bernhard of Cles in Trent in 1514 were accompanied by music and dance. His court jester Ser Paolo was depicted with bagpipes in 1535; he presumably entertained his lord by playing this instrument.[38] Cardinal Prince-Bishop Christoph III of Madruzzo was a passionate music lover. His enthronement in 1542 had already been celebrated with splendid music, including a motet especially composed for the occasion by Cipriano de Rore. Madruzzo’s musicians came from the Duke of Ferrara’s court ensemble and were in demand at other courts too. His regency and the music at his princely residence were closely connected to both Trent, the seat of his court, and Brixen, the city he administered. Madruzzo’s esteemed director of music Giovanni Contino (ca. 1513-1574), in his services from 1539 to 1551, confidently called himself “Capellae Brixi[n]ensis Magister.”[39] Vocal and instrumental music, also with dancing, was played for the guests at parties. Contino provided a number of the new pieces of music needed at court, mainly for the performances on the occasion of the Council of Trent, when the cardinal’s musicians sometimes joined the papal singers and orchestra to form one ensemble.[40] In 1574 Madruzzo recommended his musician Thomas Seyringer to Duke Wilhelm V in Landshut.[41] Elector Moritz of Saxony was so impressed by the music at the prince-bishop’s court in Trent that he asked Madruzzo to give him six of his instrumentalists. One of those who went to Dresden was Antonio Scandello (1517-1580), who became the director of music there in 1568.[42] At the enthronement of Prince-Bishop Peter Vigil Count Thun in Trent in 1776, the music that guests heard included the cantata “Gli Orti Esperidi” with words by Pietro Metastasio set to music presumably by Gennaro Astarita (1749-1803), an opera composer appearing in Brixen and Sacco (near Rovereto) in 1778 and 1782, respectively.[43]

3. Music in Castles and at the Seats of the Aristocracy

Preserved in the fortified castle on the Churburg above Schluderns in the Vinschgau region from the time of the famed music-lover Knight Jakob Trapp (1529-1563) is an intricately made positive organ by Michael Strobl of Ammergau in 1559. This so-called canopy organ (Baldachinorgel), conscientiously restored in 1969 by Jürgen Ahrend of Loga (Lower Saxony), is a most rare and precious instrument still able to provide some of the authentic sound of the Renaissance today. This organ was probably intended less for church use than for music making in a domestic setting. The four-part Psalms published in 1538 and 1539 in two Nuremberg collections, Tomus primus and Tomus secundus psalmorum selectorum a praestantissimis musicis [...](RISM B/I 1538⁶, 1539⁹), were possibly sung in the castle chapel, for Jakob Trapp owned a copy of this compendium of works by Josquin Desprez, Adrian Willaert, Heinrich Isaac and many other contemporary composers in 1544.[44] From 1814 on, piano and probably also chamber music was played at the Trapp residence on the Churburg at an elaborately decorated pianoforte (Hammerflügel) made by the Innsbruck piano builder Johann Georg Gröber.[45]

Baron Franz Andreas Sternbach (1675-1755) had an organ built in 1725 for the Mariahilf Chapel of his family seat Grabenstein in Innsbruck-Mühlau by the Swabian organ builder Augustin Simnacher (1688-1757) and another around 1740 for the chapel of Wolfsthurn Castle near Mareit by Ignaz Franz Wörle (1710-1778) of Vils.[46] At Rodeneck Castle (Pustertal) Christoph Freiherr (Baron) von Wolkenstein (1530-1600) collected contemporary books of sacred songs, e.g. from Innsbruck (1588), Cologne, Augsburg and Tegernsee. In 1594 the owner of the castle also had the mastersingers’ (Meistersinger) manuscript later known as the Wilten Manuscript and now kept in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Bavarian State Library) in Munich (Cod. germ. 5198) in his possession. Lute and guitar tablatures were kept at Rodeneck and on Annenberg (Vinschgau) in the 17th century.A manuscript miscellany that belonged to the library of the barons of Annenberg around the mid-17th century (RISM B/VII/�) and has been in the Tiroler Landesarchiv (Tyrolean Provincial Archive) in Innsbruck (Hs. 533) since 1897, contains anonymous dances as guitar tablatures and ends with a few pieces for a keyboard instrument in modern notation in the piano system. Until 1889 the Wolkenstein-Rodenegg family owned a luxury manuscript probably made at Neustift near Brixen in 1432 containing songs by Oswald von Wolkenstein. The codex, known as Manuscript B, is preserved in the Innsbruck University Library.[47]

