Convent Music and Politics

in Eighteenth-Century Vienna

Janet Page explores the interaction of music and piety, court and
church, as seen through the relationship between the Habsburg
court and Vienna’s convents. For a period of some twenty-five years,
encompassing the end of the reign of Emperor Leopold I and that of
his elder son, Joseph I, the court’s emphasis on piety and music
meshed perfectly with the musical practices of Viennese convents.
This mutually beneficial association disintegrated during the eight-
eenth century, and the changing relationship of court and convents
reveals something of the complex connections among the Habsburg
court, the Roman Catholic Church, and Viennese society. Identifying
and discussing many musical works performed in convents, including
oratorios, plays with music, feste teatrali, sepolcri, and other church
music, Page reveals a golden age of convent music in Vienna and
sheds light on the convents’ surprising engagement with contem-
porary politics.

Janet Page is Professor of Musicology at the Rudi E. Scheidt School

of Music at the University of Memphis. Her research explores
musical life in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Vienna, perform-
ance practice, women and music, and wind instruments and music.
Her publications include an edition of the oboe concertos of C. P.
E. Bach for the new Complete Works edition, and articles, reviews,
and reports in Early Music, The Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music,
and Eighteenth-Century Music.
Convent Music and Politics
in Eighteenth-Century Vienna

j a n e t k . pa g e
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 Contents

List of figures [page vi]

List of music examples [vii]
Acknowledgments [ix]
Abbreviations [xi]
Note to the reader [xii]

Introduction: female convents and music in Vienna,

1650–1785 [1]
1 Columbina in the convent: the music of entrance, clothing,
and profession in Viennese convents [18]
2 Maria Anna von Raschenau and music at the convent
of St. Jakob auf der Hülben [41]
3 Court, music, and Counter-Reformation education
in an Ursuline convent [73]
4 “A virtual picture of Arcadia”: musical entertainments
for Leopold I and Joseph I [111]
5 Commedia dell’arte, talking animals, and the three
Marys: passion music in Viennese convents [155]
6 Convents, music, and Habsburg rule in eighteenth-century
Vienna [192]

Appendix 1: Plays, oratorios, cantatas, sepolcri, and feste teatrali

performed in Viennese convents ca. 1660–1774 [232]
Appendix 2: Selected documents [243]
Appendix 3: The Habsburgs and their family connections [259]
Appendix 4: Glossary of terms and titles [265]
Bibliography [267]
Index [295]

v
 Figures

1 Holy Trinity column, Vienna, detail of Emperor Leopold I [page 5]

2 Convents and related churches and monasteries in Vienna,
ca. 1720 [11]
3 Receipt for musical performance at St. Nikolai, 1770 [33]
4 Receipt for keyboard maintenance at St. Nikolai, 1743 [38]
5 Georg Christoph Wagenseil, Die hitzige Liebe (libretto),
title page [49]
6 Maria Anna von Raschenau, Le sacre stimmate di S. Francesco
d’Assisi, musical hand 1 [58]
7 Maria Anna von Raschenau, Il consiglio di Pallade,
musical hand 1 [59]
8 Maria Anna von Raschenau, Il consiglio di Pallade,
musical hand 2 [60]
9 Holy Trinity column, Vienna [66]
10 Carlo Agostino Badia, L’Invenzione della Croce (libretto),
title page [96]
11 Beglückte Verbundtnüß des Adels mit der Tugend, title page [115]
12 Beglückte Verbundtnüß des Adels mit der Tugend,
list of characters [116]
13 Trattenimento Estivo, title page [132]
14 Trattenimento Estivo, fol. 72r [140]
15 Johann Michael Zächer, Poetisches Freyden-Gedicht,
list of characters [144]
16 Anonymous, Cantata sacra, ca. 1700, title page [161]
17 Members of the Habsburg family who founded, visited,
were educated in, or otherwise concerned themselves with
Viennese convents [260]

vi
Music examples

1 Maria Anna von Raschenau, Il consiglio di Pallade, “Peregrin di lido

in lido” [page 61]
2 Maria Anna von Raschenau, Le sacre stimmate di S. Francesco d’Assisi,
“Choro di Serafini con gl’istromenti,” mm. 11–22 [68]
3 Maria Anna von Raschenau, Le sacre visioni di S. Teresia, “Vieni,
vieni,” mm. 1–10, 24–31 [71]
4 Carlo Agostino Badia, Santa Teresa (1708), “Io vorrei poter morire,”
mm. 1–9 [99]
5 Carlo Agostino Badia, Santa Teresa, “Io vorrei poter morire,”
mm. 25–30 [99]
6 Carlo Agostino Badia, Santa Teresa, “Per strada fiorita,”
mm. 9–20 [100]
7 Carlo Agostino Badia, Santa Teresa, “Chi Maria per guida elegge,”
mm. 1–11 [102]
8 Carlo Agostino Badia, Santa Teresa, “O che portento” [102]
9 Carlo Agostino Badia, Santa Teresa, “Alme correte tra queste braccia,”
mm. 1–12 [103]
10 Carlo Agostino Badia, Santa Teresa, “Non può un alma” [104]
11 Carlo Agostino Badia, Il martirio di S. Susanna, “Questo secreto orror,”
mm. 18–37 [108]
12 Carlo Agostino Badia, Il martirio di S. Susanna, “Sposo eterno,”
mm. 1–18 [110]
13 Beglückte Verbundtnüß des Adels mit der Tugend, Zwischenhandlung
(Interlude) 2, “Vergiftende Wollust,” mm. 20–32 [123]
14 Beglückte Verbundtnüß des Adels mit der Tugend, “Unglücklich,
Unglücklich” [124]
15 Beglückte Verbundtnüß des Adels mit der Tugend, “Nur still, nur still”
and ritornello [126]
16 Beglückte Verbundtnüß des Adels mit der Tugend, “Der wie ich zu
künstlre Weis’,” mm. 1–16 [128]
17 Beglückte Verbundtnüß des Adels mit der Tugend, “Nun gleich würde
der Sein erhoben,” mm. 1–6 [128]
vii
viii List of music examples

18 Trattenimento Estivo, “Guerra puntigliosa,” mm. 1–6, 15–20 [136]

19 Trattenimento Estivo, “Fà da muto,” mm. 1–7 [138]
20 Johann Michael Zächer, Poetisches Freyden-Gedicht, “Aritusa,
traure nicht,” mm. 1–10 [145]
21 Johann Michael Zächer, Poetisches Freyden-Gedicht, “Sehe, wie wir
alle streben” [146]
22 Johann Michael Zächer, Poetisches Freyden-Gedicht, “Erlaube mir
Fama,” mm. 1–14 [148]
23 Johann Michael Zächer, Poetisches Freyden-Gedicht, “Fünf Lerchlein,”
mm. 1–11 [149]
24 Johann Michael Zächer, Poetisches Freyden-Gedicht, “Wie? Was?”
mm. 1–4 [150]
25 Johann Michael Zächer, Poetisches Freyden-Gedicht, “Allen woll der
Himmel geben” [152]
26 Anonymous, Cantata sacra, “Liquefatevi ò mie pupille” [162]
27 Carlo Agostino Badia, La Sepoltura di Christo, Part 2, Recitative
“O Sepolcro,” mm. 10–14 [169]
28 Carlo Agostino Badia, La Sepoltura di Christo, “Lagrime uscite,”
Part 1, aria 1, mm. 1–9 [171]
29 Carlo Agostino Badia, La Sepoltura di Christo, “Sospir volate,”
Part 1, aria 2, mm. 1–6 [172]
30 Georg Reutter Jr., Mater dolorum, “Meinem Herzen bringt nicht
Schmerzen,” mm. 1–15 [177]
31 George Reutter Jr., Mater dolorum, “Auf zum Werk!” [178]
32 Georg Reutter Jr., Mater dolorum, Sonata, mm. 1–19 [184]
33 Georg Reutter Jr., Mater dolorum, “Stürz donnernde Wolke,”
mm. 1–9 [185]
34 Georg Reutter Jr., Mater dolorum, “Es stirbt mein Sohn!”
mm. 1–22, 63–70 [186]
35 Georg Reutter Jr., Mater dolorum, “Habt ihr Ihn so verletzt” [189]
36 Alexander Ender, Magnificat, “Suscepit Israel” [218]
Acknowledgments

Through the years I have worked on this project I have had the great pleasure
and privilege of consulting documents and musical sources in many libraries
and archives. I am most grateful for all the help provided by the staffs of the
Musiksammlung and the Sammlung von Handschriften und alten Drucken of
the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek; the Österreichisches Theatermuseum;
the Österreichisches Staatsarchiv at Erdberg and the Haus-, Hof- und
Staatsarchiv; the Wiener Stadt und Landesarchiv; the Wienbibliothek im
Rathaus, Druckschriftensammlung; the Niederösterreichisches Landesarchiv
in St Pölten; the Archiv, Bibliothek und Sammlungen der Gesellschaft der
Musikfreunde in Wien; the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana in Venice; and the
Seminary Library in Ljubljana. I owe special thanks to Sr. Felicitas Wagner,
archivist at the Ursuline convent in Vienna, for sharing with me her knowl-
edge of the convent’s archive and its history; to Dr. Otto Biba, Director of the
Archiv, Bibliothek und Sammlungen der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in
Wien, for his interest in my project and for most kindly allowing me to consult
uncatalogued material; and to Reinhard Gruber (St. Stephan, Domarchiv),
Constanze Gröger (Pfarrarchiv St. Michael), and Pater Alfons Mansdorfer
(Benediktiner-Stift, Musikarchiv, Kremsmünster) for their help with material
in their collections.
I have benefitted greatly from ideas, suggestions, and assistance provided
by many friends and colleagues. I am especially grateful to Stewart Carter
and Craig Monson for reading and commenting on early versions of several
chapters and for sharing with me material from their own research. David
Black shared with me his knowledge of Viennese church music, and we had
many stimulating conversations on the subject; he also shared material with
me, as did Michael Lorenz and Geraldine Rohling. Alison Dunlop, Dexter
Edge, and Rita Steblin helped me to navigate the Viennese archives and
pointed me toward some sources that I would otherwise never have known
about; Dr. Steblin also made helpful suggestions about several translations.
Thierry Favier offered useful advice and helped me unravel some difficult
French; Matteo Magarotto advised me on translations of Italian texts and
offered much enlightening commentary on the sometimes cryptic poetry.
Scott Hines helped me get the musical examples in order. Larry Edwards ix
x Acknowledgments

and Peter Leech allowed me to hear some of the music in performance – a

wonderful experience that reminded me of why I undertook this project in
the first place. Eva Badura-Skoda, Larry Bennett, Bruce MacIntyre, Robert
Rawson, Laurie Stras, Andy Weaver, and Bill Weber provided helpful hints
and encouragement. Anna Schirlbauer helped me obtain Slovak sources and
Wilfried Schirlbauer to make some important contacts; I thank them both
for their interest in my project, and for many pleasant meetings. Ken and
Mona Kreitner listened sympathetically to my frequent soliloquies on
Viennese convent music; both also provided me with useful suggestions
and practical assistance. Sally Sargent was wonderfully generous with her
hospitality over many years; without her this book might never have been
finished.
Financial assistance in support of this project was provided by the
University of Memphis Foundation, the University of Memphis (a New
Faculty Research Initiation Award, two Faculty Research Grants, and two
Professional Development Assignments), the National Endowment for the
Humanities (Summer Stipend 2007), and the American Musicological
Society (Publication Subvention, AMS 75 PAYS Endowment).
An earlier version of Chapter 2 appeared in Early Music, 38, no. 3 (August
2010), 403–19, and a preliminary version of part of Chapter 5 appears in
Tassilo Erhardt (ed.), Sakralmusik im Habsburgerreich, 1570–1770 (Vienna:
Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2013).
Figures 6–8 and 10–16 are reproduced with permission of the
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna. Figure 5 is reproduced with
permission of the Wienbibliothek im Rathaus, Druckschriftensammlung.
This book is dedicated to my parents.
 Abbreviations

RISM sigla and other abbreviations for libraries and archives

ASV Rome, Archivio Segreto Vaticana
A-Gu Graz, Universitätsbibliothek
A-Kr Kremsmünster, Benediktiner-Stift, Musikarchiv
A-Wd Vienna, St. Stephan, Dompfarre
A-Wda Vienna, Diözesanarchiv
A-Wgm Vienna, Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien, Archiv
A-Whh Vienna, Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv
A-Wn Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Musiksammlung
A-Wn(h) Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Sammlung von
Handschriften und alten Drucken
A-Wn(m) Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek
A-Wös Vienna, Österreichisches Staatsarchiv
A-Wsa Vienna, Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv
A-Wstm Vienna, St. Michael, Pfarrarchiv
A-Wtm Vienna, Österreichisches Theatermuseum
A-Wu Vienna, Universitätsbibliothek
B-Bc Brussels, Conservatoire royal de Bruxelles, Bibliothèque
B-Gu Ghent, Rijksuniversiteit, Centrale Bibliotheek
GB-Lbl London, British Library
I-Fm Florence, Biblioteca Marucelliana
I-Mb Milan, Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense
I-Mts Milan, Teatro all Scala, Archivio Musicale
I-Vnm Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana
NöLA St. Pölten, Niederösterreichisches Landesarchiv
SI-Lsk Ljubljana, Semeniška Knjižnica
SK-BRnm Bratislava, Slovenské Národné Múzeum, Hudobné Múzeum
WB Vienna, Wienbibliothek im Rathaus, Druckschriftensammlung
WU Vienna, Ursulinenkloster

xi
 Note to the reader

In German-language sources, a religious institution for women is usually

referred to as a Frauenkloster, and since we lack that precise terminology in
English, I have referred to them as convents, or female convents when a
distinction is needed. Chorfrau and Chorfräulein are translated as choir
nun, and Kostfräulein, equivalent to the Italian educanda, a fee-paying girl
being educated in a convent, is usually left untranslated. Court titles and
designations, and other terms that may be unfamiliar, are explained in
Appendix 4.
In musical examples, errors have been silently corrected; accidentals and
figured bass numbers have been added only when necessary. If the source
does not include bass figures (as is the case with many of the scores
presented by convents to members of the imperial family), I have not
added any. Texts in musical examples have generally been standardized,
and punctuation added, as necessary.
I have included transcriptions of texts in their original languages for all
quoted material from documents and seventeenth- and eighteenth-century
printed material, with the exception of those available in easily obtainable
modern editions. Shorter excerpts appear in footnotes; longer passages in
Appendix 2.
For pitch, I have used the system c0 = middle C.
In seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Austria, the main unit of cur-
rency was the gulden or florin (fl.), which was divided into 60 kreutzer (xr.).

xii
 Introduction
Female convents and music in Vienna, 1650–1785

Sunday, August 14, [1707]. Today, in the morning, both their imperial
majesties, with a retinue of many gentlemen and ladies, went to the
foundation of the very worthy choir nuns of the Augustinian order “at the
Himmelpforte” [and] due to the usual devotion they attended the sacred
service, celebrated by his high-princely grace the bishop of Vienna. They
then ate the midday meal there, after which they remained to hear an
excellent spiritual oratorio.
Wienerisches Diarium, August 17, 17071

In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, Vienna’s musical

nuns rivaled their Italian sisters. No mere imitators of Italian traditions,
Viennese convents developed distinct musical practices and genres, and
significantly enriched their city’s musical life. Nuns and Kostfräulein
(boarding-school girls) in several musical convents played a variety of
instruments and sang exquisitely, astonishing their audiences. As well as
contributing music to the sacred services, they performed oratorios, feste
teatrali, and plays with music before the imperial family and other visitors.
This is all the more remarkable in that Viennese noble families rejected
the Italian practice of consigning large numbers of well-born girls to con-
vents. Many Viennese girls took the veil, certainly. But there were only seven
convents in that city in the late seventeenth century, with two suburban
institutions added in the early years of the eighteenth. The convents ranged
in size from some thirty choir nuns and lay sisters to about seventy, for a
total of 350 to 400 in a city of 100,000 around 1700.2 By comparison, in

1
“Sonntag, den 14. Augusti. Heute Vormittags haben sich beede Kayserliche Majestäten, im Gefolg
vieler Cavalliren, und Damen, in das Stifft deren WW. EE. Regulirten Chor-Frauen des
H. Augustini, bey der Himmelporten, erhoben, und daselbst, wegen der gewöhnlichen Andacht
dem Gottes-Dienst, welchen Ihro Hochfürstl. Gnaden, der Herr Bischoff zu Wienn, versehen,
beygewohnt, so dann das Mittagmahl allda eingenommen, nachdeme Sich daselbsten bey einem
fürtrefflichen geistlichen Oratorio verweylet.”
2
On the population of Vienna, see Andreas Weigl, “Frühneuzeitliches Bevölkerungswachstum,” in
Karl Vocelka and Anita Traninger (eds.), Die frühneuzeitliche Residenz (16. bis 18. Jahrhundert),
vol. II of Wien: Geschichte einer Stadt, ed. Peter Czendes and Ferdinand Opll (Vienna: Böhlau,
2003), 110. The number of nuns increased somewhat in the early eighteenth century. 1
2 Female convents and music in Vienna, 1650–1785

Milan, a city of about 100,000 inhabitants in the mid-seventeenth century,

there were then around six thousand choir nuns, spread among some forty
institutions.3
Entering a convent was not the social norm in Vienna, as in Italy, but a
more conscious choice – religious devotion, perhaps a desire to serve others,
the prospect of power and authority within the institution, or a dedication to
musical or artistic activity. There is occasional evidence of girls entering
convents unwillingly or because they lacked alternatives, but as the number
of nuns was small, there cannot have been many such incidents. A Viennese
girl of good family had other acceptable possibilities, besides marriage to an
elder son of similar social standing. She might marry a man of a wealthy or
prominent but recently ennobled family: the social structure, except for the
highest born, was a little more fluid in Vienna than in many Italian cities,
and faithful service to the crown often brought ennoblement, as was the case
for a number of prominent musicians in court service. She might remain
unmarried, perhaps devoting herself to the service of her family, as did
Archduchess Maria Magdalena (1689–1743), a sister of Emperors Joseph I
and Karl VI; a survey of death records of the nobility in Vienna reveals a
small, but not inconsiderable, number of women who had never married.4
She might join a service (tertiary) order.5 The Englische Fräulein were an
uncloistered teaching order active briefly in Vienna in the 1620s and then in
St. Pölten from 1707. The Elisabethinen, an order of Franciscan tertiaries
devoted to nursing and care of the poor, established themselves in Graz in
1690, in Vienna in 1709, and later in Klagenfurt, Linz, and Pozsony
(Bratislava);6 they were considered to be nuns, but their mission was
incompatible with strict enclosure. Or she might enter a Damenstift, a
foundation where women lived a quasi-religious, communal life. The
Savoyensches Damenstift for noblewomen in need of homes was founded

3
Robert L. Kendrick, Celestial Sirens: Nuns and Their Music in Early Modern Milan (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1996), 27, 38–39.
4
Totenprotokolle Adelige, A-Wsa. On Maria Magdalena, see Brigitte Hamann, Die Habsburger:
Ein biographisches Lexikon (Vienna: Amalthea, 1988), 339.
5
Sabine Weiss, Die Österreicherin: Die Rolle der Frau in 1000 Jahren Geschichte (Graz: Verlag
Styria, 1996), 354–55. On the Englische Fräulein, founded by the English educator Mary Ward,
see Linda Maria Koldau, Frauen – Musik – Kultur: Ein Handbuch zum deutschen Sprachgebiet der
Frühen Neuzeit (Cologne: Böhlau, 2005), 356–57; Anne Conrad, Zwischen Kloster und Welt:
Ursulinen und Jesuitinnen in der katholischen Reformbewegung des 16./17. Jahrhunderts,
Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Europäische Geschichte Mainz, Abteilung
Religionsgeschichte, 142 (Mainz: Philipp von Zabern, 1991), 84–94; and Silvia Evangelisti, Nuns:
A History of Convent Life (Oxford University Press, 2007), 211–19.
6
Weiss, Die Österreicherin, 355, and Felix Czeike, Historisches Lexikon Wien, 6 vols. (Vienna:
Kremayr & Scheriau, 2004), s.v. “Elisabethinen,” “Elisabethinenkirche.”
 Female convents and music in Vienna, 1650–1785 3

in Vienna only in 17727 (it is probably no coincidence that entering a

convent there became more difficult around that time), but the
königliches Damenstift Hall in Tyrol had been founded considerably earlier,
in 1564. A frequent destination for travelers in the region, Damenstift Hall
maintained a professional Kapelle of men and boys and was in the seven-
teenth century the most important musical institution in Tyrol after the
famed Hofkapelle in Innsbruck.8
Vienna was a very musical city, at least in part because music played a
prominent role in the public representation of the imperial family.9 From
the early seventeenth century, when the court moved permanently to the
city, the Habsburgs cultivated a large and excellent Hofkapelle, drawing fine
musicians from Italy, their own lands, and elsewhere to provide magnificent
music in support of their dignity as both rulers of their hereditary lands and
the family of Holy Roman Emperors. Lavish court musical productions
trumpeted the family’s fame in less than subtle allegories.10
For the Austrian Habsburgs of the seventeenth and the early eighteenth
centuries, music was much more than a personal diversion and a symbol of
wealth and power. Most of them were trained in music, and several emper-
ors, including Leopold I and his elder son Joseph I, were composers –
orderers of sound and creators of harmony – as well as political rulers,
their music serving as an aural symbol of the harmony of their rule and their
personal fitness to reign.11 In a biography published in 1712, the year after
his death, Joseph is credited with the musical talent that elevates the
Habsburgs above other noble families; this talent, passing from one legit-
imate ruler to the next, links him to his father, Leopold I, and back to the

7
On Damenstifte, see Koldau, Frauen, 877–915, and Karl Vocelka and Lynne Heller, Die private
Welt der Habsburger: Leben und Alltag einer Familie (Graz: Verlag Styria, 1998), 278–79.
Ceremonies for the opening of the Savoyensches Damenstift are described in Zwei Jahrhunderte
des Ursulinerklosters in Wien, 1660–1860 (Vienna: Ludwig Mayer, 1860), 40.
8
Walter Senn, Aus dem Kulturleben einer süddeutschen Kleinstadt: Musik, Schule und Theater der
Stadt Hall in Tirol in der Zeit vom 15. bis zum 19. Jahrhundert (Innsbruck: Tyrolia-Verlag, 1938),
134–222, 331, 354–56, 449–50, 612–33, and Koldau, Frauen, 59–65, 814–15.
9
Andrew H. Weaver, Sacred Music as Public Image for Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III
(Farnham: Ashgate, 2012), and Maria Goloubeva, The Glorification of Emperor Leopold I in
Image, Spectacle, and Text (Mainz: Philipp von Zabern, 2000).
10
On court musical productions as celebrating the harmony of Habsburg rule, in particular at the
court of Leopold I, see Goloubeva, The Glorification of Emperor Leopold I, especially Chapter 4,
“L’idea del felice governo: Peace, harmony and patronage of the arts in the representations of
Leopold I.” An overview of political themes in European opera in the seventeenth century
appears in Lorenzo Bianconi and Thomas Walker, “Production, consumption and political
function of seventeenth-century opera,” Early Music History, 4 (1984), 259–74.
11
This idea may not have been universal, the court’s engagement with music being considered by
some critics as an expensive distraction: Koldau, Frauen, 107–8.
4 Female convents and music in Vienna, 1650–1785

ancient kings. And what makes him such a good musician is an innate
quality, impossible to achieve by any amount of practice:
Just like the great Leopold, [he] on occasion composed arias and other cantatas,
which were afterwards considered by the greatest connoisseurs of music as incom-
parable; thus Emperor Joseph was also in this science so complete, that in his leisure
hours, without breaking into the great business of ruling, he was able to compose the
most perfect pieces, which afterwards were heard by everyone with pleasure. He
played the harpsichord in a finished manner and played the flute, and also many
other instruments, with such ease that even those who make a profession of it had to
admit that they could not surpass him in grace, and only had the advantage in being
able to practice all day long.12

The other guiding and legitimating idea of the dynasty was piety, emphasized
in the wake of the Counter-Reformation. This virtue was concisely expressed
in the depiction of Emperor Leopold I on the Dreifaltigkeitssäule (Holy Trinity
column) in the center of Vienna.13 Leopold kneels in supplication, begging on
behalf of his people for an end to the plague epidemic of 1679 (Figure 1).
Piety and music constantly intertwined. Court composers set texts extolling
their emperors as models of that virtue and others,14 and emperors themselves
wrote sacred music that remained in the repertory of the Hofkapelle for
decades, each performance evoking the ruling family’s devotion. Piety,
music, and the political need for constant visibility combined in a yearly
cycle of state visits to churches, monasteries, and convents, which court
calendars and the newspapers of the day reported to the larger world. In
this cycle of “stational worship,” members of the imperial family, together
with their courts, attended services at a convent, monastery, or church on the

12
Eucharius Gottlieb Rinck, Josephs des Sieghafften Röm. Käysers Leben und Thaten (Cologne,
1712), I:40: “Eben wie der grosse Leopold arien und andere cantaten zum öfftern componirte,
welche hernach von den grösten kennern der music vor unvergleichlich gehalten worden, also
war auch der Käyser Joseph in dieser wissenschaft so vollkommen, daß er bey müßigen stunden,
ohne den grossen regierungs-geschäfften abbruch zu thun, die vollkommensten stücke
verfertigte, die hernach mit iedermans vergnügen angehörtet wurden. Er spielete selbst ein
vollkommenes clavecin, bließ die flöte, und tractirte noch viel andere instrumenta mit solcher
annehmlichkeit, daß auch diejenigen, so profession davon machten, gestehen musten, daß sie ihn
in der grace nicht übertreffen, und nur hierdurch einen vortheil hätten, daß sie den gantzen tag
darmit umgiengen.” It is perhaps most likely that a German nobleman would have played the
transverse flute, rather than the recorder.
13
The classic study of piety as Habsburg princely virtue and as political policy is Anna Coreth,
Pietas Austriaca: Ursprung und Entwicklung barocker Frömmigkeit in Österreich (Vienna, 1959),
trans. William D. Bowman and Anna Maria Leitgeb (West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University
Press, 2004).
14
Weaver, Sacred Music as Public Image, Chapter 5: “Musical portraiture: Representations of the
emperor in sound.”
 Female convents and music in Vienna, 1650–1785 5

Figure 1. Holy Trinity column, Vienna (1682–94), by Matthias Rauchmüller,

Paul Strudel, J. B. Fischer von Erlach, Ludovico Burnacini, I. J. Bendl, Joseph
Frühwirth, Tobias Kraker, and Matthias Gunst. Detail showing Emperor
Leopold I. Photo: author.

patron saint’s day or other day of special importance to the institution,

associating themselves and their reign with the virtues of the saints and the
piety of those devoted to a religious life (Table 1). This cycle of visits expanded
over the course of the seventeenth century, reached a peak in the century’s last
decade, and began to wane around 1715.15 By tradition, reaching back to the
reforms of Emperor Ferdinand II at the beginning of the seventeenth century,
Habsburg women, especially dowager empresses and unmarried archduch-
esses, were responsible for much of this pious duty, visiting convents and
churches, attending religious services, and participating in pilgrimages.16
The story of the Viennese convents and their music is bound up with the
city’s religious and political history. The oldest convents, including St. Agnes

15
On public processions, church visits, religious celebrations, and acts of piety as theater, political
representation, and indicators of social change in eighteenth-century Vienna, see Elisabeth Kovács,
“Kirchliches Zeremoniell am Wiener Hof des 18. Jahrhunderts im Wandel von Mentalität und
Gesellschaft,” Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs, 32 (1979), 109–42.
16
Katrin Keller, Hofdamen: Amtsträgerinnen im Wiener Hofstaat des 17. Jahrhunderts (Vienna:
Böhlau, 2005), 131.
6 Female convents and music in Vienna, 1650–1785

Table 1. Visits to Viennese convents by the imperial family, as listed in Wienerisches

Andachts-Büchl oder Festcalender vor das Jahr 1715 (Vienna: Johann Baptist Schönwetter,
1715), Corriere ordinario (1715), and Wienerisches Diarium (WD; 1715).

Occasion
Date Convent (feasts in bold, movable feasts marked *)

Jan. 22 Königinkloster Anniversary of the death of the founder, Elisabeth, Queen

(Clarissan order) of France: emperor & empress attend Mass. WD lists this
visit on Jan. 21: Empress Mother Eleonora Magdalena &
archduchesses visited the convent & dined there.
According to WD, the imperial couple were away.a
Jan. 22 Königinkloster Eve of the wedding of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM):
Dowager Empress Amalie Wilhelmine & young
archduchesses attend 1st Vespers.
Jan. 23 St. Joseph Wedding of the BVM: emperor & empress attend services.
(Carmelite order) Eleonora Magdalena & archduchesses attend services &
dine.
Feb. 2 Königinkloster Purification of the BVM: Eleonora Magdalena visits.
Feb. 3 St. Nikolai Amalie Wilhelmine & archduchesses attend a profession
(Clarissan order) ceremony & dine.
Feb. 10 St. Agnes Profession of Countess Carafa: emperor, empress, dowager
(Augustinian order) empresses & their daughters attend Mass & profession
ceremony; the dowager empresses & their daughters
dine & hear Vespers.
Feb. 17 St. Nikolai Eleonora Magdalena & archduchesses attend services & dine.
Feb. 21 St. Laurenz Eleonora Magdalena & archduchesses make devotions &
(Augustinian order) dine.
Feb. 23 St. Nikolai Eleonora Magdalena & her daughters make a private visit to
the convent.
Feb. 28 St. Joseph Eleonora Magdalena & archduchesses make devotions & dine.
Mar. 3 Königinkloster Eleonora Magdalena & archduchesses attend services & dine.
Mar. 8 Königinkloster *Exposing of the Vial of Holy Blood (2nd Friday in March):
emperor & empress, Eleonora Magdalena & archduchesses
attend Mass; Eleonora Magdalena dines there; Amalie
Wilhelmine attends evening services.
Mar. 18 St. Joseph Eve of St. Joseph: Amalie Wilhelmine & archduchesses
attend services & dine.
Mar. 19 St. Joseph St. Joseph: emperor, empress & court attend Mass; Eleonora
Magdalena dines in the convent. WD: Eleonora
Magdalena & archduchesses attend services & dine.
Apr. 14 Königinkloster *Palm Sunday: Eleonora Magdalena attends services.
Apr. 17 Königinkloster Eleonora Magdalena attends services.
Apr. 19 Königinkloster *Good Friday: Eleonora Magdalena makes her devotions at
the convent. WD: Eleonora Magdalena, archduchesses &
nobles visit city churches.
Apr. 20 Probably several convents *Holy Saturday: emperor & empress visit city churches.
 Female convents and music in Vienna, 1650–1785 7

Table 1 (cont.)

Occasion
Date Convent (feasts in bold, movable feasts marked *)

Apr. 20 Königinkloster *Holy Saturday: Eleonora Magdalena, her daughters & her
court attend the passion service.
May 2 Königinkloster Eleanora Magdalena & archduchesses attend services & dine.
May 13 St. Joseph Eleonora Magdalena & archduchesses attend services & the
procession.
May 15 St. Joseph Patronage of St. Joseph [of St. Joseph as patron of the
Carmelite order]: Eleonora Magdalena attends services.
May 31 Königinkloster Beginning of the 9-day devotion “zum Heiligen Geist”:
Eleonora Magdalena, Amalie Wilhelmine & archduchesses
attend services.
Jun. 4 Königinkloster Amalie Wilhelmine & archduchesses attend the entrance
ceremony of 3 noblewomen.
Jun. 8 Königinkloster Eleonora Magdalena & archduchesses attend services for
9-day devotions.
Jun. 11 Königinkloster Eleonora Magdalena & archduchesses attend services and dine.
Jun. 28 St. Ursula *Sacred Heart of Jesus (3rd Friday after Pentecost): Eleonora
Magdalena & archduchesses attend services.
Jun. 30 Königinkloster Eleonora Magdalena & archduchesses attend services & the
clothing ceremony of the 3 noblewomen who entered June 4.
Jul. 15 St. Joseph Eve of the Feast of the Scapular: Amalie Wilhelmine attends
services.
Jul. 16 St. Joseph Feast of the Scapular: emperor & empress attend Mass,
dine & hear Vespers & Litany. WD: Eleonora Magdalena &
archduchesses attend services.
Jul. 25 St. Jakob St. Jakob (James): emperor & empress, Eleonora
(Augustinian order) Magdalena & her daughters attend services, dine & hear an
oratorio. WD: Eleonora Magdalena & archduchesses
attend services & dine.
Jul. 28 St. Agnes St. Valentine: Eleonora Magdalena & archduchesses attend
services & dine.
Aug. 2 Königinkloster Portiuncula: Eleonora Magdalena, Amalie Wilhelmine &
archduchesses attend services & dine.
Aug. 5 Königinkloster Dedication of the Church of Our Lady of the Snows (Maria
Schnee): Eleonora Magdalena & archduchesses make
devotions & dine. WD: Eleonora Magdalena, Amalie
Wilhelmine & archduchesses attend services.
Aug. 10 St. Laurenz St. Laurenz: emperor & empress attend Mass; Dowager
Empress [Eleonora Magdalena?] dines & attends Vespers.
Aug. 12 St. Nikolai St. Clara: emperor, empress & dowager empresses attend
Mass, dine & attend Vespers. According to WD, Eleonora
Magdalena & archduchesses went to St. Nikolai, Amalie
Wilhelmine & archduchesses to the Königinkloster.
8 Female convents and music in Vienna, 1650–1785

Table 1 (cont.)

Occasion
Date Convent (feasts in bold, movable feasts marked *)

Aug. 12 Königinkloster St. Clara: Amalie Wilhelmine & archduchesses to

Königinkloster.
Aug. 12 St. Agnes St. Clara: members of the imperial family attend prayers &
Litany.
Aug. 14 St. Agnes Eleonora Magdalena & archduchesses attend services.
Aug. 15 St. Agnes Assumption of the BVM, conclusion of the 8-day devotions
in honor of the BVM, the convent’s patron: one of the
dowager empresses attends the services. WD: on this day
the court attended services in several churches, but no
convents.
Aug. 22 St. Ursula Eleonora Magdalena & archduchesses attend services & dine.
Aug. 29 Königinkloster Beheading of St. John the Baptist: Eleonora Magdalena &
her daughters attend services & dine.
Sep. 9 Königinkloster Eleonora Magdalena & archduchesses attend services & a
profession ceremony.
Oct. 15 St. Joseph St. Teresa of Ávila (co-founder of the Carmelite order):
emperor, empress & dowager empresses attend services &
dine. WD: the dowager empresses & archduchesses attend
services & dine.
Oct. 21 St. Ursula (Ursuline order) St. Ursula: Amalie Wilhelmine & her daughters attend
services & dine.
Nov. 11 St. Laurenz Eleonora Magdalena & archduchesses make devotions & dine.
Nov. 19 St. Elisabeth St. Elisabeth of Hungary or Thuringia: Eleonora Magdalena
(Elisabethinen, makes her devotions there.
Franciscan order)
Nov. 24 St. Elisabeth Octave of the Feast of St. Elisabeth: Amalie Wilhelmine &
her daughters attend Mass.
Nov. 24 St. Agnes Octave of the Feast of St. Elisabeth: Amalie Wilhelmine &
her daughters dine & attend Vespers.
Nov. 27 Königinkloster Eleonora Magdalena & archduchesses dine.
Dec. 6 St. Nikolai St. Nicolas: emperor, empress & dowager empresses attend
services. In WD this was not mentioned, on account of the
death of the Elector of Trier (Charles Joseph of Lorraine) in
Vienna.
Dec. 14 St. Joseph St. John of the Cross (co-founder of the Carmelite order):
Eleonora Magdalena & eldest archduchess attend
services & dine.

a
Discrepancies among these reports suggest that they were often formulaic, repeated from year to year,
and that attendance of the imperial family, especially of the emperor and empress, may not have always
been exactly as reported.
 Female convents and music in Vienna, 1650–1785 9

zur Himmelpforte and St. Jakob auf der Hülben (St. James on the Marsh),
dated back to the thirteenth century or even earlier, and others came and went
over time. In contrast to the continuity of Italian convents, Viennese convents
experienced a break in the mid-sixteenth century, as Protestantism became a
major force in the region. Viennese convents were reduced to a few nuns, and
musical traditions were certainly lost. The Counter-Reformation brought
revival, and from this time the court took an interest in the convents. Royal
women founded new ones in the city, beginning with the Clarissan convent of
Maria, Königin der Engel (known as the Königinkloster), endowed by
Elisabeth, daughter of Emperor Maximilian II, in 1582. From the late sixteenth
century, Viennese convents grew in size and respectability; they were enclosed
at the turn of the seventeenth century, and wealthy and educated girls – many
probably with musical training and inclinations – began to enter. The court’s
yearly cycle of public church visits included the Königinkloster by 1629,17 and
it expanded to include the others over the course of the century. The
Augustinian convent of St. Jakob was producing notable music by 1650, and
others followed.
The pairing of music and piety in Habsburg political thought encouraged a
flowering of musical entertainments in Viennese convents around the end of
the seventeenth century. Now enveloped in a web of political representation,
the convents began to entertain and flatter their royal visitors with music,
drama, and dance. Members of the imperial family frequently attended, and
sometimes even participated in, ceremonies of entrance, clothing, and pro-
fession for noble girls. As the Habsburgs often brought their Hofkapelle with
them when they visited, cloistered nuns regularly heard excellently performed
church music, and had a fine model to emulate in their own musical efforts. In
many Italian cities, the religious authorities disapproved of polyphonic music
in convents and sought to restrict nuns’ music-making and access to musical
training. But in Vienna, the court, which also served as the city’s religious
authority, approved and even encouraged such activity.
In the second decade of the eighteenth century the mutually beneficial
relationship of court and convents began to unravel. Public visits by the more
important members of the imperial family decreased (although private visits
continued at several convents). Convent musical productions became more
homely, and ceremonies with court participation less frequent. From the
1760s, the convents came under increasing pressure as their relevance was

17
Andrew Hudsco Weaver, “Piety, Politics, and Patronage: Motets at the Habsburg court in Vienna
during the Reign of Ferdinand III (1637–1657),” unpublished PhD dissertation, Yale University
(2002), 117. When exactly this expansion took place is as yet unclear.
10 Female convents and music in Vienna, 1650–1785

questioned, and they maintained their daily devotional obligations only with
difficulty. In January 1782, the Carmelite convent of St. Joseph and Vienna’s
two Clarissan convents, the Königinkloster and St. Nikolai, were dissolved by
Emperor Joseph II, among the first monastic institutions to meet that fate;
Vienna’s three Augustinian female convents soon followed. St. Ursula, the
only convent within the city walls to escape dissolution, had its musical life
severely curtailed in 1783, as a result of Joseph’s reforms of church music.
Thus ended the golden age of Viennese convent music.
***
Most of the convents in Vienna were clustered south and east of St. Stephen’s
Cathedral and close to the Augustinian and Franciscan monasteries and the
Jesuit churches and colleges (Figure 2). Musicians from St. Stephen’s
performed at several convents on important feast days, and monks and
priests from the monasteries and colleges tended to the spiritual needs of
the nuns. The two convents founded in the early eighteenth century, the
Salesianerinnenkloster and St. Elisabeth, are located in the present-day third
district, also south and east of St. Stephen’s but outside the city walls.
Viennese convents varied in their style of living and approach to music. At
the three Augustinian female convents, St. Jakob auf der Hülben, St. Agnes zur
Himmelpforte, and St. Laurenz, the nuns, or canonesses, sang and played a
variety of instruments. St. Jakob had an enduring and successful musical
tradition, attracting musically inclined girls, providing them with professional
training, and presenting oratorios and feste teatrali before the imperial family.
St. Agnes, which became an Augustinian Frauenkloster in 1586, also had a
strong musical tradition, presenting oratorio-like works before the imperial
family in the early eighteenth century and popular Trauer-Gesänge (German-
language sepolcri) in the 1720s and 30s. St. Laurenz was noted for its education
of girls, and also served as a devotional destination for noblewomen. The plays
with music presented there in the late seventeenth century were performed by
Kostfräulein rather than nuns.
Two Clarissan convents were founded in Vienna by royal women: the
Königinkloster and St. Nikolai. The latter was founded by Empress Eleonora
(I), wife of Ferdinand II, in 1625, on a site used first by Cistercian nuns, then
by Franciscan monks, and later as a city orphanage. There was considerable
music-making in these convents besides the daily plainchant, although
perhaps confined to singing and playing keyboard instruments.
The Carmelite convent of St. Joseph, founded in 1638 by Empress Eleonora,
then the widow of Ferdinand II, was later visited by Maria Theresia for respite
from the cares of state (she described the nuns there as “quite simple,
 Female convents and music in Vienna, 1650–1785 11

Figure 2. Convents and related churches and monasteries in Vienna, ca. 1720.
1. St. Stephen’s Cathedral
2. Franciscan monastery
3. St. Agnes zur Himmelpforte
4. St. Jakob auf der Hülben
5. St. Nikolai
6. St. Ursula
7. St. Laurenz
8. Augustinian Church
9. Königinkloster
10. St. Joseph
11. St. Elisabeth
12. Salesianerinnenkloster
13. Hofburg
14. St. Michael’s Church
15. St. Peter’s Church
16. University Church (Jesuit)
17. Jesuit Church am Hof
18. St. Dorothea

but saintly”18). It was the city’s most austere and strictly cloistered convent,
and the nuns performed their sacred services in plainchant only. Like other

18
Maria Theresia, Briefe der Kaiserin Maria Theresia an Ihre Kinder und Freunde, ed.
Alfred Ritter von Arneth (Vienna: Wilhelm Braumüller, 1881), III:148–49. To her young
daughter-in-law Marie Beatrix, then in Milan, she wrote “C’est bien obligeant que vous
12 Female convents and music in Vienna, 1650–1785

Viennese nuns, those at St. Joseph diverted themselves with the sorts of
musical activity common to upper-class women, playing keyboard instru-
ments and mandora (bass lute), and they occasionally presented spiritual
musical entertainments. In 1694 a group of court women performed an
oratorio, Le cinque vergini prudenti, by Antonio Draghi there “nel sacro
coro.” Concerted music was performed at St. Joseph on feast days, as in the
Clarissan convents, by musicians from St. Stephen’s or the court. Over the
years, the convent paid out considerable sums to outside musicians.
The Ursuline convent, founded in 1660 by Dowager Empress Eleonora (II),
widow of Ferdinand III, was a socially active (rather than contemplative)
convent, dedicated to the teaching of girls. Active convents increased rapidly
in number in the second half of the seventeenth century, in response to rising
social problems and growing awareness of them.19 Music was a tool used by
the Ursulines for instruction and proselytizing, and they devoted considerable
attention to it, rivaling St. Jakob. The arrival of the Ursulines in Vienna may
have inspired the other convents to raise the level of their own music-making.
Two new convents, both socially active, were built outside the city walls in
the early eighteenth century. Saint Elisabeth was founded in 1709 with the
support of Dowager Empress Eleonora Magdalena, widow of Leopold I. The
nuns were an order of nursing sisters, named in honor of St. Elisabeth of
Thuringia and belonging to the family of Franciscan tertiary orders (Ordo
Sorores Hospitalariæ Sanctæ Elisabethæ T. O. S. Francisci). They ran a
hospital dedicated to the care of poor, sick women. They performed most
of their music themselves, except on special feast days, and were visited
mostly by dowager empresses and other lesser members of the imperial
family. Nuns of L’Ordre de la Visitation Sainte Marie (Orden von der
Heimsuchung Mariæ) – known as the Visitandines or, in Austria, the
Salesianerinnen after one of their two founders, François de Sales (the
other was Jeanne-Françoise Frémiot, Baronne de Chantal) – were brought
to Vienna and installed in a convent intended as a home for Amalie
Wilhelmine, widow of Emperor Joseph I, in 1719.20 The convent was
dedicated to the education of noble girls. Their special music was performed
by outside musicians, including boys from the nearby orphanage.
In Italy, nuns performed in a separate inner church, their voices heard
faintly in the public outer church, an effect that seems only to have increased
the fascination of listeners. In Vienna, convent churches were usually

avez voulu m’acquitter vis-à-vis des bonnes carmélites. Si elles sont comme celles de ce pays,
elles sont bien simples, mais saintes.”
19
Evangelisti, Nuns, Chapter 7, “Open communities for women.”
20
On the origin and spread of the order, see Evangelisti, Nuns, 219–24.
 Female convents and music in Vienna, 1650–1785 13

provided with two galleries, a lower one for the musicians (the Musikchor) and
an upper prayer gallery (Bettchor) for non-performing members of the com-
munity such as lay sisters, elderly women who had retired to the convent, and
pupils. In the Ursuline church, and perhaps in some other Viennese convent
churches as well, the nuns performed some of their devotions in a grated and
curtained-off section of the main church. These arrangements allowed listen-
ers a more immediate experience of the music, and also supported collabo-
ration with outside musicians. Male organists, trumpeters and timpanists,
trombonists, and singers all participated in convent music-making in Vienna.
Italian convents performed plays in their parlatori, and this practice too was
known in Vienna, paraliturgical performances taking place in the parlatorio
(Redezimmer) or elsewhere in the convent.
***
Study of Germanic convents has in general lagged far behind that of the
better-known Italian ones (and indeed that of convents in Spain, France,
and England), and the music of early modern Germanic convents began to
receive serious attention only at the end of the twentieth century. In the case
of Vienna, the brilliant court and theatrical music, for which there are rich
archival and musical sources that have yet to be exhausted, and the presence
of composers including Johann Joseph Fux, Christoph Willibald Gluck,
Joseph Haydn, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, have left other musical
activity in the shade. In the vast literature on music in Vienna, female
convents have been mentioned only briefly and occasionally, more as a
curiosity than as an integral part of musical life.
Customs of music transmission have also hampered the study of Viennese
convent music. Music associated with Italian convents, written either by nuns
or by others for nuns to perform, was not infrequently published, and it is
such music by Chiara Margarita Cozzolani, Isabella Leonarda, and others that
has sparked interest in their musical milieux. For Viennese and other central
European convents, the music was generally handwritten – the printing of
music did not become common in Vienna until the late eighteenth century.
Most of the music belonging to the Viennese convents, as well as much other
potentially valuable material, was lost when six of the seven convents within
the city walls were dissolved in the 1780s.
The identification of musical sources has been one of the challenges of
this study. Many of those discussed here come from the former imperial
library, now part of the Musiksammlung of the Österreichische
Nationalbibliothek in Vienna, and were probably presented to the emperor
or another member of the imperial family during convent visits. Emperor
14 Female convents and music in Vienna, 1650–1785

Leopold was described as avidly following the score at musical perform-

ances,21 and he collected scores for a personal library that he kept in his
bedchamber. These scores were bound in cream-colored vellum with gold
trim and stamped with his portrait or a Habsburg crest.22 Some of the
convent scores are incomplete, either substantial fragments (perhaps
including the emperor’s favorite sections) or keyboard scores of pieces
that had been performed with instrumental ensemble. As Viennese nuns,
like nuns elsewhere in the German lands,23 did not customarily claim
authorship of their musical manuscripts, many of these works are anony-
mous. A collection of some sixty sets of manuscript parts for motets, psalms,
Magnificats, and other pieces, even including symphonies, mostly from the
second half of the eighteenth century and by outside, male, composers,
survives from the Ursuline convent. This music currently resides in the
Archive of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, to which it came as
part of the estate of the Viennese musicologist Karl Pfannhauser (1911–
1984).24 He probably obtained it in 1960, when the convent moved from its
city location to new facilities in the suburb of Mauer; it was at that time that
the convent got rid of its music collection.25 It was common practice to print
libretti for convent performances of oratorios and other entertainments,
and a substantial number of these survive in Vienna and elsewhere: the
extensive collection of the librettist Apostolo Zeno, now in the Biblioteca
Nazionale Marciana in Venice, includes many examples from Viennese
convents, probably gathered by Zeno during his years as court poet in
Vienna, 1718–29.26
Considerable archival and documentary material survives, and the largest
collection is the Klösterarchiv in the Stadt- und Landesarchiv in Vienna,

21
Eucharius Gottlieb Rinck, Leopolds des Grossen Röm. Käysers wunderwürdiges Leben und
Thaten, aus geheimen Nachrichten eröffnet, 2nd edn. (Leipzig: Thomas Fritsch, 1709), 85: “und in
einer opera wird er nicht leicht ein auge von der in händen habenden partitur weggewendet
haben, so genau observirte er alle noten.”
22
Elisabeth Theresia Hilscher, Mit Leier und Schwert: Die Habsburger und die Musik (Graz: Verlag
Styria, 2000), 123, and Josef Gmeiner, “Die ‘Schlafkammerbibliothek’ Kaiser Leopolds I.,” Biblos:
Österreichische Zeitschrift für Buch- und Bibliothekswesen, Dokumentation, Bibliographie, und
Bibliophilie, 43, nos. 3–4 (1994), 199–213, Tafeln 14–20.
23
Koldau, Frauen, 654, 738–39.
24
Information on the history of the collection was kindly provided by the director of the archive,
Dr. Otto Biba.
25
According to the convent archivist in 2005, Schwester Felicitas Wagner.
26
Luigi Ferrari, “Per la bibliografia del teatro italiano in Vienna,” in Cristina Arcamone Barletta
(ed.), Studi di bibliografia e di argomento romano in memoria di Luigi de Gregori (Rome: Fratelli
Palombi Editori, 1949), 136–50. Many, but not all, of these libretti are listed in Claudio Sartori, I
libretti italiani a stampa dalle origini al 1800: Catalogo analitico con 16 indici (Cuneo: Bertola &
Locatelli, 1990–94).
 Female convents and music in Vienna, 1650–1785 15

which has been the focus of my archival work. The Klösterarchiv and
smaller collections in other archives in and around the city are mostly
what remained after the ruthless – if somewhat unsystematic – culling, at
the time of the dissolution of the convents in the 1780s. The preserved
material deals primarily with the financial affairs, property, and possessions
of the convents, and references to music are most often incidental. Court
documents in the Haus-, Hof- and Staatsarchiv and the Österreichisches
Staatsarchiv mention imperial visits, dowries, and other matters concerning
the relationship of court and convents. The Ursuline convent, the only one
within the city walls to survive the dissolution, preserves a chronicle, a
necrology, and other documents. The chronicle provides a lively account
of musical life in the institution, although with gaps caused by loss through
fire and other disasters. Newspapers such as the Corriere ordinario and the
Wienerisches Diarium mention convents often, and report many musical
performances in them, as well as imperial visits. Descriptions of the city by
both natives and visitors comment on the convents’ music.
***
The theme of this book is the interaction of music and piety, court and
church, as seen through the relationship between the Habsburg court and
Vienna’s female convents in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Chapter 1 examines ceremonies of entrance, clothing, profession, and
second profession (the fiftieth anniversary of a nun’s profession). For girls
of the high nobility, the Hofkapelle often performed the music, and the
imperial family participated in the ceremonies, recognizing and consolidat-
ing the noble family’s status and drawing the convents into the circle of
ritual supporting Habsburg rule. The participation of the imperial family
and especially of the emperor himself blurred the line between sacred and
secular, reinforcing the dual role of the Habsburg rulers. This model was
imitated on down the social scale. A secondary theme of the book, the links
between the convents and society outside them, is explored through Joseph
Haydn’s connection with the convent of St. Nikolai during his freelance
years in Vienna. Musical links between the convents and other city churches
enabled convent ceremonies for middle-class girls, and convents provided
venues for young or recently arrived musicians to display their talents and
gain experience.
During its high point at the end of the seventeenth century and the
beginning of the eighteenth, Viennese convent music was dominated by
two composers: Maria Anna von Raschenau at St. Jakob and the court
composer Carlo Agostino Badia, who wrote for the Ursuline convent.
16 Female convents and music in Vienna, 1650–1785

Chapters 2 and 3 examine the lives and musical milieux of these composers,
their compositional output, and the ways in which their music reflected the
resources and aims of the convents. Musical and documentary sources
reveal how the musical productions of the two convents promoted the
emperor as hero, as father of his people, and as a model of pious behavior,
and also gave voice to Habsburg political views. Material from the Ursuline
convent provides evidence of such performance practices as the use of
Bassistinnen (female “basses”). The desire to produce full-voiced music
was perhaps an attempt to imitate the Hofkapelle, Vienna’s preeminent
church-music ensemble, which the nuns would have heard regularly.
Around the turn of the eighteenth century, paraliturgical entertainments
were performed in convents before the court and members of the imperial
family, and these are the subject of Chapter 4. The three works presented
here illustrate aspects of the Habsburg worldview, from the social (the
importance of properly considered marriage) to the political (that resolu-
tion of tensions among nations depended upon recognition of Habsburg
claims). Many convent entertainments, including these three, address the
role of women in the political order: without women, marriage, and child-
bearing, the all-important succession, with its promise of political stability
and reassurance of divine favor, could not be achieved. The convent pro-
ductions provide a rarely heard feminine point of view.
The sepolcro tradition, the subject of Chapter 5, provided yet another
opportunity for the exhibition of piety by members of the imperial family.
The sepolcro, a presentation of the passion story before a model of the Holy
Sepulcher during Holy Week, has been most strongly associated in Vienna
with the imperial chapel in the seventeenth century, but it was a widespread
practice, the court providing the high-status version. Viennese convents
performed sepolcri similar to those heard at court, or shorter cantata-like
pieces designed to fit the twenty minutes or so spent in the convent church
by members of the imperial family during their rounds of the city churches
on Good Friday and Holy Saturday. Court interest diminished in the second
decade of the eighteenth century, but sepolcro presentations in convents
continued until at least 1740. The productions of the 1720s and 30s were in
the vernacular and popular in character, designed to appeal to ordinary
people rather than the court.
During the eighteenth century, the Viennese convents came to seem less
and less relevant, and their decline is the subject of the final chapter. Three
significant points of social and political change in the eighteenth century
particularly affected Vienna’s convents, their relationship to the court, and
their musical life: the period 1712–15, the early years of Emperor Karl VI’s
 Female convents and music in Vienna, 1650–1785 17

reign; the religious reforms of early 1750s; and the even more radical
reforms of the early 1780s. As the relationship between court and convents
unraveled, convent music diminished. In the end, the convents’ poor music
came to represent the failings of these institutions and became yet another
reason for their dissolution.
Looking out at Viennese musical culture from the perspective of the
cloistered nun provides a new view of the music of one of Europe’s great
musical centers. As this is the first detailed study of convent musical culture
in Vienna, many questions remain. But several things are clear: that the
nuns exercised their human need for creativity most ingeniously, taking full
advantage of the limited freedoms allowed them; that they explored a
feminine perspective in their art; that they were ambitious; that they were
encouraged; and that they often succeeded – for a time, brilliantly, as their
aims and concerns meshed perfectly with those of the ruling family in a very
musical city. The story of these nuns and their music offers a lesson on how
art and power could fruitfully combine to exalt the powerful and sustain the
artists and their art; but it also offers an equally striking, but more sobering,
lesson on how a brilliant artistic culture could vanish beneath the inexorable
waves of change.
 1 Columbina in the convent
The music of entrance, clothing, and profession
in Viennese convents

Entering a convent in Vienna, as elsewhere in the seventeenth and eight-

eenth centuries, was a major rite of passage in a girl’s life. The girl was the
star of a small drama, and music resounded, to add import to her words and
actions. Viennese practices reinforced principles of society in that city,
including ideas about the roles of women, music, and religion, and the
Habsburgs did not fail to exploit the propagandistic possibilities of these
events.
In Italy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the church authorities
tried, mostly in vain, to curtail the elaborateness of entrance ceremonies.
Edicts limited the music and decoration, and forbade the practices of giving
money to the girl and – perhaps most contentious – the celebration of the
event with a festive meal.1 The authorities’ lack of success confirms the
importance of the ties between convents and the outside community, and
the deeply rooted role of display in social interaction.
In Vienna, there were equally strong ties between convents and the world
outside, and the line between sacred and secular was even more blurred. The
secular ruler was usually also Holy Roman Emperor, and Church regula-
tions emanated from the court; although heed was paid to Rome, the
emperor and the Viennese ecclesiastical authorities interpreted regulations
and edicts to suit their own needs. Entrance, clothing, and profession
ceremonies for noble Viennese girls featured the Habsburgs in their paren-
tal role and often emphasized political and social relationships. The trap-
pings of wealth, power, and prestige, including music, were imitated on
down the social scale. As far fewer girls entered convents in Vienna than in
Italian cities, such ceremonies were also rarer, especially the most extrava-
gant ones for the highest born girls, and thus could have greater impact.

1
Kate Lowe, “Secular brides and convent brides: Wedding ceremonies in Italy during the
Renaissance and Counter-Reformation,” in Trevor Dean and K. J. P. Lowe (eds.), Marriage in
Italy, 1300–1650 (Cambridge University Press, 2002), 41–65; Colleen Reardon, Holy Concord
within Sacred Walls: Nuns and Music in Siena, 1575–1700 (Oxford University Press, 2002),
Chapter 3, “Veni, veni soror nostra: Clothing, profession, and consecration ceremonies in Sienese
18 convents.”
 “I ask for no gold, magnificence or homage” 19

“I ask for no gold, magnificence or homage”: girls

of noble family

During his visit to Vienna in 1660, the Saxon diplomat, sightseer, and diarist
Johann Sebastian Müller attended the “clothing and introduction ceremony”
of an imperial Kammer-Fräulein (lady-in-waiting) at the Königinkloster. He
described the event in his diary in exquisite detail, through the unaccustomed
eyes of a Lutheran.
The guests at the ceremony included members of the imperial family,
noble ladies and gentlemen, and high-ranking diplomats such as the papal
ambassador and the ambassadors of Spain and Venice, all arriving in
magnificent carriages drawn by fine horses.
A little after 9 a.m. we arrived at the church, before which stood two guards with their
halberds to prevent anyone [undesirable] from getting in among the various noble-
men and ladies already assembled there . . . When the time arrived for the introduc-
tion of the bride or nun into the church, a number of Franciscan brothers in their
chasubles went to the church door carrying [a painting of] the Christ child, as [the
girl’s] bridegroom, along with some large white marriage candles, and asked [the girl]
again if she was still resolved to enter the order. When she had confirmed this with a
high-pitched “Ja,” the monks returned and placed the bridal candles on a small
flower-decked table in front of the altar; the Christ child they placed on the altar,
where the habit and a beautiful wreath were already laid. The monks were followed by
the two archdukes, Karl and Leopold Wilhelm, his imperial majesty [Leopold I], and
the widowed empress, all dressed in black, then the bride in a silver outfit with long,
hanging sleeves and a long train (this being the dress of an imperial Kammer-
Fräulein), magnificently adorned with the empress’s jewels and wearing on her
head a wreath of green rosemary. The imperial and archducal party seated themselves
near the altar, the bride in front of them kneeling on a brown velvet cushion.
During the entry the trumpets and timpani began the music, then the imperial
and archducal musicians performed both chant and polyphonic music, among
other pieces a sonata said to have been composed by the present emperor himself.
During the latter, the empress’s chaplain, a Jesuit, entered the pulpit and [then] gave
a sermon concerning St. Cecilia, applicable to the future nun, whose name was
likewise Cecilia; he gave her another name, Maria Anna, and named those two saints
as her patronesses. After the sermon, instrumental music was performed with four
choirs of instruments: one with violins, theorbos, and violas da gamba; a second
with trombones and cornetti; a third with trumpets and timpani; and the fourth
with high trumpets. Next, Mass was celebrated, then the bride was led from the altar
to the communion bench by the two who were to give her away, her cousin Graf
Breuner and another count, and, after them, she knelt there to receive communion.
20 Columbina in the convent

Then she, together with the two ladies who held her train, went three times around
the altar, holding in her right hand the picture of Christ, as her bridegroom, in her
left, the burning candle. While this was happening, a cleric sang variously and more
than thirty times, “Dominus vobiscum,” etc., “Oremus,” etc., and made very long
Latin prayers, while another cleric went around the altar and the bride with the
censer, also muttering something. One moment the chorus of musicians responded,
then all the clerics together. Finally, his majesty the emperor, the dowager empress,
the two archdukes, and then the nuns recited what the Catholics call the Peace or
Agnus Dei with many candles and with especial reverence, then kissed with com-
plete humility and reverence. The seated gentlemen and ladies, however, showed no
humility and reverence at all, but talked continually among themselves. One
moment they sat down, the next they stood up again, which ceremonies lasted
until nearly one o’clock in the afternoon.
After this, the nun was led by the emperor and Archduke Leopold Wilhelm from
the church into the convent next door, where before the altar she renounced
completely the joys of the world and took her vow of chastity, through which she
testified even more strongly her steadfast devotion to the life of a nun by taking the
rosemary wreath from her head, tearing it into small pieces and throwing these into
the air to these words:

Depart contemptible world,

I hereby renounce you;
I ask for no gold,
Magnificence or homage, and give all,
If I can only have you,
O Christ, my bridegroom;
So I give myself to you
With contentment, you Lamb of God.

And on her way she received a friendly farewell and at the same time a “good night”
from some of the gentlemen and ladies she knew. The clothing ceremony (or the
laying aside of worldly clothing and donning of the nun’s habit, a long brown dress)
takes place inside the cloister, at the same time also the cutting of her hair . . . After
this, the widowed empress and the two archduchesses attended the celebratory meal
in the convent [the Klostertafel], at which the new nun was seated at the head of the
table just like a bride.2

Müller named the convent as the Königinkloster, and the details agree with
descriptions of other clothing ceremonies there;3 however, he may have

2
Johann Sebastian Müller, Einmal Weimar – Wien und Retour: Johann Sebastian Müller und sein
Wienbericht aus dem Jahr 1660, ed. Katrin Keller, Martin Scheutz, and Harald Tersch (Vienna: R.
Oldenbourg Verlag, 2005), 57–62.
3
See Appendix 2, no. 1.
 “I ask for no gold, magnificence or homage” 21

conflated several separate but similar ceremonies. The girl is identified as

Cäcilia Breuner, and a girl by that name made her vows at the Königinkloster
in 1658. However, the girl is also said to be the bishop’s niece; a Maria Clara
Breuner, a niece of the current bishop, entered the Augustinian convent
of St. Agnes zur Himmelpforte in April 1660,4 during Müller’s visit. The
Franciscans, who conducted the ceremonies in Müller’s account, were respon-
sible for the spiritual needs of the women at the Königinkloster.5 At St. Agnes,
the spiritual needs of the nuns were fulfilled by the Augustinian monks of the
Dorotheerkloster and the Jesuits.6
One of this ceremony’s most remarkable features was the participation of
members of the imperial family. The ceremony explored the potent dual
symbolism of the emperor as father and guide to his people and as Holy
Roman Emperor, head of the Church in his realm. The “clothing and
entrance” imitated a wedding ceremony, with a rosemary wreath for the
“bride” (destroyed by the new nun to symbolize her renunciation of
the world), a magnificent dress, marriage candles, and even a (figurative)
groom. It imitated more particularly the wedding of an imperial Kammer-
Fräulein, with the presence of the imperial family at the ceremony and the
following Tafel, and the wearing of imperial jewels by the girl. At a wedding,
the loaned jewels represented the immense social value of imperial patron-
age, which made Hofdamen highly desirable as brides.7 The court reinforced
this outward evidence of favor with a gift of money or jewels. These
practices extended to entrance and clothing ceremonies, to show imperial
favor to the girl’s family and to the convent. A bridal gift could be as large as
several thousand gulden, and gifts to noble girls entering convents were also
generous: among the largest was the 2,500 florins given to Anna Rebecca,
Gräfin von Zinzendorff, when she entered a convent in Graz in 1694.8
The music played by four choirs of instruments, in a varied ensemble
including regal trumpets, served as an aural counterpart to the empress’s
jewels and the participation of the imperial family. For its feast days and
special ceremonies, the Königinkloster called on the most prestigious

4
Müller, Einmal Weimar – Wien, 57n365.
5
Johannes Matthias Testarello della Massa, “Kurze doch Eigentliche Beschreibung . . . die
kayserliche Residenz- und Haubtstatt Wienn in Österreich” (1685), 902, Cod. 8227, A-Wn(h);
Richard Perger and Walther Brauneis, Die mittelalterlichen Kirchen und Klöster Wiens (Vienna:
Paul Zsolnay, 1977), 208, 227; Czeike, Historisches Lexikon Wien, s.v. “Minoriten.”
6
Testarello della Massa, “Beschreibung,” 846. 7 Keller, Hofdamen, 75.
8
AT-OeStA/FHKA SUS HZAB [Finanz- und Hofkammerarchiv, Hofzahlamtsbücher], 139 (1694),
fol. 288v (A-Wös). Wedding gifts of this year included 1,500 fl. each to Maria Francisca, Fürstin
von Mansfeldt, and Sibylla Christine Eleonora, Reichsgräfin von Wibt, and 750 fl. to Margaretha,
Gräfin Collona (fols. 288r–289r).
22 Columbina in the convent

musicians of the city, from either St. Stephen’s or the court; the musicians here
were vocalists and instrumentalists of the Hofkapelle, ensuring that the music
heard by imperial ears was of the highest quality. The performance of a work
composed by the emperor himself may have been a mark of special favor.
The imperial family’s participation in this ceremony was not unique. When
a daughter of the imperial general Nigrelli made her vows at St. Agnes in July
1713, “three empresses personally placed the wreath on the girl’s head.”9 The
three were Empress Elisabeth Christine and Dowager Empresses Amalie
Wilhelmine and Eleonora Magdalena, and their joint participation provided
a show of solidarity at a time of political crisis. Elisabeth Christine had only
recently returned from Spain, where she had governed in her husband’s stead
until the effort to re-establish Habsburg rule there had to be abandoned.10
This special adaptation of the ceremony was recalled a half century later
during the festivities for Nigrelli’s second profession, the celebration of her
fifty years as a professed nun. A speech of praise given on this occasion further
recalled not only that she had traveled to her clothing ceremony in an
imperial carriage, but that she was accompanied by the widowed Empress
Amalie Wilhelmine and her daughters.11 The new nun took the name
Amalia, in honor of her patroness. A year later, the entire imperial family,
ambassadors, ministers, and guests witnessed her vows. That her father had
been an important figure and that she had been a Kammer-Fräulein account
for these special favors, and these and other descriptions confirm that the
proceedings were not entirely fixed, but might be adapted at imperial whim,
the Habsburg family choosing their degree of participation and thus the
degree of status accorded to the girl and her family and the political import
of the event. None of the reports of Nigrelli’s ceremonies mentions music, but
it was probably magnificent, and performed by the Hofkapelle.
Sometimes festivities on the convent’s patron saint’s day conveniently
included a noble girl’s ceremony; on that day, the imperial family customarily
visited and a musical entertainment was prepared in their honor. Maria
Victoria von Landau, the last of that noble family and a future abbess of the
convent, professed at St. Jakob on St. James’s day 1706. On that day the
imperial couple, the empress widow, the young royals, and “a great crowd of

9
Wienerisches Diarium, August 2, 1713: “Sonntag, den 30. July . . . drey Römische Kaiserinnen
derselben den Kranz aufgesetzet.”
10
Charles W. Ingrao and Andrew L. Thomas, “Piety and patronage: The empresses-consort of the
high baroque,” German History, 20, no. 1 (2002), 38–43.
11
Marian Schörckmayr, Wahrhafte Schwesterschaft in einer Lob-Rede vorgestellt (Vienna: van
Ghelen, [1763]). That Amalie Wilhelmine and her daughters conducted the girl to her entry and
clothing ceremony is noted in the Corriere ordinario (June 22, 1712).
 “I ask for no gold, magnificence or homage” 23

cavaliers and ladies” came to the convent; the bishop of Vienna presided; and
the girl was given a precious ring and a silver cross by members of the
imperial family. Following the ceremony, the guests dined in the convent,
then heard “a nicely performed oratorio,” followed by an evening service.12
For a girl of noble but lesser status, women of the imperial family
attended instead of the emperor. And for a girl of lower status, a noble-
woman served as her patroness. This practice bound the convents into the
social order even while the nuns were cloistered from it. Table 2, listing
ceremonies of entrance, clothing, and profession at the Ursuline convent in
Vienna, reveals the frequent presence of imperial women and other women
of the high nobility at convent ceremonies.
A further status symbol was added when the practice arose – apparently
by the middle of the seventeenth century – of sending a noble girl to her
entrance ceremony in an imperial carriage. On July 7, 1687, Countess Anna
Dorothea Straffoldi, a Kammer-Fräulein to the empress, was conducted to
the convent of St. Agnes by the imperial couple (Emperor Leopold and
Empress Eleonora Magdalena) and the electress of Bavaria (Leopold’s eldest
daughter Maria Antonia):
in the luxurious and magnificent carriage built for the wedding of the most august
Emperor with Empress Margarita of glorious memory; the lady was adorned with
clothing and ornaments covered with gems, which in the quantity of the gems and
their graceful setting, of inestimable price, rendered her beauty and spirit more
marvelous, as well as raising the curiosity of the people, who rushed in great numbers
to see her, such an honor [to a person] being rare, as was the event likewise. Then in
the church after the solemn music [i.e., with trumpets and drums] and ceremonies,
she was clothed in the habit by the Prince-Bishop of the city, and dedicated herself as a
bride of Christ, renouncing haughtily all the vanities of the world.13

12
Wienerisches Diarium, July 28, 1706: “Sonntag den 25. Julii. . . . So dann haben sambtliche
allerhöchst-besagte Kayserl. Majestäten, mit der Durchleuchtigsten Jungen Herrschaft, in
alldasigem Closter das Mittagmahl eingenommen, und des Abends, nach einem annehmlich
gehaltenen Oratorio wie auch abermahl beygewohntem Gottes-Dienst, theils in die Favorita,
theils in die Kayserl. Burgg. gekehret.” Corriere ordinario, July 28, 1706: “un bell’oratorio.”
13
Corriere ordinario, July 10, 1687: “La Sig. Contessa Anna Dorotea Straffoldi Dama di onore, e di
Camera dell’Augustissima Imperatrice, fù Domenica dalle Maestà Cesaree, e Serenissima
Arciduchessa Elettrice di Baviera, condotta al Convento nominato Porta del Cielo, nella ricca, e
maestosa Carrozza, che per lo Sposalizio dell’Augustissimo Imperatore con la Imperatrice
Margherita di glor. memoria fù fatta; ornate la Dama di vesti, & adobbi gemmati, che per la
quantità, & innesto grazioso di gioie di prezzo inestimabile rendevano la di lei beltà, e brio più
meraviglioso, e di curiosità al Popolo, che per essere onore, e funzione rara in pratticarsi,
numeroso vi accorse à vederla; restò in Chiesa doppo solenne Musica, e cerimonie, vestita con
l’Abito Monacale dal Sig. Prencipe, e Vescovo di questa Città, dedicandosi Sposa di Christo con
una sprezzante rinunzia alle vanità del Mondo.”
Table 2. Music at ceremonies of entry, clothing, and profession in the Ursuline convent, Vienna, 1664–1754.
Date Name, ceremony
Mar. 2, 1664 Countess Theresia von Cavriani,
entrance
Nov. 26, 1708 Maria Anna von Haslberg,
clothing; Schw. Gabriella,
profession
Nov. 30, 1711 Ernestina, Gräfin von Hoyos,
profession
May 10, 1717 Catharina Ursula, Gräfin
von Latzberg, abbess, second
profession
May 1741 Theresia Christina, Gräfin
Trautmannsdorf (Schw.
Sigismunda), clothing
Aug. 1, 1742 Anna Dirnböck (Schw.
Walburga), clothing; Maria
Theresia Precht (Schw.
Apollonia), profession
[lay sisters]
Aug. or Sep. 1742 Gräfin von Saurau (Schw.
Eleonora), entry
Sep. 17, 1742 Schw. Eleonora, clothing
Attendees, participants Music Source
Her mother, widow of the imperial She made her entrance into the ZJ, 17
Obersthofmeister, with male convent while the nuns sang
relatives and a number of ladies Veni creator spiritus and the
psalm In exitu.
Sung Mass; the ceremonies H II:153
concluded with a Te Deum with
instrumental accompaniment.
Imperial Regent Musical entertainment after the H II:223
(Eleonora Magdalena) and festive meal
her two daughters
Empress Mother Eleonora Johann Georg Reinhardt, Libretto, CO
Magdalena and her daughters Wett-Streit Deren Tugenden,
Umb Den Vorzug Zwischen
Lieb und Forcht
The cardinal presided Mass H III:24
The bishop presided Sung Mass H III:60–61
Oratorio H III:62
Archduchess [Maria] Magdalena Dowager Empress Elisabeth H III:62
Christine’s Kapelle, also
trumpets and timpani;
following the ceremony, an
oratorio was performed in the
parlatorio.
Mar. 31, 1743 Josepha von Cothman, entry Conducted to the ceremony by Two choirs of trumpets and H III:68
Gräfin Derocka timpani
Apr. 16, 1743 Fräulein Cothman (Schw. Father Distelberger, SJ, gave Michaeleon the comedy-actress H II:292, III:69
(Tuesday after Ludovica), clothing sermon performed; Great Vespers on
Easter) the occasion of the clothing.
Jul. 3, 1743 Josepha von Rebenstein (Schw. Archduchess Maria Anna, Empress Elisabeth Christine’s H II:293, III:76–77
Elisabeth), clothing Dowager Empress Elisabeth Kapelle
Christine; four court chaplains
assisted
Jul. 10, 1743 Schw. Nothburga, clothing [lay Trumpets announced the H III:78
sister]; Catharina Wenger candidate.
(Schw. Bonventura), profession
Jul. 5, 1744 Maria Anna von Langetl (Schw. Maria Theresia, Francis Stephen, The convent provided the music. H III:106–8; K
Maximiliana), clothing royal children I:228.
Sep. 20, 1744 Schw. Eleonora, profession Maria Theresia and Francis Hofmusik, but the performance H II:301, III:112–13;
Stephen, Prince Charles was very short. K I:247
Alexander of Lorraine, young
royals, all in gala dress
Oct. 21, 1744 Anna Döcker (Schw. Xaveria), The bishop presided No trumpets H II:301, III:113
(feast of St. profession
Ursula)
Apr. 20, 1745 Schw. Ludovica, profession The convent’s own musical H II:303, III:120
(Tuesday after ensemble, with two choirs of
Easter) trumpets
May 4, 1745 Charlotte, Gräfin Pötting, entry She was accompanied by Fürstin The trumpeters played the Litany. H II:303, III:121
Liechtenstein and Fürstin
Lambach
Jun. 27, 1745 Fräulein Pötting (Schw. Anna Solemn festival of thanksgiving; H III:123–25
Theresia), clothing High Mass and Te Deum with
trumpets, timpani, and
trombones; these instruments
also played for Vespers.
Table 2 (cont.)

Date Name, ceremony Attendees, participants Music Source

Jul. 27, 1746 Schw. Maximiliana and Freiin von
Hatowetz (Schw. Aloysia),
profession
Jul. 6, 1747 Franziska Ferdinanda, Gräfin von
Ferrer (Schw. Vincentia),
clothing
Jan. 29, 1748 Mater Susanna, [second?]
profession
Oct. 28, 1748 Maria Theresia Mener (Schw.
Peregrina), clothing; Maria
Magdalena Bruckner (Schw.
Sidonia), clothing [lay sister]
May 10, 1749 Abbess [Mater Augustina
(Waters)], second profession
Jul. 6, 1749 Schw. Vincentia, profession
Apr. 19, 1750 Lucia Josepha von Koller,
entrance
Emperor, empress, and young
royals invited, but only
Archduke Joseph (aged 5) and
two archduchesses (Maria
Anna, aged 7, and Marie
Christine, aged 4) attended
Empress, Charlotte of Lorraine
“incognito”; P. Parhammer
gave the sermon
P. Parhammer gave the sermon
Maria Theresia?, young
archduchesses
Empress, Charlotte of Lorraine
The Hungarian bishop Clima said
the Litany
Hofmusik H II:308; WD Jul. 30,
1746
Convent music H III:138 WD Jul. 8,
1747
The nuns sang Regnum mundi H III:149
during the ceremony; the
convent’s Father Confessor
performed the first verse of the
Te Deum and the nuns
performed the second.
No trumpets for the intrada – the H III:165
organ played instead, until the
candidates reached their places.
Hofkapelle, music with trumpets H III:178–79
and timpani; there was also
music of two choirs of trumpets
and timpani in the street
outside the convent.
Hofmusik H II:335
Two choirs of trumpets and H II:341, III:191
timpani, one with the musical
ensemble, the other in the
church; the trumpets played the
entire litany.
May 3, 1750 Fräulein von Koller (Schw.
Juliana), clothing
Dec. 17, 1753 Franziska, Gräfin Cavriani, and
Marianna, Gräfin Cavriani,
entrance
Jan. 3, 1754 Elisabeth Jell (Schw. Maria
Francisca), profession
Jun. 13, 1754 Josepha, Freiin von Sauer [Schw.
Thekla], clothing
Sep. 13, 1754 Liserl Willingner, entry
Bishop Marxer presided Music from outside, with two H III:192
choirs of trumpets and timpani,
paid for by the young Herr
Koller.
Gräfin von Lamberg, Graf von Two choirs of trumpets and H III:276
Cavriani, the girls’ mother, and timpani
Gräfin von Breuner
No extra musicians except H, III:277
trombonists
No trumpets H III:300
Baroness Caroly and Frau von Her entry was not public, but took H III:312
Wirz place inside the convent at the
Holy Grave. No music is
mentioned.

Details of names and titles from Zwei Jahrhunderte des Ursulinerklosters in Wien and Schneider, Kloster als Lebenform, 329–32.
CO: Corriere ordinario; H: Hauschronik; K: Johann Josef Khevenhüller-Metsch, Aus der Zeit Maria Theresias; WD: Wienerisches Diarium; ZJ: Zwei
Jahrhunderte des Ursulinerklosters in Wien
28 Columbina in the convent

To a critical observer, the use of the imperial carriage might have suggested
that the girl was being transported directly – perhaps unwillingly – from court
to convent. It was this idea that reports of the girl’s enthusiasm in taking her
vows or disdain for the world were no doubt intended to counteract. In an
account of the entrance of Countess Maria Catharina von Welz, a Kammer-
Fräulein to the dowager empress, into the Carmelite convent of St. Joseph in
1705 – as was customary for a girl of her status, she was adorned with precious
jewels and proceeded to the convent in the imperial carriage, accompanied by
the emperor, members of the imperial family, and distinguished nobles, and
observed by a great crowd of people14 – there was special note of the manner
in which the girl took her vows: “The spiritual bride, with the greatest possible
contentedness and pleasure, and demonstrating an extraordinary delight and
firm resolution, was dressed in the religious habit.” The life of an imperial
Kammer-Fräulein was convent-like in its regimentation,15 and it would have
seemed no large step for the girl to enter a convent, especially at the age of 16
or 17, when such decisions were being made by her, or for her.
Even so, forced monachization was probably rare in Vienna, based on the
number of nuns.16 One apparent example was mentioned by Lady Mary
Wortley Montagu, who visited Vienna in 1716, and whose letters provide a
rare critical voice. In the convent of St. Laurenz, she met an unhappy young
woman, who had found herself obliged to enter the convent for reasons
unstated. Reported Montagu: “I have been several times to see her; but it
gives me too much melancholy to see so agreeable a young creature buried
alive.”17 Montagu was clearly no friend of the convent, or of Roman
Catholicism in general, so her views are not surprising. That girls in late
seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century Vienna were publicly reported as
being pleased with the role assigned them – a role supported by the imperial
family, as the girl was escorted by members of the family or rode in an
imperial carriage – was part of the web of positive representation surround-
ing the Habsburgs and the imperial city. A later critical voice, Empress

14
Corriere ordinario, June 24, 1705: “la Sig. Sposa Spirituale fù con ogni maggiore contento, e
piacere, vestita dell’Abito Religgioso, con haverne mostrata una non ordinaria gioia, e ferma
risoluzione.”
15
Keller, Hofdamen, especially 87–140.
16
A thoughtful discussion of the problem in Italy appears in Colleen Reardon, “The good mother,
the reluctant daughter, and the convent: A case of musical persuasion,” in Thomasin LaMay
(ed.), Musical Voices of Early Modern Women: Many-Headed Melodies (Aldershot: Ashgate,
2005), 271–86.
17
Mary Wortley Montagu, The Letters and Works of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, ed.
Lord Wharncliffe and W. Moy Thomas (London, 1861; repr. New York: AMS Press, 1970),
I:250–51.
 “I ask for no gold, magnificence or homage” 29

Maria Theresia, perceived forced monachization as a problem, issuing an

edict in 1771 that required a novitiate of seven years and forbade any
woman (or man) to profess before the age of 24.18
Another practice relating to the Viennese concern that girls taking the
veil did so voluntarily was the separation of entrance and clothing cere-
monies. At the Ursuline convent, the two ceremonies took place several
weeks apart, the intervening period being used to confirm the girl’s commit-
ment. Countess Theresia Cavriani entered on March 2, 1664, coming “with
the humble request to be accepted into the order, of her own free will, as she
has already shown great eagerness and vocation as a Kostfräulein.” She was
accompanied by her mother and other relatives, as well as a crowd of ladies,
and entered the cloister as the nuns sang. Then, on April 15, she was clothed,
“having been examined a few days previously by the bishop and her choice
approved.” The ceremony was conducted with magnificence and several
women of the high nobility attended.19
The singular detail of the gentlemen and ladies talking throughout Cäcilia
Breuner’s ceremony, even in the presence of the emperor, is echoed in a
letter of 1676 from Fürst Johann Weikhard von Auersperg to his daughter
Aloysia on her entrance into court service as a Hofdame. Father warned
daughter against “gossiping and whispering as well as gawking during the
sacred service,”20 a sure sign that such behavior was common. Abraham a
Santa Clara’s description of Mass at the Augustinian church around 1700
noted that “the politicians and officials stand there in powdered wigs, turn
their backs to the altar, offer each other tobacco, read letters, and talk over
the news, many leaning against a column admiring the new fashions or
ogling a pretty girl and signaling to her with their eyes.”21
As odd as this may seem to us, accustomed to reverent silence during sacred
and solemn ceremonies, in the early modern period – in Vienna at least – such
ceremonies were often conducted amid a hubbub of chatter and background
activity. These ceremonies served several purposes – religious and political,
certainly, but also social. Although there were some objections to this stew of
meanings and intentions, it may even have strengthened the blending of life,
art, and politics through which the Habsburgs and other rulers maintained

18
On Maria Theresia’s edicts, see Chapter 6 below.
19
Zwei Jahrhunderte des Ursulinerklosters in Wien, 17–18. 20 Keller, Hofdamen, 99.
21
“Die Politici und Staatsleut stehen da in eingepuderten Paruquen, kehren dem Altar den Rücken,
präsentiern einander Toback, lesen Briefe, erzählen Zeitungen, mancher lainet an einer
Kirchensäule, betrachtet die Neue Mode oder schauet auf ein schönes Frauenzimmer, winkt ihr
mit den Augen.” Cited in Ann Tizia Leitich, Vienna gloriosa: Weltstadt des Barocks (Vienna:
Andermann, 1947), 91.
30 Columbina in the convent

their authority. As is well known, the social, the artistic, and the political also
mixed in the opera house. The socially adept have no doubt excelled at
managing simultaneous activities on different levels for centuries.
The combined entrance and clothing ceremony of another young noble-
woman, the daughter of a prominent courtier, Count Gundaker Staremberg,
president of the imperial Hofkammer (the financial arm of the court), into the
Königinkloster was described by the court Konzertmeister Kilian Reinhardt in
his manuscript “Rubriche generali per la funzioni Ecclesiastiche Musicali di
tutto l’Anno” of 1727. The directions echo the ceremonies of 1660 and suggest
that little had changed:
On the arrival of the nun-bride at the door, to enter the church, the trumpets and
timpani sound the intrada, and the Padre Commissario, with the clergy of the convent
church, comes to receive her. After the conclusion of the usual ceremonies, they conduct
her through the church to the place prepared for her. The Mass then follows, performed
in a solemn manner, with trumpets and timpani. After the Mass, the presiding priest
blesses the bride and the habit, and then intones the Veni creator spiritus, which is sung
briefly and solemnly, with trumpets and timpani. During this time the bride, now a nun,
is conducted into the convent. The ceremony ends without any responsory.22

The ceremony at the Carmelite convent of St. Joseph was described as being
less elaborate: no intrada greeted the girl and no ceremonies preceded the
Mass, which was conducted according to the rule for the day, according to the
Roman rite; the Te Deum that followed was performed in the ordinary fashion
(mediocremente), but with trumpets, the latter probably playing intradas and
interludes, as mediocremente suggests a Te Deum without these instruments.23
Reinhardt’s document describes the music performed by the Hofkapelle
throughout the church year and was intended to inform the court musicians
of their duties; thus it appears that the elaborateness of the ceremony was
approved by the court and the musicians were those of the Hofkapelle.

“Paid for out of love for her daughter”: well-born

and middle-class girls

Ceremonies for girls of less exalted status mirrored those for the most noble.
The personal expenses of one Fräulein Asson on entering the Königinkloster
in 1740 were “not the concern of the convent, but paid for by [the candidate’s]

22
Kilian Reinhardt, “Rubriche generali per la funzioni Ecclesiastiche Musicali di tutto l’Anno”
(1727), fol. 7r, Mus. Hs. 2503, A-Wn. Appendix 2, no. 1.
23
Ibid., fol. 6v. Appendix 2, no. 1.
 “Paid for out of love for her daughter” 31

mother out of love for her daughter.” Fräulein Asson’s entry procession was
relatively modest, compared to those for high-born girls, but she had a hired
carriage to take her to the convent and a procession of relatives and servants.
There was a guard of soldiers, and she had elegant new shoes, elaborately
dressed hair, and an expensive “wedding-dress.” Fräulein Asson had under-
gone three years of training in the apothecary’s art, and it was probably her
willingness to learn this highly useful professional skill that gained her a place
at this exclusive institution. A detailed list of her expenses includes these items
for the entry and clothing ceremonies (Table 3).24 The fee for the music was
relatively small, that sum combined with several other modest expenses. How
exactly this was all to be paid for was a matter of some dispute, as the several
documents concerning this ceremony make clear.
How much music Fräulein Asson had is suggested by lists of payments
from other convents. The chronicle of the Ursuline convent noted the
amounts paid to trumpeters for entry ceremonies in 1745: “when they
play with the Litany this costs altogether 10 fl. 17 xr.; when they play only
the intradas [for the Litany], that costs 7 fl. 7 xr.; when they play with the
Mass this costs 15 fl. 17 xr., but when they play only the intradas it costs 9 fl.
7 xr.”25 Fees are mentioned again in 1750, when payment to a trumpet
ensemble for a clothing or profession ceremony was 15 fl.26 Documents
from the convent of St. Nikolai record that from the 1750s to the 1770s the
musicians of St. Stephen’s were paid 28 fl. to perform High Mass, Second
Vespers, and the Litany on feast days (Figure 3). The same sum was paid out
for music for feast days in the 1740s, likely for the same amount of music: in
December 1741, for example, the convent paid 28 fl. “for the music for the
feast of St. Nicholas.”27 Trumpeters were paid separately, presumably
receiving fees similar to those paid at St. Ursula. Fräulein Asson had,
perhaps, an ensemble of trumpets and timpani to play the intradas, as was
usual at this convent, and a modest ensemble of other musicians, perhaps
less prestigious and less expensive than those from St. Stephen’s. Far more
was spent on the visual trappings of the event.

24
“Verzeichnus aller beylauffigen Außgaaben, wehrend 3. Jahr hindurch, alß meiner nunmehro
geistl[ich]e J[un]gfr[au] Tochter die Apotecker-Kunst gelehrnet, und Ao 1740 d[en] 15.ten Marty
eingekleidet word” and “Ausstellung. Über die zugestellte Verzaichnuß deren Außgaben, alß
welche Von der Schwester Colleta Assonin ihren angefallenen Vätterlichen Erbtheill pr. 2000 fl
defalcirt werden wollen,” Klösterakten 2.2.6.13 (“Königskloster” [Königinkloster]), A1/1,
A-Wsa. Appendix 2, nos. 2a and b.
25
“Hauschronik,” III:121, WU. 26 Ibid., III:215.
27
“Closter berrechnung von 16 Decembris 1741 biß letzten December 1742 . . . Außgaab . . .
December 1741,” fol. 1r, Klösterakten 2.2.6.15 (St. Nikola), A1/15, A-Wsa: “Vor die Music an
dem fest Nicolai bezallet . . . 28 [fl.].”
32 Columbina in the convent

Table 3. Expenses for Coletta Asson’s entry and clothing.

fl., xr.