The lords of the castles knew how to handle different instruments themselves. For instance, Franz Anton von Enzenberg played the harp so proficiently that he was able to give lessons to Johannes Sigmund von Rost (1653-1729), the administrator (Pfleger) of the Michelsburg above St. Lorenzen. Rost had already learned how to play a bit on the tromba marina in 1676.[48] In aristocratic circles, music served mainly for private entertainment and to enhance an elegant social life. For example, Baron Jakob von Boimont zu Pairsberg held a dance in honor of guests at his Innsbruck residence in 1574.[49] For a midday meal with Maria Amalia, the Duchess of Parma, in Schwaz in 1783 Count Tannenberg summoned Migazzi’s Regimental Band (Regiments-Capelle) expressly for the table music.[50] The family of the well-to-do Bozen merchant and patron of music Anton Melchior von Menz resided in Oberbozen in the summer. Franz Bühler (1760-1823), who worked as the parish organist in Bozen from 1794 to 1801, joined them on the Ritten in those years and provided the music for the Menz household.[51]

Ludwig Count Sarnthein (1792-1867) and his wife Anna Edle von Menz, on the other hand, were able to afford their own singers and orchestra in Bozen.[52] The family of the counts of Khuen-Belasy at Gandegg Castle near St. Michael/Eppan compiled an inventory in 1713 that listed, besides manuscript and printed music, twenty violins, four violas, seven gambas and five trombones, being instruments that were played at concerts in the castle. Franz Knight of Goldegg (1794-1874) also called a collection of music and instruments his own at Spauregg Castle. For chamber concerts he summoned the best musicians from Bozen and Meran, even joining them as a violinist himself. He carried on a lively correspondence with the Tyrolean composer Matthäus Nagiller (1815-1874), who was a great success in France, Germany and Austria. Nagiller finally conducted the count’s orchestra from 1852 to 1854 in Partschins.[53] Count Pius Fidelis Wolkenstein (1749-1826) started organizing musical academies in Palazzo Wolkenstein in Trent in 1771. Johann Baptist Gänsbacher (1778-1844) was a welcome guest of his, and of Baron Josef Hieronymus Freiherr von Taxis and other aristocratic families (Prato, Gaudenti) in Trent, particularly for his “musical ability [...] that was frequently called upon in said homes.”[54]

The Taxis Palais in Innsbruck (Palais Trapp since 1804) was often the scene of sociable musical entertainment. The most memorable musical event there must have been a concert given by Wolfgang Amadé Mozart on 17 December 1769 before the assembled aristocracy. Mozart had stopped in Innsbruck on his first trip to Italy with his father and was invited by Johann Nepomuk Count Spaur to an academy at the home of Franz Count Künigl.[55]

In 1884 the internationally renowned piano virtuoso and composer Sophie Menter (1846-1918), who was teaching at the conservatory in St Petersburg at the time, bought Itter Castle, where she lived from 1887 to 1902. Visiting Itter in September 1884 was one of her teachers, Franz Liszt. On 18 October 1891 she gave a benefit performance in aid of the church and school of Itter and the foundation of the new Wörgl singing society. Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky spent two weeks at the pianist’s castle in September 1892, during which he probably scored the “Ungarische Zigeunerweisen” that she had composed. The Innsbruck Musical Society made Sophie Menter an honorary member.[56]