Nos. 1 & 2 Presents and tips before and at the clothing ceremony,
for the maids, lackeys, coachmen, apothecary’s
apprentices, and others concerned 180, –
Various essential expenses . . . small payments made over
the course of her three years [training] and for the entry 148, 50
. . . for arranging her hair and helping her dress 8, 18
For a pair of embroidered shoes 2, 30
For a guard of soldiers 3, –
For the carriage and chair carriers 6, 28
For music, candles, and money for the offering 17, 45
No. 3 For a canopy 83, 36
No. 4 To the merchant for the material for the “wedding dress” 182, –
No. 5 The dressmaker’s wages 11, 38
No. 6 Gift of money from a patron [to the girl] 300, –
Extra gift from the countess, at the clothing ceremony 20, 45
For a dress for the clothing ceremony, four ducats 16, 36

The chronicle of the Ursuline convent provides brief notices of many

ceremonies of entry, clothing, and profession there, for girls ranging
from the high nobility to the non-noble.28 These reports often mention
music, providing some idea of the variety that was heard (see Table 2). The
rare ceremonies of second profession were also celebrated with festive music.
Sometimes the convent’s own musicians performed, and they were often
augmented by outsiders, particularly players of brass instruments. On other
occasions, an outside ensemble performed the music – either the Hofkapelle,
when the court was present, or some other group when the court was not.
The court was apparently expected to bring its own music: the account of
the clothing ceremony of Sister Maximiliana on July 5, 1744, suggests that
when the court failed to bring its musical ensemble on this occasion, the
nuns had to scramble to arrange something else instead: “on July 5, 1744,
Sister Maximiliana was clothed . . . the Queen [Maria Theresia] brought no
musicians with her, so we had to perform the music.”29
How far personal choice might extend is revealed by the example of
Fräulein Cothman’s music, provided by “Michaeleon, the comedy-actress.
Columbina sang the entire Mass and the Offertory solo with a trumpet, also

28
This mixture of classes continued until about 1780, after which few noble girls entered: Zwei
Jahrhunderte des Ursulinerklosters in Wien, 53–63, and Christine Schneider, Kloster als
Lebensform: Der Wiener Ursulinenkonvent in der zweiten Hälfte des 18 Jahrhunderts
(1740–1790), L’Homme Schriften, 11 (Vienna: Böhlau, 2005), 29 and 329–36.
29
“Hauschronik,” III:106: “Den 5 July 1744 ist die schw. Maximilliana eingekleidet worden . . .
die Königin hat kein Music mit ihr gehabt, sondern wir haben die Music halten mussen.”
 “Paid for out of love for her daughter” 33

Figure 3. Receipt signed by Georg Reutter Jr., for payment for the music performed at St. Nikolai
on the feast of St. Clara (August 12), 1770. Vienna, Stadt- und Landesarchiv, Klösterakten
2.2.6.15 (Klarissen St. Nikola), A1/2, folder 21.
It is hereby confirmed that the sum of 28 fl. has been correctly paid by the highly worthy
and very praiseworthy convent of St. Nikolai for performance by the entire music from St. Stephen’s
of the High Mass in music, Second Vespers, and the Litany all together, for the Feast of St. Clara,
on the 12th of this month. Vienna, August 20, 1770.

the Magnificat in concert and the Litany, as on the same day there was a festive
Vespers service on account of the clothing ceremony.” That this performance
was described in both volume II and volume III of the chronicle suggests that
it was memorable, to say the least.30 The references to “Columbina” raise the
possibility that the actress appeared in character: somewhat hard to imagine,

30
“Hauschronik,” II:292: “den 16 April [1743], ist die freylle Cothman, anjetzo schw. Ludovica
Eingekleydet worden . . . sie hatte Eine frembte Music, die Columbina eine Comedianctin hat das
ganze ambt, auch ein solo, bey dem offertorium gesungen.” “Hauschronik,” III:69–70: “16 Aprill
[1743] als am oster Festag ist die Schw. Ludovica eingekleidet worden . . . sie hat eine frembde
music gehabt v[on] Michaeleon, die Comediantin, Columbina hat das gantze Ambt und
offertorium in solo mit der clarin gesungen, Concert das Magnificat und die litany hat auch die
Columbina gesungen, dann es wahre den selben Tag eine grosse vesper wegen der Einkleidung.”
34 Columbina in the convent

but not out of line with the mixing of sacred and secular traditionally tolerated,
even appreciated, in Vienna. As the chroniclers seem more astonished than
disapproving, the performance was apparently an enjoyable one.
When an entrance ceremony concluded, there was a festive meal for the
girl and her guests, both men and women. Following the ceremonies for
Ernestina, Gräfin von Hoyos on November 30, 1711, “Her Majesty the
imperial regent [Dowager Empress Eleonora Magdalena]31 went to dine;
at the same time, the friends of the bride dined in a separate room.”32 The
festivities at the Ursuline convent often continued with music, which might
be “a little musical entertainment”33 or even an “oratorio,” performed in the
parlatorio. On September 17, 1742,

Sister Eleonora [Gräfin von Saurau] was clothed. Archduchess Maria Magdalena
attended . . . the music was from Empress Elisabeth [Christine’s] chapel, also trumpets
and timpani. Only toward one o’clock was [the ceremony] finished. The archduchess
left the cloister and went into the parlatorio, where we performed the oratorio for her;
this work had been performed at the entry by Gräfin Öed, completely alone with her
friend; at the clothing, [it was performed] by Gräfin Öed and the bride’s aunt.34

This oratorio, perhaps typically of the mid-eighteenth century, was rather

small in scale, with only a few soloists. Some of the performers – presumably
the soloists – were not nuns, but friends and relatives of the bride; they were
likely accompanied by convent musicians playing keyboard instruments,
violins, and viola da gamba.

A bürgerliches girl: Theresia Keller, Joseph Haydn,

and the convent of St. Nikolai

Joseph Haydn’s biographer Georg August Griesinger, who interviewed the

composer in his later years, reported that Haydn, as a struggling young
musician,

31
Joseph I had died on April 17, and his mother served as regent until her second son, Karl, was
able to return from Spain. He did not arrive in Vienna until January 1712.
32
“Hauschronik,” II:223: “den 30 [November 1711] sein ihre May[estät] die khey[serliche]
Regentin sambt ihren 2 Ertzherzoginen bey uns gewest zur profession der schwester Ernestina
gräffin von Hoyos . . . nach solcher sein ihre May[estät] zu dem Essen gangen, haben auch die
befreunde von der Braut zu gleicher zeit doch in einem besonderen zimmer gespeist, nach solche
haben wür den 2 Ertzherzoginen Eine kleine music gehalten.”
33
Ibid.
34
“Hauschronik,” III:62 [September 17, 1742] “ist die Schw. Eleonora Eingekleidet worden
die Ertzherzogin Magdalena wahre dabey . . . die music wahre von d[er] Kayserin
Elisabetha auch trompeten und bauckhen, gegen 1 Uhr wahre erst alles aus. Die Ertzherzogin ist
das gantze Closter außgegangen in gemein zimmer haben wir ihr das oratorium gemacht, die
gräfin v[on] öed hat sie aufgeführt bey dem Eintritt gantz allein mit ihrer geseelschafts fräule, bey
d[er] Einkleidung die gräfin von öed, und d[ie] brauth ihrer mutter schwester.”
 A bürgerliches girl 35

often received aid at the house of a hairdresser in Vienna (in the Landstrasse) by
the name of Keller; he also taught the eldest daughter music, and his inclination
for her grew with closer acquaintance. But she entered a convent, and then Haydn,
whose circumstances had improved somewhat through acquisition of a salary,
decided to marry the second daughter, at the urging of the hairdresser and out of
gratitude to him.35

This tale was a little mangled, either through Griesinger’s memory or Haydn’s
age. As another biographer, Albert Christoph Dies, correctly noted, it was the
younger daughter of Johann Peter Keller, licensed wig-maker, whom Haydn
wished to marry.36 Theresia Keller (1733–1819) entered the Clarissan convent
of St. Nikolai in Vienna in 1755, taking (perhaps not coincidentally) the name
Josepha; her entry contract and the reports of the positive votes for admission
and acceptance survive.37 Griesinger says that Haydn taught her music;
indeed, it seems likely to have been Theresia whom Haydn taught, as her
sister Maria Anna Aloysia showed no inclination for the art after marrying the
composer. In his will Haydn left one hundred gulden to “Theresia Höller
[Köller?], ex-nun of Eisenstadt and organist,” probably his sister-in-law – the
entry follows directly after a bequest to another sister-in-law, Magdalena
Haydn, widow of his brother Michael.38 But in convent documents Josepha
was identified as a Windmeisterin, a nun in charge of the revolving box by
which goods were brought into a strictly cloistered convent.39 Nor did her not
uncomfortably furnished cell contain any musical instrument or anything
obviously connected with music,40 although several of the convent’s nuns

35
Georg August Griesinger, Biographische Notizen über Joseph Haydn (Leipzig, 1810; repr. Leipzig:
VEB Deutscher Verlag für Musik, 1979), 20–21.
36
Albert Christoph Dies, Biographische Nachrichten von Joseph Haydn . . . Wien 1810, ed.
Horst Seeger and Arnold Zweig (Berlin: Henschelverlag, 1963), 45.
37
The vote for Theresia’s acceptance is dated April 8, 1755; the vote of approval for her profession
is dated May 12, 1756; “Protokolle über die Wahl und Aufnahme . . . 1724–1773,”
Klösterakten 2.2.6.15 (St. Nikola), A1/3, A-Wsa. The contract is preserved in Klösterakten
2.2.6.15 (St. Nikola), A1/2, 21. Details, not entirely correct, of Haydn’s relationship with the
Keller family, and the texts of the contract and election appear in Ernst Fritz Schmid, “Joseph
Haydns Jugendliebe,” in Hans Zingerle (ed.), Festschrift Wilhelm Fischer zum 70. Geburtstag
überreicht im Mozartjahr 1956 (Innsbruck: Sprachwissenschaftliches Seminar der Universität
Innsbruck, 1956), 109–22. I thank Michael Lorenz for information on the Keller family.
38
Joseph Haydn, “Letzte Wille,” fol. 2r, A-Wsa: “39tens der Theresia Höller, Exnonne von
Eisenstadt und Organistin, legire ich Hundert Gulden.” See also H. C. Robbins Landon, Haydn:
Chronicle and Works, vol. V: The Late Years: 1801–1809 (Bloomington: Indiana University Press,
1977), 381, and Schmid, “Josef Haydns Jugendliebe,” 121–22. It is also possible that this Theresia
Höller was a relative of Haydn’s, as his mother’s maiden name was Köller; however, no such
person was mentioned in Haydn’s earlier will of 1801, in which he left 50 fl. to “the sister of my
late wife, the former nun” (Landon, Haydn: Chronicle and Works, V:51).
39
Gertraud Razesberger, “Die Aufhebung der Wiener Frauenklöster unter Joseph II. in den Jahren
1782 und 1783,” unpublished dissertation, University of Vienna (1964), II, 1nn1 and 6.
40
“Haupt Inventarium Uiber das Sammentliche Activ, und Passiv Vermögen, des üntern 24.ten
Jänner [1]782. ausgelassenen Frauen Klosters zum H. Niklas Clarisser Ordens allhier,” [in the
36 Columbina in the convent

possessed such items; Zäzilia Püchler and Nickolaia Scheinerl each had a
“Klavier” in her cell.41 If the nun who received the bequest was Theresia, that
she was living in Eisenstadt at the time of the will suggests that the composer
supported her after the dissolution of the convents, a not unlikely scenario.
She died in Vienna on January 3, 1819.
Although this convent was not as famous for music as St. Jakob and
St. Ursula, there was an active musical life there. At the time of dissolution,
the convent had “a large and beautiful organ”42 in the choir loft, as well as
a smaller organ in the church, two or three harpsichords, a clavichord,
and tools for tuning, besides the two “Klaviere” in nuns’ cells.43 That they
took care over their music and had kept their organs and other instru-
ments in tune and in good repair over the years is indicated by surviving
receipts:

Jan. 1742: to the organ maker, payment of a bill . . . 7 [fl.] 30 [xr.]44

Jan. 1743: First, three keyboard instruments in the schoolroom prepared . . .
1 [fl.] 30 [xr.]
Further, for the organ in the choir loft, and the small one below
[in the church], tuning, in total . . . 3 [fl.] 30 [xr.]
Herr [Gottfried] Sonnholtz has gone [to the convent] several times to
tune, in total . . . 2 [fl.]
The two keyboard instruments in the choir loft tuned many times to
the organ, and [also] three [keyboard instruments] in the schoolroom;
also the organ in the choir loft as well as the small organ below tuned
for the feast of St. Nicholas. The total for all this is . . . 7 [fl.] 30 [xr.]
Total . . . 14 fl. 30 xr.
Ferdinand Schretter, Royal Court Organ Maker, Vienna, January 3, 1743
(Figure 4)45

section] “Verzeichniß in den Jungfrauen Kloster zu St. Nickolaus allhier befindliche Zellen,” cell
no. 9, Klösterakten 2.2.6.15 (St. Nikola), A1/18, A-Wsa. Her cell contained a prayer-stool;
paintings, prints, and a “statue of the sorrowful Christ”; two wooden crucifixes; furniture,
including a chest “containing books for reading and contemplation, work, and devotional items,
as well as dishes”; curtains and other textiles; a lantern and lamps; a bed with mattress, straw
bolster, pillows, woolen blankets, and two large feather bolsters; and various personal items.
41
“Haupt Inventarium,” “Verzeichniß,” cell no. 29, Zäzilia Püchlerin, Chorschwester, “klavier”; cell
no. 35, Nickolaia Scheinerlin, Chorschwester, “klavier.”
42
“Haupt Inventarium,” fol. 26v, no. 20: “Chor . . . 1 Grosse, schöne Orgl.”
43
At the time of dissolution the convent contained, besides the large organ, the following
instruments and equipment: “In dem Kreuzgang . . . 2. Instrumenta oder Fligl” (“Haupt
Inventarium,” fol. 22v); “Kaiser Zimmer . . . Hammerl zum Instrument stimmen” (fol. 28v);
“Sing Stuben . . . Instrument [and?] Clavicon” (fol. 30v).
44
“Closter berrechnung von 16 Decembris 1741 biß letzten December 1742,” fol. 2r, Klösterakten
2.2.6.15 (St. Nikola), A1/15: “dem Orgl Macher einen auß zügl bezallt . . . 7 30.”
45
Appendix 2, no. 3.
 A bürgerliches girl 37

Apr. 1744: to the organ maker, payment of his bill for the year 1743 . . .
10 [fl.] 30 [xr.]46
Jun. 1744: to the organ maker, for cleaning the organ, his bill for the year
1744 . . . 18 [fl.]47
Feb. 1751: to the organ maker, for the year 1750 . . . 12 [fl.]48
Dec. 1751: orglmacher . . . 11 [fl.]49
Jan. 18, 1771: to the organ maker . . . payment . . . 11 [fl.]50
1776: during the year 1776 I tuned the organ, in all twice: the positiv
for the Feast of St. Clara and the large organ for Advent . . . 3 fl. . . .
Johann Caspar Moyse, organ maker.51

The convent employed some of the most well-connected organ-makers

and tuners in the city, suggesting that music at the institution was not so far
removed from the exalted circles of the court and St. Stephen’s. Ferdinand
Schrötter (ca. 1697–1761) and Gottfried Sonnholz (ca. 1695–1781) were court
organ-makers, the latter maintaining the organs at St. Stephen’s between 1724
and 1776.52 Johann Caspar Moyse (ca. 1729–85) served the court and the
court theater as a specialist in tuning and repair of keyboard instruments, also
repairing some instruments for the Esterházy court.53

46
“Berechnung über das Jahr Christi 1744 . . . Außgaab in dem Monath April,” Klösterakten
2.2.6.15 (St. Nikola), A1/15, Rechnungs-Schriften N.ro 23: “dem orgl Macher seinen aus Zügl vor
das 1743 Jahr 10 30.”
47
“Berechnung über das Jahr Christi 1744 . . . Außgaab in dem Monath Juny,” Klösterakten
2.2.6.15 (St. Nikola), A1/15, Rechnungs-Schriften N.ro 23: “dem Orgl Macher die orgl aus zu
butzen sein aus Zügerl vor das [1]744 Jahr . . . 18 –.”
48
“Berechnung von 1 January bis 6 Feb 1751,” Klösterakten 2.2.6.15 (St. Nikola), A1/15: “anno
1751 den 4 Februar . . . dem orglmacher des [1]750 Jahr . . . 12.”
49
“Deren Außgaben disses [1]751 Jahres . . . Außgabe des vierten quartal,” Klösterakten 2.2.6.15
(St. Nikola), A1/15: “orglmacher . . . 11.”
50
“Von 8ten bis lezten Jan. a[nn]o [1]771,” Klösterakten 2.2.6.15 (St. Nikola), A1/16, Rechnungs
Schriften N.ro 21: “dem Orglmacher . . . zalt 11 –.”
51
“Quittungen 1771–76,” Klösterakten 2.2.6.15 (St. Nikola), A1/2, no. 21: “Deme nach ich Endes
unterschriebenen, in den Hochlieblichen Closter S. Nicolaus in Wienn, bey denen Ehrwürdigen
Closter Jungfrauen, durch das jahr 1776. die Orgel überstimet habe, in allen 2 mal, nemlich das
Positiv zum S. Clara Fest, und die große Orgel zum Advent, so vor jedesmal per 1 fl. 30 xr.
zweymal, macht zusammen . . . 3 fl. / idest 3 fl. / Johann Caspar Moyse / Orgelmacher mpp / Ist
richtig und bar mit dank bezahlet worden.”
52
Günter Lade, Orgeln in Wien (Vienna: author, 1990), 214, and Beatrix Darmstädter, “Orgelmacher
und Instrumentendiener am Wiener Hof im 18. Jahrhundert,” in Beatrix Darmstädter,
Alfons Huber, and Rudolf Hopfner (eds.), Das Wiener Klavier bis 1850: Bericht des Symposiums
“Das Wiener Klavier bis 1850” veranstaltet von der Sammlung alter Musikinstrumente des
Kunsthistorischen Museums Wien vom 16. bis 18. 10. 2003 (Tutzing: Hans Schneider, 2007), 23.
53
Darmstädter, “Orgelmacher,” 40–42, also Richard Maunder, Keyboard Instruments in
Eighteenth-Century Vienna (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998), 210, and Rudolf Hopfner,
“Biographische Anmerkungen zu Herstellern von Cembali im Österreichischen Raum,” in
Alfons Huber (ed.), Das Österreichische Cembalo: 600 Jahre Cembalobau in Österreich (Tutzing:
Hans Schneider, 2001), 474.
38 Columbina in the convent

Figure 4. Receipt for tuning and maintenance of keyboard instruments at St. Nikolai, 1743.
Vienna, Stadt- und Landesarchiv, Klösterakten, 2.2.6.15 (Klarissen St. Nikola), A1/15, Rechnungs-
Schriften N.ro 13.
 A bürgerliches girl 39

No other sorts of instruments are documented, but the nuns sang poly-
phonic music – the inventory taken at the time of dissolution notes that “the
polyphonic music for the entire year is to be found in the chest in the choir
room.”54 Some of this music was commissioned for them: in January 1744,
they paid an unnamed male composer “for some compositions for the
choir.”55 In 1747, the composer received a “regal” costing the convent 8 fl.
24 xr. This was probably a gratuity (2 ducats?) rather than a bookcase or a
small organ.56 Musicians from St. Stephen’s performed at this convent on the
feast days of St. Clara (August 11) and St. Nicholas (December 6), as numerous
receipts testify (see Figure 3). This practice continued until the dissolution of
the convent in 1782, and the accounting of musical expenses and payments
made for Emperor Joseph in 1784 records that musicians from the cathedral
performed at the convent on other feast days as well.57 Clearly, the nuns were
familiar with well-written and well-performed polyphonic church music.
Haydn himself, as a singer in the choir at St. Stephen’s in the 1740s and
1750s,58 might well have performed at this convent.
In later life Haydn recalled having composed some music for the entrance
of his sister-in-law into the convent. In July 1803, while putting his old
manuscripts in order, Haydn named a concerto for organ and violin: writes
Griesinger, “recently [Haydn] found a concerto for organ and violin which he
wrote fifty years ago for his sister-in-law on the occasion of her entrance into a
convent.”59 The Double Concerto in F, Hob. XVIII:6, is Haydn’s only known
work for this combination. In January 1804, Haydn also mentioned a concerto
for organ and a Salve Regina as among his earliest works. He was unable to

54
“Haupt Inventarium,” fol. 67r, Klösterakten 2.2.6.15 (St. Nikola), A1/18: “In dem Singzimmer
Kasten sind die figurirten Musikalien auf das ganze Jahr vorhanden.” The contents of this chest
are not listed.
55
“Berrechnung über das Jahr Christi 1744,” Klösterakten 2.2.6.15 (St. Nikola), A1/15, Rechnungs-
Schriften N.ro 23: “Im Monath Januar . . . dem Herrn Compositor vor etwelche Compositionen
dem Chor gehörig – 8 –.”
56
“Jährige berrechnung Über das Jahr Christi 1747,” Klösterakten 2.2.6.15 (St. Nikola), A1/15,
Rechnungs-Schriften N.ro 23: “Ausgaab zu dem Month April . . . dem Compositor Ein regal –
8 [fl.] 24 [xr.].” Maunder, Keyboard Instruments in Eighteenth-Century Vienna, lists prices only
occasionally, and the only organs with prices (p. 139, 1725–26) are much more expensive (120–
750 fl.). A small organ could indeed be obtained for a very small sum at the time of the convents’
dissolution (see Chapter 6 below), but that was a special circumstance.
57
“Verzeichniß deren Kirchen, was dieselbe an ihren Gehalt bis zur letzten Osterwoche, und von
Ostern bis zu dieser Eingabe zu fordern haben,” B. “Die von dem St. Stephan music versehene
Kirchen,” 25v–27r, Statthaltereiakten 1784, C Norm K 4296 ad Acta No. 477 C 20 ad [1]784,
NöLA.
58
Griesinger, Biographische Notizen, 17.
59
Edward Olleson, “Georg August Griesinger’s correspondence with Breitkopf & Härtel,” Haydn
Yearbook, 3 (1965), 43.
40 Columbina in the convent

find either work at the time, but later located the Organ Concerto (Hob.
XVIII:1) and the Salve Regina in E (Hob. XXIIIb:1), to which he added the
date 1756,60 suggesting that both were written for this occasion or for another
concerning Theresia (she entered the convent in spring 1755 and professed in
spring 1756) – certainly, her profession in spring 1756 would have provided
him with an excuse to compose such music.61 The young freelance musician
may have seized the opportunity to write for, and perhaps play, a fine organ,
one that he was familiar with from singing engagements with the choir of
St. Stephen’s, even though the circumstances raised mixed feelings. The
ceremonies were given an individual musical character through the new
nun’s personal connections, and the young musician, like others such as his
teacher Reutter before him, took advantage of the opportunities offered by a
Viennese convent for musical practice and for gaining attention.
***
Ceremonies of entrance, clothing, and profession in the Viennese convents
varied according to the status of the girl and the convent, and also according
to personal taste. At the most prestigious institutions, the ceremonies spilled
over into Habsburg representation, not surprising in a city that was a
showplace for Habsburg power. The emperor and his representatives
co-opted ceremonies for noble girls, seizing their dramatic and political
possibilities and imbuing them with imperial symbolism. Placing them-
selves in central roles in the ceremony, the Habsburgs constantly revalidated
themselves as the family of Holy Roman Emperors – a meaning the Church
in Rome certainly never intended. The contrasts between ceremonies of
high-born girls and those of lower status provide a revealing example of how
the system worked throughout the social scale to reinforce itself. Music and
Habsburg representation were integrated into convent life beyond these
ceremonies of entrance and profession, and the connections among music,
piety, and imperial power were renewed on convent feast days as members
of the imperial family visited and heard music prepared in their honor.

60
Georg August Griesinger, “Eben komme ich von Haydn. . .”: Georg August Griesingers
Korrespondez mit Joseph Haydns Verleger Breitkopf & Härtel 1799–1819, ed. Otto Biba (Zurich:
Atlantis Musikbuch-Verlag, 1987), 203–4, 217–18, 220, and 225–26.
61
The association of the keyboard concerto Hob. XVIII:1 (designated as “Conc. Per L’orgo” in the
Entwurf-Katalog) and the Salve Regina in E with Theresia Keller seems to be the result solely of
Haydn’s having dated the works to 1756. It is asserted by H. C. Robbins Landon that Haydn
himself said that the concerto was written for Theresia’s “taking of the vows,” but he provides no
source (Landon, Haydn: Chronicle and Works, V:263). Schmid had asserted the same thing, also
without source (“Josef Haydns Jugendliebe,” 116).
2 Maria Anna von Raschenau and music
at the convent of St. Jakob auf der Hülben

Besides the daily plainchant, on Sundays and other high feast days these
nuns perform the sacred services with polyphonic singing and all sorts of
instruments, so that a lovely and perfect music is the result, and indeed it is
so that not only the local people, but also visitors are likewise eager to hear
them, and everyone is highly astonished.
Testarello della Massa1

Thus marveled the Viennese cleric Johannes Matthias Testarello della

Massa in 1685 at the music of St. Jakob auf der Hülben. This convent had
become something of a musical tourist attraction by the mid-seventeenth
century. In 1650 the wandering Benedictine monk Reginbald Möhner wrote
that “at certain times one hears exquisitely beautiful music from these
nuns.”2 Johann Sebastian Müller, the diplomat from Sachsen-Weimar who
visited the city in 1660, described the astonishing variety of instruments
then played by the nuns: “lutes, theorbos, a harp, violins, viols, dulcians,
flutes [or recorders], and most notably a full-voiced choir of trumpets
marine and timpani.”3 Visiting this convent on 1 (11) April, three weeks
before Easter, he heard forty to fifty nuns perform vocal and instrumental
music under the direction of their Chormeisterin, “daughter of the recently
deceased Kapellmeister here.”4 The Chormeisterin also played the viola da

1
Testarello della Massa, “Beschreibung,” 886–87: “und thuen dieße geistliche Schwestern neben
dem täglichen Choral, an Sonn: und andern hohen festägen den Gottesdienst mit musicalischem
gesang und allerley instrumenten so zu einer lieblichen und vollkommenen music erfordert
werden, halten, und zwar alßo, daß nicht allein die Einheimbische, sondern auch die frembden
selbige anzuhören begierig sind, wie sich dan ein jeder höchstens darüber verwundert.”
2
Reginbald Möhner, Ein Tourist in Oesterreich während der Schwedenzeit: Aus den Papieren des
Pater Reginbald Möhner, Benedictiners von St. Ulrich in Augsburg, ed. Albin Czerny (Linz:
F. I. Ebenhöch’sche Buchhandlung, 1874), 127: “alda zue gewisen Zeiten treffliche schöne Music
von disen Nonnen gehert würt.”
3
Müller, Einmal Weimar – Wien, 79: “auch von denen Nonnen abermahls mit Lauten, Theorben,
einer Harffe, Violen, Violen de Gambe, Dulcianen, Flöten, und sonderlich einen vollstimmigen
Chor von Trompeten Marinen und Heerpaucken musiciret wurde.” As Müller distinguishes
between “Violen” and “Violen de Gambe” here and in another description of the music at
St. Jakob (44–47), I interpret “Violen” as instruments of the violin family.
4
Ibid., 44–47. 41
42 Maria Anna von Raschenau and music at St. Jakob auf der Hülben

gamba; a sister of Georg II Rákóczi, Fürst von Siebenbürgen, provided “a very

lovely soprano”; a “Gräflich Fräulein Richili” played the theorbo; and a
“Freyhen [Freiin] von Hildebrandt” played the viol(in). As well as Latin
pieces, the nuns performed a German piece on the subject of the
Resurrection “nach rechter Capell Art.” Most of the nuns, noted Müller,
were of noble family.
How the convent’s music reached this remarkable level is bound up with
the history of the institution, the city, the court, and the Catholic Church.
The circumstances of the convent’s origin are unclear, and stories from the
sixteenth century link it with a chapel founded by Leopold V, Babenberg
Duke of Austria and Styria, in 1190, with Leopold VI in the early thirteenth
century, with a wooden statue of St. Jakob “swimming” in the Wien River,
and with a Beguine community.5 The convent was located just inside the
city walls, southeast of St. Stephen’s cathedral, near the Wien River and the
Stubentor; it was in existence by 1236, and attached itself to the Augustinian
order in 1301. St. Jakob may well have had a significant musical and
dramatic tradition in the Middle Ages, now lost in the mists of time; an
Easter drama from the fourteenth century is associated with the institution.6
The nuns began to focus on musical performance (or perhaps to have
revived an earlier interest) in the first half of the seventeenth century. In this,
they appear to have been part of a trend, evident in other Catholic areas of
the German-speaking lands.7 In Munich, for example, the enforcement of
strict clausura (enclosure) and the establishment of social stratification in
the city’s convents in the 1620s as part of the Counter-Reformation re-
organization of religious life there led to (among other results) the develop-
ment of fine choral music in several institutions.8 The choir nuns, now from
professional or noble families, were encouraged to bring their musical

5
Theodor Wiedemann, “Zur Geschichte des Frauenklosters St. Jakob in Wien,” Berichte und
Mittheilungen des Alterthums-Vereines zu Wien, 32 (1896), 53–86; Perger and Brauneis, Kirchen,
194–201; Czeike, Historisches Lexikon Wien, s.v. “Jakobskirche” and “Himmelpfortkloster”;
Barbara Schedl, Klosterleben und Stadtkultur im mittelalterlichen Wien: Zur Architektur religiöser
Frauenkommunitäten, Forschungen und Beiträge zur Wiener Stadtgeschichte, 51 (Vienna:
Verein für Geschichte der Stadt Wien, 2009), especially 161–83. For a chronology in English,
based primarily on Wiedemann, see Christine Smith and Cynthia J. Cyrus, “S. Jakob auf der
Hülben,” Monasticon, http://monasticmatrix.org/monasticon (accessed November 1, 2013).
6
The drama is included in the “Ordinarium divini officii secundum consultudinem canonissarum
monasterii S. Jacobi, Viennae,” Klosterneuburg, Augustiner-Chorherrenstift, Cod. 630:
Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Datierte Handschriften in lateinischer Schrift in
Österreich, www.ksbm.oeaw.ac.at/_scripts/php/cmda.php (accessed May 28, 2009).
7
Koldau, Frauen, 652–53, 689 (Nonnberg, Salzburg).
8
Ulrike Strasser, State of Virginity: Gender, Religion, and Politics in an Early Modern Catholic State
(Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2004), 123–27. On the Angerkloster, see Koldau,
Frauen, 841–48.
 Maria Anna von Raschenau and music 43

instruments into the convent. Freed from manual labor by the presence of
lower-class lay sisters, they devoted themselves to worship and spiritual
activity, which included music.
Something similar seems to have happened in Vienna, although there the
problems to be overcome were formidable – the Protestantism that swept
through the region had reduced the Viennese convents to a decrepit state by
the mid-sixteenth century, leaving several on the verge of dissolution, with
neglected buildings and few inhabitants.9 According to visitation reports of
1528, Lutheran books had infiltrated even the convents of St. Jakob and St.
Laurenz. The nuns at St. Jakob defended this worrisome irregularity by saying
that “the Lutheran books were easier to understand than the breviary,”10
probably an indication that some of the former were in German rather than
Latin. There were then thirty nuns at St. Jakob, and the number decreased
dramatically in the following decades. The visitation report of 1560 counted
only four choir nuns, one lay sister, and one novice, and noted the complaints
of the other nuns about Singmeisterin Sophia’s out-of-tune singing.11
The “wanton nun” and the “lewd monk,” caricatures promoted by
Protestant reformers to fan the flames of anticlericism,12 may have been
something of a reality in late sixteenth-century Vienna. The authorities
dealt with a series of scandals at St. Jakob and other convents, and at its lowest
point, in 1573, St. Jakob was reduced to two choir nuns, one of whom was
reported to have frequently driven around the city in her father’s carriage,
engaging in “idle chatter.”13 The scandal of 1573 centered on the discovery
that the convent’s Pförtnerin (not a nun, but a lay person) had had two
children with a canon, and that the entire convent had colluded in deception,
as the children were living there. As a result, the abbess was dismissed and
imprisoned in another convent and the Kellermeisterin was imprisoned at St.
Jakob.14 Under the strict rule of a new abbess – Dorothea von Puechaim
(Puchheim), who took office in the same year – the convent began to revive
(although there were setbacks, including several instances of nuns fleeing the
convent),15 and by 1594 the convent had twenty inhabitants.16

9
On Lutheranism in Vienna, see Karl Vocelka, “Kirchengeschichte,” in Vocelka and Traninger,
Wien: Geschichte einer Stadt, II:313–32.
10
Eva-Maria Hantschel, “Das Augustiner Chorfrauenkloster St. Jakob auf der Hülben in Wien
(1301–1783),” unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Vienna (1969), 55; Schedl,
Klosterleben, 177, 228.
11
Hantschel, “Das Augustiner Chorfrauenkloster St. Jakob,” 58.
12
Strasser, State of Virginity, 70.
13
Hantschel, “Das Augustiner Chorfrauenkloster St. Jakob,” 59–60. 14 Ibid.
15
Ibid., 63–64. 16 Ibid., 68–69.
44 Maria Anna von Raschenau and music at St. Jakob auf der Hülben

A scandal during this period touched the convent’s musical life directly.
In 1593 the convent organist, one Caspar Wilnauer, was imprisoned,
accused of “engaging in forbidden relations” with two choir nuns. One
of the nuns, Annica Ferro, was forced to leave the convent; the other,
Ursula Weber, was sentenced after confessing. The organist denied all
wrongdoing, and when Weber was further interrogated, she recanted and
confirmed his innocence. Wilnauer was then released from prison on
condition that he would seek no redress.17 This problem, whether real
or perceived, embodies the worst fears of the authorities concerning male
musicians and female convents, but it was still nearly a decade before the
convent was enclosed, as mandated by the Council of Trent in 1563. Strict
clausura was instituted at St. Jakob on May 12, 1602, under the rule of
Abbess Agnes Hießler (ruled 1594–1627), during the re-Catholicization
efforts of Emperor Ferdinand II.18 The incident may well have encouraged
the convent to seek capable female musicians.
Numbers continued to increase under the rule of Abbess Regina Frank
(died 1654), installed in 1628 after a fire in 1627 destroyed much of the
convent and killed the old abbess. New regulations for conduct were
enacted (the order for strict enclosure was repeated in 1633, perhaps to
end the laxity that inevitably resulted from the disruption of the fire), the
convent was rebuilt, and its financial state improved as several wealthy
young women took the veil. St. Jakob now became acceptable as a home
and educational institution for women of good family, and by 1640 the
convent had thirty-five Chorfrauen and seven Kostfräulein,19 a suitably
sized group for choral singing with instrumental accompaniment. The
convent’s financial stability and increased social status may have allowed
the purchase of instruments and the establishment of traditions of pro-
fessional musical training around this time. A high standard of musical
performance thus seems to have developed rather rapidly at St. Jakob, as
the Chorfrauen sang exquisitely by 1650, and several musical girls had
entered the convent by then, or would soon enter. But living conditions
remained difficult: in 1660 the nuns complained about the discomfort of
their cramped quarters and voiced their fear that these conditions left
them susceptible to contagion.20

17
Ibid., 63–64.
18
Gabriella Strausz (Sr. M. Irmgardis), “Das Nonnenkloster St. Laurenz in Wien,” unpublished
PhD dissertation, University of Vienna (1949), 79–80; Hantschel, “Das Augustiner
Chorfrauenkloster St. Jakob,” 68.
19
Hantschel, “Das Augustiner Chorfrauenkloster St. Jakob,” 33–37, 70–77.
20
Schedl, Klosterleben, 180.
 Maria Anna von Raschenau and music 45

By the 1670s, the Habsburg court was visiting St. Jakob on the feast of St.
James the Greater, July 25. In 1678, during a visit to Vienna by the duke and
duchess of Pfalz-Neuburg, the parents of Empress Eleonora Magdalena,
On July 25, the feast of the sainted Apostle James . . . in the afternoon, both of their
reigning Imperial Majesties as well as Princess Maria Antonia went to the convent of
St. Jakob in Vienna to attend Mass and Vespers; the Dowager Empress and
Archduchess Maria Anna [Josepha] attended likewise. The duke and duchess of
Pfalz-Neuburg entered the convent through the special Imperial parlatorio, by way
of the courtyard.21

No details of the music are provided in this account, but the practice of
showing off nuns’ musical abilities on a convent’s patron saint’s day was an
old one, known in Italian convents before the Council of Trent.22 From
about 1694, the nuns of St. Jakob presented an Italian oratorio or festa
teatrale on that day to entertain their noble visitors (Table 4).
In the later seventeenth century, the Kostfräulein at St. Jakob – some of
whom likely became nuns there or elsewhere – received training in music
from professional musicians. According to Testarello della Massa: “if their
parents wish, they are taught to sing and to play keyboard instruments and
plucked and bowed string instruments, all from written music, and given
other lessons in music by a secular master, in the parlatorio, in the presence of
one or two nuns.”23 The practice of having nuns, novices, and Kostfräulein
taught by secular musicians was well known in Italy, and was a matter of
frequent dispute there.24 Residents of St. Jakob, writes Müller, were taught by
imperial musicians, suggesting court approval of the practice.25

21
“Reise, Ankunft und Aufenthalt des Herzogs Philipp Wilhelm von Pfalz-Neuburg und seiner
2. Gemalin Elisabeth Amalie in Wien: 1678, Juli 16–Oct 8,” AT-OeStA/HHStA OMeA ÄZA,
Ältere Zeremonialakten, Karton 11, 1677–1679, fol. 15r–v (A-Whh): “Den 25. Iuly am feste
des heil. Apostel Jacobs . . . Nachmittag seyndt beede Reg. Kays. Mtt. neben der Prinßessin
Maria Antonia zu denen Kloster Jungfrauen bey St. Jacob in Wienn zur Kirche undt Vesper
gefahren, daselbsten hat sich auch die Verwittibte Kayserin sambt die Ertzherzogin Maria
Anna seingefunden. Der Herr Herzog undt frau Hertzogin zu Pfaltz-Neuburg seyndt nach Ihr
Mayt. dem Kayser, absonderlich redt Zimer durch den Mayerhoff in besagtes Kloster
gekommen.”
22
Gabriella Zarri, “Monasteri femminili e città (secoli xv–xviii),” in Giorgio Chittolini and
Giovanni Miccoli (eds.), Storia d’Italia, vol. IX: La Chiesa e il potere politico dal Medioevo all’età
contemporanea (Turin: Giulio Einaudi, 1986), 394–95.
23
Testarello della Massa, “Beschreibung,” 887: “wans deroßelben Eltern verlangen, werden Sie, die
Kostfräulein, auß der music zu singen, schlagen, geigen, und in andern musicalischen übungen
von einem weltlichen Meister in dem parlatorio, oder redt zimmer, in beyßein einer oder zween
geistlichen Schwestern gelehret.”
24
Colleen Reardon notes that the practice was “probably very old”: Reardon, Holy Concord within
Sacred Walls, 26, 38–41. Robert L. Kendrick also discusses the practice in Celestial Sirens, 178–81.
25
Müller, Einmal Weimar – Wien, 47.
46 Maria Anna von Raschenau and music at St. Jakob auf der Hülben

Table 4. Documented patron saint’s day performances at St. Jakob auf der Hülben,
1694–1716. For details, see Appendix 1.

Date
(all July 25) Genre Composer (and librettist) Work

1694 Oratorio Maria Anna von Raschenau Gli infermi risanati dal
(Marco Antonio Signorini) Redentore
1695 Oratorio Raschenau (Signorini) Le sacre stimmate di
S. Francesco d’Assisi
1696 Festa teatrale Raschenau (Signorini) I tributi del tempo
all’augustissimo casa
d’Austria
1697 Festa teatrale Raschenau (Signorini) Il consiglio di Pallade
1699 Oratorio Raschenau (Signorini) Il martirio di S. Giacomo il
Maggiore
1703 Oratorio Raschenau (Signorini) Le sacre visioni di S. Teresia
1706 Oratorio ? “un bell’Oratorio”
1707 Oratorio Giovanni Antonio Costa La confessione gloriosa di
S. Agostino
1708 Oratorio ? “un bell’Oratorio”
1709 Festa teatrale? ? “un Trattimento in Musica”
1710 Oratorio ? (Rocco Maria Rossi) Casilda
1714 Oratorio Francesco Scarlatti Debbora profetessa guerriera
1715 Oratorio Francesco Scarlatti La caduta di Lucifero
1716 Oratorio ? “una bella Musica in forma
d’Oratorio”

One Kostfräulein there in the 1680s, Theresia de Hardin, a wealthy ward

of the court, received instruction from a musician at St. Stephen’s. A book
documenting her property and expenses lists payments “to the bass at
St. Stephen’s,” “to a musician at St. Stephen’s, for instructing the ward and
pupil Teresia,” “to the above-mentioned musician for the instruction,” and
“once again for instruction in florid singing” (as opposed to chant).26 In
1689 Theresia transferred to the convent of St. Laurenz, where she became a
nun. There she received further instruction “at her own request” in “writing

26
“Über die der Franz de Hardischen gewesten Pupillin Jungfrauen Theresiae . . . Erstere
Vormundtschaffts Rechnung de Anno 1684 Bis 1688zig. betref:,” Hs. A 47/1, A-Wsa: “N.ro 40.
Dem Passisten bey St. Stephan alhier lauth scheindt N.ro 40 Contentirt . . . 3 f.” (fol. 26v); “43.
Lauth scheindt N.ro 43. einem Musicanten bey St. Stephann, wegen Instruirung der Puppillin
Teresia zalt . . . 3 f.” (fol. 27v), “47. Nachsag scheindt N.ro 47. dem vorgemelten Musicanten
wegen des Instruirn zalt . . . 3 f.,” “Lauth Quittscheindt N.ro 48. wegen Instruirung des figurats
abermahlen zalt . . . 3 f.” (fol. 28r).
 Maria Anna von Raschenau and music 47

and music” from “Johann Baptist Ritter, serving at the convent of St.
Jakob.”27 St. Jakob perhaps served as a musical training institution for
girls intending to take the veil, helping to raise the general level of musical
performance among the Viennese institutions. This, in turn, may have
raised the level of feminine music-making in the city in general, as girls
trained at St. Jakob went to other convents, where they passed on their skills
to the Kostfräulein.
Among those who received education at St. Jakob or became nuns there
were girls with court or other professional musical connections. A daughter
of the court violinist Philipp Jakob Schöndorffer entered the convent in the
1650s with the financial assistance of the court,28 and the musically inclined
daughter of the court Konzertmeister Burckhardt Kugler was apparently
educated there in the 1670s, singing there before members of the imperial
family.29 At the time of Müller’s visit in 1660, the Chormeisterin at St. Jakob
was “the daughter of the recently deceased Kapellmeister here.”30 She was
perhaps a daughter of imperial Kapellmeister Giovanni Valentini, who died
in 1649 (although that does not seem particularly “recent” for 1660), or of
Vincenz Fux (ca. 1606 – September 15, 1659), a composer who had been
organist in the chapel of Eleonora I, second wife of Emperor Ferdinand II, as
well as Regens chori and organist at the city church of Maria am Gestade.31
A contract of April 20, 1710, between the nuns of St. Jakob and the monks
of the Franciscan order, who provided priests for the convent, confirms that
the court often, but not always, attended Mass at the convent on St. James’s
day: “The feast of St. James the Greater [is to be celebrated] in solemn
fashion, with two Masses, as has been the usual practice, one at 8 a.m., the
other when the court arrives, and if however they do not come, [the second

27
“Annderte Vormundtschaffts Rechnung . . . vom 28. 7bris de Ao 1688. bis Lezten 9bris Ao 1692.
Empfang und Außgaab fehrners geführt worden,” Hs. A 302, fol. 63v, A-Wsa: “Lauth Quittung
N.ro 62. dem Johann Bapt. Ritter bediennten im Closter St. Jacob. Umbwillen selbiger die
Jungfrau Pupillin instruiret in Schreiben unnd Music, zalt . . . 25 f.”
28
Herwig Knaus, Die Musiker im Archivbestand des Kaiserlichen Obersthofmeisteramtes (1637–
1705) (Vienna: Hermann Böhlaus Nachf, 1967–69), I:57, 76–77, 134.
29
Ibid., II:25–26. Obersthofmeisteramtsakten ÄR 2 1669–1675, fol. 298v, AT-OeStA/HHStA HA
OMeA ÄR (A-Whh) (Vienna, February 21, 1674), records a petition by Burckhardt Kugler for a
stipend “für sein Tochter, welche Eure Kayl: Mtl: bey denen Closterfrauen zu St. Jacob singen
hören, und sie zu der music sehr genaigt sey.”
30
Müller, Einmal Weimar – Wien, 47.
31
Herbert Seifert, “Die Musiker der beiden Kaiserinnen Eleonora Gonzaga,” in Manfred Angerer
et al. (eds.), Festschrift Othmar Wessely zum 60. Geburtstag, (Tutzing: Hans Schneider, 1982),
540–41, and Seifert, “Die Entfaltung des Barocks,” in Rudolf Flotzinger and Gernot Gruber
(eds.), Musikgeschichte Österreichs, vol. I: Von den Anfängen zum Barock, 2nd edn. (Vienna:
Böhlau, 1995), 333. No Visitationsprotokoll (visitation report) or other list of nuns at St. Jakob
survives from this time.
48 Maria Anna von Raschenau and music at St. Jakob auf der Hülben

Mass] is at 10 o’clock, as also Second Vespers.”32 The convent remained in

the court calendar of public church visits until at least 1758,33 but the visits
may have become even less regular – a similar contract of 1748 makes no
mention of court attendance on St. James’s day.34 The practice of enter-
taining the court on this day with a large-scale musical work seems to have
ended around 1716, early in the reign of Emperor Karl VI, but from the late
1720s (or even earlier) until about 1740, the convent presented Trauer-
Gesänge in their church on Good Friday or Holy Saturday. These works are
popular in character and seem to have been intended for common folk
rather than for the court.
The latest known work of this sort to be performed at this convent is
Georg Christoph Wagenseil’s Die hitzige Liebe des Sterbenden Christi am
Creutz hat Ihme den Durst erwecket nach unserer Erlösung. Durch die Wohl-
Ehrwürdige Regulirte Closter-Frauen bey St. Jakob In Wienn, In einem
Oratorio Bey dem Heil. Grab, Am Heiligen Char-Samstag \Freytag/ vorge-
stellet In obgedachter Closter-Kirchen (The passionate love of the dying
Christ on the cross awakened his thirst for our redemption. Represented
by the most venerable nuns of St. Jakob in Vienna, in an oratorio, at the
Holy Sepulcher on Holy Saturday \Good Friday/, in the above-mentioned
convent church) (Figure 5).35 The work was likely first performed (and this
libretto printed) in either 1739 or 1740. Wagenseil is named on the libretto
as “Ihro Kays. Königl. Majestät Hof- und Cammer-Compositoren”; he was
appointed composer to the court on February 6, 1739. Emperor Karl VI died
on October 20, 1740, after which the court was no longer “imperial” until
1745. The publisher Johann Ignaz Heyinger, who took over the Heyinger
firm in 1733, used the title “Hochfürstlich-Erzbischöflichen Buchdrucker”
from 1742; as Heyinger does not use that designation here, it seems most

32
“Acta originalia monasterium St. Jacobi Viennæ concernentia,” Cod. 14188/2, fols. 77r–81r,
A-Wn(h): “Jacobi Majoris Solemniter wie bishero gebraüchig zwey ambter, eins umb 8. uhr daß
andere wan die hohe Herrschafft khombt, u[nd] fehrn Sie aber nicht khombt, ist es umb 10. uhr,
wie auch die 2. Vesper” (fol. 79r).
33
Wienerisches Andachts-Büchl oder Fest-Calender vor das Jahr 1715 (Vienna: Johann Baptist
Schönwetter, 1715), 84–85: “25 [July] Donnerstag. Jacobus wird bey denen Closter-Frauen dieses
Heiligen mit einer Predig, Amt und Vesper, welchen eine von Ihren Kais. Mayestäten wie auch
dem Mittagsmahl allda beywohnet verehret”; Johann Basilius Küchelbecker, Allerneueste
Nachricht vom Römisch-Kayserl. Hofe: Nebst einer ausführlichen historischen Beschreibung der
Kayserlichen Residenz-Stadt Wien und der umliegenden Oerter (Hanover: Nicolaus Förster und
Sohn, 1730), 238: [calendar 1729] “Den 25. [July] ist bey denen regulirten Chor-Frauen bey St.
Jacob der Gottesdienst.” The convent was still in the court calendar in 1758 (Kovács, “Kirchliches
Zeremoniell,” 128).
34
Contract dated January 1, 1748, Cod. 14188/2, fols. 85r–92v.
35
Vienna: Johann Ignaz Heyinger, ca. 1739–40 (A 82535, WB).
 Maria Anna von Raschenau and music 49

Figure 5. Georg Christoph Wagenseil, Die hitzige Liebe, libretto (Vienna: Johann Ignaz Heyinger,
ca. 1739–40), title page. A 82535, WB. Photo: Dexter Edge. Reproduced with permission of the
Wienbibliothek im Rathaus, Druckschriftensammlung.
50 Maria Anna von Raschenau and music at St. Jakob auf der Hülben

likely that this libretto was published before that time.36 Wagenseil was
named organist and composer to the chapel of the Empress Widow
Elisabeth Christine on March 1, 1741, and was then styled “Comp: d. S.R.M.
ed org[anist]a della S.C.M. Imp.e Elisabetta Vevoda.”37 No music for the
oratorio is known to survive. A paste-over reading “Freytag” covers the
word “Samstag,” suggesting that the work might have been first performed
on Holy Saturday, then in another year on Good Friday, or that plans changed
between the printing of the libretto and the performance.
Wagenseil probably wrote other music for this convent, as his sister Anna
Clara Leonora became a choir nun there around 1735 (as Sister Domenica)38
and served as Dechantin (leader of the singing) in the convent’s later years.39
Some of the composer’s many small-scale works for church use may have
been intended for the nuns.
Although the musical prestige of the convent was in decline by the mid-
eighteenth century, the nuns maintained a pride in their musical activity,
publishing a small book of “Devotional Spiritual Prayers, Hymns, Collects,
and Psalms . . . for the use of their spiritual sisters” in 1754;40 the book,
which includes a selection of popular hymns of the day in chant notation,
seems intended for teaching or private devotions.
In the second half of the eighteenth century, the convent found itself
suffering from a dearth of suitable candidates, probably due to the com-
bined effect of new restrictions on religious activities, more stringent over-
sight of religious institutions, changing social attitudes, and the convent’s
own financial problems. Previously, the convent’s musical reputation seems
to have been so high that they had not had to waive the dowry to attract girls
with needed musical skills, as was done in many Italian convents, and also at

36
Anton Mayer (ed.), Wiens Buchdrucker-Geschichte, 1482–1882, vol. II: 1682–1882 (Vienna:
Wilhelm Frick, 1887), 9, 24–25, 56.
37
Helga Scholz-Michelitsch, Georg Christoph Wagenseil: Hofkomponist und Hofklaviermeister der
Kaiserin Maria Theresia (Vienna: Braumüller, 1980), 15–16.
38
“Verzeichnus Deren Closter Frauen bey St. Jacob in Wien so den 28ten Aprilis Anno 1750 sich
allda befunden haben,” fol. 1v, Klösterarchiv 2.2.6.17 (St. Jakob auf der Hülben), A1/1, A-Wsa.
Another of Wagenseil’s sisters, Maria Theresia Polixena, was a sister at St. Elisabeth, as Sister
Anna Katharina (Scholz-Michelitsch, Wagenseil, 76).
39
Wiedemann, “Zur Geschichte des Frauenklosters St. Jakob in Wien,” 82–83.
40
Andächtige Geistliche Gebett, Hymni, Collecten, und Psalmen, Mit deren beygefügten Thonen; So
In dem Hoch-Löblichen Jungfrauen-Closter St. Jacob Canonissarum Regularium S. Augustini in
Wienn, Zu unterschiedlichen Zeiten gebettet und gesungen werden . . . Zum Nutzen ihrer
Geistlichen Schwestern (Vienna: Johann Ignaz Heyinger, 1754). The book is discussed in Janet
K. Page, “A mid-18th-century devotional book from the Viennese convent of St. Jakob,” in Mara
E. Parker (ed.), Music in Eighteenth-Century Life (Ann Arbor: Steglein Publishing, 2006), 3–25.
 Maria Anna von Raschenau and music 51

St. Ursula in Vienna.41 Now payment began to be waived for such girls who
wished to enter St. Jakob.42 By this time, it seems, only minimal competence
was required. A document of 1761 detailing the convent’s financial prob-
lems includes an account of the devastating costs of the Seven Years War,
then in progress. The writer, the convent’s Hofmeister (administrator),
laments that
Since that time [the death of the Abbess Victoria von Landau in 1750] and up to the
beginning of the Prussian War [i.e., 1756] it has not been possible to remove our
financial liabilities, or even lessen them, since the female cloister of St. Jakob is
obliged to accept and confirm such candidates as are deemed necessary to the fitting
continuation of the Chor Musique, even if they neither bring a dowry with them, nor
have hope of one in the future.43

The spiral of financial troubles continued,44 and in 1779 the convent was
placed under state administration.45 The Chorfrauen continued to provide
music, however, as it was reported in 1783 that the nuns looked after most of
the music themselves, the only costs being “16 fl. once every three years to
the organ-maker for cleaning and tuning the organ, and 8 fl. annually for the
replacement of strings. When on high feast days a fuller music is required,
this costs the convent nothing, but is either provided free or arranged by
patrons.”46 By this time, the convent was employing an outside organist,
Joseph Schödl (Schedl), who also played at St. Agnes zur Himmelpforte. The
music provided by the nuns was probably not very good. Although St. Jakob

41
On practices in Milan, see Kendrick, Celestial Sirens, 72 and 181–84. On St. Ursula, see
Chapter 3 below.
42
The convent’s financial difficulties are described in Hantschel, “Das Augustiner
Chorfrauenkloster St. Jakob.”
43
“Pro Memoria,” fol. 1v, Klösterarchiv 2.2.6.17 (St. Jakob auf der Hülben), A1/10, ad Num. 27,
fasc. 2, A-Wsa: “Seither dieser zeit und bis zum anfang des Preussischen Kriegs haben die Passiva
zwar nicht genohmen hingegen auch nicht gemündert werden können von darumen weilen das
Jungfräuliche Closter bey St. Jakob solche Candidatinen an- und aufzunehmen bemüssiget ist,
welche zu beforderung der Chor Musique tauglich zuseyn erkennet werden, wann sie auch gar
keine Mittelen mitbringen weder mit der zeit einige anzuhoffen haben.” The document is signed
by the convent’s Hofmeister, Thomas Dominicus Philipp, and dated August 17, 1761.
44
Hantschel, “Das Augustiner Chorfrauenkloster St. Jakob,” 38–53, 79–80. 45 Ibid., 46.
46
“Verzeichniße Derjenigen, die ihre Ausweise über die Musikunkösten . . . eingereicht haben,” no.
32, St. Jakob, C Norm K 4296 ad Acta No. 477 C 20 de [1]784, NöLA, “Unterzeichnete berichten
gehorsamst, daß in unserem Gottes Haus bey St. Jakob auf die Music gar keine andere Unkösten
bishero verwendt worden, alß allein alle drey Jahr seynd dem Orglmacher vor Ausbuzung der
Orgl 16 fl., und Jährl. vor Einschaffung deren Saitten 8 fl. bezallet worden. // Wann übrigens in
hohen Fest Tägen eine stärkere Music gehalten worden, so hat selbe dem Kloster nichts gekostet,
sondern ist entweder gratis, oder durch Wohlthäter bestellet worden und gehorst empfehlend.
Wien den 5ten Febrl. [1]783.” Partially summarized and partially cited in Otto Biba, “Die Wiener
Kirchenmusik um 1783,” Jahrbuch für Österreichische Kulturgeschichte, 1, no. 2 (1971), 52.
52 Maria Anna von Raschenau and music at St. Jakob auf der Hülben

is not singled out, references to Viennese convent music in the 1780s declare
that the level of performance was risibly low, and suggest that this was yet
another reason that these institutions ought to disappear. Political, social,
and economic forces had seemingly combined to destroy, over the course
of about sixty years, a most remarkable musical tradition. The convent of
St. Jakob was dissolved on September 25, 1783.

Maria Anna von Raschenau, composer of St. Jakob

The high point of musical activity at St. Jakob coincided with the residence
there of Maria Anna (Mariana) von Raschenau (born 1644 or ca. 1650, died
June 4, 1714).47 Raschenau was another girl with court connections, the
daughter of the imperial antechamber Türhüter (door-keeper) Johann
Rasch von Raschenau. Maria Anna’s age is given in the convent
Visitationsprotokoll of April 1710 as 59 and at the time of her death in
June 1714 as 63, suggesting that she was born in 1650 or 1651.48 But she may
have been born several years earlier, in October 1644, or else given the same
name as an elder sister who had died. Anna, wife of the imperial door-
keeper Johann Rasch, died in 1656,49 and the widower successfully peti-
tioned the court for sustenance for his two children, claiming benefits owed
to his deceased wife, who had also been in court service.50
Maria Anna devoted herself to music and other intellectual pursuits from
a young age, and in January 1669 her father petitioned the court on her
behalf for a scholar’s stipend.51 The official summary of Rasch’s request

47
Further details of Raschenau’s biography appear in Janet K. Page, “‘A lovely and perfect music’:
Maria Anna von Raschenau and music at the Viennese convent of St. Jakob auf der Hülben,”
Early Music, 38, no. 3 (August 2010), 403–21.
48
According to the Visitationsprotokoll of April 1, 1710, Raschenau was then 59 years old and had
been in the convent for thirty-eight years (Hantschel, “Das Augustiner Chorfrauenkloster St.
Jacob,” 148). The death record (Totenbeschauprotokoll, A-Wsa), reads “Den 4 Juny [1]714 . . .
die wohlEhrwürdige Chorschwester Mra Anna v Raschenau ist im Closter bey St. Jacob an
langsochender Kranckheit gestorben alt. 63 Jahr.”
49
Protocollum Mortuorum, 10–11 (1646–1663), fol. 97v, A-Wstm: “Den 15 Juny 1656 . . . dem
Johann Rasch, Kayl Thüerhüetter, im Prianischen Hauß am Peters freythof sein weib Anna . . .
alt 37 J.”
50
Obersthofmeisteramt, Obersthofmeisteramtsakten ÄR 1 (1650–1668), folder 31, fols. 87r, 108r–v,
AT-OeStA/HHStA HA OMeA ÄR (A-Whh).
51
Obersthofmeisteramt, Obersthofmeisteramtsakten ÄR 2 (1669–1675), fols. 9v–10r. “Weüllen
euer Kayl: Mt: sowoll umb dises Supplicanten verdienst, alß auch dessen Tochter qualiteten
Selbst gdste wissenschaft haben, wurdet allein zu dero gdsten belieben gestölt, ob Sye auff den
fahl, da etwan dieselbe Euer Kayl: Mt:, und Ihro Mt: der Kayserin annemblich, und Sye Sich
Under weüllen mit der music von deroselben möchten bedienen lassen, Solche biß auff Euer Kayl
 Maria Anna von Raschenau, composer of St. Jakob 53

indicates that Maria Anna had performed at court (“your Imperial Majesty
yourself . . . has gracious knowledge of [her] qualities”), and recommends
awarding the stipend “if your Majesty and her Majesty the Empress
[Leopold I and his first wife, Margarita Teresa of Spain] are agreeable and
wish to be served with music by the same.” She was granted the usual
scholar’s or female musician’s stipend of 30 florins a month, “as no arrange-
ments had yet been made for her.”52 Maria Anna’s name appears in the
Hofzahlamtsbücher (court payment books) from 1669, and she was also
paid as a chamber musician.53
Apparently ambitious and talented, Maria Anna seems to have done every-
thing she could to make herself a candidate for a good marriage, a court
position, or a convent place, for which musical skill would serve as part of her
dowry. A document included with the petition describes her education:
Those activities that my daughter has practiced from her youth, and in which she is
capable:
After learning reading and writing, she diligently studied household accounting
and the art of book-keeping, and applied herself to learning cookery, then sewing,
spinning, lace-making, and knitting, and in sum everything that is proper for a
woman to know. She then however learned the following languages: Latin, Spanish,
Italian, and French. She furthered her studies to include philosophy and theology.
She knows how to pray from the breviary.
In music: Besides singing and composing, she is familiar with all aspects of music;
that is to say, she plays organ, harpsichord, lute, guitar, instruments of the violin
family, viola da gamba, [and] transverse flute. She recites and reads the works of all
sorts of authors, also the Old and New Testaments, the magnificent and excellent
family tree of the most praiseworthy archducal house of Austria, also many other
writers and historians, so that she is capable of meeting anyone in conversation.
Item: dancing.
She lacks only further support and means of sustenance.54

Mt: weitere gdste disposition, mit dem gebettenen Scholarn geldt der Monathlichen 30 fl.
begnaden wollen, warzue man Sye in ansehen der von Ihren Vatter hürbey verzaichneten
exercitien sonst für würdig erachtet. [Emperor Leopold’s decision was that] Resol.o Weüllen iezo
Khein accomodation für Sie Vorhandten. Khan Ihr mit den 30 fl. monathlich, doch nur ad bene
placitum geholffen werden.” A draft version of these comments appears on fols. 4v–5v
(transcribed in Knaus, Musiker, II:6–7).
52
On stipends for female musicians at the imperial court in the seventeenth century, see Janet
K. Page, “Sirens on the Danube: Giulia Masotti and women singers in Vienna,” Journal of
Seventeenth-Century Music, 17 (2011), www.sscm-jscm.org.
53
Page, “‘A lovely and perfect music,’” 420n43.
54
Obersthofmeisteramt, Obersthofmeisteramtsakten ÄR 2 (1669–1675), fol. 6r, AT-OeStA/
HHStA HA OMeA ÄR (A-Whh). The document is reproduced and transcribed in Page, “‘A
lovely and perfect music,’” 407–8.
54 Maria Anna von Raschenau and music at St. Jakob auf der Hülben

Training in the household arts would have been necessary to a wife, but the
study of many languages would more become a courtier; that Maria Anna
studied Spanish suggests that she may have hoped to serve the Spanish-born
empress. Dancing was highly valued at court, but also useful in a convent,
where it was taught to the young women who boarded there as Kostfräulein.
Maria Anna’s training in intellectual accomplishments brings to mind the
academies held at court after Italian models, at which various questions were
debated and music was performed – both men and women attended.55 As for
her musical accomplishments, a court lady or a well-to-do young woman might
learn singing, and to play harpsichord, lute, or guitar (the young Austrian
archduchesses were taught the latter two instruments in the 1690s);56 lute and
theorbo were commonly used in convents. Organ certainly suggests the con-
vent, as do also viola da gamba and violin, which were, however, played by a few
women outside. The flute (transverse or recorder) was played by noblemen,
including Emperor Joseph I, and also in convents, including St. Jakob.
With such skills, Maria Anna might have hoped to win a position at
court, but, if so, she was perhaps unlucky here: Empress Margarita Teresa
does not seem to have taken any particular interest in female musicians.
Margarita Teresa died in March 1673, however, and was succeeded as
empress in October by Claudia Felicitas of Tyrol, an accomplished musician
who engaged several musical women and girls for her personal household:
Theresia Schmelzer, a violinist, daughter of Johann Heinrich Schmelzer; the
famous prima donna Giulia Masotti, direct from her Italian triumphs; Anna
Maria del Riccio, whose particular musical talent is unrecorded; and “una
ragazza che canta di musica,” who arrived from Italy in 1674.57 But by then
Maria Anna had entered the convent and begun to work her way up to the
position of Chormeisterin, in which she was serving by 1710, according to
the Visitationsprotokoll of that year.58
Johann Rasch von Raschenau claimed in his will some thirty years later
that his daughter’s education in arts and languages had cost him more than
5,000 florins.59 Such expensive training was surely undertaken with a

55
Ulrike Hofmann, “Die Accademia am Wiener Kaiserhof unter der Regierung Kaiser Leopolds I.,”
Musicologica Austriaca, 2 (1979), 76–84; Herbert Seifert, Die Oper am Wiener Kaiserhof im 17.
Jahrhundert (Tutzing: Hans Schneider, 1985), 196–98; Seifert, “Akademien am Wiener
Kaiserhof der Barockzeit,” in Wolf Frobenius, Nicole Schwindt-Gross, and Thomas Sick (eds.),
Akademie und Musik: Festschrift für Werner Braun zum 65. Geburtstag (Saarbrücker Druckerei
und Verlag, 1993), 215–23, especially 217; and Koldau, Frauen, 93–94.
56
Knaus, Musiker, II:35. 57 Page, “Sirens on the Danube.”
58
Hantschel, “Das Augustiner Chorfrauenkloster St. Jacob,” 148.
59
“Testament des Johann Rasch von Raschenau, Antikammertürhüter,” September 15, 1693, fol.
2r, Testamente 1700–1710, 1702/7, AT-OeStA/HHStA HA OMaA 628–19 (A-Whh):
 Maria Anna von Raschenau, composer of St. Jakob 55

purpose such as social advancement in mind, and the tone of the will
suggests that Rasch had not approved of his daughter’s choice to enter a
convent, or that she was unusually assertive, perhaps focused on her musical
ambitions.
After Maria Anna entered the convent, the court reviewed the payment of
her stipend on several occasions. The matter was discussed as early as 1672
or 1673, when she was still a novice. On that occasion, the emperor decided
that – as a special favor, on account of her father’s long service and because
the money contributed to the service of God – the stipend should be
continued “throughout her life.”60 But after the payment of 1677 61 the
court suggested that her stipend be withdrawn, “as she is now a professed
nun,” and the emperor agreed.62 The petitions that followed reveal that the
convent, whose finances were often precarious, counted on her stipend as
her dowry, to cover her living expenses.63 On December 31 she was restored
to her allowance, although the granting of such a stipend to someone
outside the court was highly unusual. According to the court’s summary:
Since this Mariana’s late mother and also her father the Antecamera door-keeper
Rasch have without doubt received favors of one sort or another on account of their
merits, and such an allowance will be given to the convent, although this is entirely
unusual; thus it is considered in obedience that in the case of the above this may be
done. Yet it is up to your Majesty’s gracious will, and thus this reminder is humbly
placed before you.

Leopold added: “It is agreed. And in this way, on account of the pensions, I
hope [the need] will become less.”64
But Raschenau does not seem to have received the promised payments:
around May 1679 she begged the court to restore the stipend, or at least to
allow her a couple of hundred gulden for her clothing. The outcome of this
request is not preserved. Although Raschenau had the support of several
prominent people – including Dowager Empress Eleonora II, who visited
convents frequently and probably knew her music-making well – Emperor
Leopold merely noted (as he frequently did with such requests) that “I think

“Sechstens: Weillen die Erbs Einsezung daß fundamentum Eines Inglichen Testaments ist, alßo
abschon meine Tochter Jungfrau Maria Anna Professin in dem würdigen Jungfrau Closter bey
St. Jacob all hier mich Verlassen, Und Vielfältige Triebsahlen Verursachet, die Von Ihr
beschehene Erlehrnung der freyen Künsten Und Sprachen mich über 5000. fl. gekostet, Sie auch
Viel andres Unsagbahres, Und in Paterno et Maderno über 5000. fl. bekommen hatt, so seze Ich
Sie doch zu meiner universal Erbin hin.”
60
Knaus, Musiker, II:170–71 (resolution dated February 25, 1673). 61 Ibid., II:172.
62
Ibid., II:50 (August 14, 1677), 172: “weilln Sie nun Eine professin ist.” 63 Ibid., II:50.
64
Ibid., II:52 (December 31, 1677); see also Page, “‘A lovely and perfect music,’” 420n41.
56 Maria Anna von Raschenau and music at St. Jakob auf der Hülben

this can wait yet a while.”65 In any case, she dedicated all of her known
works to the emperor, but whether in thanks or in supplication is unknown.
Raschenau’s father apparently provided her with a substantial sum of
money over the years, some 5,000 florins, enough to ensure her security
and comfort, or perhaps to fund her music-making.66

The music of Maria Anna von Raschenau

Raschenau’s career flourished at St. Jakob. After the practice of presenting

large-scale performances in Viennese convents on patron saints’ days became
established around 1690, she composed at least six such works for perform-
ance on St. James’s day. Scores survive for two of these works and a portion of a
third, all preserved anonymously in the imperial collection, but matching texts
in printed libretti that name her as composer. An anonymous piece, for which
no libretto survives, may also be Raschenau’s work: the Trattenimento Estivo
whose title page indicates that it was performed at St. Jakob (see Figure 13). I
have tentatively assigned this work to the year 1709, based on the wording of
newspaper reports and on its musical style and topical text – it praises
“Giuseppe” (Emperor Joseph I, reigned 1705–11) and alludes to the War of
the Spanish Succession.
That Raschenau maintained connections with the court is suggested by
her collaboration with the imperial court physician Marco Antonio
Signorini as her regular librettist. Signorini arrived in Vienna around 1677
and applied unsuccessfully in that year for a position at court.67 In 1679–80
he traveled to Constantinople as physician to the imperial embassy to the
Ottoman court.68 He apparently received his imperial court appointment in
1694 or 1695: on the libretto of 1694 he described himself as “Dottor Marco
Antonio Signorini” but in 1695 he was “Medico di Corte di Sua Maestà
Cesarea.” Signorini seems to have either died or left the court around 1703,
the date of the last known collaboration between the two.69 Most of his

65
Knaus, Musiker, II:80 (May 27, 1679). 66 See note 59 above.
67
Page, “‘A lovely and perfect music,’” 420n44.
68
Johann Benaglia, Außführliche Reisz-Beschreibung von Wien nach Constantinopel und wieder
zurück in Teutschland (Frankfurt: Matth. Wagnerin, 1687), 5. Signorini is also mentioned in a
court document of 1690: Obersthofmeisteramt, Obersthofmeisteramtsakten ÄR 1 (1650–1668),
fol. 17r, AT-OeStA/HHStA HA OMeA ÄR (A-Whh).
69
His name appears in court payment records from 1697 to 1703: AT-OeStA/FHKA SUS HZAB
[Finanz- und Hofkammerarchiv, Hofzahlamtsbücher] (A-Wös); the volumes for 1695, 1696, and
1700 do not survive. He is also listed among the “Hof Medici” in the Kayserlicher und
Königlicher . . . Staats- und Stands-Calender Auff das Jahr M. DCCII. Mit einem noch nie
 The music of Maria Anna von Raschenau 57

libretti were written for Raschenau, but he also provided some texts for the
court Musico da camera Filippo Vismarri.70
The earliest of Raschenau’s preserved works is Le sacre stimmate
di S. Francesco d’Assisi (1695). This work and Il consiglio di Pallade (1697)
share a musical hand, which may perhaps be Raschenau’s (Figures 6 and 7).
The concluding chorus of Pallade is in a different hand (see Figure 8). In a
musical convent such as St. Jakob, many nuns would have been musically
literate and at least a few would have shared in the copying of music, just as
they shared in its performance.
The two works are notable for their many ensembles and their magnif-
icent choruses, confirming that the convent continued to maintain a high
level of musical skill and to emphasize choral and contrapuntal singing.
Especially fine is the five-part contrapuntal chorus with continuo that
concludes Pallade (Example 1). Concluding choruses of patron saint’s day
productions from Viennese convents are often political and propagandistic,
and this one draws together everything that precedes it, in a statement of
Austria’s greatness and the harmony and the rightness of Habsburg rule;
here the true meaning of the entire work is revealed as Austria is praised as a
“theater of virtue.” The chorus, sung by “Pallade, with all the liberal arts,
together with their choruses,” refers back to the Preface of the work, which
begins “Sacred imperial and royal Majesty: the problem of which of arms or
letters has the most power to maintain the public good in the grand theater
of the world still remains unresolved.”71 Over the course of the work, each of
the liberal arts had outlined her vital importance to the monarchy, and the
harmonious sounds and learned counterpoint of the conclusion, sung by all
the liberal arts together, declare that the answer lies in the unity of all
branches of learning, as epitomized by Austria and her ruling family.
“Learning is stronger than arms in the conservation of monarchies,” is the
emperor’s judgment, “since without science . . . [armies] are badly regulated
and trained.”72

dergleichen gesehenen Schematismo (Vienna: Johann Baptist Schönwetter, 1702), “Kayserl.

Hoffstatt,” 3.
70
Cantate, e Ariette per Camera à Voce Sola Composte in Musica Dà D. Filippo Vismarri Musico di
Camera Di Sua Maestà Cesarea (Mus. Hs. 17753, A-Wn). Four cantata texts are ascribed to
Signorini, three of them “cantate morali.”
71
Marco Antonio Signorini, Il consiglio di Pallade (Vienna: Gio. Van Ghelen, 1697), A2: “Sacra
Cesarea, e Real Maestà, Nel gran Teatro del Mondo per conservare il Publico Bene, se habbino
più forza ò l’Armi, ò le Lettere, ne resta per anco indeciso il Problema.”
72
Signorini, Il consiglio di Pallade, A3: “che le Lettere habbino più forza che l’Armi, alla
conservazione delle Monarchie, poi che senza l’Arte Scientifiche mal regolati, e mal provisti
gl’Eserciti . . .”
58 Maria Anna von Raschenau and music at St. Jakob auf der Hülben

Figure 6. Maria Anna von Raschenau, Le sacre stimmate di S. Francesco d’Assisi (Anonymous,
S. Francesco), fol. [14v]. Mus. Hs. 18507, A-Wn. Musical hand 1. Reproduced with permission of
ÖNB/Wien.
 The music of Maria Anna von Raschenau 59

Figure 7. Maria Anna von Raschenau, Il consiglio di Pallade (Anonymous, Fragment operis musici
dramatici Pallade), fol. [6r]. Mus. Hs. 18495, A-Wn. Musical hand 1. Reproduced with permission of
ÖNB/Wien.
60 Maria Anna von Raschenau and music at St. Jakob auf der Hülben

Figure 8. Maria Anna von Raschenau, Il consiglio di Pallade, fol. [18r], opening of chorus “Peregrin di lido
in lido.” Mus. Hs. 18495, A-Wn. Musical hand 2. Reproduced with permission of ÖNB/Wien.
 The music of Maria Anna von Raschenau 61

Example 1. Maria Anna von Raschenau, Il consiglio di Pallade, “Peregrin di lido in lido.”
Pilgrim, wandering from shore to shore, / Searching for the treasure of truth; / Come,
come to your most faithful shrine, / Kneel before the golden god; / Come and see that
Austria / Is a fruitful theater of virtue in the world.
62 Maria Anna von Raschenau and music at St. Jakob auf der Hülben

Example 1 (cont.)

Representative of Raschenau’s style are the opening and the impressive

conclusion, the latter rich in harmony, as frequent 7th chords appear and
the dominant is briefly tonicized as B major in the approach to the final
cadence (mm. 30–32). Raschenau characteristically doubles contrapuntal
entries with the bass or other voices (e.g., mm. 6–8), both ensuring security
 The music of Maria Anna von Raschenau 63

Example 1 (cont.)

of the vocal entries and conforming to the style of accompaniment tradi-

tional for such music.73 This style of accompaniment appears not only in
73
Gregory S. Johnston, “Polyphonic keyboard accompaniment in the early baroque: An alternative
to basso continuo,” Early Music, 26 (1998), 51–64. The practice clearly continued in Vienna long
after the early baroque.
64 Maria Anna von Raschenau and music at St. Jakob auf der Hülben

Example 1 (cont.)

Raschenau’s music but also in that of her contemporary Carlo Agostino

Badia, house composer to the Ursuline convent in Vienna – for example, in
his S. Orsola vergine, e martire of 1694. Also typical of Raschenau’s style are
the melismas for paired voices, especially upper ones (mm. 18, 23, 26–27) –
here, they emphasize the word “Austria.” The piece moves flexibly in the
opening section between half-note and dotted half-note pulse, following the
 The music of Maria Anna von Raschenau 65

Example 1 (cont.)

accentuation of the words (mm. 1–16). Imitative phrase openings lead to

tuneful choral conclusions – especially pretty is the echoing of the word
“vieni” (come) through all the parts (mm. 6–9 and 13–15), as the music
evokes the image of all gathering together to “bow before the god of gold”
(genuflesso al Nume d’oro) and to praise Austria as a “theater of virtue.”
66 Maria Anna von Raschenau and music at St. Jakob auf der Hülben

Figure 9. Holy Trinity column, Vienna (1682–94), by Matthias Rauchmüller,

Paul Strudel, J. B. Fischer von Erlach, Ludovico Burnacini, I. J. Bendl, Joseph Frühwirth,
Tobias Kraker, and Matthias Gunst. Photo: author.

The idea of collective female worship and homage, so clearly expressed in

this chorus, was one of the points of the state visit to the convent. While the
oddly pagan-sounding “Nume d’oro” may be an allusion to the sun god
Apollo, with whom Emperor Leopold was sometimes associated (as in
Beglückte Verbundtnüß deß Adels mit der Tugend, the play performed at
St. Laurenz in 168874 and in Eucharius Gottlieb Rinck’s biography of the
Emperor),75 it may also be a reference to the Holy Trinity column in
the Graben, in the center of Vienna, a focus for state worship and homage
to the imperial family (Figure 9). The marble monument, completed in
1693, replaced an earlier wooden one, erected by Emperor Leopold in
thanks for deliverance of the city from the plague. The monument is topped
with a gilded representation of the Holy Trinity, and one side depicts a
kneeling Leopold, who had conquered the plague through his “victorious

74
Discussed in Chapter 4 below.
75
Rinck, Leopolds des Grossen Röm. Käysers wunderwürdiges Leben und Thaten, I:74.
 The music of Maria Anna von Raschenau 67

faith” (see Figure 1).76 This monument was held in great reverence, and it
was customary in the eighteenth century to bend the knee when passing it.77
Other choruses and arias of the works of the 1690s are set with instru-
ments of the violin family or viols. Recitatives are often long, and are flexibly
treated, turning to arioso or florid passagework, when appropriate to the
text. Arias tend to be short and strophic, and are often in a proto da capo
form: AB, and a return to a shortened A section. The musical style, not
surprisingly, resembles that of court composers of Raschenau’s youth,
especially Pietro Andrea Ziani.
Raschenau’s works of the 1690s include vocal parts in the tenor and bass
ranges. The two most important roles in Le sacre stimmate di S. Francesco
d’Assisi, S. Francesco and Christo Redentore, are set in tenor range, d–a0 , with
much of the solo work above g. The bass part in S. Francesco d’Assisi descends
to G. Badia’s music for the Ursuline convent in Vienna likewise includes parts
in these ranges, and documents and music from that convent reveal contem-
porary Viennese performance practices. In Badia’s music, as well as in
Raschenau’s, vocal bass parts are often doubled by instruments, so that low
notes (below about d) could be omitted or sung up the octave. It was the
practice at St. Ursula, and probably also at St. Jakob, to have women sing the
low parts, and a woman with this ability was called a Bassistin. If no Bassistin
was available, a man sang the part.
Several texts in Raschenau’s oratorios mention trumpets or war and are set
to music imitating trumpet calls. This favorite idea of the composer was also
popular with Raschenau’s court contemporaries, and Badia too presented
pieces in this style to his noble audience at convent performances; such
trumpet ensemble music (or imitations of it) was probably heard as a tribute
to the Habsburgs. A “Choro di Serafini con gl’istromenti” in S. Francesco
d’Assisi includes a section of antiphonal writing over a timpani-like bass, in
imitation of the antiphonal trumpet ensembles that represented imperial
power (Example 2). Although the accompaniment is not completely idiomatic
to the convent’s choir of trombe marine with timpani (they could indeed have
played most of the upper parts), they might have contributed a complemen-
tary instrumental piece before or afterwards. However it was performed, the
piece would have created a splendid effect in the convent church.
The music for an oratorio or celebratory piece performed in a Viennese
convent was sometimes presented to the imperial party in short score;

76
On this monument and its symbolism, see Coreth, Pietas Austriaca, 6–8, 11, and
Gerolf Coudenhove, Die Wiener Pestsäule: Versuch einer Deutung (Vienna: Herold, 1958).
77
Gerhard Tanzer, Spectacle müssen Seyn: Die Freizeit der Wiener im 18. Jahrhundert (Vienna:
Böhlau, 1992), 80.
68 Maria Anna von Raschenau and music at St. Jakob auf der Hülben

Example 2. Maria Anna von Raschenau, Le sacre stimmate di S. Francesco d’Assisi, “Choro di
Serafini con gl’istromenti,” mm. 11–22.
Those awakened by the furor / of ungrateful and ruthless souls / make war on you, O Savior.

several such scores of works by Johann Michael Zächer performed at the

convent of St. Agnes zur Himmelpforte in the early eighteenth century
belonged to the imperial collection. Raschenau’s Le sacre visioni di
S. Teresia survives in an incomplete short score that probably served the
same purpose. But while most presentation scores preserved from the
Viennese convents are written on fine paper, this one is written on less
expensive rough brown paper. Perhaps it was initially a draft, or intended as
a performing score, perhaps for Raschenau herself as Chormeisterin.
Le sacre visioni includes two choruses by the court organist Ferdinand
Tobias Richter (the first is another trumpet-imitating piece), setting the text
provided by the libretto and written in the same hand as the rest of the score.
This is Richter’s only known music for a female convent, but he composed a
serenata and oratorios for the court and music for Jesuit school plays, a closely
related tradition. The inclusion of choruses by another composer in Le sacre
 The music of Maria Anna von Raschenau 69

Example 2 (cont.)

visioni might suggest that Raschenau was unwell at the time and unable to
complete the work; her death in 1714 was attributed to chronic illness. The
choice of Richter provides further evidence of the convent’s continuing
relationship with the court. That he is identified in the score while
Raschenau is not is typical of Viennese convent music. Many male composers
who wrote for the convents are identified on the musical manuscripts, but not
a single manuscript from a Viennese convent names a woman as composer.
Aside from Richter’s second chorus, a short instrumental interlude in his
first chorus, and the fully scored aria that follows the first chorus, there are
no parts for the other accompanying instruments beyond a few hints in
instrumental interlude sections, and there are rests where essential parts
would be. But the fact that both this score and a libretto belonged to the
imperial collection suggests that the work was indeed performed, and thus
that it was completed. The date on the libretto appears as 170, with the “3”
written in by hand, suggesting also that the work may have been performed
in other years as well.
70 Maria Anna von Raschenau and music at St. Jakob auf der Hülben

Example 2 (cont.)

The music of Le sacre visioni reveals that Raschenau made an attempt to

keep up with developments in musical style and to adapt to the changing
tastes of the court, but also suggests that she found this new style difficult to
sustain. The score is a mixture of new and older elements, with the new most
prominent at the beginning. Recitative and aria at first alternate in the newer
Italian style, rather than following the more flexible style of the earlier
generation, typical of Raschenau’s music of the 1690s. Several arias at the
beginning of the work are longer than those of her works of the 1690s, and set
in full da capo form, with some of the florid passagework typical of the music
of composers such as the Italian-born Badia, who helped to popularize the da
capo aria with brilliant instrumental accompaniment at court in the 1690s.
Other arias are dance-like in style, also typical of the early eighteenth century,
but less so of Viennese composers of the late seventeenth century. An aria for
Christo Redentore combines old and new to good effect. “Vieni, vieni, sì, sì,” is
in a courante-like 6/4, with evocative imitation between voice and basso, but
 The music of Maria Anna von Raschenau 71

Example 3. Maria Anna von Raschenau, Le sacre visioni di S. Teresia, “Vieni, vieni,”
mm. 1–10, 24–31.
Come, come, yes, yes, to where one day counts for a thousand. / Come, O daughter,
Teresia.

the time signature changes for a concluding section, as might occur in a piece
several decades earlier. Christ becomes more insistent, even impatient, as the
music pushes forward with quicker notes, dotted patterns, and closely
repeated text, ending on an emphatic sì. Teresia is called in very secular
style, the aria evoking the highly personal, even erotic, relationship of the
Bride of Christ with her Savior (Example 3).
But the music soon reverts to a more old-fashioned style, closer to that
of Raschenau’s earlier works, although with perhaps more florid passage-
work than before. One aria is set in Italian ciaconna style, and it is
72 Maria Anna von Raschenau and music at St. Jakob auf der Hülben

followed by a duet using the same bass; others have chaconne-like repeat-
ing bass patterns. Several groups of pieces are based on a common musical
motive, following the practice of composers such as Draghi or Badia (in
the latter’s S. Orsola vergine, e martire of 1694), rather than the newer style
of writing numbers musically independent of each other and reflecting the
affect of the text.
As Chormeisterin at this musically prominent convent, Raschenau would
have used many of the skills she had acquired in her youth, and she had
available to her musicians worthy of her talents. These oratorios and feste
teatrali – and likely other music, now lost – were her contribution to the
upholding of the convent’s prestige, and they helped fulfill the institution’s
pious duty to God and emperor. They also renewed connections between
court and convent: Raschenau had received her training at court, was
known to Emperor Leopold for her musical skill, and continued to work
with a librettist based at court. Indeed, that the works were in Italian reveals
a close connection with the court, as Italian music was favored there and the
Hofkapelle was dominated by Italian musicians throughout this period.78
The patron saint’s day performance further upheld these connections, as the
court went in state to the convent to hear music performed by pious nuns
and young girls, a perfect blend of art and piety. And when the subject was
the greatness of Habsburg rule or the victories of the state, the idea conveyed
must have been that the Habsburgs were supported by none less than the
Almighty.

78
For a general overview, see Ludwig Ritter von Köchel, Die Kaiserliche Hof-Musikkapelle in Wien
von 1543–1867 (Vienna: Beck’sche Universitäts-Buchhandlung, 1869; repr. Hildesheim: Georg
Olms Verlag, 1976), 62–72.
3 Court, music, and Counter-Reformation
education in an Ursuline convent

In this convent is to be heard a so rare and pleasing music, both vocal

and instrumental.
Testarello della Massa1

The Ursuline order, devoted to educating girls, was established by the mid-
seventeenth century in Italy, France, the Netherlands, central Europe, and
even North America (Quebec, 1639).2 On August 16, 1660, eight Ursuline
nuns – six from Liège and two who had joined the group in Prague – arrived
in Vienna, brought there by Dowager Empress Eleonora II (Eleonora
Gonzaga-Nevers).3 The order’s presence in the city had been envisioned
even earlier by Eleonora’s mother-in-law (and great-aunt), also Eleonora
Gonzaga, wife of Ferdinand II (Eleonora I).
Both Eleonoras had been educated in the Clarissan convent of
Sant’Orsola in Mantua4 – where Gonzaga girls were customarily sent, and
where there was special accommodation for them5 – and apparently wished
to perpetuate the name of St. Ursula in Vienna. Political unrest in Mantua

1
Testarello della Massa, “Beschreibung,” 958. Appendix 2, no. 4.
2
Koldau, Frauen, 870–77, and Anne Conrad, “Die Ursulinen,” in Friedhelm Jürgensmeier and
Regina Elisabeth Schwerdtfeger (eds.), Orden und Klöster im Zeitalter von Reformation und
katholischer Reform, 1500–1700 (Münster: Aschendorff, 2005), vol. I, 243–54. On Quebec, see
Leslie Choquette, “‘Ces Amazones du Grand Dieu’: Women and mission in seventeenth-century
Canada,” French Historical Studies, 17, no. 3 (Spring 1992), 636–38.
3
The early history of the order in Vienna is recounted in Testarello della Massa, “Beschreibung,”
951–58 (Appendix 2, no. 4); Zwei Jahrhunderte des Ursulinerklosters in Wien, 4–24;
Anton Schöpfleuthner, Aus den Annalen des Klosters von St. Ursula in Wien (Vienna: “St.
Norbertus”-Buchdruckerei, 1887); Anita Kölbl, “Die Ursulinen in Wien, 1660–1820,”
unpublished Diplomarbeit, University of Vienna (1997), 38–59; Miroslav Kamenický, “The
coming of female re-Catholicization orders to Slovakia in the 17th and 18th centuries,” Annales
Universitatis Apulensis, Series Historica, 7 (2003), 44–45; and Karl Fischer, “Ein Freibrief für die
Ursulinen: Bemerkungen zu einer neu erworbenen Urkunde des Wiener Stadt- und
Landesarchivs und zum Geschäftsgang der Stadtverwaltung im 17. Jahrhundert,” Studien zur
Wiener Geschichte: Jahrbuch des Vereins für Geschichte der Stadt Wien, 66 (2010), 361–93.
4
Giambattista Intra, “Le due Eleonore Gonzaga Imperatrici,” Archivio Storico Lombardo: Giornale
della Società Storica Lombarda, 18, ser. 2, fasc. 1 (1891), 344–46, 355, 629–31.
5
Giambattista Intra, “Il monastero di Santa Orsola in Mantova,” Archivio Storico Lombardo, 22,
ser. 3 (1895), Storia ed arte, 172, 179–84. 73
74 Court, music, and Counter-Reformation education

had kept the younger Eleonora at Sant’Orsola for most of her youth,6 and
she maintained an interest in convents, frequently visiting those in Vienna
and founding a Carmelite convent in Wiener Neustadt.7
With an annual stipend of 400 thaler from Eleonora II, the nuns settled in
the Dorotheergasse, where they opened a school in 1661. Aided by Eleonora,
in 1663 they purchased property between Johannesgasse and Annagasse.8
Between this time and 1700, the convent acquired several adjacent build-
ings, some of which were altered for the nuns’ use to include teaching
rooms, living quarters, and a chapel. On St. Ursula’s day (October 21)
1673, Eleonora laid the ground stone for a church, which was consecrated
on September 15, 1675. The school and the living quarters for nuns and
resident girls were later expanded, in work completed by 1700. Planning for
a new, dedicated convent building began in 1734, and construction was
completed in 1745.

Music, education, and the Ursuline order in Vienna

From Italy to the New World, Ursuline convents emphasized music, partic-
ularly as a tool for religious instruction. Mother Marie de St.-Joseph, one of
the first Ursuline nuns to arrive in Quebec, greatly impressed the native
people with her viol playing.9 The most famous for music is the Collegio di
S. Orsola in Novara, home of the prolific Isabella Leonarda (1620–1704).
The Musa novarese published nearly two hundred sacred works, dedicating
several to sister nuns, whom she praised as musice virtuosissime.10 The
Ursuline convent in Graz supported an active musical life and produced
several composers. Maria Teresia von Gall (?1664–1741) was remembered
for “diverse beautiful compositions in honor of God and the saints, espe-
cially the blessed mother of God.”11 Viktoria Maria Wohl (1676/77–1755),
an “excellent musician and organist,” composed and instructed the

6
Intra, “Le due Eleonore Gonzaga Imperatrice,” 358, 629–31.
7
Hamann, Die Habsburger, 79.
8
Zwei Jahrhunderte des Ursulinerklosters in Wien, 16; Paul Harrer, “Wien: Seine Häuser,
Menschen und Kultur,” typescript, Vienna (1956), V/II, 290–304, copy in A-Wsa; and Fischer,
“Ein Freibrief.”
9
Encyclopedia of Music in Canada, s.v. “Mother Marie de St.-Joseph” (by Helmut Kallmann),
www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com (accessed February 24, 2010).
10
Isabella Leonarda, Selected Compositions, ed. Stewart Carter, Recent Researches in the Music of
the Baroque Era, 59 (Madison, WI: A-R Editions, 1988), vii–viii, xviin18.
11
Gerlinde Haas, “Pauken und Trompeten . . . im Frauenkloster: ‘Komponistinnen,’
Chorregentinnen und andere Musikerinnen des Ursulinen-Klosters in Graz in der Zeit 1686–
1755/65,” Musicologica Austriaca, 18 (1999), 142–44, quoting the Convent “Nekrolog.”
 Music, education, and the Ursuline order in Vienna 75

Kostfräulein in organ playing.12 A daughter convent of the Viennese

Ursulines founded in 1676 in Pozsony, the Hungarian capital (now
Bratislava), was intensely musical.13 Music was promoted there by Agnese
Ottilie Schalthaus (1634/35–?1705), a singer and instrumentalist who
served as abbess. Besides liturgical and festive music, the convent’s residents
performed concerts for their own entertainment and for eminent visitors. In
1688 they gave one to honor a visit by Emperor Leopold and Empress
Eleonora Magdalena. Abbess Agnese led the ensemble and performed as
lutenist; other nuns sang, and played violin, viola da gamba, and trumpet.
Crown Prince Joseph, aged ten, joined in on the timpani.14
In Vienna and elsewhere in the Habsburg lands, the Ursulines’ use of
music in the education of common folk aligned with Counter-
Reformation attitudes. Reading, the authorities feared, could be a path
to heresy; thus they distrusted literacy of the laity, associated with
Protestantism, as well as print culture in general. Parish schools founded
during the Reformation were turned over to Catholic priests and sextons
during the Counter-Reformation, and the teaching was refocused on
religious instruction and music, the latter essential for the processions,
festivals, and ceremonies that played an important role in the new concept
of religious devotion. The teaching of reading and writing was common
only in cities, where such skills were more necessary in daily life, and also
among the privileged.15
The Viennese convent’s educational work allowed regular relaxation of
the rule of the cloister. On Sundays and feast days, reported Testarello della
Massa, the convent’s school
is opened at one o’clock, at which time children can gather there to receive
[religious] instruction, which is offered there by the nuns. And not only the
children, but also their relations, such as mothers, sisters, and other persons of the

12
Haas, “Pauken und Trompeten,” 145.
13
Koldau, Frauen, 871–72, 1049, and Lenka Antalová, “Das Musikleben der Ursulinen in Wien
und Pressburg,” Musicologica Istropolitana, 2 (2003), 134–36.
14
Koldau, Frauen, 871–74; Antalová, “Das Musikleben der Ursulinen in Wien und Pressburg,”
130–31; and Darina Múdra, “Die Musik bei den Preßburger Ursulinerinnen: Vom Ende des 17.
bis Anfang des 19. Jahrhunderts,” in Ladislav Kačic (ed.), Musik der geistlichen Orden in
Mitteleuropa zwischen Tridentinum und Josephinismus: Konferenzbericht Trnava, 16.–19. 10.
1996 (Bratislava: Slavistický kabinet SAV, 1997), 211–29.
15
James van Horn Melton, “School, stage, salon: Musical cultures in Haydn’s Vienna,” in
Tom Beghin and Sander M. Goldberg (eds.), Haydn and the Performance of Rhetoric (University
of Chicago Press, 2007), 82–87, and Melton, “From image to word: Cultural reform and the rise
of literate culture in eighteenth-century Austria,” Journal of Modern History, 58, no. 1 (March
1986), 99–101.
76 Court, music, and Counter-Reformation education

female sex, are allowed entrance to speak with the nuns, who are also accustomed to
coming into the school at this time.16

When the instruction in the school ended, everyone moved into the church,
where worship and further instruction were enlivened with music:
A Jesuit priest gives a second sermon or spiritual lesson to instruct [the people]
further in the ways of virtue. The schoolchildren attend and also sing some hymns.
After this, the nuns sing Vespers in plainchant, [then] at four o’clock, however, the
Litany of the Virgin, when the host is set out, in polyphony. Finally, after the
Benediction, a nun inside the choir next to the high altar reads to the people through
the grate a spiritual story from the Golden Legend [i.e., from the lives of the saints]
appropriate to the season and the day.17

The rest of the convent’s daily sacred services were also accessible – audibly,
but not visibly – this also probably meant to be instructional. While the
nuns performed polyphonic music from the choir gallery during Mass and
on special occasions, they “recited the hours, clothed their novices, and took
communion” inside the church in an area on the right (Epistle) side of the
high altar, decorated with pictures and separated from the rest of the church
by “an iron grate, black hangings, and . . . wooden doors.”18 Thus, the nuns
were present but apart, and their intimate devotions could be clearly heard,
unlike those of Italian nuns, singing in their separate inner churches. Music,
inextricably linked with the order’s mission of teaching and spreading the
Catholic faith, was thus a focus of daily life at the Viennese convent, the
nuns’ skill, like their story-telling, serving to captivate their unsophisticated
audience.
While the Ursulines used music and aural instruction as tools for teach-
ing and proselytizing among the urban population, in their schools they
offered a more progressive curriculum, teaching girls both rich and
poor reading and writing, arithmetic, and feminine crafts, as well as religion
and music. In this, they were likely in accord with the ideas of Eleonora II,
an educated woman with interests in literature and music, who founded a
literary academy and wrote religious poetry.19 For noble girls, the Ursulines
offered a Jesuit-like curriculum, including languages, the fundamentals
of mathematics and natural science, history, drawing, music, and

16
Testarello della Massa, “Beschreibung,” 955–56. Appendix 2, no. 4.
17
Ibid., 956–57. Appendix 2, no. 4. 18 Ibid., 954. Appendix 2, no. 4.
19
Hamann, Die Habsburger, 79, and Katharina Fidler, “Mäzenatentum und Politik am Wiener
Hof: Das Beispiel der Kaiserin Eleonora Gonzaga-Nevers,” Innsbrucker Historische Studien,
12/13 (1990), 56–59.
 Music and drama in the Viennese convent of St. Ursula 77

handwork.20 Music was an important part of education at every level – from

listening and hymn singing among the lower classes to the mastery of
modern styles expected of noble girls intended for court service or
convent life.
The Jesuits educated well-born urban boys and worked among the gen-
eral population in more distant parts of the realm; the Ursulines filled these
roles for urban women. This duty seemed especially urgent in places such as
Pozsony, where much of the population was Protestant, and where Emperor
Leopold I hoped to use religious conversion as a tool to help quell rebel-
lion.21 Ursuline convents and schools were established in the seventeenth
century and the early years of the eighteenth in many other towns and cities
under Habsburg rule or influence, including Prague (1650), Klagenfurt
(1670), Gorizia (1672), Linz (1679), Graz (1686), Breslau (Wrocław)
(1687), Innsbruck (1691), Salzburg (1695), Olomouc (1697), Ljubljana
(1702), and the Hungarian cities Pozsony (1676), Kassa (Košice) (1702),
and Varasd (Varaždin) (1703).22 Through their focus on women, who
nurtured the next generation, and on impressionable children, the
Ursulines probably had a more profound influence on religious life than
did some of the blunter instruments employed by the regime, such as severe
punishment, feudal pressure of higher ranks upon lower, or force of arms.

Music and drama in the Viennese convent of St. Ursula

From the first, women of the high nobility visited St. Ursula, and Eleonora II
took an interest in the convent’s music. She visited the convent shortly after
its founding, together with her daughters. When she wished to hear the
musical ensemble, they sang some motets for her.23 The convent’s first feast
of St. Ursula, in 1661,
was celebrated as magnificently as possible; the chapel was decorated in the best way
through the generosity of various ladies; a Jesuit priest, the most popular preacher in
the city, spoke in praise of the Ursuline order’s school, and among the listeners were
many princesses and countesses . . . In the afternoon, her majesty honored the

20
Conrad, “Die Ursulinen,” 252. 21 Koldau, Frauen, 871–72, 876.
22
Múdra, “Die Musik bei den Preßburger Ursulinerinnen,” 212, and Conrad, “Die
Ursulinen,” 246.
23
“Aus der Frühzeit des Ordens [II]: Aufzeichnung der Mutter Alexis de Jonghen über die
Gründung des Wiener Ursulinenklosters,” Jahrbuch des Verbandes selbständiger deutscher
Ursulinen Klöster: Beiträge zur Darstellung und Geschichte des Ursulinenordens, 4 (1929), 92:
“apres sa maiesté voulut ouir la musique L on luy chanta quelques motet.”
78 Court, music, and Counter-Reformation education

convent with a visit, expressed delight over the richly ornamented chapel, asked to
hear the singing of the nuns and to see the pupils, who were twelve in number, and
promised to bring the emperor to this fine little convent.24

Empress Eleonora attended the convent’s first profession ceremony (in

1663), and others thereafter. In 1666, on the first feast of Aloysius
Gonzaga after the arrival of the new empress (Margarita Teresa of Spain,
first wife of Emperor Leopold I), the emperor, empress, and dowager
empress all attended First Vespers at the convent, at which music was
provided by the Hofkapelle; following the service the imperial party dined
in the refectory, and “the nuns also sang some motets and played the lute.”25
A letter from the convent’s abbess, Mother Alexis, to Mother Cécile
Cousin in Mons, dated August 11, 1689, describes the daily life of the
convent and its religious observances, and provides further details of
the music. Both Mother Alexis and Testarello della Massa describe the
Devotions of Our Lady (Le Salut), an evening service sung in many convents
and including the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament and the Litany of
the Virgin.26 The Viennese Ursulines performed this devotion in poly-
phony. Vespers was performed in plainchant, except on the most important
feast days or on the day of an entry, clothing, or profession ceremony.
On the feasts that are not ordered by the Holy Church, we recite the Office of Our
Lady only individually, both because [reciting that Office communally in the
church] is appropriate only for feasts on which one sings polyphonic Vespers and
because during the morning there is continually a great number of Masses that
cannot be interrupted. On feast days and Sundays, we sing Vespers in plainchant
and with great devotion, as we are obligated to do, and as is done in Holy Week not
only at Matins and Lauds, but also at all the ceremonies taking place on the morning
of the [last] three days; we do the same on Christmas, Candlemas, Ash Wednesday,
[and] Palm Sunday, all very correctly, in which all who have voices are instructed by
the chant mistress.

24
Zwei Jahrhunderte des Ursulinerklosters in Wien, 12: “Das darauffolgende Fest der heil. Ursula
ward von der kleinen Klostergemeinde zum ersten Male in Wien so herrlich als möglich gefeiert,
die Kapelle aufs Beste verziert durch die Freigebigkeit verschiedener Damen; ein Pater der
Gesellschaft Jesu, der beliebteste Prediger der Stadt, hielt die Lobrede über das Institut des
Ursulinerordens, und hatte unter den Zuhörern viele Fürstinen und Gräfinen . . . Nachmittags
beehrten Ihre Majestät die Klosterfrauen mit einem Besuche, äußerte große Freude über die so
reich verzierte Kapelle, verlangte den Gesang der Klosterfrauen zu hören und die Kostzöglinge,
zwölf an der Zahl, zu sehen, und versprach, den Kaiser in dieses liebe Klösterlein zu führen.”
25
“Aus der Frühzeit des Ordens II,” 94: “les Religieuses chanterent aussi quelques motets et
iouerent du lut.”
26
The New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd edn., s.v. “Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.”
 Music and drama in the Viennese convent of St. Ursula 79

After the hour of reading aloud, we decide on Mondays about the music for the
following week and the next Sunday. As our nuns are enclosed, it is a pleasure to
hear how agreeably, and with all required observances, they sing the whole
Benediction. As for recreation, those who have eaten at the second sitting take it
after the reading, [but] there is rarely time for this on Thursdays after the chapter
meeting.27
Every Tuesday afternoon, as on Sundays and feast days, we say Vespers a little
before four o’clock, but there is not much time, since at four o’clock we celebrate the
Benediction of the Most Holy Sacrament before and after the Devotions of Our Lady
[Le Salut], at which is sung in polyphony the Litanies, a motet, and at present the
Salve Regina, at other times the antiphon that one must perform at the end of the
Office (i.e., Compline) [according to the season]. On great feasts we have a song or
devotional motet performed by solo voice with two or three lutes, a theorbo, a viola
da gamba, and a violin. Following this, there is a reading from the grille of the upper
choir, as much for the nuns as for the people in the church, who listen attentively.28

Several incidents demonstrate the importance of music at this convent into

the eighteenth century. Practices in Vienna contrast strikingly with the well-
documented musical tribulations of many convents in Italy, where the
authorities frequently tried to restrict nuns’ access to musical training,
use of instruments, and performance opportunities – anything connected
with their music-making, which served as their public presence. When
the demands of the music at this Viennese convent came into conflict
with church regulations, the music seems usually to have won out – and
not through subterfuge by the nuns, but with the support of the church
authorities.
In 1712 the convent’s organist, Mother Regina, fell ill, and no qualified
replacement was available within the convent: “The 22nd [of May], the feast
of the Holy Trinity . . . we could not perform a polyphonic Vespers service,
as Mother Regina was ill; for the Mass and the Litany we moved the organ to
the door [of the choir] and had it played by Herr [Carlo Agostino] Badia.”29
This arrangement continued on succeeding feast days and Sundays, with
Herr Reinhardt (probably the court organist Johann Georg Reinhardt)

27
Presumably, those who eat at the first sitting take their recreation during the second sitting.
28
“Aus der Frühzeit des Ordens [I],” Jahrbuch des Verbandes selbständiger deutscher Ursulinen
Klöster, 1 (1926), 156–57. Appendix 2, no. 5. According to Testarello della Massa, the reading
took place from the lower choir; the location may have depended on whether or not the day was a
feast day. Thanks to Thierry Favier for his assistance with the interpretation of this document.
29
“Hauschronik,” II:233: [May 1712] “den 22 dito, das fest d[er] H. dreyfaltigkeit . . . wür haben
disen Tag keine Vesper in d[er] Music gemacht weillen die M[utter] Regina kranckh worden,
also zu dem Ambt und Litaney die orgl zu d[er] thier gerucket und von dem Herr Badia schlagen
lassen.”
80 Court, music, and Counter-Reformation education

playing the organ on Corpus Christi (the following Thursday) and Herr
Römer (probably a member of the family of organ builders) on the next
Sunday, on which the nuns repeated their polyphonic version of Lauda sion,
the sequence for Corpus Christi.30 Römer played again on the following
Thursday, June 2, the eve of the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.31 But this
arrangement – as one might imagine – was not ideal, and it was inappro-
priate for music that was to be heard by members of the imperial family: “on
the 4th [of June] her majesty the empress mother [Eleonora Magdalena]
came to us at 10 o’clock with her two daughters. Our own musicians
performed the Mass, with organ playing by Herr Römer, and since it was
not good to have the organ blocking the door, our bishop allowed the
organist to come right into the choir.”32
When the church’s galleries had to be rebuilt in 1731, the convent’s large
organ was completely dismantled and everything cleared out of the music
gallery:
until this gallery can be used again, [and] so that sacred services may be conducted
in the meantime, a small organ has been set up in the convent girls’ choir . . . in the
lack of a female bass, the [male] bass sings into the church through a window in the
choir loft. On account of the construction, however, the worthy Herr Anthony
Semlrog can do nothing other than come into the cloister, which, however, our
highly worthy and gracious bishop has allowed sometimes, but only in the greatest
necessity, and he has not ordinarily provided this dispensation without the knowl-
edge of his eminence our cardinal for many years. On this occasion, the cardinal
himself has decided, with great reservation, to allow this entry into the cloister, on
account of the delay in the construction. So that we are not robbed of our sacred
services, he graciously grants permission that, so long as it is necessary, the worthy
bass can sing and will be allowed into the cloister, accompanied by our worthy
confessor or our chaplain.33

These reports reveal several facets of musical life in this convent. That
women should sing low parts is not so surprising or unusual, as the practice

30
Ibid., II:233: [May 1712] “den 26 dito das fest Corporis Christi . . . die orgl hat geschlagen der
Herr Reinhardt, habe disen Tag kein Music Vesper gemacht”; “den 29 dito haben wür wider das
Lauda sion in d[er] music gehalten[.] die orgl hat d[er] Herr Remer geschlagen.”
31
Ibid., II:234: [June 1712] “2. d[em] vorabend Herz Jesu die orgl hat geschlagen d[er] Herr
Remer.”
32
Ibid., II:234–35: [June 1712] “den 4 dito sein umb 10 uhr ihre May[estät] die khey[serliche] Frau
Mutter mit ihren 2 Ertzherzogin zu uns khomen[. Wir] haben das Ambt mit unserer Eignen Music
gehalten, unter der orgl schlagen[,] welches d[er] Herr Römmer gethan[,] und weillen es kein
guett gethan bey d[er] thier mit [der] orgl zubleiben so hat uns der first unser Bischoff Erlaubt das
d[er] organist gar in Chor herin darff gehen.”
33
Ibid., II:265: July 16, [1731]. Appendix 2, no. 6.
 Music and drama in the Viennese convent of St. Ursula 81

was known in Germanic and Italian convents as well as in the Venetian

ospedali.34 In Vienna, such voices were highly prized, if rare, and the
Bassistinnen were not always older nuns – as might be assumed from a
description of the 1780s of a “mistress of the novices” of an unnamed
Viennese convent singing “as deep as an old violone.”35 There were also
younger ones with naturally low voices. Mother Maria Johanna
Nepomucena (died April 6, 1774, aged 66, in the thirty-eighth year of her
profession) “had an incomparably beautiful bass voice, on account of which
she was accepted” into the Ursuline convent.36 The “beautiful, light, and
pure deep alto voice, a chest voice” heard by Friedrich Nicolai at St. Laurenz
in 1781 may also have been of this type.37
The use of a male bass continued at St. Ursula until late in the eighteenth
century, and became the regular practice over the years. According to
Abbess Maria Ludovica, writing in February 1783, “for some years, since
the passing of some nuns who would have been able to sing the bass, a priest
has been appointed to sing the bass at all worship services with polyphonic
music and paid 100 florins yearly.”38 A plan of the Ursuline church as it was
in the 1730s shows a circular staircase, labeled as for the use of the confessor
and the church servants, running up the outside wall on the gallery end of
the church; perhaps there was a landing at gallery level for the male bass
singer.39
The abilities of the Viennese bass singers, both female and male, and the
means by which a musically satisfactory result was obtained when low
voices were few, are revealed in Badia’s oratorios for the convent.

34
Michael Talbot, “Tenors and basses at the Venetian ospedali,” Acta Musicologica, 66 (1994),
123–38. A DVD, Richard Vendome and Schola Pietatis Antonio Vivaldi, Vivaldi’s Women (BBC,
2008), gives some idea of how Vivaldi’s music may have sounded with such voices. Robert
L. Kendrick, Celestial Sirens, 188–96, discusses the appearance of bass and tenor parts in music
associated with Milanese convents and possible performance solutions. Koldau, Frauen, 868,
notes the presence of two tenors and a “männliche Baßistin” in the Servite female convent in
Innsbruck.
35
Kirchenkronik auf das Jahr 1784, 56: “Da sang . . . die Novizenmeisterin tief, wie ein alter
Violon.” On the practice in the later eighteenth century, see Karl Pfannhauser, “Zu Mozarts
Kirchenwerken von 1768,” Mozart-Jahrbuch 1954 (Salzburg, 1955), 152–54.
36
“Aufzeichnung aller Verstorbenen Mitschwestern unsers geistl. Hauses,” 234, WU: “sie hatte
eine unvergleichlich schöne Bass Stimm wegen welcher sie aufgenohmen worden.”
37
Friedrich Nicolai, Beschreibung einer Reise durch Deutschland und die Schweiz, im Jahre 1781
(Berlin, 1783–84), vol. IV, 545–46: “eine schöne helle reine tiefe Altstimme, eine Bruststimme.”
38
“Verzeichniße Derjenigen, die ihre Ausweise über die Musikunkösten . . . eingereicht haben,” no.
31, St. Ursula, C Norm K 4296 ad Acta No. 477 C:20 de [1]784, NöLA: “seit einigen Jahren,
wegen abgang einer Klosterfrauen, so dem Pass zu singen in stande wäre, einen weltl. Priester, so
bei allen Musikalischen Gottes diensten dem Pass singet eine bestallung accordiret worden pr . . .
100 [fl.].” Cited in Biba, “Die Wiener Kirchenmusik um 1783,” 52; see also Biba, p. 75.
39
A. C. Martinelli, Das Ursulinenkloster in der Stadt, Johannesgasse (engraving) (Vienna, 1734).
82 Court, music, and Counter-Reformation education

Typically, there is a single vocal part in bass clef and none in tenor clef
except in choruses, with solo arias for “bass” set mostly above c and most
passage-work above f, reaching up to e0 (Chorton in Vienna was then around
a0 =415, with Cornetton about a tone higher, around a0 =46440). Low notes
are usually reinforced by the continuo, for which a full ensemble was
available, including keyboard instruments, lutes and theorbo, viola da
gamba, cello, and bassoon. In choruses and ensembles the bass part is
mostly doubled by the continuo. The care taken with the setting points to
performance at pitch most of the time rather than a general practice of
transposing up the octave.
Badia’s La fuga in Egitto (1703) has no vocal bass part, but rather a solo
part in tenor clef (San Giuseppe) reaching occasionally down to d – only a
couple of notes lower than the alto part – with notes lower than this
appearing only in ensembles and choruses. At this time, there was probably
a Bassistin who sang in this range, rather higher than a male or some other
female basses. Such tenor-range parts also appear as the lowest voice in
works performed at St. Jakob, including Raschenau’s Le sacre visioni di
S. Teresia (1703) and the anonymous Trattenimento Estivo of the same
decade – they too may have had a good Bassistin around this time.
An anonymous setting of Pietro Ottoboni’s libretto La Santissima
Annuntiata (1700) from Emperor Leopold’s music library has a similar
tenor part, with the range e–g]0 , along with four soprano parts.41 The music
is similar in style to Badia’s and the libretto is something that this composer
might have chosen: he set a text by Ottoboni in 1704 and also other texts of
Roman origin. The instrumental scoring is typical of this convent, with a
pair of violins and basso (the basso is without figures, as is usual for a
convent presentation score), occasional use of “viole da braccio” or “viole”
in pairs, and an aria “con viola fagotto,” the latter wording appearing also in
an anonymous Cantata sacra performed at St. Ursula.42 It seems a plausible
convent work, possibly performed at St. Ursula in 1701, on the only St.
Ursula’s day around this time for which no performance is documented.
Music performed at St. Ursula in the second half of the eighteenth
century regularly includes both choral and solo parts for bass voice, and
the practice of using a large contingent of bass instruments to double the
parts, especially necessary in choruses, continued. Sets of parts from the
convent – mostly of Magnificats, Litanies, motets, and other music for

40
Bruce Haynes, A History of Performing Pitch: The Story of “A” (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press,
2002), 103, 147–50, 295.
41
Anonymous, Oratorium di B. V. Maria, Mus. Hs. 18509, A-Wn. 42 Mus. Hs. 18698, A-Wn.
 Music and drama in the Viennese convent of St. Ursula 83

Vespers or the evening service – usually include three or even four cello
parts, two for violone, and parts for organ and bassoon. There are generally
two or three first violin parts and two seconds. Even if the nuns played two
to a part among the violins, this is still an unusually bass-heavy ensemble,
well suited to reinforcing a vocal ensemble weak in the lower parts, and bass
parts performed this way would have sounded more instrumental than
vocal. The tenor part in choruses was also reinforced, by a trombone, as
was the alto.43
In their musical performances for imperial guests, and apparently in
other music as well, these convents did not emphasize the femaleness of
their institutions, but instead went to great lengths to imitate the sound of
ensembles with a full range of voices. The best reason for this may be that a
group such as the imperial Hofkapelle, with parts from bass through treble
and well known for its musical excellence, may have been considered the
ideal ensemble to represent the harmony of Habsburg rule, and represent-
ing that harmony was also the aim of the convent performances.
The two episodes confirm that the convent had several organs, including
a large instrument in the gallery and a smaller, movable one. The latter
may have been the one purchased in 1708: “On this day [December 15] we
also got a new organ in our choir; it cost 100 florins,” reported the diarist.44
As large organs could cost thousands of gulden,45 and this one appears
to have been installed in single day, it was probably a small, plain positive
or perhaps a portative, possibly the same one moved to the convent girls’
gallery during the rebuilding of the choir loft. Small organs for under
200 florins were advertised in the Wienerisches Diarium in the 1720s: in
1725, a small positive organ with three ranks and pedal, in a walnut case
with gilding, 180 florins; and in 1726, a “compendious, elegant, and well-
sounding positive organ with four ranks,” 120 florins.46
Although nuns played the organ in Viennese convents, including
St. Ursula, male organists were employed by convents and performed in
convent churches. The Mother Regina episode suggests a division of labor,
nuns performing with the convent’s musical ensemble, and professional
male musicians such as Badia and Reinhardt filling in and providing
instruction and suitable music, as needed. Most convents had an organ on

43
Uncatalogued collection of music from the Ursuline convent in Vienna, A-Wgm.
44
“Hauschronik,” II:158: [December 15, 1708] “disen Tag haben wür auch Ein Newe orgl auf Unser
Chor bekhomen, hat 100 f: Kost.”
45
Janet K. Page, “Organs on the market: Selling and buying in Vienna, c1784,” Organ Yearbook, 37
(2008), 50, 56n25.
46
Maunder, Keyboard Instruments in Eighteenth-Century Vienna, 139.
84 Court, music, and Counter-Reformation education

the church floor, probably usually played by the male organist. Other male
organists associated with Viennese convents were Alexander Ender (ca.
1694–1747) at St. Ursula; Hannsen Newbrett ( fl. 1524), Georg Reutter Jr.,
Joseph Ressel (Rössel) (active 1756–60), and Joseph Schedl (Schödl) (active
1783–84) at St. Agnes;47 and Caspar Wilnauer (late sixteenth century),
Ferdinand Schüessel ( fl. 1661–78 or 80),48 Ferdinand Tobias Richter,
Georg Christoph Wagenseil, and Schedl at St. Jakob.49 Badia, Reinhardt,
Ender, Reutter, Richter, and Wagenseil composed music for their convents.
On festive occasions, the Viennese Ursulines were joined in their music-
making by ensembles of trumpets and timpani, and also trombonists. The
men, who were hired in, were court or church musicians, city musicians, or,
on one occasion – as a last resort – military musicians.50 Rather than merely
providing separate fanfares (Aufzüge) at appropriate points in the service,
they also often played with the convent’s musical ensemble, allowing the
nuns to perform festive concerted music in the Viennese imperial style.51
“Sister Ludovica made her Holy Profession today . . . [there were] two choirs
of trumpets and timpani: one played with the musical ensemble; we had our
own musical ensemble,” reported the convent chronicle in 1745.52 For the
celebration of Mass on the feast of Philip and James in 1750, “the music was
performed by us, two choirs of trumpets and timpani, and also trom-
bones.”53 When this practice began is unknown, but it was well established
by 1740, the beginning of the first completely preserved volume of the
convent’s chronicle. The sets of parts from the Ursuline convent often
include parts for two clarini and timpani as well as for a pair of trombones.
That men should sing and play with the nuns – sometimes from outside
the choir, singing in through a window or playing on the other side of a

47
Page, “Organs on the market,” 48, 55nn9, 12, 14, 15, Appendix AII (pp. 63 and 65n3).
48
Geraldine M. Rohling, “Exequial and Votive Practices of the Viennese Bruderschaften: A Study
of Music and Liturgical Piety,” unpublished PhD dissertation, The Catholic University of
America (1996), 148.
49
Page, “Organs on the market,” 55n15.
50
On the employment and payment of these musicians, see Chapter 6 below.
51
Friedrich W. Riedel, Kirchenmusik am Hofe Karls VI. (1711–1740): Untersuchungen zum
Verhältnis von Zeremoniell und musikalischem Stil im Barockzeitalter (Munich: Emil
Katzbichler, 1977), 173–221, “Solenne Musik,” “Instrumentalmusik,” and A. Peter Brown,
“Caldara’s trumpet music for the imperial celebrations of Charles VI and Elisabeth
Christine,” in Brian W. Pritchard (ed.), Antonio Caldara: Essays on his Life and Times
(Aldershot: Scolar Press, 1987), 3–48.
52
“Hauschronik,” III:120: “20 aprill oster-Erchtag [1745] die schw: Ludovica hat disen Tag. ihr
H. profession abgelegt . . . zwey Chör trompeten und Pauckh[en][.] ein chor hat mit d[er]
music geblasen, wir haben unser music gehabt.”
53
Ibid., III:192: “den 1 May [1750] . . . die Music wahr von uns, zwey Cöhr trompeten und Paucken,
wie auch posunnen.”
 Music and drama in the Viennese convent of St. Ursula 85

doorway, sometimes in the church (the brass players probably stationed in

the galleries above the side altars),54 but sometimes even inside the
cloister – suggests that having a full musical ensemble and well-performed
music were more important to the nuns, to the court, and even to the
ecclesiastical authorities than was strictest enforcement of monastic
enclosure.
The feast of Aloysius Gonzaga55 (June 21) held special importance in this
convent, Gonzaga being a member of the family to which the two Eleonoras
belonged, as well as a model for learning and study (in 1729 he was named
patron saint of students in the Jesuit colleges).56 On the convent’s first
celebration of this feast, the dowager empress presented the nuns with a
painting of Aloysius and requested that he be named patron of their
chapel. “From that time on,” reports the writer of Zwei Jahrhunderte des
Ursulinerklosters, “this feast was celebrated with the greatest magnificence
in the presence of the empress and other distinguished ladies.”57
By the late 1660s, these celebrations included the performance of plays, a
practice probably influenced by both Jesuit school drama and the Italian
convent commedia. Dramatic performance was an important part of Jesuit
education in Vienna and elsewhere, another means of promoting Counter-
Reformation ideas and a positive image of the Habsburg family through
spectacle and music. Plays also gave the pupils opportunities to show off
their prowess in Latin and to practice the social graces.58 Emperor Leopold,
a great supporter of Jesuit school drama, attended plays at the Jesuit College
several times a year, and the college in Vienna had two theaters, a large one
and a smaller one for private performances.59 The initial performance of a
Jesuit play for a noble audience was followed by further performances for
the general public, bringing the Jesuits’ brand of political-religious repre-
sentation to the less exalted.60
Convent plays were an Italian tradition, familiar to Eleonora II from her
youth and perhaps even promoted by her in Vienna. Plays were performed
in Mantuan convents in the mid-seventeenth century, the church author-
ities regularly complaining about indecency and deploring the attendance of

54
Testarello della Massa mentions four galleries above the side chapels (“Beschreibung,” 953–54 ).
55
The Catholic Encyclopedia, s.v. “St. Aloysius Gonzaga.” Aloysius (1568–1591), a Jesuit, was
beatified in 1621 and canonized in 1726.
56
Bonnie Blackburn and Leofranc Holford-Strevens, The Oxford Companion to the Year (Oxford
University Press, 1999), 256.
57
Zwei Jahrhunderte des Ursulinerklosters in Wien, 13.
58
Melton, “From image to word,” 102–5. See also Chapter 4 below.
59
Testarello della Massa, “Beschreibung,” 526–28. 60 Melton, “From image to word,” 103.
86 Court, music, and Counter-Reformation education

male visitors.61 In a letter of 1650, the year before Eleonora left Mantua to
marry Ferdinand III, the bishop of Mantua complained that there was too
much freedom at several female convents, listing among other abuses, “nuns
wearing their hair long and dressed with flowers, and other vanities. Visiting
the parlatorio without a chaperone. In Carnival, performing plays in cos-
tume.”62 In 1662 one Celidonia Arlini complained that “more than twenty-
five gentlemen along with a great many ladies” had been allowed to enter the
convent of St. Barnaba to see a commedia, bringing a worldly atmosphere
into the cloister.63 The men, however, were soon revealed to be Archduke
Ferdinand Karl of Tyrol, who had special papal dispensation to enter
cloisters, and members of his court.64 As the men had gone directly to the
place where the play was to be performed and left immediately afterward,
the punishment was relatively mild.65 On this occasion, a 9-year-old future
empress, Claudia Felicitas of Tyrol, visiting Italy with her parents,66 was
probably among the audience.

61
Information kindly provided by Craig Monson, who shared with me the documents in notes
62–65 below and others concerning Mantuan convents.
62
“Mantova/Alla Sacra Cong.ne de Vescovi e Regolari/die 12. Aug.ti 1650/‘epo ad mentum’/Per Il
Vescovo di Mantova,” Sezione monache, l’anno 1650 (agosto–settembre), ASV, VR: “Il Vescovo
di Mantova humill.mo [servit]ore dell’EEVV. desideroso di ridurre quei Monasterij di Monache
alla buona disciplina Regolare, et ovviare à molti scandali che giornalm.te nascono, per la troppa
libertà che hanno . . . Molte monache portano i capeli longhi con fiori, et altre vanità. Vanno al
parlatorio senza ascoltatrici. Al Carnevale si travestino fanno comedie.”
63
Letter from Celidonia Arlini, March 30, 1662, Sezione monache, l’anno 1662 (gennaro–marzo),
ASV, VR: “L’altro di nel Convento delle Monache di S. Barnaba si ricitò una Comedia, et
furono nella Clausura introdotto più di vinticinque Gentilhuomini con moltissime Donne, li
discorsi nel Teatro, le prattiche segrete nel Palco, e le retirate ne i cantoni, sono cose che sono
bensi da considerare, mà da stimarsi poco in riguardo del peggio.”
64
“Notitia p[er] Mons Ilio Altieri,” Sezione monache, l’anno 1662 (aprile–giugno), ASV, VR: “Per
l’introdutione de molti secolari dentro la Cla[u]sura del Monastero di S. Barnaba di Mantova,
governato da i Padri Serviti, à sentire la Commedia, che quelle Monache recitorono sul principio
di Quaresima, non hà potuto il Vescovo procedere con i rigori né contro i Secolari med:i, che vi
entrorono, né contro i Confesssori regolari, che ve l’introdussero, né contro le Monache, che vi li
riceverono, perche alcuni de i sudd:i secolari erano ser:ri attuali del S. Arciduca d’Ispruch il quale
entrò egli stesso ancora dentro la sud:a Clausura con buona comitiva in virtù di un Breve
Pontificio, che S:A: disse di havere p[er] entrare in tutti i Monasteri.”
65
Mantova/il Vescovo/S. Barnaba/21 Julil 1662/“Cum Alijs,” Sez. Monache, l’anno 1662 (luglio–
settembre), ASV, VR: “Em:mi e Rev:mi SS;RI e Proni Col.mi: In essecut.e de beniga.mi
comandi dell’E.E.V.V. circa le suore di S. Barnaba, non hò havuto bisogno di deporre la Priora,
et altre off.i da loro Ministerio, havendone le suore fatta già nuova elettione; onde mi son
ristretto al penitentiar salutarm.te le med.me off.i con tutte l’altre che recitorono la
comedia; et di più hò ordinato, che p[er] un anno pros.mo non debbano ammettere nel
Monas.ro nuove educande, ò vestir Monache, imponendole di vantaggio che non possino
mai più recitare altre comedie acciò conoschino i giusti sensi di N.S.re, et dell’E.E.V.V. . . .
Mantova li 7 lug.o 1662 . . . Cardl Ginetti Prefa f. Marco Vitali Vesc.o di Mant.a.”
66
Herbert Seifert, “Antonio Cesti im Licht neuer Quellen: Sein bewegtes Leben zwischen Italien
und Österreich,” Österreichisches Musikzeitschrift, 59, no. 7 (2004), 24.
 Music and drama in the Viennese convent of St. Ursula 87

In 1668 Dowager Empress Eleonora attended a play performed at the

Ursuline convent in Vienna by the Kostfräulein.67 In 1670, 1671, and 1672
the emperor and empress saw plays at the convent, the one of 1670 on the
subject of St. Dorothea:
on the feast of St. Aloysius . . . the imperial party then went into the refectory to eat,
during which some music was performed; after the meal was ended, they went over
to the lute player, during which time the ladies dined and the Kostfräulein prepared
to perform a play, in which they presented [the story of] St. Dorothea, to which the
emperor gave gracious attention.68

Lives of female saints were among the most common subjects for such plays
in Italy.69 In the 1670s, the Viennese convent had a special “room where the
plays are performed,”70 with some sort of theater: “their majesties were in a
neighboring room, until they could be admitted into the place where the
theater was set up for the performance of a little play, according to the usual
practice.”71 Given the convent’s musical inclinations, it is likely that such
productions included music. Certainly by the 1680s music was a regular part
of the curriculum for the Kostfräulein.72
Special music was performed often at the Ursuline convent in Vienna, as
in other convents, for entrance and profession ceremonies (for an account
of such performances, see Chapter 1), and the nuns at St. Ursula also gave
musical performances to entertain the abbess and visitors both female and
male. On January 23, 1708, for example, the nuns “performed an oratorio

67
“Aus der Frühzeit des Ordens [II],” 95: [1668] “après le repas sa Maieste eu la patience de voir la
Comedie representee par les pensionnaires.”
68
“Ausführlicher Bericht d[er] Reyse und Ankunfft,” WU: “21 June [1670] Fest H Aloysii . . . aldan
verfugten sich hoch dieselbe in das Refectorium zu Collation, unter welcher man eine Music
machte, nachdeme sie vom tisch aufgestanden näherten sie sich der jenigen so auf der lauthen
spillete, unter dessen speiseten die damen, und die kost gängerinen bereitteten sich zur Comedi
in welcher sie, die H. Dorothea vorstelleten, dero der Kayser ein gnadiges gehor gabe.”
Privatbriefe Kaiser Leopold I. an den Grafen F. E. Pötting, 1662–1673, ed. Alfred Francis Pribram
and Moriz Landwehr von Pragenau. Fontes rerum Austriacarum: Oesterreichische Geschichts-
Quellen, Series 2, vol. LVII (Vienna: Carl Gerold’s Sohn, 1904), vol. II, 195 (letter of October 21,
1671): “Und weilen heut festum sanctae Ursulae ist, so sein [wir] bei den Ursulinerinnen gwest,
allwo [sie] uns ein Comedie exhibirt haben.” “Aus der Frühzeit des Ordens [II],” 97: “21 Juin
[1672] feste Du B. Louys de Gonzague . . . Leurs Maieste estoient dans une chambre voisin,
iusques a ce que l’on les introduisy dans la place ou le Theatre estoit dispose pour y representer
une petite Comedie selon la Coustume.”
69
Many such works are mentioned in Elissa B. Weaver, Convent Theatre in Early Modern Italy:
Spiritual Fun and Learning for Women (Cambridge University Press, 2002).
70
“I. Annalen Notizen 1660,” WU: “1671 den 25te Martzen haben wir erlaubnus Erhalten die
Stationen zu machen . . . 7te in das zimmer wo man die Comedien spillete.”
71
See note 68 above. 72 Testarello della Massa, “Beschreibung,” 958.
88 Court, music, and Counter-Reformation education

before the priests from St. Stephen’s and other gentlemen.”73 On April 15 of
the same year, an oratorio was performed in the presence of the imperial
family, in honor of Elisabeth Christine, bride of Archduke Karl. On October
21, the feast of St. Ursula, the convent was again visited by the emperor, two
empresses, and two archduchesses, who attended Mass and dined, after
which the nuns “performed an hours’ worth of [their] oratorio,” followed by
Vespers.74 The work performed on that occasion was Badia’s Santa
Teresa.75 Several weeks later, on November 7, the nuns gave another
performance of Santa Teresa, this time to entertain the bishop of Vienna,
Fürst Rummel, and his brother-in-law, the court chancellor from Graz.76 In
no other year are so many recorded, but such entertainments for these
various audiences probably continued, and it seems entirely likely that the
nuns would have repeated a work they had taken the trouble to learn.
Many references to such music-making appear in the completely preserved
volumes of the convent’s chronicle, dating from 1740 onward. In March 1750,
for example, the cardinal and bishops made their visitation, and after inspect-
ing the church they went into the refectory, where they talked with the nuns
and heard a musical performance.77 In August 1753, on the feast of St.
Augustine, a Kostfräulein, Fräulein Cavriani, gave a musical performance in
honor of the abbess’s name day.78 In October 1753, the nuns performed for
their confessor and several visiting clerics as they breakfasted in the parla-
torio.79 And in January 1754, Archduchess Amalia and a party of

73
“Hauschronik,” II:140: “den 23 dito [January 1708] haben wür Ein oratorio vor den Herren
Thompfprobsten und anderen Herrn gehalten.”
74
Ibid., II:151–52: “Den 21 dito [October 1708] als das fest Ste Ursula seyndt bey uns herinen
geweßt d[er] Keyser, beede Keyserinen und 2 Ertzherzogin, sein zu dem Ambt khomen umb 1
Uhr . . . hernach sein die herrschaften zum Tisch gangen, nach welche wür unser oratori gehalten
so eine stundt gewerth, auf dis hat die vesper gefolgt.”
75
S. Teresa Oratorio da cantarsi dalle RR. Madri Orsoline il giorno di Santa Orsola dell anno
M.D.C.C.VIII. avanti di Gioseppe I. Imperador dè Romani ed a tutta l’Augustissima Casa
(Vienna: Andrea Heyinger, 1708).
76
“Hauschronik,” II:153: “den 7. dito [November 1708] haben wür unser oratori von Ste Ursula vor
unseren Bischoff von Wienn first Rumel, vor seinen H. schwagern grätzerischen Hoff Canzler
und einen geistlichen Cizsterzinzer order gehalten.”
77
Ibid., III:189: “den 12 Marty [1750] . . . nach diesen ist er [der Cardinal] gleich mit sambt den
weyl-bischoff in das refectory gangen und gleich die visitation vor genohmen, es hat getauert bis
umb ein viertel über 12 uhr, hernach haben die Closter-frauen ein Music gemacht, nach ein uhr
ist er hinaus gangen.”
78
Ibid., III:265: “den 28 augusty [1753] . . . das fest H. Augustinus . . . nachmittag umb 2. uhr seint
die Kost-gängerin in das gemein zimer gangen[.] dort ist die Music gemacht worden von der
freyle franzisca Capriany, wegen der Mater Augustini ihrer nahmens tag.”
79
Ibid., III:269–70: “den 2 October [1753] hat der Herr beicht-Vatter mees gelessen umb halber 9
uhr, die Convent meesß der pater franciscus Stockginer undt auf dem H. Joannes altar, der pater
 Musicians of the Ursuline convent 89

noblewomen were entertained with music: “Sister Maria Josepha [Cavriani]

played the harpsichord and Sister Floriana sang a holy Christmas song.”80 The
music for such occasions was sometimes composed by the nuns (perhaps the
case here, as Sister Floriana was known to have composed), but probably often
brought in from outside, perhaps including the volumes of Divote Canzonette
and Mottetti à 4 voci by the Brescian composer Paris Francesco Alghisi (1666–
1733) said to have been dedicated to this convent.81 Purely instrumental
music may also have been heard; the convent owned sets of parts for
symphonies by Wagenseil and Christoph Sonnleithner.

Musicians of the Ursuline convent

Accounts of the lives of individual nuns suggest that many were highly
accomplished musicians. About sixteen years after the convent’s founding,
Mother Alexis, the convent’s first abbess, could write that “our church is
marvelously attended; our musicians, who perform quite well, attract every-
one.”82 By then, the convent had acquired several nuns and novices of
considerable musical talent, probably well worth hearing. In a letter of
February 6, 1676, Mother Alexis noted that “on the 22nd of January the
daughter of Prince Auersberg made her profession and the younger daugh-
ter of my deceased sister took the habit. The first . . . plays organ and
basso continuo masterfully, as my niece does the violin, to which we sing
the bass and whichever other parts there are. She [the niece?] has a
special talent for music.”83 Both musicians were active into the eighteenth

schmit, professor von Türnau, und auf dem Ecce Homo altar der pater Englwerth Stockginer
d[er] benedictiner, nach denen Meessen seint alle 4 geistlichen in das parletory gangen [und]
haben das fruhstuck genommen, hernach haben unsern Closter-frauen ihnen ein Music
gemacht.”
80
Ibid., III:281: “den 11 Januar [1754] ist die Ertz-Herzogin Amalia zu uns kommen . . . hernach
hat die brauth die schw. Maria Josepha [the recently clothed Franziska Cavriani] das instrument
schlagen, undt die schw. Florianna hat ein H. wein-nacht lieth gesungen.”
81
“Alghisi-Algisi-Alesi Paris Francesco,” www.musicabresciana.it/autori/Alghisi%20Paris%
20Francesco.html (accessed May 31, 2013), and Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 2nd
edn., s.v. “Alghisi (Algisi), Paris Francesco” (by Sergio Martinotti). A Litanie al S. Cuore di Giesù
per le Orsoline di Vienna is also listed among Alghisi’s works at www.musicabresciana.it. All
three manuscripts are said to be lost.
82
“Aus der Frühzeit des Ordens [I],” 154 (letter of 1676 or shortly thereafter): “elle est
merveilleusement frequentee, nos Musiciennes qui font assez bien attirent le monde.”
83
Ibid., 153 (letter of February 6, 1676): “Ce 22. Janvier la fille du Prince d’Auersberg a fait
profession et la Cadette de feu ma Soeur a pris l’habit, la premiere . . . ioue l’orgue et la Basse
Continuelle en m[aît]re comme fait ma Niepce le Violin laquelle nous chante la Basse et
indifferement toute les parties[.] elle at un talent particulier pour la musique.”
90 Court, music, and Counter-Reformation education

century.84 Present in this convent for about four years, 1672–76, was Agnese
Ottilie Schalthaus, the future abbess of the Pozsony convent. She sang, and
played lute, guitar, and violin.85 Another notable musician at this time was
Mother Sidonia Catharina Sibilla, born Gräfin von Saleburg (clothed 1665,
died December 11, 1685, aged 37),86 “a famous soprano, in spite of the fact
that singing brought her indescribable pain; however, out of love of morti-
fication she remained silent about this until she once during the struggle, so
to speak, of singing fell into a faint.”87
These accounts and others below reveal a conflicted attitude toward
music. While the nuns were proud of their music and pleased by the
attention it brought their convent and by the number of people it drew to
their church, accounts of the talents of individual nuns promote the idea of
humility: this art was not meant for entertainment or personal glory, but as
an act of devotion, sometimes of “spiritual enjoyment,” but sometimes of
penance. Thus they rationalized the pursuit of musical excellence, to which
they devoted considerable effort and resources.
The practice of reducing the dowry for musically talented girls, common
in Italian convents, was also known in Vienna. According to an entry of
1712 in the convent chronicle, “on June 21 Theresel Frühwirth took the
habit. The candidate brought almost nothing with her into the convent, but
was accepted on account of her artistry in music. She has taken the name
Maria Cecilia Theresia.”88 Frühwirth was probably a member of a musical
family active in Vienna: one Anton Frühwirth was “Hofmusiker bei der
verwitw. Kaiserin”89 and Philipp Frühwirth was a Stadtmusiker.90 Philipp’s

84
Augustina, Fürstin von Auersberg, was clothed in 1673 and died in 1709. The Abbess’s niece was
Augustina von Dilf (clothed 1676, died 1717). Kölbl, “Die Ursulinen in Wien,” 46, and Zwei
Jahrhunderte des Ursulinerklosters in Wien, 13, 53.
85
Antalová, “Das Musikleben der Ursulinen in Wien und Pressburg,” 130–31, and Múdra, “Die
Musik bei den Preßburger Ursulinerinnen,” 213.
86
Zwei Jahrhunderte des Ursulinerklosters in Wien, 53.
87
“Aufzeichnung aller Verstorbenen Mitschwestern,” 10: “sie eine berühmte Discantin ware, doch
hatte ihr das singen unbeschreibliche schmerzen verursachet, so sie aber aus liebe der
Mortification verschweigen bis sie einmahl in wehrenden gesang gleichsam, in ohnemacht
gesunken.”
88
“Hauschronik,” II:236–37: “den 21 dito [June 1712] ist . . . die Jung[frau] Theresel
frühwirthin Einkleydet worden[.] die braut hat gar nichts in das Closter gebracht [und]
ist wegen ihrer kunst in d[er] music aufgenohmen[.] sie heist ietzl schw[ester] M[aria]
Cecilia Theresia.”
89
He died on July 12, 1732, at the age of 46. Gustav Gugitz, “Auszüge aus dem
Totenbeschauprotokoll 18. Jahrhundert,” typescript, A-Wsa.
90
He died on January 19, 1718, at the age of 66. Gugitz, “Auszüge aus dem Totenbeschauprotokoll
18. Jahrhundert.”
 Musicians of the Ursuline convent 91

daughter Maria Elisabeth sang at court from 1708 into the 1720s.91 Theresia
Frühwirth was assigned the patron saint of music as her personal patroness,
perhaps in anticipation of her future service to the convent. But she seems to
have found this convent uncongenial, or else did not live up to expectations,
as she never took her final vows at St. Ursula.92 She may perhaps have
transferred to another convent. The Theresia Antonia Fruhwirth, “aged 31
years, in the seventh year of her profession” listed among the choir nuns at
St. Laurenz in 1724 could well be the same woman – the dates are about
right.93
Notable musicians active in the early eighteenth century at the Ursuline
convent included Mother Francisca (Franziska Huber, clothed 1687, died
1725),94 “a perfect singer who, despite her age and bodily infirmity con-
tinued to praise God with universal enjoyment in the best manner through
her beautiful soprano voice”;95 Mother Anna Rosa, born von Geim (clothed
1701, died 1741),96 whose “whole spiritual enjoyment was music; she played
the viola da gamba and had immense joy in it”;97 Mother Michaela ã Jesu,
born Petermayr (clothed 1718, died 1750),98 “an artist on the violin”;99 and
Mother Maria Anna von H. Augustinus, born Zimmerman (clothed 1700,
died 1756),100 “gifted by God with an incomparable soprano voice . . . as
Chormeisterin, she took extraordinary care that the music in praise of God
should be faultless.”101 Maria Anna appeared on several occasions as a vocal
soloist before the imperial family. In June 1712, she “sang a motet with
instruments, at the express desire of her majesty [the widowed empress,

91
Dagmar Glüxam, “Verzeichnis der Sänger in den Wiener Opern- und Oratoriumpartituren,
1705–1711,” Studien zur Musikwissenschaft, 48 (2002), 286, 289–90, 294, 308, and Carl Nemeth,
“Zur Lebensgeschichte von Carlo Agostino Badia (1672–1738),” Mitteilungen der Kommission
für Musikforschung, 4 (1955), 229.
92
Her name does not appear in “Verzeichniss der Chorschwester dieses Hauses,” WU.
93
Theodor Wiedemann, Geschichte der Frauenklöster St. Laurenz & Maria Magdalena in Wien
(Salzburg: M. Mittermüller, 1883), 76.
94
Zwei Jahrhunderte des Ursulinerklosters in Wien, 55.
95
“Aufzeichnung aller Verstorbenen Mitschwestern,” 98–99: “eine Perfecte Singerin, welche
ohngeachtet ihres Alters und leibl: unpäßlichkeit das lob gottes mit Jedermäniglich vergnügen
aufs Annehmlichster, durch ihre schöne Discant Stim.”
96
Zwei Jahrhunderte des Ursulinerklosters in Wien, 55 (listed as Mater Rosa v. Serini).
97
“Aufzeichnung aller Verstorbenen Mitschwestern,” 117–18: “ihr ganzes geistl: vergnügen ware
die Music, sie spielte auf der Gamba, und hatte ungemeine freud damit.”
98
Zwei Jahrhunderte des Ursulinerklosters in Wien, 56.
99
“Aufzeichnung aller Verstorbenen Mitschwestern,” 145: “diese gute seel ware eine künstlerin in
dem violin.”
100
Zwei Jahrhunderte des Ursulinerklosters in Wien, 55.
101
“Aufzeichnung aller Verstorbenen Mitschwestern,” 159–60: “einer unvergleichen Discant Stim,
von gott begabt . . . ware als Chormeysterin aufs ausßerste besorgt, das die Music zu lob gottes
ohne fehler geschehe.”
92 Court, music, and Counter-Reformation education

Amalie Wilhelmine].”102 On St. Ursula’s day the same year she performed
“a motet with the lutes and our other usual instruments.”103 As on both
occasions most of the music for the sacred services was performed by
professional musicians from the empress’s own Kapelle, Maria Anna must
have been a singer of some distinction.
Later on, there were, among others, Sister Floriana vom Guten Hirten,
born Müller (died January 21, 1756); Mother Maria Agnes (died May 6,
1762, aged 54, in the thirty-fourth year of her profession), “an excellent
organist”; and the Bassistin Mother Maria Johanna Nepomucena.104
The account given at Sister Floriana’s death, at the age of 23, reveals the
care, and the resources, that could be devoted to the musical education of a
promising girl, and that such a talent might be exhibited for the convent’s
advantage, even when this seemed detrimental to the girl:
God helped this nun to her holy vocation through music. She came to the convent very
young and took her vows at age 16. She was a singer so excellent that in no convent
around here was there anyone to compare with her; she could also play the violin, and
it cost the convent such a lot to make her a finished musician, that it was hoped she
would serve to praise God for a long time . . . her premature death has been attributed
to her having been used so much that she could not sustain her menstrual periods, and
also to her having been allowed to sing far too much, on too many occasions.105

That singing during the menstrual period was considered inadvisable is

suggested by the visitation report of 1756 concerning the Augustinian convent
of Inzigkofen, in Baden-Württemberg. The report observed that “the young
nuns should not complain that they have had to spend too much time in the
choir, since they are excused, and permitted to rest, for six days and six nights

102
“Hauschronik,” II:235 (Vespers, June 3, 1712): “ihre May[estät] haben ihre Eigne music
mitgebracht, vor den letzten seegen aber haben wür auf dem chor Eine Motetten von d[er]
sch[wester] M[aria] Anna mit instrumenten gemacht, welche ihr May[estät] selbst begehrt
haben.”
103
Ibid., II:242 (October 21, 1712): “Umb 11 uhr ist die Verwittibte Keyserin Amalia mit
ihren 2 Ertzherzoginen zu uns khomen, ihre Musici haben das Ambt und Vesper gehalten, nach
d[er] Litaney vor den letzten Seegen hat die schw[ester] Maria Anna eine Motteten mit d[en]
lauthen und anderen unser gebrauchlichen Instrumenten singen Müssen.”
104
“Aufzeichnung aller Verstorbenen Mitschwestern,” 234.
105
Ibid., 157–58: “Schw. Floriana vom guten Hirten, gebohrne Müllerin ist gestorben den 21ten Jan:
[1]756. Ihres Alters im 23ten ihrer H. Profession im 5ten . . . Gott hat dieser Schwester, durch die
Musik zu ihrem H. beruf geholfen, sie ist ganz jung in das kloster komen auch schon mit 16
Jahren geistl: worden, ward eine so vortreffliche singerinn das in keinem Closter hiesiges orths,
eine war so ihr zu vergleichen gewesen wäre, könte auch das violin geigen, und hatte sich das
Convent viel kosten lasßen, sie zu einer volkommen Musicantin zu machen, da mann dann
hoffe lange zeit sich ihre zum lob gottes zu bedienen . . . man hat ihres frühzeitigen Todt, die
ursach geben, das ihr etwas zu viel gebraucht worden, um ihr das monathl: zu befordern, wie
auch das man sie zu aller zeit, gar zu viel singen lassen.”
 Carlo Agostino Badia and the Ursuline convent 93

each month on account of bodily infirmity [i.e., menstruation].”106 It is not a

distant stretch to reach the reverse conclusion, as in the case of Sister Floriana,
that too much singing could disturb the body’s normal functioning and thus
one’s health; but the description suggests that poor Sister Floriana suffered
from some serious ailment, then undiagnosable.
Sister Floriana learned not only to sing and play, but also to compose:
during a procession through the convent on July 2, 1755, “the novices, Sister
Floriana, and Sister Peregrina sang a very lovely Marian song; the words
were written by Mother Augustina, and the music by Sister Floriana.”107
Although some of the talented musicians in this convent were of noble
family, a number of them – including Sister Floriana – were not. The
convent, through its schools for girls of the nobility, the middle class, and
the poor, had unusual opportunities to identify girls with musical talent, to
nurture them, and to persuade them to take the veil and make a career of
music, as seems to have been the case here.

Carlo Agostino Badia and the Ursuline convent

Although at least one nun composed, the Viennese Ursulines relied primarily
on outside composers for their music. The most prominent of these in the
early eighteenth century was Carlo Agostino Badia (ca. 1672–1738), who
composed for the convent from 1694 to about 1708, producing at least
twenty-four oratorios or sepolcri for them. Badia was one of many Italians
who migrated to the Habsburg court in Vienna in the seventeenth century.108
Nothing is known of his early life or training, although he apparently came
from Verona. By 1691 he was in Innsbruck, and by spring 1692 he was a
composer at the court of the governor of Tyrol and Vorderösterreich, Karl V
of Lorraine, and his wife, Eleonore Maria Josepha, a half-sister of Leopold
I. For Innsbruck, he composed sepolcri and operas. He was appointed
Musik-Compositeur to the court in Vienna in 1694, retroactive to July 1,
1693, on the recommendation of Eleonore Maria.109

106
Johann Adam Kraus, “Licht und Schatten im Kloster Inzigkofen 1756: Kulturgeschichtliches
aus einem Frauenkonvent,” Hohenzollerische Jahresheft, 23 (1963), 131–59, cited, with
commentary, in Koldau, Frauen, 789.
107
“Hauschronik,” III:356: “die Novitzinen die schw. Floriany, die schw. Peregrina haben ein Recht
schönes Muttr gottes lieht gesungen, die worth hat die Mater Augustina componirt, und die
schw. Floriany die aria.” July 2 was the feast of the visitation of Mary.
108
The most up-to-date biography is Grove Music Online, s.v. “Badia, Carlo Agostino” (by
Lawrence E. Bennett), www.grovemusiconline.com (accessed August 13, 2010).
109
The documents appear in Nemeth, “Zur Lebensgeschichte von Carlo Agostino Badia,” 225.
94 Court, music, and Counter-Reformation education

With the emperor’s approval, Badia went to Rome for further musical
training, probably in 1695. He seems to have had previous connections with
that city, as secular dramatic works by him, Ninfa Apollo (libretto, Francesco
Lemene) and Amor che vince lo sdegno (libretto, A. Aureli) were performed
there in 1692.110 The visit was apparently short. According to a report of 1702
on Badia’s financial difficulties and request for a raise, the composer alleged
that he “had gone to Rome in the second year of his imperial service with the
permission of the emperor for further study, but was not able to stay long due
to lack of means.”111
Musical evidence suggests that Badia visited Rome between the compo-
sition of his St. Ursula’s day oratorios of 1694 and 1695. The first of these
works, S. Orsola vergine, e martire, and also the oratorio L’Innocenza illesa
dal tradimento, descritta in San Carlo, performed in the Imperial Chapel in
Lent, 1694, look back to the earlier Italianate musical style, as practiced in
the Habsburg lands. In L’Innocenza, Badia’s later characteristic imitative
openings rarely appear, and there are scene complexes with returning
melodic material in the old style. There are da capo arias, but not in the
fully modern style. S. Orsola is even more old-fashioned.112 It is constructed
of scene complexes based on related melodic material, and its arias are in the
old proto-da capo form; pieces rarely begin imitatively, and recitative often
turns to arioso in the old style. The melodic material tends to be repetitive
and lacking in distinction and there is a lack of harmonic interest, but
expressive words are carefully treated. Both works, and the 1694 S. Orsola
in particular, show a not entirely formed composer with a fine feeling for
text setting and atmosphere, and even a sense of drama.
Badia’s Sant’Orsola, vergine e martire of 1695 adopts new Italian charac-
teristics, including a predominance of da capo arias, imitative style, and
clear distinction generally between recitative and aria. Amusingly, at the
first appearance in this autograph score of an aria in true da capo format,
with the return of the A section performed from the music of the initial one,
he wrote “Da Capo subito usque ad signale,” at the end of the B section,
followed by a little drawing of a hand with a pointing finger, the hand
appearing also in the score at the beginning of the A section. In the rest of

110
Dizionario Biographico degli italiani, s.v. “Badia, Carlo Agostino” (by Alberto Pironti), www.
trecanni.it/biografie (accessed August 21, 2012). Ninfa Apollo was also performed in Milan in
the same year.
111
Nemeth, “Zur Lebensgeschichte von Carlo Agostino Badia,” 228.
112
Egon Wellesz described this work, which he dated to 1706, as weak and clichéd: Wellesz,
“Die Opern und Oratorien in Wien von 1660–1708,” Studien zur Musikwissenschaft, 6
(1919), 64.
 Carlo Agostino Badia and the Ursuline convent 95

the score he used a crosshatch symbol instead. Although he was certainly

familiar with the da capo convention, Badia apparently thought that the
nuns might not be, and feared that copyists or singers might become
confused. Giuseppe Pacieri’s Il trionfo dell’Amor Divino, performed at the
convent in 1692,113 is also in the new Italian style (there, the return of the A
section in da capo arias is written out), and the convent may have served as a
conduit through which this style reached Vienna, as these are some of the
earliest such works to be performed there.
As Badia received his court appointment through the recommendation of
Eleonore Maria, he probably received his appointment at the Ursuline con-
vent the same way. Eleonore Maria, a daughter of Empress Eleonora II, the
convent’s founder, visited the convent with her mother in its earliest days, and
probably also attended plays and musical performances there in the 1670s
during the period she spent in Vienna between the death of her first husband,
Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki, King of Poland, in 1673 and her second
marriage, to Karl of Lorraine, in 1678. Badia maintained a relationship with
his patroness, who visited Vienna in 1693 and returned there for the last few
months of her life in 1697, dedicating both an opera and a convent work,
L’Invenzione della Croce, to her in the latter year (Figure 10).
The text of L’Invenzione della Croce was the work of the learned poet and
writer Petronilla Paolini de Massimi (1663–1726), a member of the
Accademia dell’Arcadia in Rome (under the name Fidalma Partenide)
and several other Italian academies. In 1695 she was living in the convent
of Spirito Santo in Rome, where she had sought refuge from a bad mar-
riage.114 Badia may have come into contact with her during his Roman visit,
as he set texts by her – apparently her earliest libretti – in 1696 and 1697.
L’Invenzione della Croce has a topical Habsburg program concerning
Eleonore Maria, and so must have been the subject of discussion or corre-
spondence, either between the poet and Badia or with someone at court or at
St. Ursula.
As a sepolcro it is unusual, being the tale of St. Elena, empress, who finds
the true cross, rather than a recounting of some aspect of the crucifixion
story. Even when the cross is discovered, and a corpse is raised from the
dead at her request, she is still weeping and sad, her longing unsatisfied, in
imagery that echoes that of Mary at the foot of the cross. But in a lieto fine,

113
“Cantata a 5 Voci Con istro:ti . . . Cantato dalle Madre Ursoline di Vienna l’anno 1692,”
Mus. Hs. 16584, A-Wn.
114
Wikipedia, s.v. “Petronilla Paolini de Massimi,” http://it.wikipedia.org (accessed August
21, 2012).
96 Court, music, and Counter-Reformation education

Figure 10. Carlo Agostino Badia, L’Invenzione della Croce, libretto (Vienna: Andrea Heyinger, 1697),
title page. 406.741-B. M 35, A-Wn. Reproduced with permission of ÖNB/Wien.
 Carlo Agostino Badia and the Ursuline convent 97

Leopold the great, a new Achilles and a new Alcides (Hercules), consoles
her, the raising of the corpse representing the emperor’s faith.
L’Invenzione della Croce alludes to the current difficult political situation of
the war with France, and is an allegory of Eleonore Maria’s political goals. She
fought to win the return of Lorraine and Bar – her husband’s hereditary lands,
then held by the French – to her children, petitioning the Deutsche Reichstag
in Regensburg in person. Her aim would be accomplished through the peace
of Ryswick, signed on October 30, 1697, a few days before her death. Through
her efforts, her eldest son, Leopold, a “splinter” of the true Habsburg cross,
was confirmed as Duke of Lorraine. Although the treaty was still six months in
the future when the oratorio was performed on April 6, diplomatic negotia-
tions had been under way for some time, and the positive result for Eleonore
Maria and her son anticipated, or at least hoped for.
The first known performance of a large-scale work in Italian style at St.
Ursula took place in 1692, when the nuns performed Pacieri’s Il trionfo
dell’Amor Divino, probably on St. Ursula’s day. The score, in the imperial
collection, may have been among the first of many presented to members of
the imperial family at this convent. The work’s length, florid vocal style, and
large-scale scoring point up the convent’s musical ambitions: the sinfonia calls
for two solo and two ripieno violin parts, solo and ripieno violas, and basso;
and there are five vocal parts, two sopranos, alto, tenor, and bass, all requiring
skill in Italianate florid singing. There were around forty-seven choir nuns in
the convent at this time,115 as well as a number of Kostfräulein, and the
resources were thus theoretically available for the performance of such a work,
although the nuns would have had to make some adaptations. Badia’s
St. Ursula’s day oratorio of 1695 suggests that the nuns were most comfortable
with a three-part instrumental scoring of two violins and basso, with the basso
doubled by bassoon, and that there were several viol players in the convent,
including a good viola da gambist; solo vocal parts are restricted, as is typical
of music for this convent, to sopranos and altos with a single bass role set
rather high, tenor parts appearing only in choruses.
Badia’s Santa Teresa (1708, librettist unknown) offers a representative
example of his mature convent style. The subject of St. Teresa is certainly
liturgically appropriate to the usual October 21, St. Ursula’s day perform-
ance. As the feast day of St. Teresa is October 15, the octave thus falls around
St. Ursula’s day. The subject is also a subtle promotion of the Habsburg
political position, as Teresa, like several other saints honored in Vienna
during the War of the Spanish Succession, was Spanish.

115
Zwei Jahrhunderte des Ursulinerklosters in Wien, 53–55.
98 Court, music, and Counter-Reformation education

The work is more meditation than narrative, and the sentiments seem
aimed mostly at the nuns themselves. Teresa’s brother Sancio and her
uncle Alonso mourn the death of their mother and sister, and Teresa
offers consolation through her words and by example. (In the historical
account, her father was named Don Alonso Sanchez de Cepeda, so the two
male characters of this drama derive from one figure. Her mother had
indeed died when she was young, and she had an uncle who was a great
influence in her life.116) Virginity is her path, says Teresa, and the Virgin
Mary her guide; true peace, away from earthly storms and sorrows, is to
be found in Jesus. The Virgin Mary herself appears, to confirm that in
Paradise their weeping will be turned to joy, and the imagery of the path
echoes Teresa’s own Camino de Perfección, her handbook for the order of
Discalced Carmelites, which she founded. Teresa’s book, like the oratorio,
focuses on the virtues of meditation and prayer.
Santa Teresa shows Badia’s command of the convent’s limited resour-
ces, and the freedom of style he achieved in these works, borrowing from
older traditions as well as using the new Italian style. The work is relatively
short and small in scale – in one part, with four characters (two sopranos,
an alto, and a bass), and containing thirteen musical numbers, besides
recitatives. A performance would probably last about an hour, the length
of time reported in the chronicle. Teresa’s role is the largest, that singer
having four solo arias and taking part in three further numbers, besides
the choral finale; this was probably the talented Maria Anna Zimmerman,
whose singing was appreciated by Empress Amalie Wilhelmine, the work
designed to make best use of the women available and to please its
audience. The opening number of Santa Teresa (a duet) has an extended
introduction, scored for the convent’s usual core ensemble of two violin
parts and basso, which creates the effect of an overture, but in compact
form. The individual numbers are nicely varied in mood and scoring, and
the work ends with a chorus.
Looking back to the older court style of Draghi and his con-
temporaries, in which different characters sang different verses of an
aria, in no. 4 (a da capo aria), the A section is sung by Sancio with solo
cello and continuo (Example 4), the B section by Teresa with the full
ensemble of violins and continuo (Example 5). In setting Sancio’s text
“Io vorrei poter morire, Per uscir di tante doglie” (I wish I could die, to

116
Catholic Encyclopedia, s.v. “St. Teresa of Ávila: Teresa Sánchez Cepeda Davila y
Ahumada” (by Benedict Zimmerman), http://newadvent.org/cathen/14515b.htm (accessed
January 29, 2010).
 Carlo Agostino Badia and the Ursuline convent 99

Example 4. Carlo Agostino Badia, Santa Teresa (1708), “Io vorrei poter morire,” mm. 1–9.

Example 5. Carlo Agostino Badia, Santa Teresa (1708), “Io vorrei poter morire,” mm. 25–30.
100 Court, music, and Counter-Reformation education

Example 6. Carlo Agostino Badia, Santa Teresa (1708), “Per strada fiorita,” mm. 9–20.
Along a street blooming with roses and lilies, / A betrayed soul heads toward its downfall.

escape all these pains), the continuo is rather static, perhaps to character-
ize Sancio’s unending complaints. But when Teresa sings “Io vorrei
poter soffrire, Quante pene il Mondo accoglie” (I wish I could suffer all
the pains of the world), the bass line is full of motion, characterizing her
more active approach to earthly suffering, more like that expressed by St.
Teresa in her Camino de Perfección and held ideally by the nuns
themselves.
Several arias are in the new, virtuosic Italian style. Teresa’s “Per strada
fiorita, di rose, è di gigli” draws brilliant operatic fioritura for both
soprano and basso from the floral imagery of the text (Example 6).
Most of the numbers in this work are paired (as in the older style),
and this one is paired with “Io vorrei poter morire,” which it follows
(Table 5).
 Carlo Agostino Badia and the Ursuline convent 101

Table 5. Carlo Agostino Badia, Santa Teresa, paired arias “Io vorrei poter
morire” and “Per strada fiorita.”

Text Section Key Instrumentation

“Io vorrei poter morire” A section: G major solo cello, basso

“Io vorrei poter soffrire” B: E minor violins, basso
A: G major
“Strada fiorita” A section: C major basso only: solo
cello?
B: E minor – G major – basso only
E minor
A: C major
Ritornello, based on
material of
“Strada fiorita” C major violins, basso

Although no scoring is indicated for “Strada fiorita,” the bass line, with
its fioritura in the tenor range, suggests the cello, viola da gamba, or
bassoon. An aria of this type, for soprano accompanied by a melodic
bass instrument, appears in many of Badia’s convent oratorios, and seems
to have been an expected highlight. “Strada fiorita” is followed by a
ritornello for two violins and basso based on the same material and
completing the small unit.
“Chi Maria per guida elegge,” Teresa’s invocation of faith in Mary as
her guide, would be an unusual piece for an opera, but is perfectly
appropriate in an oratorio: it is hymn-like in melody, setting, and struc-
ture (AABB). Teresa is accompanied by solo violin and “Bassetti,” recall-
ing Mother Alexis’s description of the early music-making in the convent,
and the instruments imitate each other to represent the faithful followers
(Example 7). Maria then appears, announced with a short, dramatic
section of duet recitative on the text “O che portenti” (O, what wonders),
which anticipates the musical material of the following aria (Example 8).
Maria’s aria “Alme correte tra queste braccia” is distinguished from
the others by its chaconne-like bass (Example 9). The closing chorus,
matching the proportions of the rest of the work, is a finely wrought
miniature of twenty-two measures, complete with a short homophonic
opening, an intricate imitative section, and an impressive conclusion
(Example 10).
102 Court, music, and Counter-Reformation education

Example 7. Carlo Agostino Badia, Santa Teresa (1708), “Chi Maria per guida elegge,” mm. 1–11.
The person who chooses Mary as guide, / Can move with secure steps.

Example 8. Carlo Agostino Badia, Santa Teresa (1708), “O che portento.”

 Carlo Agostino Badia and the Ursuline convent 103

Example 9. Carlo Agostino Badia, Santa Teresa (1708), “Alme correte tra queste braccia,” mm. 1–12.
Souls, hasten to this embrace, / For I am the path to paradise.

By contrast, Il martirio di S. Susanna, the work of the previous year, deals

with a subject of operatic drama and conflict, exploring varied and power-
ful emotions. Susanna is sought in marriage by a prince, Massiminio, but
she steadfastly declares herself already attached – not to an earthly suitor,
but to her heavenly bridegroom. The enraged Massiminio declares that she
must submit or die, and the latter is her fate, as she is martyred at the end.
The performance was described as “short,” which this work is not, and thus
it is probable that the imperial audience on St. Ursula’s day heard only a
portion of it.
Il martirio di S. Susanna includes a reference to the Habsburgs, in an
emphasis on the phrase “costanza e forte,” very close to “Costanza e
Fortitudine” (or Fortezza), a version of the personal motto of Archduke
Karl, who had claimed the title Charles III of Spain, and was then fighting
there to enforce it. In Susanna’s aria “Questo secreto orror,” a text not
in the printed libretto, the word “costanza” is highlighted (Example 11);
in “Sposo eterno,” “forte” receives extended treatment (Example 12). The
work not only provided a moral for the nuns, but equated the Habsburgs
with a strong, saintly woman who received her heavenly reward
104 Court, music, and Counter-Reformation education

Example 10. Carlo Agostino Badia, Santa Teresa (1708), “Non può un alma.”
A soul who desires peace and comfort; / Cannot take shelter in a better harbor.
 Carlo Agostino Badia and the Ursuline convent 105

Example 10 (cont.)
106 Court, music, and Counter-Reformation education

Example 10 (cont.)
 Carlo Agostino Badia and the Ursuline convent 107

Example 10 (cont.)

through constancy and fortitude; moral force and military force were
equated in the Habsburg doctrine of right, through piety and music.
Thus the final chorus, with its homophonic setting of the text “Seguan
l’alme il chiaro esempio di costante fedeltà” (Follow, souls, the clear
example of steadfast devotion) takes on a double meaning. In this case,
it appears to be the composer who was making the point, ensuring that the
words of the motto would be repeated and would stand out to ears attuned
to them.
“Catholicism means loyalty,” wrote the Habsburg scholar R. J. W.
Evans in summing up the policies, both political and personal, of
Emperor Ferdinand II.117 The Viennese Ursulines, through their combi-
nation of religious observance, educational work, and music, provided a
particularly strong manifestation of this concept; if Catholicism meant
loyalty, Catholicism and music combined meant loyalty to church,
crown, and the Habsburg family itself.

117
R. J. W. Evans, The Making of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1550–1700: An Interpretation (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1979; repr. 2002), 72.
108 Court, music, and Counter-Reformation education

Example 11. Carlo Agostino Badia, Il martirio di S. Susanna, “Questo secreto orror,” mm. 18–37.
Remove from my heart, O God, this secret horror, / So that strength and constancy live in me.
 Carlo Agostino Badia and the Ursuline convent 109

Example 11 (cont.)
110 Court, music, and Counter-Reformation education

Example 12. Carlo Agostino Badia, Il martirio di S. Susanna, “Sposo eterno,” mm. 1–18.
Eternal spouse, I feel a sharp pain / In my heart, constant and strong.
4 “A virtual picture of Arcadia”
Musical entertainments for Leopold I and Joseph I

During twenty-five or so years beginning around 1688, encompassing the

end of the reign of Emperor Leopold I and the reign of his eldest son,
Emperor Joseph I, Vienna’s three Augustinian convents presented plays,
oratorios, and feste teatrali before the imperial family. The nuns flattered and
instructed their imperial patrons with music and dance, addressing both
political themes and more personal matters such as marriage and proper
noble behavior. In this way, they brought the authority of pious female virtue
to Habsburg aims and concerns.

Music, dance, and morals at the convent of St. Laurenz

The imperial family made their annual state visit to the Augustinian con-
vent of St. Laurenz on or around August 10, the feast of St. Laurenz. The
visit of August 11, 1688, was described in unusual detail in the Corriere
ordinario, suggesting that the performance on that occasion was something
novel:
On Tuesday, his majesty the emperor, his majesty King Joseph [Archduke Joseph,
King of Hungary, aged ten], her majesty the queen of Poland, and the serene
electress [Leopold’s half-sisters Eleonore Maria Josepha and Maria Anna Josepha]
all went to the convent of St. Laurenz in the imperial carriage, while her majesty the
empress was carried there in a sedan-chair. There, after devotions, they dined and
enjoyed a little devotional opera interwoven with some musical pieces [then]
returned to their residence.1

1
Corriere ordinario, August 12, 1688: “Martedì la Maestà di Cesare, quelle del Rè Gioseppe, e della
Regina di Polonia, e le Seren. Elettrice tutte nella Carrozza Cesarea, venendo portata in Seggia la
Maestà dell’Imperatrice, passarono al Monastero di S. Lorenzo, dove doppo le divozioni
pranzarono, e godutavi una Operetta divota con intreccio di qualche Concerto musicale
ritornarono alle Residenze loro.” The score is dated August 10, but this report and the one
concerning the second performance confirm that the performance attended by the emperor and
empress took place on Tuesday, August 11. 111
112 “A virtual picture of Arcadia”

The entertainment was apparently a success, as it was repeated the next day
for the rest of the Habsburg children.2 Further entertainments, likely of a
similar sort, were performed at this convent in 1690 and 1691.3
The convent of St. Laurenz was well known as an educational institution
in late seventeenth-century Vienna, taking in girls of the nobility or other-
wise good family as Kostfräulein.4 The girls were trained in “devotion and
fear of God, as well as other feminine skills and handwork,” and the convent
was noted for the latter. The nuns were probably able to provide musical
instruction, although this was sometimes supplied by outside professionals.
Sister Benedicta (Theresia) de Hardin had received professional instruction
in music while a Kostfräulein at St. Jakob, and continued her training after
transferring to St. Laurenz in 1689.5 Among the nuns around this time were
several of noble family, who had likely also received musical training: Maria
Anna Gräfin von Paar (entered in 1685) and Franziska Isabella Gräfin von
Tattenbach (entered in 1688).6
The construction of a new convent building in the mid-seventeenth
century (1630–60: the site on the Fleischmarkt is currently occupied by
the main post office) provided pleasant surroundings that attracted well-
born and wealthy women, and the convent was well endowed and richly
decorated.7 Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, who visited Vienna in 1716,
claimed this convent as her favorite:
I am best pleased with that of St. Laurence, where the Ease and neatness they seem to
live with appears to me much more edifying than those stricter orders where
perpetual pennance and nastyness must breed discontent and wretchednesse. The

2
Ibid., August 15, 1688: “Mercordì passarono il Seren. Arciduca Carlo, e le 3 Arciduchesse Sorelle
alle 4 ore doppo pranzo al Monastero delle Monache di S. Lorenzo, dove alle loro AA. Seren. fù
repetita la Rappresentatione Sacra, ch’il giorno antecedente vi goderono gli Augustissimi Genitori
loro, come fù scritto.”
3
Ibid., August 17, 1690, a “Rappresentazione Sacra Teatrale” on August 14; ibid., August 12, 1691, a
“Divertimento” on August 10.
4
Testarello della Massa, “Beschreibung,” 866–67: “Offtgemelte Canonissen Thuen auch einige
Kostfräulein, und Jungfrawen in hießigem ihren Closter aufferziehen, so Sie in der andacht und
Gottsforcht, wie auch andern weiblichen übungen und manufacturen unterrichten, und seind für
dießelbe drey saubere, voneinander abgesonderte zimmer in dem mittern gaden gegen dem alten
fleischmarckh zu gebawet, in deren einem die erwachste[,] in dem andern die kleinere fräulein,
undt in dem letztern anderer vornehmen burgers Kinder wohnen, welche alle mit einer besondern
geistlichen Lehrmeisterin, und sonst nothwendiger bedienung best versehen werden.”
5
See pp. 46–47 above.
6
Wiedemann, Geschichte der Frauenklöster St. Laurenz & Maria Magdalena, 72.
7
The convent is described and its history recounted in Wiedemann, ibid.; Czeike, Historisches
Lexikon Wien, s.v. “Laurenzergebäude”; Perger and Brauneis, Kirchen, 201–8; Harrer, “Wien:
Seine Häuser, Menschen und Kultur,” IV/ I:170–72; and Strausz, “Das Nonnenkloster St. Laurenz
in Wien.”
 Music, dance, and morals at the convent of St. Laurenz 113

Nuns are all of Quality; I think there is to the number of 50. They have each of them
a little cell perfectly clean, the walls cover’d with pictures, more or less fine according
to their Quality.8

She also admired the nuns’ becoming habits, made of fine materials.9 The
practice of enclosure was not very strict at this convent, nor was the lifestyle
very onerous. Lady Mary was able to enter the cloister and talk with the
nuns in their cells, and she noted that “the Grate is not one of the most rigid.
It is not very hard to put a head thrô and I don’t doubt but a Man a little
more slender than ordinary might squeeze in his whole person.”10 Whether
she meant this literally, or merely as a comment on the relaxed nature of
enclosure at this convent, is unclear. But visitors were welcomed to the
parlatorio, a commodious and elegantly decorated room, with paintings on
the walls, fine carpets, and comfortable furniture, where they could chat
with the convent’s inhabitants through a grated window.11 The scene brings
to mind depictions of the parlatori of Venetian convents.12 Within the
cloister the nuns passed the time, according to Lady Mary, playing cards
and conversing with women visitors.
The convent developed a tradition of plays and singspiele, and according
to the Kirchenkronik auf das Jahr 1784, the nuns had performed the
following “little opera”:
The father confessor took the role of Death, the nuns of trees: Death was clothed as a
gardener, and the title of the work was Hortus conclusus dilecta mea (My beloved is
like an enclosed garden). Death sang the following aria:

None may hope for entry here,

To me alone all stands open,
I break off these fruits,
Since only I have the key.

To me nothing remains hidden,

What has happened today, I know tomorrow,

8 9
Montagu, Letters and Works, I:249–50 (letter of October 1, 1716). Ibid., I:276.
10
Ibid., I:277.
11
Testarello della Massa, “Beschreibung,” 865: “Kompt man zum parlatorio, welches sehr groß,
und mitten mit einer schiedtmauer (darinnen ein mit eyßen vergattertes Fenster, wodurch die
weltliche leüth mit denen geistlichen Jungfrawen reden Können) abgetheilet, auch mit saubern
bildern behenckt, mit allerhandt nothwendigkeiten alß tischen, darauff schön außgemachte
Teppich, und sesßelen, auch andern ziehradten außstaffiert und versehen ist.”
12
The best-known parlatorio painting is that by Giovanni Antonio Guardi (Venice, Ca’ Rezzonico),
reproduced in Weaver, Convent Theatre, 18, and Evangelisti, Nuns, 139.
114 “A virtual picture of Arcadia”

What one would hide from all,

Is to me uncovered and plain to see.13

Commented the journal’s editor in a footnote: “O heilige Einfalt!” (What

holy simplicity!)
The entertainment enjoyed by the imperial family in 1688 was an allego-
rical pastoral drama with classical characters and allusions, entitled Beglückte
Verbundtnüß des Adels mit der Tugend unter dem Vorwandt Angenommener
Persohnen Eugeny und Aretinæ (The happy union of nobility and virtue,
represented by the characters Eugenius and Aretina) (Figure 11). Most of the
characters bear the Greek names for the qualities they represent (Figure 12
and Table 6); the author, or, more likely, the authoress, knew something of
that language and provided a little learned joke for the audience.
Beglückte Verbundtnüß may have been inspired by contemporary
Jesuit school dramas, works that also frequently dealt with classical sub-
jects, and it may also have owed something to Italian convent models – by
the seventeenth century, the plots of Tuscan convent plays were no longer
invariably religious, but included pastoral plays and even classical
tragedy.14
In Vienna in the late seventeenth century, Jesuit school dramas were
performed several times a year, and Leopold I, an enthusiastic devotee
of music and drama, often attended. While the Jesuit dramas were per-
formed in Latin, to show off the erudition of the young male scholars, who
would need this language in their future careers as priests, diplomats, and
civil servants, Beglückte Verbundtnüß is in German, confirming that Latin
played a lesser role in the education of girls. The girls showed off their skill
in the “feminine arts,” and thus their suitability for marriage, a place at
court, or convent life. Musical and dramatic skill were expected of court
ladies, as they presented entertainments in “Accademie di Dame.”15
A place as Hofdame provided tremendous social advantages, as it brought
a girl into (limited) contact with men of high rank. Hofdamen were eagerly
sought as brides; ambitious families were keen to place their sons within
the orbit of the court, and the empress provided generous dowries.16
If a Hofdame chose to enter a convent, the court was likewise generous,

13
Kirchenkronik auf das Jahr 1784, Anhang, 20–21. Appendix 2, no. 9B.
14
Weaver, Convent Theatre, 56, 197–215.
15
For example, the “Intramezzo di Musica in una Accademia di Dame 1697” listed in the
“Verzeichniß jener Musikalien aus der Privat-Sammlung weil. Allerhöchst. S.M. Kaiser Leopold
I., welche sich gegenwärtig noch in dem K. K. Hofmusikgrafenamts Archive Befinden. 1825,”
S.m. 2478, A-Wn. See also Koldau, Frauen, 109–13.
16
Keller, Hofdamen, especially 72–83.
Figure 11. Beglückte Verbundtnüß des Adels mit der Tugend, title page. Mus. Hs. 18493, A-Wn.
Reproduced with permission of ÖNB/Wien.
The happy union of nobility and virtue, represented by the characters Eugenius and
Aretina, performed most humbly in dutiful honor for their imperial-royal majesties
Leopold I and Eleonora Magdalena Theresia, by the highly noble and zealously virtuous
group of boarding students at the female convent of St. Laurenz, of the Augustinian
order, when the above-named convent was honored with the gracious presence of their
imperial majesties, on the feast day of the great church saint and martyr Laurence, in the
year of our Lord 1688, on 10 August.
116 “A virtual picture of Arcadia”

Figure 12. Beglückte Verbundtnüß des Adels mit der Tugend, fol. 2v, first page of the cast list.
Mus. Hs. 18493, A-Wn. Reproduced with permission of ÖNB/Wien.
 Music, dance, and morals at the convent of St. Laurenz 117

Table 6. Cast of Beglückte Verbundtnüß des Adels mit der Tugend (Mus. Hs. 18493,
A-Wn), fols. 2v–3v.

Vorstellende Persohnen Vorstellend Der freylen Nahmen

Characters Representing Names of the girls
Eugenius, Ein Schäffer den Adel Freyle von Hörmestein
Eugenius, a shepherd Nobility
Aretina, Eine Schäfferin die Tugend Jungfr. Theresia Schniererin
Aretina, a shepherdess Virtue
Eleutheria die Freyheit Freyle von Baar
Freedom
3
Politelia die Ürrigkeit Freyle von Kunitz
7
[extravagance] 7 Coarseness,
7
7 Eleutherien Töchter lack of cultivation
7
7
Chlides 7 Eleutheria’s daughters die Wollust Freyle von Wagensperg
7
5 Sensuality
Alazonia die Hoffarth
Pride
welche in Persohn nie erscheinet, nur in der 2: und 3:ten Handlung von ihr Gemeldt wirdt.
[Pride] never appears in person; only in the 2nd and 3rd Parts will she be a factor.
Penis, Politelien Vermählt die Armuth Freyle von Zinßendorff
Politelia’s spouse Poverty
Algius, der Chlides Vermählt den Schmerz Freyle Arthedinn
Chlides’s spouse Pain
3
Synedesius das Gewisßen Freyle Theresia Susßinn
7 Freünde deß Eugeny
5 Conscience
Friends of Eugenius
Neozesius den Tugent Eyffer Freyle von Gunstenberg
Eagerness for virtue
Drey Schäffer, Drey Schäfferinnen[,] der Politelia Gesellschafft[,] Kinder der Ürrigen Eitelkeit
Three Shepherds [and] three Shepherdesses, [who are] Politelia’s associates, the children of rude vanity
Erster Schäffer Freyle Jörgerin
Erste Schäfferin Freyle Landirinn
Anderter Schäffer Freyle Claudia Susßin
Anderte Schäfferin Freyle Mar. Elißab. v. Königsegg
Dritter Schäffer Freyle Volckerin
Dritte Schäfferin Freyle von Zeill
Antistia, Ortter Vorsteherin Freyle Jörgerinn
High priestess
Zwey der Antistia zugegebene und sie beim opfer bedienende
Antistia’s two attendants, who assist her with the offering ceremony
Erste, ihr bediente First attendant Freyle von Broßkhau
Anderte, ihr bediente Second attendant Freyle von Radall
118 “A virtual picture of Arcadia”

Table 6. (cont.)

Vorstellende Persohnen Vorstellend Der freylen Nahmen

Characters
Götzen Stimm Voice of the idol
Vier arth Geister der Tugend
Four spirits of virtue
Vier arth Geister des Adels
Four spirits of nobility
Erster arth Geist der Tugendt
Anderter arth Geist der Tugendt
Dritter arth Geist der Tugendt
Vierdter arth Geist der Tugendt
Erster arth Geist des Adels
Anderter arth Geist des Adels
Dritter arth Geist deß Adels
Vierdter arth Geist deß Adels
In der Vorred und zwischen Handlungen
In the Prologue and Interludes
Tugend Virtue
Adel Nobility
Mercurius Mercury
Zwey Liebs Neigungen
Two cupids
Erste Liebs Neygung First cupid
Anderte Liebs Neygung Second cupid
Die Wollust Sensuality
Die Zauberin Enchantment
Der Schmertz Pain
Representing Names of the girls
Freyle von Gunstenberg
3
7
7 Zum danz
7
5 For the dance
Freyle von Gunstenberg
Freyl: Marian: von Wallenstein
Freyl: Joan: von Königsegg
Freyl: Rosin: von Wallenstein
Freyle von Steinbeiß
Freyle von Hochenfelt
Freyle Saurerin
Freyle von Althaimb
Freyle Landirin
Freyle Volckerin
Freyle Gabrianin
Freyle von Hochenfeldt
Freyle von Steinbeiß
Freyle von Hochenfeldt
Freyle Landirin
Freyle von Windischgräz

providing a dowry and lending its presence to the ceremonies, thereby

increasing the prestige of the girl, her family, and the convent. Thus it was
as important for a girl as for a boy to make a good impression.
Beglückte Verbundtnüß consists of spoken text, songs, and instrumental
pieces, and it is organized into a prologue, three acts, and two intermezzi.
There are many roles – chances for all the girls to participate – and the
performers are identified in the score. There seem to have been around
twenty-five Kostfräulein at this time, many of noble birth; several prominent
family names of the high nobility (Paar, Kaunitz) appear near the top of the
cast list. But the convent not only had to promote the social order and display
the talents of the girls; it also had to produce an enjoyable entertainment for
people who were knowledgeable and accomplished musicians. Probably for
 Music, dance, and morals at the convent of St. Laurenz 119

this reason, the role of Aretina, somewhat more taxing than the others, was
taken by a girl who may have been a novice rather than a pupil, a girl of no
particular family identified as “Jungfr. Theresia Schniererin.”
The subject, the union of nobility and virtue, was intended as a compli-
ment to the imperial couple. In the Preface, the house of Habsburg is
compared to the sun, and thus linked with the sun god Apollo, who is
depicted in visual art as the sun, ruler of the planets, and a symbol of
political might.17 Apollo is also invoked in a temple scene at the end of
the drama. The work is dedicated to their imperial majesties:

Thus to conquer these mighty enemies of nobility [coarseness, lasciviousness, and

pride], there is no other way but the union of nobility and virtue; therefore we have
chosen today to represent this through a nobility most eager for virtue, in a moral
drama, to thereby honor with most devoted humility their Roman Imperial
Majesties, who – no less through an excellence in every way the most complete,
[and] virtues the most praiseworthy, as through the sun-bright radiance, above that
of all other illustrious royal houses – most gloriously illuminate the whole world.18

When Apollo declares at the end that Eugenius and Aretina (nobility and
virtue) should be united, he stands in for the emperor. The work ends with
a licenza, in which the happy conclusion of the play is related directly to the
Habsburgs:
antistia: You spirits of nobility and virtue,
that through such a laudable union
are awakened to special joy,
come, come, now,
for the most noble and gracious audience,
now incline yourselves to give united thanks,
and to honor the mightiest sovereigns,
show proof of your duty with a dance.19

17
A good example, in Rožmberk Castle, Czech Republic, is reproduced in the exhibition catalogue
Herbert Knittler et al. (eds.), Adel im Wandel: Politik, Kultur, Konfession; 1500–1700,
Niederösterreichische Landesausstellung, Rosenburg, 12 Mai–28 Oktober 1990 (Vienna: Amt der
NÖ Landesregierung, 1990), 497.
18
Beglückte Verbundtnüß, fol. 2r, “Innhalt.” “Weill alßo diese mächtige Feindin des Adels
zubesiegen, kein anderes Mittel bevohrstehet, alß die Verbündtnüß deß Adels mit der Tugendt:
alßo ist dieße an heütt durch einen der Tugendt eyfrigst befliesßenen Adel, in einen Sittenspill
vorzustellen erkießen worden, Umb hierdurch in allerunterthänigster demuth zubeEhren die
Rom: Kayserliche Mayestätten, welche nicht minder durch eine Aller Vollkomneste
fürtreffligkeit, aller Ruhmbahresten Tugenden, alß durch den Sonnenhellen Glanz, Dero, über
Alle Andere erhabenen Königlichen Erz: Stammes, die ganze Weldt Glorwürdigst
beschimmern.”
19
Ibid., fol. 41v, act 3, scene 5. Antistia: “Ihr durch so Löbliche Verbündtnüß / Zur sondern freüd
erweckte Geister / Deß Adels, undt der Tugendt, kommet, kommet nunnmehr, / Für daß
Durchleüchtigste gnaden gehör / Verbundnes danckes statt Eüch hier zu neigen / Unndt denen
Großmächtigsten Mayestätten zur Ehr, / Eure Pflicht durch einen Dantz zu bezeugen.”
120 “A virtual picture of Arcadia”

As well as a large speaking role, Jungfrau Schnierer as Aretina has three

vocal pieces, including one with obbligato parts for violin and viola da
gamba. She was apparently a capable singer, with enough poise to manage
relatively extended pieces, and with a voice that was perhaps not large, but
certainly lovely. On hearing her voice, Eugenius interrupts her song: “What
a lovely place, what a heavenly voice, is this, I say!”20
Indeed, the beauty of Aretina’s voice is essential to the plot, as Eugenius
then sets out to seek the unknown shepherdess, “whose sweet words and
lovely singing have conquered me, mind and heart.”21 But he is turned
aside from his pursuit of virtue by worldly temptations and bad judgment.
Neozesius, a false friend representing eagerness for virtue (or perhaps
impatience), presses him to abandon Aretina (virtue) for a less demanding
mistress. Eugenius is tempted by Eleutheria (freedom), who offers to
introduce him to a shepherdess with whom he can live “a life among
pure roses without thorns.”22 But this too-good-to-be-true shepherdess,
Eleutheria’s daughter Politelia (coarseness), turns out to be married
already, to Penis (poverty), “that atrocious savage . . . who hates all true
feeling.”23
Among the drama’s moral themes are the bad results of giving in to
impulse and passion without due consideration of one’s obligations, and the
hazards of entering a relationship with an unsuitable partner. Marriage, the
aim of most of the young actors and spectators, was – especially for the high-
born – a social contract intended to ensure the continuation of a family line
and to gain as much as possible, on both sides, of rank, influence, family
honor, and wealth. Marriage was customarily arranged by parents or guard-
ians, and noble girls often married very young, at fifteen or sixteen. Personal
attractiveness certainly played a role (especially for the girl), but love and
confidence were expected to develop between two socially compatible
people within the mutual interest of the marriage. Sexual relations outside
marriage were frowned upon as a form of social disorder – the affairs of the
future Emperor Joseph I would soon try the patience of the court, which

20
Ibid., fol. 13v, act 1, scene 2. Eugenius: “Was ein beliebter gegenhalt / Was ein göttliche Stimme /
Ist diese, so ich vereinne!”
21
Ibid., fol. 14v, act 1, scene 3. Eugenius: “Deren süsse Worth und liebliches Singen / Mir Sinn und
Herze bezwingen.”
22
Ibid., fol. 15r, act 1, scene 3. Eleutheria: “Wilst du aber eine Schäfferinn liebkoßen, / die dich in
lautere Roßen / Ohne Dornen mache leben, / so kan ich sie dir geben.”
23
Ibid., fol. 23r, act 1, scene 5. Eugenius: “Jener abscheülich Wilde / Und diesem ganzen Gefülde
verhasse Schäffer?”
 Music, dance, and morals at the convent of St. Laurenz 121

took as its public model the (serially) faithful Emperor Leopold.24 In

addressing this theme, Beglückte Verbundtnüß resembles Italian convent
plays, as marriage was a common subject of these, both in its earthly form
and in its figurative one, representing the nun as bride of Christ.25
Next, Eugenius is tempted by a feast of earthly pleasures (act 1, scene 4):
first shepherd: Would you like to be adorned with clothes, graced with a
fine new outfit?
first shepherdess: Would you like to be enlivened with incense, daubed
with jasmine oil?
second shepherd: Would you like to join that couple, playing cards over
there?
second shepherdess: Or in the pleasant shade, stroll through the garden in
search of pleasure?
third shepherd: Would you take part in the banter of love, [or] fill up on
choice delicacies?
third shepherdess: Or drown the heated heart with icy waters?
all six: Whatever is purely enjoyment shall not be lacking.
eleutheria: Now, my beloved ones, begin to gladden Eugenius’s
heart with a dance in joyous rows.26

But as Eugenius watches the dance, he loses consciousness and is bound

hand and foot, a prisoner of those pleasures and of freedom. Gaining
strength from virtue – the sound of Aretina’s voice – he frees himself, but

24
On marriage among the Austrian nobility in the early modern period, see Susanne Claudine Pils,
Schreiben über Stadt: Das Wien der Johanna Theresia Harrach, 1639–1716, Forschungen und
Beiträge zur Wiener Stadtgeschichte, 36 (Vienna: Franz Deuticke, 2002), especially Part 3,
Chapter 3, “Von Ehebetten und Eifersucht,” 171–87; Beatrix Bastl, “‘Adeliger Lebenslauf ’: Die
Riten um Leben und Sterben in der frühen Neuzeit,” in Knittler, Adel im Wandel, 377–81; and
Bastl, “‘Wan Ich nur bei dier sein mecht/würden mier alle beschwerden leichter’: Zur Bedeutung
von Ehe und Liebe innerhalb des österreichischen Adels in der Frühen Neuzeit,” Wolfenbütteler
Barocknachrichten, 22, no. 1 (1995), 9–15. On Joseph’s affairs, see Charles W. Ingrao, In Quest
and Crisis: Emperor Joseph I and the Habsburg Monarchy (West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University
Press, 1979), 10, 21–22, and Ingrao and Thomas, “Piety and patronage,” 36–37.
25
See, for example, Weaver, Convent Theatre, 100–103, 170–76, 193–93, and Reardon, Holy
Concord within Sacred Walls, 81–84.
26
Beglückte Verbundtnüß, fols. 18r–v, act 1, scene 4.
Erster Schäffer: Wolt ihr euch mit Kleidern schmucken, / Euch mit neüer tracht bezieren?
Erste Schäfferin: Wolt ihr euch durch Rauchwerck quicken, / Mit Jelßminem öel beschmieren?
Anderter Schäffer: Wolt ihr euch zu denen Gatten, / Die da spielen mit den Karten?
Anderte Schäfferin: Oder in den holden schatten, / Dort Lustwandeln durch den Garten?
Dritter Schäffer: Wolt ihr schwäzen von Liebes scherze, / Euch mit Edler Speiß erfühlen?
Dritte Schäfferin: Oder daß erhitzte herze, / Mit Gefrornen Wäsßern hühlen?
Alle 6: Waß nur Lustbares zu erfinden / Daran soll hier nichts erwinden . . .
Eleutheria: Nun so beginnet dann meine Geliebte / Durch einen danz in frölichen Reyhen /
Daß Eugeny Herz zu erfreuen.
122 “A virtual picture of Arcadia”

is then almost persuaded by Chlides (sensuality), “this murderer, who

entraps and deceives the heart with false enjoyment,”27 to drink water
laced with a love potion. He is saved by Aretina, who causes a serpent to
fall from the jug in warning. Eleutheria is beside herself with rage at the
failure of her schemes to entrap Eugenius, and calls on her third daughter,
Alazonia (pride), to ensnare him in her net. But Eugenius is finally learning
to be cautious, and asks Aretina’s advice on accepting an invitation to attend
a festival of joy in the Temple of Honor. Aretina counsels him that, although
there will be dangers, he will be safe if he puts his trust in the pious Antistia,
high priestess of the temple. The latter calls on Apollo for a portent, and a
voice declares that the union of Aretina and Eugenius would be pleasing to
the gods. In the meantime, Neozesius has come to regret his behavior, and
he prepares to commit suicide. He carves on a tree the message that “he who
urges others to worldly enjoyment will be exiled from the world in
thanks,”28 so that this moral will be remembered after his demise. In the
end, Eugenius and Aretina – nobility and virtue – are united, and their
union is praised as a compliment to the emperor and empress and cele-
brated with dance.
The final dance celebrates the union of nobility and virtue, and the
harmony of heaven and earth, as embodied by the Habsburgs. But the
dance in act 1, scene 4, suggests a different message, more moral than political.
There, dance is one of many sensual temptations – indeed, it is the one that
finally carries the hero off, overcomes his nobility, and makes him forget his
duty. Too much “freedom” to choose one’s own destiny, in love or life, is
shown to be incompatible with the responsibilities of noble rank.
With a cast including many adolescent girls, as this one undoubtedly did,
the dance of act 1, scene 4, could easily have created the very effect warned
against, for audience members susceptible to the girls’ charms. Some of the
dancers may have been among the younger Kostfräulein, little girls in cute
costumes (evidence suggests that many girls came to the convent around
age 9).29 But three of the girls have larger singing and acting roles as well,
and were thus likely among the older ones. The ambivalence created here is
resolved only by the clearer moral of the final dance.
The anonymous text and music seem designed specifically for the con-
vent, and every role fitted to the abilities of a particular girl. The “freyle

27
Ibid., fol. 30v, act 2, scene 4. Aretina: “dieser Mörder, so jener herze, / So sie durch falschen
scherze, / gelocket hat unndt betrogen.”
28
Ibid., fol. 38v, act 3, scene 3. Neozesius: “der andre hat zur Welt-lust angetrieben, / der wird zum
danckh nun auß der Welt vertrieben.”
29
Wiedemann, Geschichte der Frauenklöster St. Laurenz & Maria Magdalena, 66–69.
 Music, dance, and morals at the convent of St. Laurenz 123

Example 13. Beglückte Verbundtnüß des Adels mit der Tugend, Zwischenhandlung (Interlude) 2,
“Vergiftende Wollust,” mm. 20–32.
Polluting lasciviousness, captivating play, captivating pain.

Volckerin” who took the role of Adel was clearly an accomplished singer:
she has four vocal pieces, one of them with a violin obbligato frequently in
duet with the singer, and including some modest coloratura (Example 13).
She is the only singer to be assigned any melismatic passagework, and the
only one to interact with a solo instrument for more than a measure or two.
Aretina’s aria “Unglücklich, unglücklich” (Example 14) is also musically
more sophisticated than many of the other pieces. It is set in ABA0 form
(slow-fast-slow), with obbligato violin and viola da gamba. The A section
provides a conventional depiction of sadness: minor key, slow tempo, and
falling lines, with viola da gamba among the obbligato instruments. In the
truncated return, the instruments interrupt the opening statement
“Unglücklich, unglücklich yene Jugendt die nicht sucht Tugent ruhm”
(unhappy, unhappy, is the youth who does not seek the glory of virtue)
124 “A virtual picture of Arcadia”

Example 14. Beglückte Verbundtnüß des Adels mit der Tugend, “Unglücklich, Unglücklich.”

with instrumental contemplation in imitative style. The middle section,

marked presto, is in contrasting style – major key, lively dotted rhythms –
and sets the text “alles in der Welt vergehet was nicht durch sie bestehet,
Dan ohne wahre Tugent hat man kein aigenthumb” (Everything is lost that
does not exist through [virtue]; thus without true virtue one has nothing).
Politelia has a single aria with violin obbligato, and Eleutheria has two
short through-composed pieces, one of them a rage aria with dotted-note
 Music, dance, and morals at the convent of St. Laurenz 125

Example 14 (cont.)

patterns. Material from Eleutheria’s short aria in act 2, scene 1, is taken up

in the following ritornello, where it is treated in imitative style in three
parts (Example 15) – one of several nice touches that make the music
seem more complex than it actually is. It may be no coincidence some of
the more elaborate pieces were assigned to Fräulein Kunitz (Kaunitz) and
Fräulein von Baar (Paar), members of very distinguished noble families
with strong court connections. They may have been expected to shine
musically, their performance reflecting their high status.
Example 14 (cont.)

Example 15. Beglückte Verbundtnüß des Adels mit der Tugend, “Nur still, nur still” and ritornello.
Just wait, it won’t take much, he will certainly be defeated; / This alone is my aim, through cunning to
defeat him.
 Music, dance, and morals at the convent of St. Laurenz 127

Example 15 (cont.)

The remaining musical pieces are mostly simple songs with short, regular
phrases and tuneful melodies, accompanied by bass alone, closely resem-
bling popular songs or hymns (Example 16).30 The composer (or compos-
ers), while limited by the abilities of the singers and instrumentalists, and his
or her own invention, was clearly familiar with musical conventions and
styles of the day, and the music is pretty and tuneful, and very appropriate
for young girls in its miniature forms and generally modest demands.
In the allegory, the noble nature longs for virtue, embodied in beauty
of voice and the beauty of nature. Pastoral elements appear not only in
plot, characters, and setting, but also in the music, in the inclusion of
an echo aria. Eugenius and his friends first encounter Aretina as they sit

30
Although I have yet to identify any of the songs as contrafacta, I would not be surprised to find
that some of them are.
128 “A virtual picture of Arcadia”

Example 16. Beglückte Verbundtnüß des Adels mit der Tugend, “Der wie ich zu künstlre Weis’,”
mm. 1–16.
He who would be an artist [i.e., a magician] like me, must make an effort; / One moment you must walk
through the air, often also taking a guest along; / Next you must raise a thunderstorm in the heavens; /
Strive eternally.

Example 17. Beglückte Verbundtnüß des Adels mit der Tugend, “Nun gleich würde der Sein erhoben,”
mm. 1–6.
Now shall the one be praised, who remains constantly true to me. Remains true. Regret?

under a tree: says Neozesius, “what a pleasant place, a feeling of content-

ment, a virtual picture of Arcadia.”31 In Aretina’s aria, Echo repeats
the end of each phrase, and, as is usual in such pieces, the following
phrase takes up the final syllable of Echo’s words (Example 17). Such arias

31
Beglückte Verbundtnüß, fol. 11v, act 1, scene 1. Neozesius: “Angenehmer Orth, behägliches
gefülde, Eines Arcadien lebhafftes bilde.”
 Joseph I, St. Jakob, and the War of the Spanish Succession 129

were a convention, well known in Vienna and elsewhere and appearing

not only in opera but also in sacred works. The echo aria provides a
further allusion to the ancient world, and thus to the new Arcadia of
Habsburg rule. The secular nature of this play, with its heathen gods and
worldly plot, might seem surprising, but it illustrates the fluidity of sacred
and secular in Vienna under Habsburg rule. The moral becomes political,
as Apollo, representing the emperor, joins together nobility and virtue,
the qualities of a successful ruler.

Emperor Joseph I, the convent of St. Jakob, and the

War of the Spanish Succession

The short reign of Emperor Joseph I, from 1705 until his unexpected death
in April 1711, was filled with tensions, disputes, and political posturing;
Joseph and his empire were on a footing of war on no fewer than five
fronts.32 The interests of empire and dynasty were frequently at odds, not
only for Emperor Joseph but also for other rulers and other states, leading to
shifting alliances and secret treaties. Of crucial importance to the Habsburgs
was the dynastic struggle of the War of the Spanish Succession, in which
they contested the succession of Philip of Anjou (a grandson of Louis XIV of
France and great-grandson of Philip IV of Spain) to the Spanish throne after
the death in 1700 of the Spanish Habsburg king Charles II, who was child-
less. Joseph’s younger brother, the future Emperor Karl VI, had been sent to
Spain in 1704 as King Charles III, and was fighting to enforce Austrian
Habsburg claims there.33
The Augustinian convent of St. Jakob (James) gained a special position
in Vienna at this time, for reasons both musical and political – the nuns
were celebrated for their music, and St. James is, of course, the patron
saint of Spain. The court visited this convent in state on St. James’s day,
July 25, and an account of the imperial visit of 1710 makes clear its
political import:
Friday, July 25. This morning their reigning imperial majesties as well as all the
serene young royals, attended by many persons of high rank of both sexes, went to
the Augustinian convent church of St. James, and there, because this saint is the

32
Ingrao, In Quest and Crisis. My account of the political situation is derived from Ingrao’s
study.
33
Ibid., 5.
130 “A virtual picture of Arcadia”

great patron saint of Spain, they all attended morning and evening services [Mass
and Vespers, celebrated consecutively, beginning around 10 a.m.34] (the first of
which was taken by the noble Reverend Father Breitenbucher, dean of the cathedral
here; the second, by the imperial Abate); afterwards, they dined in the convent and
then heard a beautiful Italian oratorio there.35

By fortuitous coincidence, the following day was Joseph’s birthday. As a

prelude to the imperial celebrations, the convent visit drew an illustrious
crowd, featured eminent churchmen and elaborate music, and was
described in the newspapers in unusual detail.
Reinforcing the political point, the convent’s musical production of 1710
had a Spanish theme. Casilda (composer unknown, score lost; libretto by
Rocco Maria Rossi36) tells the story of the daughter of Aldemone, cruel king
of the Moors in Toledo.37 Casilda secretly brought aid to her father’s
Christian prisoners. Caught near the dungeons with containers of food,
she claimed that she and her ladies were carrying flowers from the gardens;
when the containers were opened, they were, miraculously, full of roses.
When she finally reached the prisoners, the roses had been transformed
back into food. Casilda herself was later converted, giving rise to many more
miracles. Perhaps the idea was that Habsburg piety, supported by the
intercession of the nuns in music and prayer, might bring about a (sorely
needed) miracle in Spain.
Saint Casilda, who lived in the tenth century in Toledo and Burgos, was
popular in the seventeenth century and drew the attention of some of the
foremost Spanish artists and writers of the time; several paintings depict

34
“Acta originalia monasterium St. Jacobi Viennæ concernentia,” fol. 79r.
35
Wienerisches Diarium, July 26, 1710: “Freytag den 25. Julii. Heute Vormittags haben Sich die
Regierende Kayserl. Majestäten, nebst allerseitigen Durchleuchtigsten jungen Herrschafften, im
Gefolg vieler hohen Stands-Personen beederley Geschlechts, nach der Kirchen derer WW. EE.
Regulirten Chor-Frauen des Heil. Augustin: bey St. Jacob erhoben und, allda, wegen dieses
Heiligen als grossen Spannis. Patron, dem Gottes-Dienst Vormittags und Abends (davon den
Ersten Ihro Hochwürden Titl. Herr Breitenbucher, Dom-Probst allhier: den Letzten aber Herr
Abbate Caesare gehalten.) samtlich abgewartet, sodann in alldasigem Kloster das Mittagmahl
eingenommen und nachdeme einem alldort fürtrefflichen Wälschen Oratorio beygewonet.” The
report in the Corriere ordinario (July 26) differs in detail, but confirms that members of the
Imperial family heard an oratorio at the convent.
36
According to his libretto Nabuccodonosor, set by Attilio Ariosti for the imperial court in 1706, Rossi
was “Padovano, Accademico Gelato, ed Operoso”: Sartori, I libretti, and Alberto Martino, Die
italienische Literatur im deutschen Sprachraum: Ergänzungen und Berichtigungen zu Frank-Rutger
Hausmanns Bibliographie, Chloe: Beihefte zum Daphnis, 17 (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1994), 233–34.
37
Casilda. Oratorio dedicato, e cantato dalle R.R. M.M. di S. Giacomo alle Cesaree Reali Maestà.
Poesia di Rocco Maria Rossi, Accademico Gelato, & Operoso (Vienna: Gio. van Ghelen, 1710).
 Joseph I, St. Jakob, and the War of the Spanish Succession 131

her, including one by Francisco Zurbarán (Santa Casilda, Madrid, Museo

Thyssen-Bornemisza) and one by Jean Rizi (Santa Casilda ante su padre,
1656–59, Burgos Cathedral), and her tale was told by Tirso de Molina (Los
lagos de San Vicente) and perhaps Lope de Vega (Santa Casilda, attrib-
uted). The theme of the transformation of food into roses – a sign of divine
grace – during a secret mission of mercy is widespread, and is associated
with several other saints, including St. Elizabeth of Portugal and St.
Elizabeth of Hungary or Thuringia.38 The current king of Hungary,
Emperor Joseph, was in the audience, and his sister Maria Anna was
queen of Portugal.
According to its title page, the anonymous Trattenimento Estivo. Per
L’Augustissima e Serenissima Padronanza (Summer entertainment for the
most august and serene rulers) comes from St. Jakob (Figure 13). As the
work names Joseph as emperor, it almost certainly dates from his reign; its
musical style is also consistent with this dating. The best candidate for
primary composer of the work is Maria Anna von Raschenau, the nun-
composer of the convent. The Trattenimento Estivo resembles Raschenau’s
Le sacre visioni di S. Teresia in having no vocal parts in the bass range, but
rather two parts in the tenor range. As the two scores also have the same
unusual rust-colored binding, it seems likely that they were prepared
around the same time. The musical handwriting of the two scores is similar,
but does not appear to be identical.
The characters in the Trattenimento Estivo are Astrea, representing justice;
the virtues Valore, Virtù, Intelletto, and Generosità (Valor, Virtue, Intellect, and
Generosity); the qualities of Vigilanza, Attentione, Occulatezza, and Diligenza
(Vigilance, Attentiveness, Good Judgment, and Diligence); and Amore. Astrea
acts as mistress of ceremonies and has the largest musical role. Vigilanza,
Attentione, Occulatezza, and Diligenza always sing as a quartet, acting like an
eighteenth-century group of back-up singers for Astrea.
After hints of disagreement, Astrea chastises the virtues: “What dissen-
tion among you takes root under the imperial roof? Where is that respect
due to the sacrosanct imperial throne?”39 Each virtue has an aria in Part 1,
extolling Joseph’s possession of that virtue and its importance to a ruler, and
claiming precedence. They all appeal to Joseph and praise his superior
understanding in a short quartet: “You already heard me expounding and

38
The Catholic Encyclopedia, s.v. “St. Elizabeth of Hungary,” www.newadvent.org/cathen/05389a.
htm (accessed November 20, 2009). With thanks to Craig Monson for pointing out the parallel
between Casilda and Elizabeth of Hungary.
39
Trattenimento Estivo, fol. 18v, Parte Prima. Astrea: “Qual disparer trà voi sotto e Tetti Augusti
nasce? / Forsi fia questi il rispetto che al Trono Imperiale Sacrosancto deve?”
132 “A virtual picture of Arcadia”

Figure 13. Trattenimento Estivo, title page. Mus. Hs. 18606, A-Wn. Reproduced
with permission of ÖNB/Wien.

you already comprehended the basis of my strong reasons and of my claims;

you already heard, and already understood, my strong reasons.”40
40
Ibid., fols. 35v–36r, Parte Prima. Virtù, Intelletto, Generosità, and Valore: “Già n’udisti
comprendesti di mie vive ragioni / Delle mie pretensioni il fondamento / Già sentisti già
intendesti / Di mie vive ragioni.”
 Joseph I, St. Jakob, and the War of the Spanish Succession 133

In Part 2, Astrea calls on Amore to unite the virtues and end their strife.
All are finally united through love of the imperial house, and the work
concludes with choruses of homage to the Habsburgs and their empire,
looking forward to unity between Austria and Iberia, and praising “I duo
Regi gloriosi” – Joseph and his brother Karl.
The libretto may be an allegory of current political affairs or of royal
marriage, or both. The strife among the virtues, besides suggesting that all
such virtues were equally highly developed in the person of Joseph, brings to
mind the political strife of Joseph’s reign: between the Habsburgs and their
subject states; between the emperor and electors of the Holy Roman Empire,
or among the electors themselves; between the emperor and other rulers,
such as the powerful king of Sweden, Charles XII; or between the Habsburgs
and the Pope, which by summer 1707 had degenerated into open warfare.41
This strife could only be resolved (in the Habsburg view) by loyalty to
the crown and recognition of Habsburg interests and claims, including
those in Spain.
Two Habsburg weddings took place in 1708: Karl married Elisabeth
Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, and Joseph and Karl’s sister Maria
Anna married King John of Portugal. In the marriage allegory, the virtues –
Valore, Virtù, Intelletto, and Generosità – join with Amore to provide a
model for the conduct of a royal husband. The other qualities – Vigilanza,
Attentione, Occulatezza, and Diligenza – join with Astrea to provide a
model for the conduct of the royal wife: seventeenth-century educational
literature for women promoted a similar list of wifely virtues, among them
discretion, modesty, diligence, morality, beauty, and, above all, the ability to
bear children.42 Reference to imperial heirs in the final chorus further
supports this interpretation.
It was becoming clear by the end of the first decade of the eighteenth
century that hopes for the succession probably rested with Karl rather
than with Joseph. Joseph’s wife Amalie Wilhelmine had borne three
children – including a short-lived son – early in the marriage, but there
had been none since 1701, probably because Joseph had infected his wife
with a venereal disease, contracted from one of his mistresses.43 For the
Habsburgs to have any hope of ruling in Spain, they would have to
produce two male heirs; thus, these marriages, especially Karl’s, were of
crucial importance. Elisabeth Christine and Amalie Wilhelmine suffered

41
On Joseph’s political difficulties, see Ingrao, In Quest and Crisis. On the strife among Joseph’s
advisors, see especially pp. 104–6.
42
Bastl, “‘Wan Ich nur bei dier sein mecht,’” 10, and Ingrao and Thomas, “Piety and
patronage,” 21–25.
43
Ingrao and Thomas, “Piety and patronage,” 36–37.
134 “A virtual picture of Arcadia”

the frequent indignity of having to sit through entertainments on the

theme of the succession.44
Occasional works of this period at the imperial court, whether called
serenate, trattenimenti, or feste teatrali, frequently included virtues or
concepts among the characters, along with mythological figures. The
idea of a contest or quarrel among the characters was popular; by the
end, a judge figure has brought everyone together to praise the honored
person.45 The most famous example, Antonio Cesti and Francesco
Sbarra’s Il pomo d’oro, which tells the tale of the mythological judgment
of Paris (with a sub-plot of pastoral love), was performed in Vienna in
1668 to honor the marriage of Leopold I and his first wife Margarita
Teresa of Spain. The strife over which goddess should be awarded the
golden apple is resolved when it is finally presented to the empress, “a
daughter and spouse of the greatest monarchs on earth,” who is recog-
nized as the embodiment of “Venus’s fame through her beauty, the
excellence of Pallas through her wisdom, and the praise due to Juno for
her character and her worth in all the lands.”46 Raschenau, as an aspiring
musician at court in the late 1660s, probably herself saw Il pomo d’oro. She
too composed a work on the subject of a contest among mythological
characters, Il consiglio di Pallade, dedicated to Emperor Leopold I and
performed before the imperial family in 1697.
The allegories in the Trattenimento Estivo work themselves out
through the music. The work follows the typical serenata organization
into units of several numbers. Following a pair of contrasting arias for
Astrea, the four qualities declare, in the quartet “Guerra puntigliosa,” that
Astrea (Justice) will rule any contest and that Joseph has the authority to
resolve the quarrel among the virtues. Part 1 continues with a series of
recitatives and arias for each of the four virtues, in contrasting styles,
meters, and scorings, suggesting their lack of agreement, but without
straying beyond the bounds of harmonious music. The ensemble for
the virtues follows, and Part I concludes with a recitative and aria for
Astrea.

44
Ibid., 22–23.
45
Ulrike Hofmann, “Die Serenata am Hofe Kaiser Leopold I. 1658–1705,” unpublished PhD
dissertation, University of Vienna (1975), 61, classifies the contest as a distinct type of serenata.
46
According to the “Argomento”; see Marc Antonio Cesti, Il pomo d’oro, ed. Guido Adler,
Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich, 6 (Jahrg. III/2) (Graz: Akademische Druck- und
Verlagsanstalt, 1959), xiv. See also Antonio Cesti, Il pomo d’oro (Music for Acts III and V from
Modena, Biblioteca Estense, Ms. Mus. E. 120), ed. Carl B. Schmidt, Recent Researches in Music of
the Baroque Era, 42 (Madison, WI: A-R Editions, 1982).
 Joseph I, St. Jakob, and the War of the Spanish Succession 135

Part 2 begins with a dialogue ensemble for Astrea and the four qualities,
in which they answer her, nested between two appearances of a fully scored
ritornello. It continues with a series of arias and ensembles, in which the
quartet answers Astrea; the quartet’s sections all have the same scoring, as
do Astrea’s arias. Amore has a single aria, and the work concludes with a set
of four choral “Menuetti.”
The increasing role of ensemble texture in Part 2, culminating in the
choruses, demonstrates in sound the point of the piece: that discord, repre-
sented by the different musical styles of the virtues’ arias, is resolved in
harmony, as all work toward a single end, political harmony grounded in
love of the ruling family, who are extolled in the final choruses. Or, alternatively,
that the feminine and masculine qualities join together in a harmonious royal
marriage to produce male heirs and relieve the uncertainly of the succession.
The music of the Trattenimento Estivo is accomplished and much more
complex than that of Beglückte Verbundtnüß, as one might expect from a
convent with a long-standing reputation for good music. One of the most
attractive pieces is the contrapuntal quartet for the four qualities in Part I,
“Guerra puntigliosa” (Example 18a). The quartet is in da capo form, the
sections articulated by short passages of sixteenth notes for the basso
continuo alone. Four- and five-part writing shows off the possibilities of
the ensemble and the capabilities of the musicians, and there is a lovely
homophonic passage (Example 18b) that moves through several keys back
to the opening B flat major. The voices are set for soprano (f 0 –f 00 ), alto
(b[–a0 ), and two tenor parts (d–f 0 and c–f 0 ), the second tenor part usually
sitting a little lower than the first; the lowest voice often doubles the bass
part, but is sometimes independent.
The solo arias in the Trattenimento Estivo are mostly in da capo form,
with instrumental interludes, and in several the voice interacts with a solo
instrument. The instrumental writing is contrapuntal, but the beginnings of
the phrases are not always imitative, as they are in Badia’s mature music,
heard often at the Ursuline convent in Vienna. Sometimes the imitation is
more extended here than is usual in the music of Badia or the other Italians
at court. In Astrea’s aria “Fà da muto, sordo, e cieco scocca il dardo”
(Example 19), the accompaniment is a four-part string ensemble, probably
instruments of the violin family, although the scoring is not specified. At the
opening, all voices enter in imitation, including the vocal part, and the
imitation continues throughout, although usually with no more than one or
two instrumental parts when the voice is present. The contrapuntal com-
plexity suggests a composer conversant with church music, while the da
136 “A virtual picture of Arcadia”

Example 18a. Trattenimento Estivo, “Guerra puntigliosa,” mm. 1–6.

In stubborn war, there Astrea reigns; in a stubborn contest . . .; in a curious quarrel . . .; in a curious
struggle . . .

capo form and the aria’s florid style suggest knowledge of contemporary
Italian-influenced music.
If Raschenau had continued the stylistic development evident in parts of
her oratorio Le sacre visioni di S. Teresia, likely composed around 1703, the
music of the Trattenimento Estivo might well be where she was after several
further years of work in an era of changing musical styles. For a musical style
to change and develop in this way, the composer must have had access to
new music, and it is certain that works from outside were performed in the
 Joseph I, St. Jakob, and the War of the Spanish Succession 137

Example 18b. “Guerra puntigliosa,” mm. 15–20.

Having understood each one’s reason, / You can calm the great dispute; you have the
authority over it.

convent. The St. James’s day presentation of 1707 was La confessione

gloriosa di S. Agostino, by “Sig. Giovanni Antonio Costa di Pavia.”47

47
He is perhaps the Roman priest, composer, and singer who appears in Grove Music Online, s.v.
“Costa (ii) (8): Giovanni Antonio Costa” (by Miroslav Perz et al.) (accessed July 31, 2009). The
score and parts of an oratorio by Giovanni Antonio Costa, dated 1715, survive in the imperial
collection: L’empietà delusa (Mus. Hs. 18181 [score] and Mus. Hs. 18182 [parts], A-Wn). The
oratorio performed at St. Jakob is documented by a libretto, La confessione gloriosa di S. Agostino
(Vienna: Heredi Cosmeroviani, 1707). No music appears to survive. The libretto does not match
the anonymous Oratorio di S. Agostino in the imperial collection (Mus. Hs. 18952, A-Wn), which
is, in any case, in the musical style of a generation earlier.
138 “A virtual picture of Arcadia”

Example 19. Trattenimento Estivo, “Fà da muto,” mm. 1–7.

In the recitative preceding the final choruses, Astrea commands everyone

to “dance in various ways, in various fashions, and with echoes of pleasure
[and] joyous voices, to repeat the proper tributes, commendations, and
praise due to the august monarch.”48 A birthday or name-day musical

48
Trattentimento Estivo, fols. 91r–v, Parte Seconda. Astrea: “Danzate in varie guise, in varii modi, e
del Monarca Augusto con echi di piacer [e] voci giulive Replicate gli Encomi gli Elogii propri e le
dovute lodi.”
 Joseph I, St. Jakob, and the War of the Spanish Succession 139

entertainment at court was usually followed by a ballet, in which the

Habsburg children often participated, and Joseph himself was said to
have danced with “wonderful dexterity and ease.”49 The ballet extended
the idea of musical harmony as political harmony to the harmony of body
movement and the personal harmony of the Habsburgs, which suited
them to the task of ruling. The final choral pieces of the Trattenimento
Estivo are labeled as “Menuetti” and set in dance style, combining the
symbolism of dance and ensemble music in a situation where dancing
might not have been either possible or appropriate (Figure 14). The
nuns – in the choir loft, in the parlatorio or other large room, or possibly
hidden in the garden, where the noble guests might well have enjoyed a
“summer entertainment” – probably did not dance; but it is possible that
the girls being educated in the convent did, as they had at St. Laurenz in
1688. The texts of the “Menuetti” look forward to the happiness that will
result when everything is in harmony, and even the elements pay homage
to the Habsburgs:
Now let beautiful peace return
To triumph in the vast empire;
And the lands of Austria and Iberia
Bring forth scepters and offspring.
Let the Ganges and let the Iago river return,
To bring jewels and gold in tribute;
Each to his king, and let the pretty Istro [Danube]
Return to reunite the kingdoms.
Let the pair of glorious rulers return
To triumph over their enemies;
And to subjugate
Their proud vassals.
Let the sky, the earth, and the sea,
Happily return to jubilation;
When the German nation has dominion,
The world shall breathe again.50

49
Corriere ordinario, June 13, 1688, on the festivities in honor of the Emperor’s birthday.
50
Trattenimento Estivo, fols. 72r–76v, Parte Seconda. [Menuetto 1o] “Torni omai nel vasto
Impero / Bella pace à trionfar / E il terren d’Austria et Ibero / Scettri e figli à germogliar. /
[Menuett 2o] Torni’l Gange, e torni’l Jago / Gemme et ori à tributare / Al suo Rege e l’Istro vago /
Torni i Regni à racquistar. / [Menuett 3o] I duo Regi gloriosi / De Nemici à trionfar / Tornin
pure e gli orgogliosi / Lo vassalli à Soggettar. / [Menuett 4o] Torni’l ciel, la terra, e il mare / Torni
lieti à giubilar / De Germani al dominare / Torni’l mondo à respirar.”
140 “A virtual picture of Arcadia”

Figure 14. Trattenimento Estivo, fol. 72r. Mus. Hs. 18606, A-Wn. Reproduced with permission
of ÖNB/Wien.

These sentiments echo the persistent Austrian Habsburg program con-

cerning the Habsburgs and Spain – seen also in Il pomo d’oro and in the
equestrian ballet produced for the same wedding, La contessa dell’aria e
dell’acqua – of strife being resolved through love of the Habsburgs and
 Birds, flowers, and nymphs in a convent garden 141

through the family’s continuation.51 Il pomo d’oro concludes with the appear-
ance of a concealed room “in the loftiest heavenly position. This room
contains the likenesses of Leopold, Margarita, and numerous wished-for
progeny. All present then sing praises to the royal family, and the opera
ends with not one, but three ballets: one for the spirits in the air; a second for
knights on the earth; and a third for sirens and tritons in the sea.”52 The three
goddesses, Giunone, Pallade, and Venere, sing “Così ai giubili nostri / si
vedran festeggiare / l’aria, la terra e ’l mare,” the same imagery that appears
in the final verse of the Trattenimento Estivo. The imagery of the two finales is
remarkably similar, the earlier work lacking only the direct references to war
and conquest of the later, as the earlier harmonious order, including the
union of Austria and Spain, was to be achieved solely through marriage and
the resulting offspring.53

Birds, flowers, and nymphs in a convent garden: music for the

imperial family at St. Agnes zur Himmelpforte

On August 12, 1708, members of the Habsburg family, together with

their entourage, attended “ein Teutsches Oratorio” at yet another
Augustinian female convent in Vienna, St. Agnes zur Himmelpforte.54
The work’s pompous title recalls official edicts and festival programs:
Poetisches Freyden-Gedicht von einem dem Unüberwündlichsten u[nd]
Durchleüchtigsten Ertz-Herzoglichen Hause Österreich Wohlbekandten
Adler und Lerchlein (Poetic poem of joy of an eagle and lark, well known
to the most invincible and serene archducal house of Austria). The music
was provided by the very busy Johann Michael Zächer (1651–1712),
Kapellmeister to Dowager Empress Eleonora Magdalena and at St.
Stephen’s, and a composer for the Jesuit College and St. Agnes.
St. Agnes, whose nuns included both noble women and those “common,
but honorably born and well brought up,”55 was strictly cloistered, and its
music was focused on worship. According to Testarello della Massa, “so that

51
Goloubeva, The Glorification of Emperor Leopold I, 110.
52
Cesti, Il pomo d’oro, ed. Schmidt, Appendix, p. xv.
53
On this program in Habsburg wedding festivities, see Goloubeva, The Glorification of Emperor
Leopold I, especially Chapter 5, “Representations of the emperor’s marriages and the rhetoric of
succession.”
54
Wienerisches Diarium, August 15, 1708.
55
Testarello della Massa, “Beschreibung,” 841: “so befinden sich doch der Zeit nicht alle von
hohem adel gebührtig hierinnen, sondern der halbe theil ist von gemeinen doch Ehrlich
gebohrnen und wohlerzogenen Jungfrawen.”
142 “A virtual picture of Arcadia”

the purpose and goal of the order is not hindered or weakened, women from
outside are absolutely forbidden to enter [the cloister]; and thus the regular
sacred services are performed day and night by these choir nuns nicely and
zealously with singing and organ.”56 He further observed that the choir
nuns perform “all canonical hours by day and night, according to the
Roman breviary, and daily hold a high mass with organ playing and singing
intermixed,”57 and that there was a “schöne orgl” in the church.58 By the
early eighteenth century, the nuns or convent girls were apparently playing
string instruments, flute or recorder, and keyboard instruments. Musical
works from the convent call for these; and a violin, a violone, and two
harpsichords were among items from St. Agnes auctioned at the time of
dissolution.59
Outsiders were allowed entry only when the imperial family dined in
the convent.60 In the late seventeenth century and the early eighteenth, the
court visited St. Agnes on St. Valentine’s day (then July 27) and again in
August, around the time of the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin
(August 15). The meal was often followed by a special musical perform-
ance: in 1698, an academy-like entertainment of music and discussion
(Zächer);61 in 1703 and 1704, an oratorio on the story of Judith (Zächer,

56
Ibid., 843: “damit das ziehl undt Endt ihres Ordens nicht verhindert oder geschmählert werde,
dahero wird der eingang dem weltlichen frawenzimmer gantz und gar abgeschnitten: dan der
stäte Gottesdienst bey tag und nacht von dießen Closterfrawen ziehrlich und eyffrig mit gesang
und orgl gehalten wird.”
57
Ibid., 845: “Nach dem Römischen Breviario singen dieße Closterfrawen bey tag undt nacht alle
außgewießene stunden der Horas Canonicas, täglich halten Sie Ein Hochampt mit
untermischung der orgl und deß gesangs.”
58
Ibid., 859. See also Page, “Organs on the market.”
59
“Licitations-Prothocoll und Ausweiß über den Vermög Inventarii bey dem aufgehobenen
Canonisser Frauen Closter zur Himmelsporten vorhanden gewest – und den 30ten und 31sten
März [1]784 durch öffentlichen Versteigerung verkaufte Mobilien und Effecten,” Klösterakten
2.2.6.1 (Himmelpforte), A1/15, Nro. 2 ad n. 37 Himmelp. 1784, A-Wsa.
60
Testarello della Massa, “Beschreibung,” 845: “die Spörr oder Clausur wird alßo starck der zeit
gehalten, daß kein wiewohlen fürstliche frawens Persohnen hierin zu gast können eingeladen
werden, undt in gemeinem refect esßen: wan aber Ihre Kayl: Maytt, und auch die
durchleüchtigsten Persohnen eingeladen, und im Closter gespeißet werden, alßdann wird
etlichen mit bewilligung der jetzbenandten Herrschaft solches erlaubt.”
61
Friedsamer Streit. Das ist Gesang zu Academischen Discursen . . . welche denen Röm. Kayserl.
Majestäten Leopold I und Eleonora . . . und der gesambten . . . jungen Herrschaft Auff Anordnung
Anna Antonia Breinerin, Obristin . . . dess Stift und Closters zur Himmelporten . . . vorgetragen
worden. 27. Julij 1698. In die Music durch Joh. Michael Zacher (Vienna: Susanna Christina
Cosmerovin, 1698) (libretto), listed in Fach-Katalog der Abtheilung für Deutsches Drama und
Theater, Internationale Ausstellung für Music und Theaterwesen Wien 1892 (Vienna: im
Selbstverlage der Ausstellungs-Commission, 1892), 78.
 Birds, flowers, and nymphs in a convent garden 143

1704); in 1707, an “excellent spiritual oratorio”;62 and in 1710, a festa

teatrale entitled Arety-Poletimia reduplicata a fervore Charitatis ac
Formidinis (Zächer). The subject of the latter was the “contest of the
virtues concerning which of love and fear has precedence,” an exploration
of Emperor Joseph’s personal motto, “Amore et timore,” or “Durch Liebe
und Fürcht,”63 a theme treated in several other convent productions. The
scores of 1708 and 1710 are beautifully copied short scores with vocal
parts and basso, but lacking most other instrumental parts.
The Poetisches Freyden-Gedicht is another allegorical drama, lightly dis-
guised as a pastoral and suggesting the Golden Age through its many
references to Greek mythology. Among the characters are six “nymphs,”
Aritusa, Mergania, Hanispia, Silvinata, Gilana, and Holdalina. In case the
point might be missed, the list of characters identifies these names as
anagrams for Austria, Germania, Hispania, Lusitania (Portugal), Anglia
(England), and Hollandia (Figure 15). Aritusa’s name resembles that of
the Nereid or sea-nymph Arethusa, who was transformed into a stream, and
Gilana suggests the Nereids Galene or Galatea. The other characters are
Echo, Fama, and the Arthgeist deß Stüffts (spirit of the convent).
Sitting next to a lovely murmuring and playful brook, Aritusa laments
that of the two eagles and five larks entrusted to her care, one of the
eagles has flown away and two of the larks have strayed. Topical
and geographical references identify the two eagles as Emperor Joseph I
and his brother Karl, the latter being the “lost” eagle, appointed king
of Spain in 1703, and departing to fight for his new kingdom in 1704:
“The second would also not live without a crown, and flew from the
nest like a streaking arrow. Now my Danube has been five times in
succession covered with ice and snow . . . since my eagle flew away
from me.”64
The other nymphs try to comfort her, in simple rhyming poetry and
tuneful melody (Example 20). Gilana (England, one of Austria’s allies,
opposed to France’s ambitions in Spain) sings:

62
Wienerisches Diarium, August 17, 1707: “ein fürtreffliches geistliches Oratorio” (Friday,
August 12).
63
Arety-Poletimia . . . “daß ist, Wettstreitt deren Tugenden umb den Vorzug zwischen Lieb und
Forcht.” Mus. Hs. 18929, title page, A-Wn.
64
Poetisches Freyden-Gedicht, fols. 5r–6r, Part 1. Aritusa: “der Andre wolte auch nicht leben ohne
Crone, unndt fluge auß dem Nest, gleich eine flitsche Pfeil. Nun ist mein Donau schon fünffmahl
ihm nachgeloffen mit Eyß undt Schnee bekleidet . . . Seither mein Adler sich von mir hat
weggemacht.”
144 “A virtual picture of Arcadia”

Figure 15. Johann Michael Zächer, Poetisches Freyden-Gedicht, fol. 1v, list of characters. Mus. Hs.
16902, A-Wn. Reproduced with permission of ÖNB/Wien.

Aritusa, do not mourn

all your sorrow
has been transformed to joy
by the gods.
 Birds, flowers, and nymphs in a convent garden 145

Example 20. Johann Michael Zächer, Poetisches Freyden-Gedicht, “Aritusa, traure nicht,” mm. 1–10.

What was lost is found

to bring you comfort
Aritusa, do not mourn.65
The five larks are the Habsburg allies for which the nymphs are named:
the two who have strayed from the nest are Spain and Portugal. The other
nymphs report that the lost birds are alive and well, and that the eagle has
been victorious. Each nymph sings of how her country loves the eagles, and
together they sing: “Sehe, wie wir alle streben, deinen Adler zu erheben”
(See, how we all strive to elevate your eagles), the rising line of each voice
illustrating the striving in sound (Example 21).
The rest of the entertainment celebrates the two Habsburg weddings of that
year, on which rested hopes for Habsburg dominance in Spain and alliance
with Portugal, and hopes for the succession. The first of these, between
Archduke Karl and Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, took
place by proxy on April 23, with Emperor Joseph standing in for his brother.66
The 16-year-old Elisabeth Christine then began the arduous journey to
Barcelona to join a husband she had never met. She reached the Catalan
coast on July 25, having not omitted along her route – among the many festive
performances mounted in her honor – to visit the königliches Damenstift in
Hall (where the novices performed a play) and a convent in Milan (where she
heard the singing).67 On August 12, the day of the performance at St. Agnes,
the new queen’s safe arrival would have been very recent news, if known at all.

65
Ibid., fol. 10r–v, Part 2. Gilana: “Aritusa, traure nicht / All dein Leiden / Ist zu Freüden / Von den
Göttern eingericht. / Was verschwunden, ist gefunden / Alles dier zum Trost geschicht / Aritusa,
traure nicht.”
66
On other events surrounding the wedding, see Andrea Sommer-Mathis, Tu felix Austria nube:
Hochzeitsfeste der Habsburger im 18. Jahrhundert, Dramma per musica, 4 (Vienna:
Musikwissenschaftlicher Verlag, 1994), 11–30.
67
Ibid., 16, 19.
146 “A virtual picture of Arcadia”

Example 21. Johann Michael Zächer, Poetisches Freyden-Gedicht, “Sehe, wie wir alle streben.”

Before the bride left Vienna, she and the women of the imperial family had
made the rounds of the city convents and heard at least one further special
convent musical performance.68 They visited the Ursuline Convent on April
15, the octave of Easter, eight days before the wedding by proxy. The party
arrived around 2 p.m. to dine, and remained until 7:30, and the music
included an oratorio (performed by the nuns), Vespers (by the Hofkapelle),
and the (liturgically appropriate) performance of “a beautiful Regina coeli of
the Emperor’s composition, sung by a castrato” – for this special occasion the
court’s own musicians performed for the services.69

68
They visited the Königinkloster on several days, including April 7 (Corriere ordinario, April 11,
1708), St. Ursula on April 15 (Wienerisches Diarium, April 18), St. Laurenz on the 18th, St.
Nikolai and St. Agnes on the 19th (Wienerisches Diarium, April 21), and St. Joseph on the 21st
(Wienerisches Diarium, April 25). They also visited several monasteries and other churches.
69
“Hauschronik,” II:144–45: “den 15 dito [April 1708] seyndt Ihro Mayl: d[er] Keyser, beede
Keyserin[,] die 3 Ertzherzogin, und Herzogin von Wolffenbitl, auch hertzog von Lothring Bischoff
 Birds, flowers, and nymphs in a convent garden 147

The second royal wedding, between Archduchess Maria Anna and King
John of Portugal, would take place on October 27 in Lisbon, and the bride
had already embarked on her journey by August. The Wienerisches Diarium
of August 15, which reported the court’s visit to St. Agnes, also noted the
archduchess’s arrival in Hildesheim on July 30.
Appropriately for the occasion, the text of the Poetisches Freyden-Gedicht
is filled with images of nature, especially of fruit and flowers, and of things
that come in large quantities, all suggesting fruitfulness. The nymphs offer
their good wishes, invoking the plenty of their lands, in a recitative:
gilana: I wish the two couples unwavering joy and long life. God grant
them as many happy hours as there are grains of sand in
the North Sea.
holdalina: As there are fish in Holland’s waters . . .
silvinata: As there are leaves and fruit in Portugal’s forests . . .
hanispia: As the sun’s rays that shine on Spain . . .
mergania: As there are syllables and words with which we Germans describe,
as there are corn and seeds in the fields.70

All wish the couples long life, prosperity, and offspring to secure the
succession.
In this work, as in the Trattenimento Estivo, there is recitative rather than
spoken dialogue. Most of the arias are simple and syllabic, although longer
than those in Beglückte Verbundtnüß, but there are occasional florid pas-
sages – touches of Italian influence. Some arias have two sections in con-
trasting meters. Many arias are strophic, with the verses separated by a
ritornello, in the typical late seventeenth-century style. All are set with basso
alone, except one, for the spirit of the convent, which is scored for “flautto,”
violoncello, and bass; the ritornello that serves as an interlude between the
verses is also scored for these instruments (Example 22).
There are several choruses, scored for two soprano parts and one alto
part, and including “solo” and “tutti” indications. The choruses are either in
homophonic style, like many of the ritornelli, or in a more imitative style. In

von osnabrug, zu uns zum essen umb 2 uhr khomen . . . nach dem Essen haben wür Ein oratorio
gehalten, nach welcher Ihre Mayl: die vesper halten lassen[,] nach welcher Ihre Mayl: d[er] Kayser
von dessen Composition Ein Wunderschönes Regina Coeli, von Einem Discantist singen lassen,
und nach halber 8 Uhr seyndt sie wider samentlich hinweg gangen durch die kirchen.”
70
Poetisches Freyden-Gedicht, fols. 45r–46v, Part 5.
gilana: Ich wündtsche daß dieße gedoppelte Paare, beharrlich in freyden, vernewte die Jahre,
Gott gebe so Vill ihnen glückhliche Stunden, alß Sand im Brittanischen Meer wirdt
gefunden.
holdalina: Alß Fisch in Holländischen Wassern sich Zeygen . . .
silvinata: Alß Blätter und Früchte in Portugals Waldern . . .
hanispia: Alß Strahlen die Sonne auf Spanien blücket . . .
mergania: Alß Silben undt Wörter, wier Teütsche beschreiben, alß Körner undt Saamen auff
Äckern bekleiben.
148 “A virtual picture of Arcadia”

Example 22. Johann Michael Zächer, Poetisches Freyden-Gedicht, “Erlaube mir Fama,” mm. 1–14.
Allow me, Fame, for my enjoyment / To add a little flower to that which you carry; / A flower indeed
small, but like the stars; / Of sky-blue velvet, richly worked.

the latter, the basso doubles vocal entries, to ensure that the singers enter
confidently on the correct pitches and following the old style of accompani-
ment for contrapuntal pieces.71

71
See pp. 62–64 above.
 Birds, flowers, and nymphs in a convent garden 149

Example 23. Johann Michael Zächer, Poetisches Freyden-Gedicht, “Fünf Lerchlein,” mm. 1–11.
Five little larks I counted in my field and meadow, / Five little larks highly praised for
form and goodness, / Five little larks there were, / That to you, God alone, sang
appropriate praises.

More sophisticated than the simple homophonic choruses and airs of

Zächer’s Jesuit school dramas, the music does not, however, require virtuoso
singers or instrumentalists. The style suggests that the performers had musi-
cal training, but not to the level of those at St. Jakob, who were able to navigate
four-part counterpoint, complex musical lines, and Italian text. The work’s
overall musical form is similar to that of the Trattenimento Estivo, although in
a less tightly structured form: there are more ensemble pieces – more
harmony – toward the end, and both conclude with choruses.
The pastoral libretto is charmingly reflected in the music. Aritusa’s aria
“Fünff Lerchlein” imitates the song of the larks, “singing appropriate praises”
(Example 23). In several places, Echo repeats the ends of Aritusa’s phrases, a
long-standing pastoral convention (Example 24). Echo pieces, often heard in
Italian convents, may there have represented the enforced seclusion of the
nuns, and the silence imposed on women in general. Echo also served as a
paradigm for obedient female behavior.72 The pieces may have had similar
meaning here. Further contributing to the pastoral mood are nine arias in
72
Craig Monson, Disembodied Voices: Music and Culture in an Early Modern Italian Convent
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995), 54–55, and Kendrick, Celestial Sirens, 245.
150 “A virtual picture of Arcadia”

Example 24. Johann Michael Zächer, Poetisches Freyden-Gedicht, “Wie? Was?” mm. 1–4.
How? What? Am I alone? In this green grove? One?

gentle 6/8 meter, the aria and ritornello with “flautto,” and a sommeil scene
with a duet for Holdalina and Gilana set mostly in harmonious thirds.
The eagle was an old symbol of the house of Habsburg – a double-headed
one appears on the family coat of arms – and what were considered in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to be five larks appear on the coat of
arms of Alt-Österreich, or Niederösterreich (Lower Austria), the province
that includes Vienna.73 As the larks (the nuns and convent girls) sing in
harmony in praise of the ruling house, so the allied lands must agree if true
concord is to be attained.

Convent music and Habsburg worldview

“Sehe wie wir alle streben, deinen Adler zu erheben” sang the girls and women
of St. Agnes. Such entertainments promoted a Habsburg worldview, where
other lands were seen through their relationship to Habsburg aims. Convents
had a direct interest in at least one Habsburg concern – the succession. Their
survival depended upon the security and peace of the state, and the nuns
served as intercessors and as teachers and substitute parents to those who
would bear the heirs of the next generation. In a society in which religion was
a guiding force and allegory a common means of expression, the Habsburgs
also had a stake in visiting convents, and being reported as listening to music
there: even virtuous nuns and young girls sang harmoniously in their honor
and supported their aims and concerns.
The Habsburg policy of political alliance through marriage is prominent
in the Poetisches Freyden-Gedicht, as is concern over the succession. Aritusa,
in 6/8 time and in the pastoral key of F major, suggests that the nymphs look

73
The birds are now considered to be eagles, and considerable effort has gone into proving this.
From ca. 1500 into the baroque, however, they were considered to be larks. Peter Diem, Die
Symbole Österreichs (Vienna: Kremayr & Scheriau, 1995), 311.
 Convent music and Habsburg worldview 151

for some flowers.74 Fama responds: “Let us bring these [flowers] to the
couples and sing of our [good] wishes.”75 The following arias characterize
individual flowers and explain their symbolism. All are edible or have
medicinal properties, and might have been grown in the convent garden,
though blooming at different times.
Königscrone (mullein): royal pledge (Kayserliches Pfandt)
Ehrenpreiß (sky blue speedwell, veronica): long and happy married life (die nun
wohl gepaaret leben, und du Zeit du alter Greyß)
Augentrost (eyebright, euphrasia): long life (verzahlbar lange Jahren)
Wohlgemuth (a name associated with various plants, many of them aromatic
herbs76): far from all enemies (weith von aller feinds gefahren)
Crimson rose: purity (zu Pur lautern Roßen werden)
Narcissen (narcissus): royal scepter (weil ihr den Sceptern gleichet)

The chorus concludes: “As these blossoms strew their sprigs, we wish that after
the wedding, the two royal houses count more lively blooms [i.e., offspring].”77
Another chorus addresses the succession even more directly (Example 25):
“Heaven grant to all [the imperial house] well-being, long life, the thrones to
preserve, the crowns to multiply, lands, people, and cities to gain, and to the
emperor, imperial heirs.”
Sacred stories were also molded to support Habsburg policies. Like the
Trattenimento Estivo and the Poetisches Freyden-Gedicht, Zächer’s Die
Heldenmüthige Judith (the valiant Judith),78 performed at St. Agnes on St.
Valentine’s day, July 27, 1704, before the imperial couple and the court, alludes
to the War of the Spanish Succession. At the end of the drama, the character
Erlaubnuß (Permission) relates Judith’s heroism and patriotism to the current
political situation, and her virtues to those of imperial family members in the
audience. Joseph’s personal motto, “Amore et timore / Durch Liebe und
Furcht” (through love and fear) is embedded in the text. The mixture of
pagan gods and an Old Testament tale, the Habsburgs equated with gods and
heroes on earth, is typical of Habsburg representation.
Yes, yes, people praise Judith with honor,
Her heroic deed is told everywhere . . .

74
Poetisches Freyden-Gedicht, fol. 49r, Part V: “Meine Nymphen, weil wir da im lust gewälde,
blumenfelde unß befinden.”
75
Ibid., fol. 49v, Part V: “den Verlobten bringen und den Wuntsch vor ihnen singen.”
76
Johann and Wilhelm Grimm, Deutsches Wörterbuch, ed. Ludwig Sütterlin (Leipzig: S. Hirzel,
1854–1971; repr. Munich: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, 1984).
77
Poetisches Freyden-Gedicht, fols. 54v–56r, Part V: “Da streü dieße Blumen Reyßer; Wüntsche
daß nach den Vermählen, Die Zwey Königliche Häußer mehr lebhaffter Blumen Zehlen.”
78
Die Heldenmüthige Judith (Vienna: Johann Georg Schlegel, 1704) (libretto). The music is lost.
152 “A virtual picture of Arcadia”

Example 25. Johann Michael Zächer, Poetisches Freyden-Gedicht, “Allen woll der Himmel geben.”

She saved the fatherland

From the hand of the enemy.
But we also come to our own times . . .
There we find heroes,
Of whom the world can report:
That they are the enemy’s bane,
And the defenders of their people.
There is LEOPOLD the great,
Whose name remains undying;
There is JOSEPH, who sprang
From the body of gods on earth.
He has with word and deed,
Already made many enemies small.
JOSEPH’S Fear and Love
Have already brought many into line.
There are those world goddesses,
 Convent music and Habsburg worldview 153

Empress and queen;

There are also archduchesses,
Whose piety and sense of virtue
Are right and proper
To win them the praise due to Judith,
To them we build here and everywhere,
Pillared arches and honorary gates.79
The figure of Judith has held extraordinary force in European culture. She was
a model for religious women;80 a “vanquisher of tyrants and emblem of civic
virtue”; an erotic and dangerous woman; a heroic paragon of chastity; and a
Catholic heroine, representing Catholicism’s defeat of heresy, or a Protestant
one, fighting the tyranny of Catholicism.81 In the political context of this time
in Vienna, all of her war-like, active attributes were invoked, as was her “piety
and sense of virtue.” The latter qualities were associated with the female
members of the Habsburg family, the empress (Leopold’s third wife,
Eleonora Magdalena), queen (Joseph’s wife, Amalie Wilhelmine), and arch-
duchesses, and served as their contribution to the Habsburg cause.
In Die Heldenmüthige Judith, the Spirit of the Convent describes a figu-
rative honorary arch (Ehren Bogen) linking the Austrian and Spanish thrones:
Austria’s honorary arch,
Which heaven has drawn out,
Until it stands at one end where the sun rises,
At the other where it sets.
That is, at the Imperial and Royal thrones
Between the German and the Spanish crowns.82

79
Die Heldenmüthige Judith, D2v–D3r: “Ja, ja, man preyse die Judith mit Ehren / Man lasse ihr
Helden-That überall hören / . . . Sie hat das Vatterland / Erlöst von Feindes Hand. / Aber man
komm auch auff unsere Zeiten / . . . Dann da finden sich die Helden / Von denn alle Welt kan
melden: / Daß sie seynd deß Feindes Trutz / Und ihr eygner Völcker Schutz. / Da ist LEOPOLD
der Grosse / Dessen Nahm unsterblich bleib; / Da ist JOSEPH der entsprosse / Auß der Irrdisch
Götter-Leib. / Jener hat mit Rath und That / Schon viel Feinde klein gemacht. / JOSEPHS Forcht
und Liebe hat / Manchen in die Ordnung bracht. / Da seynd jene Welt-Göttinnen / Kayserin und
Königin; / Da seynd auch Ertz-Hertzoginnen / Deren fromm und Tugend-Sinn / Recht und
billich haben können / Jenen Judith Lob-Gewinn / Diesen bau man hier und aller Orthen /
Saulen-Bögen, Ehren-Porten.”
80
On Judith as a model for religious women, see Weaver, Convent Theatre, 144–45.
81
Judith’s attributes in the late Renaissance are summarized in Kelley Harness, Echoes of Women’s
Voices: Music, Art, and Female Patronage in Early Modern Florence (University of Chicago Press,
2006), 111–23.
82
Die Heldenmüthige Judith, D3r: “Daß deß Oestreichs Ehren-Bogen / Den der Himmel hat
gezogen / Biß er da, und dorten stehet / Wo Sonn auff und nieder gehet. / Nemlich, bey Käyser-
und Königlichen Thronen / Zwischen den Teutschen und Spanischen Cronen.”
154 “A virtual picture of Arcadia”

That Viennese convents concerned themselves so deeply with politics and

that the emperor and other men frequently attended convent performances
there confirms the very different societal role played by Viennese convents
as compared to Italian ones. Viennese practices suggest something of the
relationship between the Habsburg rulers and their subjects – people were
not merely to be ruled, but to participate wholeheartedly, showing their
support and approval for the political and social order. As the imperial
capital, Vienna was a showplace for this concept, and the entire walled city
was turned into a theater on special occasions imperial or religious.
Programs of eighteenth-century festivals describe how people from all
walks of life, from poor widow to prince, paid tribute with decorations
and festivities, each according to his or her means.83
Even women who had withdrawn from the world, and the girls they
taught, were not exempt – indeed, their participation in this image-making
seems to have been highly valued, as they were models of piety and skilled
in music. Convents embodied several female roles, articulated in the
Trattenimento Estivo. They reproved, as might a good wife (Vigilanza);
they provided moral instruction and warnings, as would a mother to her
children (Attentione); they were models of wise counsel and good judg-
ment, like a older woman (Occulatezza); and they articulated societal
anxiety (Diligenza), as in the matter of the succession, directing their
attention to that crucial problem, which could not be resolved without
women.

83
One example is the 330-page Wiennerische Beleuchtungen, Oder Beschreibung Aller deren
Triumph- und Ehren-Gerüsten, Sinn-Bildern, und anderen sowol herrlich- als kostbar, und
annoch nie so prächtig gesehenen Auszierungen, Welche bey denen Zu Ehren der höchst-
gewünschten Geburt Josephi Den 13. Martii das erstemal, und sodann . . . den 23. und 24. April . . .
allstäts Abends, und die Nächte hindurch, nicht nur in alhiesig frohlockender Stadt Wienn,
sondern auch mancher Orten in denen herumligenden Vor-Städten angestellten allgemeinen
Freudens-Bezeugungen, sowol an Geistlichen Collegien, Klöstern, und Stiften, als auch weltlichen
Pallästen, und Privat-Häusern zu bewunderen, und zu sehen gewesen (Vienna: Johann Peter v.
Ghelen, 1741).
5 Commedia dell’arte, talking animals,
and the three Marys
Passion music in Viennese convents

Holy Week in early eighteenth-century Vienna was packed with devotional

activities. For the imperial family and the court, there were visits to
churches, monasteries, and convents; services of many kinds; a pilgrimage
on foot to the village of Hernals to visit the Calvarienberg and its stations of
the cross (the emperor went on Tuesday);1 and a ceremony, imitating the
Last Supper, at which the emperor and empress washed the feet of twelve
poor old men and twelve poor old women, respectively, served them a meal,
and gave them gifts (Thursday). On Friday, members of the imperial family
“visited on foot the Holy Sepulchers in various churches of this city.” That
evening, “a devotional musical presentation on the death of Jesus Christ our
Savior” was performed “in the Imperial Chapel at the palace, at the lovely
model of the Holy Sepulcher erected there.”2
On Saturday, the emperor and empress and their courts likewise made
the rounds of the city churches. In 1664 Emperor Leopold I “visited afoot the
Churches and Sepulchres, in number thirty-seven, at three of which the
Passion of our Saviour was exhibited in Musick.”3 One of these was perhaps
the Augustinian church: a libretto indicates that a musical piece was per-
formed there (on Good Friday) in the presence of the emperor in 1671.4
Another was probably the Jesuit College. In 1674 the emperor visited twenty-
nine churches, including those of all the convents except St. Ursula, whose

1
Ernst Tomek, Kirchengeschichte Österreichs, vol. II, Humanismus, Reformation und
Gegenreformation (Innsbruck: Tyrolia Verlag, 1949), 647.
2
This description is derived from accounts in the Corriere ordinario, 1708–10. Quotations are
taken from the account for 1708 (April 7): [Friday] The dowager empress, with her daughters,
“doppo mezzo dì andò à piedi colla sua Corte à visitar i Sacri Sepolcri in diverse Chiese di questa
Città . . . e la sera si fece nella Cesarea Cappella à Palazzo nel vago Sepolcro colà eretto, una divota
Rappresentazione in Musica della Morte di Giesù Christo nostro Redentore.” Further details
appear in Wienerisches Andachts-Büchl oder Fest-Calender vor das Jahr 1715 (Vienna:
Schönwetter, 1715), 37–43.
3
John Burbury, A Relation of a Journey of the Right Honourable My Lord Henry Howard, From
London to Vienna and thence to Constantinople (London: T. Collins and I. Ford, 1671), 28.
4
Anonymous, Adam per culpam deperditus, morte Christi repertus. Musica decantatus ad
sepulchrum Christi di Veneris sancto coram Sac. Caes. Majestate in ecclesia fratrum Eremitarum
Discalceatorum S. Augustini. Viennae die 27. Martij Anno 1671 (Vienna, 1671). 155
156 Commedia dell’arte, talking animals, and the three Marys

church was not completed until 1675.5 On Saturday also, the Devotion of the
Mysteries of the Rosary was celebrated in the Augustinian church. This
observance, founded by Empress Eleonora I in 1637, took place on the
three Saturdays preceding Easter and included five sermons and five motets.6
The week was equally busy for the less exalted. Sepulchers were erected in
many churches, and there were devotional activities, similar to those the court
attended, all over the city. Thousands joined the emperor’s pilgrimage on
Tuesday or made their own. Some of these were figural, the participants
acting out or embellishing the passion story: a procession from Vienna to
Hernals on March 22, 1698 (the day before Palm Sunday), included “16.
Christ with the cross. 17. Simon Cyrenus. 18. Weeping Jews with wives and
their children.”7 Figural processions continued into the early eighteenth
century, the Wienerisches Diarium reporting one on this day in 1705.8 On
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings, worshippers lit candles and
sang passion hymns “at the Holy Cross next to the Holy Stairway,”9 probably
in the Minoritenkirche. Many also probably climbed the steps on their
knees to represent the captive Christ’s arrival before Pontius Pilate for
sentencing.10 The mayor of the city presided over a foot-washing ceremony
at St. Stephen’s;11 wandering troupes performed passion plays with music;12
and members of the brotherhoods processed through the streets dragging
crosses and heavy chains and scourging themselves.13 A Trauer-Gesang was
performed “at the glorious sepulcher” in the Capuchin church on Good

5
Ältere Zeremoniel Akten, Karton 9, B, fol. 1r–v, AT-OeStA/HHStA OMeA ÄZA (A-Whh).
6
Gabriela Krombach, “Die Musik zu den Mysterien-Andachten in der Wiener Augustiner-
Kirche,” in Arnfried Edler and Friedrich W. Riedel (eds.), Johann Joseph Fux und seine Zeit:
Kultur, Kunst und Musik im Spätbarock (Laaber-Verlag, 1996), 203–18.
7
Neu-ankommender Currier Aus Wien/Hungarn/Pohlen/und Reich, March 26, 1698: “16. Christus
mit dem Creutz. 17. Simon Cyrenus. 18. Weinende Juden mit Weiber und mit ihren Kindern.”
8
Wienerisches Diarium, April 3, 1705.
9
Wienerisches Andachts-Büchl (1715), 41. See also Wolfgang J. Bandion, Steinerne Zeugen des
Glaubens: Die heiligen Stätten der Stadt Wien (Vienna: Herold, 1989), 56.
10
The stairs imitated the Scala Sancta in Rome. Josef Maria Soresini, Bericht und Andacht der
H. Stiegen welche Jesus Christus zur Zeit seines Leydens vor dem Pallast deß Röm. Land-Pflegers
Pontii Pilati zu Hierusalem auff- und abgestiegen: Allen Liebhabern deß Leydens Christi . . .
verfasset. Da eine dergleichen heilige Stiegen in der Kirchen deß H. Creutzes der Ehrwürdigen PP.
Minoriten . . . aufferbauet . . . worden (Vienna: S. Schmid, 1715) (there are several further
editions). On the activity there in 1781, the devout climbing the steps on their knees, see Nicolai,
Beschreibung einer Reise, II:611. There was also a set of Heilige Stiegen in the convent of St.
Laurenz (Testarello della Massa, “Beschreibung,” 853).
11
Wienerisches Andachts-Büchl (1715), 40.
12
Alexander von Weilen, “Älteste Spuren theatralischer Bethätigung,” in Die Theater Wiens
(Vienna: Gesellschaft für vervielfältigende Kunst, 1899), vol. I, 3–5.
13
Rohling, “Exequial and Votive Practices,” 128–30.
 Commedia dell’arte, talking animals, and the three Marys 157

Friday beginning at 7 a.m., “before, in the middle of, and after the Passion
sermon.”14 The performers were apparently court musicians, and the practice
continued through 1715.15 On the same day, a passion play was performed at
St. Stephen’s.16 The version known in the late seventeenth century began in
the morning with the story of the crucifixion and continued in the afternoon
with the reactions of Jesus’ mother and followers at the sepulcher, the
audience participating as mourners.17 In the evening, members of the brother-
hoods in their habits appeared “at the Holy Sepulchers with torches and
staves, singing the Miserere.”18
The Friday musical production at court has been termed a sepolcro, for
works before 1705, or a passion oratorio, for works after that. The sepolcro
is a musical contemplation on, or drama concerning, the passion of
Christ, in one part, presented in Italian and acted out in the Imperial
Chapel, in front of a model of the “Most Holy Sepulcher,” with an
elaborate painted backdrop behind.19 Less elaborate sepolcri and similar

14
For example, Johann Michael Zächer, SoLatIosa aMorIs pVgna LIbrI VItae apoCaLYptICI In
VIrentI saL VtIferæ CrVCIs LIgno eXposItI. Das ist: Deß an dem Baum deß heylbringenden
Creutzes eröffneten Apocalyptischen Buch deß Lebens CHRISTI JESU Trost-voller Liebes-
Kampff . . . Bey dem glorwürdigen Grabe CHRISTI, In der Kirchen Deren Wohl-Ehrwürdigen PP.
Capucinern auff dem Neuenmarck am Heil. Charfreytag früh umb 7. Uhr vor, in, und nach der
Passion-Predig in einem Sing-Spiel entworffen (Vienna: Leopold Voigt, 1700).
15
Wienerisches Andachts-Büchl (1715), 41: “Ferner wird diesen Tag bey denen PP. Capucinern um
8. Uhr die Passions-Predig gehalten; unter welcher von denen Kaiserl. Musicanten ein teutsche
Trauer-Music von dem Leyden Christi zu hören.”
16
Franz Hadamowsky, “Mittelalterliches geistliches Spiel in Wien 1499–1718: Eine
Dokumentation aus den wichtigsten Quellen,” Jahrbuch der Wiener Gesellschaft für
Theaterforschung, 23 (1981), 16–17, 98, and Hadamowsky, Wien, Theatergeschichte: Von den
Anfängen bis zum Ende des Ersten Weltkriegs (Vienna: Jugend und Volk, 1988), 57–60.
17
Testarello della Massa, “Beschreibung,” 380–451, and Wienerisches Andachts-Büchl (1715), 41.
Hadamowsky, “Mittelalterliches geistliches Spiel in Wien” includes a transcription of Testarello
della Massa’s version of the play (pp. 87–111).
18
Wienerisches Andachts-Büchl (1715), 42: “Sonsten werden Heute Bruderschaften in ihren
Habiten gesehen, welche des Abends, mit Fackeln, Stäben und Musicalischer Singung des
Psalmen Miserere, bey denen Heil. Gräbern sich einfinden.” The practice imitates funeral rites of
the day; see Rohling, “Exequial and Votive Practices,” 251–53.
19
Gustav Renker, “Das Wiener Sepolcro,” unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Vienna
(1913); Franz Hadamowsky, “Barocktheater am Wiener Kaiserhof: Mit einem Spielplan
(1625–1740),” Jahrbuch der Gesellschaft für Wiener Theaterforschung 1951–52 (Vienna, 1955),
33, 58–60; Gernot Gruber, Das Wiener Sepolcro und Johann Joseph Fux, vol. I (Graz: Johann-
Joseph-Fux Gesellschaft, 1972); Howard E. Smither, A History of the Oratorio, vol. I: The
Oratorio in the Baroque Era (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1977),
395–97; Rudolf Schnitzler, “From sepolcro to passion oratorio: Tradition and innovation in the
early eighteenth-century Viennese oratorio,” in Patrick F. Devine and Harry White (eds.),
Maynooth International Musicological Conference 1995: Selected Proceedings I (Dublin: Four
Courts Press, 1996), 392–410; and Irmgard Scheitler, Deutschsprachige Oratorienlibretti: Von
den Anfängen bis 1730, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Kirchenmusik, 12 (Paderborn: Ferdinand
Schöningh, 2005), 244–59.
158 Commedia dell’arte, talking animals, and the three Marys

works in German were sometimes performed in other court chapels.20

After the death of Emperor Leopold I in 1705, musical presentations
continued at court on Good Friday, but they became more oratorio-like:
they seem to have no longer had scenery, nor to have been acted out. By
1715 these were, like oratorios, in two parts.
There was also music “at the Holy Sepulcher” in other locations in
Vienna, and elsewhere in the Habsburg lands. Performances at the
sepulcher were common in Moravia and Bohemia, and works were
exchanged between Vienna and those areas. Georg Reutter Sr.’s Doloris
et pietatis speculum Jesus in Cruce demoriens bonis & peccatoribus à Deo
propositium was performed first in Vienna, probably at the Jesuit College,
and later at the Jesuit College in Prague.21 Before the sepolcro became
established at court, the emperor visited the Jesuit College in Vienna every
year on Good Friday, where “the Jesuit Fathers put on a sorrowful play
concerning the passion of Christ in the College at the sepulcher.”22 These
performances continued into the eighteenth century. In the late seven-
teenth century and the early eighteenth, the visits of members of the
Imperial family to churches, monasteries, and especially convents, on
the Friday and Saturday of Holy Week often included musical perform-
ances – sepolcri, passion oratorios, or shorter, cantata-like pieces.23 The
sepolcri and passion oratorios performed in the court chapels were thus
not a unique devotional practice, but rather the high-status versions of a
widespread sort of performance.

20
German-language sepolcri were performed in the Chapel of Archduchess Maria Antonia from
1677. Seifert, Die Oper am Wiener Kaiserhof im 17. Jahrhundert, 486, 493, 496.
21
Georg Reutter Sr., DoLorIs et pIetatIs speCVLVM IesVs In CrVCe DeMorIens
BonIs & peCCatorIbVs à Deo proposItVm. Oder, Christus Jesus am Creütz ein Spiegel der
Schmertzen, und Göttlicher Erbarmnussen . . . Vorhero in Wienn: Jetzt aber in der kleinern
Stadt Prag . . . In der Kirchen S. Nicolai, der Wohl-Ehrwürdigen PP. Soc. JESU, am
H. Charfreytag Nachmittag um 12. Uhr, von der Edlen Music beflissenen Liebhabern in einem
traurigen Gesang entworffen (Prague: Barbara Francisca Bergerin, 1713).
22
Hadamowsky, “Barocktheater,” 59, quoting from the Frankfurter Relationen, April 15, 1661:
“die Herren Patres Soc. Jesu im Collegio bey dem Grab eine traurige Comödie vom Leiden
Christi halten lassen.” Burbury mentions that the emperor attended a passion performance
on Good Friday at the Jesuit church in 1664 (Relation of a Journey, 28). Manuscript libretti
dating from 1643 to 1697 survive for productions at the Holy Sepulcher in the Jesuit college:
Kurt Adel, “Handschriften von Jesuitendramen in der Österreichischen National-Bibliothek
in Wien,” Jahrbuch der Gesellschaft für Wiener Theater-Forschung, 12 (1960), nos. 77, 104,
and 228.
23
Alfred Orel suggested that performances in cloisters may have been frequent, but his statement
seems to have been forgotten. Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, s.v. “Oratorium, E:
Österreichische Sonderformen” (1962).
 Convent passion music 1695–1710 159

Convent passion music 1695–1710: court and convent

in Holy Week

The passion music performed in Viennese convents drew on a wide variety

of sources, including opera, cantata and serenata, Jesuit school drama, and
sometimes even commedia dell’arte and popular oral tradition. There was
no fixed pattern to imperial visits to churches and convents, nor to the
performances. In 1697 there were two performances “at the Holy
Sepulcher” in the Ursuline convent church. Carlo Agostino Badia’s
L’Invenzione della Croce is in two parts; it is dedicated to Eleonore Maria,
the widowed half-sister of Emperor Leopold, and dated April 6 (Saturday).
The same composer’s Il pianto di Maria Vergine, e di Santa Maria
Maddalena al S. Sepolcro[,] Raddolcito dalla Consolatione is short (eighty-
five lines) and has only three characters; it was to be “performed on Holy
Saturday by the Madri Orsoline on the occasion of the visit to the Holy
Sepulcher by his Majesty Joseph, King of the Romans,” the 19-year-old
future Emperor Joseph I.24 The Corriere ordinario reported only Joseph’s
activities during the morning of Holy Saturday, but noted that the family
met at the Augustinian church for Mass. Eleonore Maria’s party apparently
toured the churches on its own schedule,25 and an extended piece such as
L’Invenzione della Croce was probably performed in the afternoon. A report
from 1712 in the chronicle of the Ursuline convent suggests that a single
presentation was more usual, but that sometimes, depending on the
imperial schedule, there might be no performance at the sepulcher at all:
“Holy Saturday: his Majesty the Emperor visited our Holy Sepulcher, so we
sang Vespers in the choir, and thus were not able to perform our usual
music at the sepulcher.”26
On Good Friday in 1710, Dowager Empress Eleonora Magdalena, the
young Habsburg offspring, and the Duchess of Lorraine attended services
and dined at the Königinkloster, then visited other churches.27 An oratorio
was performed at that convent at one o’clock in the afternoon. The music
for Suspiria animæ amantis was composed by Franz Anton (Francesco

24
Giuseppe Spedazzi, Il pianto di Maria Vergine (Vienna: Andrea Heyinger, 1697), title page: “in
occasione della visita fatta al. S. Sepolcro, dalla Maestà del Rè de’ Romani Giuseppe.”
25
Corriere ordinario, April 10, 1697.
26
“Hauschronik,” II:230: (March 1712) “charsamstag . . . Ihr Mayl: der keyser haben das grab bey
uns besucht da wür auf den Chor die Vesper gesungen und also nicht die gewohnliche Music bey
dem grab machen khönen.”
27
Wienerisches Diarium, April 19, 1710.
160 Commedia dell’arte, talking animals, and the three Marys

Antonio) Gruner, a musico in the Dowager Empress’s chapel;28 thus the

event would seem to have been planned by the court, perhaps in honor of
the visiting duchess, whose husband was Emperor Joseph’s cousin. Gruner
continued to be associated with this convent, composing at least one further
musical work for them: Ein Gott-gefälligster der Welt bißhero verborgener,
anheunt ertheilter Triumph, performed on July 2, 1730, to honor the second
profession of the abbess, Maria Barbara, Freiin von Wertema.29
The librettist of Suspiria animæ amantis was Johann Baptist Hilverding
(ca. 1660–1721), the noted puppeteer, comedy actor, and director. He may
perhaps have been trying to gain imperial attention by contributing to a
Viennese convent production, a tactic also employed by composers includ-
ing Badia, Francesco Scarlatti, Georg Reutter Jr., and Wagenseil. It was just
at this time that Hilverding and his business partner Anton Stranitzky, the
famous Hanswurst, were striving to make popular comedy more respect-
able, holding performances in theaters rather than in temporary structures
or buildings not intended for theatrical performance, and separating them-
selves from traveling companies. From Easter 1710 Stranitzky and his
company shared the newly built Kärntnertortheater with the Italian com-
edians who had occupied it since its opening in November 1709.30
According to the chronicle of the Ursuline convent, on Holy Saturday
(April 19) 1710, the day after the performance at the Königinkloster, “at
12:30 their majesties the emperor and empress came to our sepulcher, where
we gave a little musical performance.”31 The music likely resembled the
anonymous, undated Cantata sacra performed in the Ursuline church one
Holy Saturday, “at the arrival of his Imperial Majesty on his visit to the most
Holy Sepulcher” (Figure 16). The cantata, scored for two violins, soprano
voice, cembalo, viola [da gamba], and bassoon, appears to date from the late

28
Franz Anton Gruner (text: Johann Baptist Hilverding), Suspiria animæ amantis . . . Das ist
Hertzliche Begierd Der Braut (Vienna: Johann Georg Schlegel, 1710). Gruner was
described as a musico in 1710, and listed in the Hof Schematismus as Hof-Capellan 1726–40
and as Ober-Hof-Capellan 1746–50 (some years are missing from the series). Kaiserlicher
und Königlicher, Wie auch Erz-Herzoglicher Und Dero Residenz-Stadt Wien, Staats- und
Stands Calendar, Auf das Jahr 1726 Mit einem Schematismus geziert (Vienna: Johann Georg
Frey, 1726; other volumes have the same or a similar title).
29
Franz Anton Gruner, Ein Gott-gefälligster Der Welt bißhero verborgener, anheunt ertheilter
Triumph (Vienna: Wolfgang Schwendimann, 1730).
30
Weilen, “Älteste Spuren theatralischer Bethätigung,” in Die Theater Wiens, 123–25;
Gustav Gugitz, “Die Familie Hilverding und ihre theatralische Sendung: Ein Beitrag zur
Geschichte des deutschen Theaters in Wien,” Jahrbuch des Vereines für Geschichte der Stadt
Wien, 11 (1954), 75–85; and Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon, s.v. “Stranitzky, Anton” (by Otto
G. Schindler).
31
“Hauschronik,” II:193: (April 19, 1710) “umb halber 1 uhr sein ihre Mayl: d[er] keyser und [die]
Keyserin zu unser grab khomen, alwo wür Eine kleine Music gehalten.”
 Convent passion music 1695–1710 161

Figure 16. Cantata sacra, ca. 1700, title page. Mus. Hs. 18698, A-Wn. Reproduced with permission of
ÖNB/Wien.

years of the seventeenth century or perhaps the early years of the eighteenth.
The use of cembalo rather than organ suggests performance away from the
choir loft, where the main organ was located. The work consists of three
arias, the second and third introduced by short recitatives. The second, a
continuo aria “con viola [e] fagotto” with a chaconne-like flavor, is followed
by a sinfonia, which is musically related to the aria. The third aria and the
sinfonia begin with the exact imitation characteristic of Badia. The arias are
in the proto da capo form typical of the later seventeenth century (AB, then
a return to an altered version of A) rather than the full da capo form more
common in the early eighteenth. The voice has a few moderate melismas to
highlight important words – for example, “mar di pianto” (sea of tears) in
the second aria, “Redentor” in the third. The sentiments resemble those
expressed by the sorrowing Marys in many other such works.
The third aria, “Liquefatevi ò mie pupille,” shows considerable composi-
tional skill in its imitative texture, treatment of the minor mode, text painting,
and overall construction (Example 26). The little falling motive heard in
imitation at the beginning – suggesting the constantly falling tears – permeates
the music, occasionally being varied or drawn out into a longer line (violin 1,
mm. 17–21). In the opening phrases, the two violins weave around and imitate
162 Commedia dell’arte, talking animals, and the three Marys

Example 26. Anonymous, Cantata sacra, “Liquefatevi ò mie pupille.”

Liquefy, O my eyes, all in droplets of sorrow; / Fall by the thousands on the dead Savior.

the soprano voice and each other; rarely do the three upper voices sound all
together for more than a note or two. The final phrase brings both voice and
violin to their highest pitches, the soprano reaching hers through a dramatic,
chromatically inflected rising line. Here the violins play continuously, creating
the fullest sound of the piece and bringing it, and the cantata as a whole, to a
musically satisfying conclusion. The music has a repetitive, contemplative
quality, reminiscent of another sepulchral work performed at this convent,
Badia’s La Sepoltura di Christo (1698).
The young Badia is a candidate for composer of this work, but it is
certainly possible that there was a composer among the nuns at St. Ursula
(and possibly trained by Badia himself ), although no specific name emerges
for this period. Whoever composed the work had a gift for creating dramatic
effect with limited means – a talent highly useful in writing convent music.
A performance would take around twelve minutes, just about the right
length of time for a brief imperial visit.
 Convent passion music 1695–1710 163

Example 26 (cont.)

One convent passion piece looks as if it might have been acted out: La
Resurezione di Giesu Cristo (1702), written by Badia for the Ursuline
convent.32 The nuns and Kostfräulein of this convent had formerly followed
the Italian practice of presenting plays for their own entertainment and that
of eminent visitors. Several such performances are reported around 1670, in
convent documents and in the correspondence of members of the Imperial
family, and the practice may well have continued.33
Unlike the traditional court sepolcro, La Resurezione is in two parts. There
are directions in the printed libretto for the entry and exit of characters and
descriptions of some limited action (Table 7). There is also a suggestion that

32
Anonymous, La Resurezione di Giesu Cristo. Oratorio Da Cantarsi Dalle RR. MM. Orsoline Nella
Sera del Sabbato Santo al Santo Sepolcro. Posto in Musica dal Sig. Carlo Agostino Badia, Virtuoso
di Camera di S.M.C. (Vienna: Andrea Heyinger, 1702).
33
See pp. 85–87 above.
164 Commedia dell’arte, talking animals, and the three Marys

Example 26 (cont.)

there was some scenery – or perhaps a painted backdrop like those custom-
ary for performances in the Hofkapelle – in a direction for the three Marys to
“look toward Mount Calvary nearby.”
The opening scene features a character reminiscent of commedia dell’arte,
in the soldier on guard in front of the sepulcher, clearly an ancestor of
Mozart and Da Ponte’s Leporello. Like Leporello, he (or rather she – a nun
or novice, perhaps in soldier’s dress?) begins with an aria of complaint:

Too miserable a life

Is the military life.
If only Mars with death
Would bring an end to the evil course
 Convent passion music 1695–1710 165

Example 26 (cont.)

Of harsh fate;
But to have the living heart
Of a fellow
While in torments,
Is a vegetative death,
Is a continuous agonizing.34
He continues his grousing in recitative:
War or peace, I am in distress.
Those same elements that bring life to others are mortal to me:
Because the bare earth, the rainy sky, the freezing air, the sun burning,

34
La Resurezione di Giesu Cristo, fol. A2r: “Vita troppo miserabile / E la vita militar. / Almen Marte
con la morte / D’aspra sorte / Dasse fine al rio tenor; / Mà di Tizio / Nel suplizio / Redivivo aver’il
cor, / E una morte vegetabile, / E un continuo agonizar.”
166 Commedia dell’arte, talking animals, and the three Marys

Table 7. Performance directions in the libretto of La Resurezione di

Giesu Cristo (Vienna, 1702).

Un soldato di Guardia Dinanzi il Santo
Sepolcro
Sopragionge Gioseffo di Arimatia
Esce un Decurione
Dalla Città vengono verso L’Orto Maria
Maddalena, Maria Cleofè, e Maria
Salomè con gli Aromati
Osservano il Monte Calvario vicino
Vanno al Monte Calvario
Comparisce l’Angelo
Cadono tramortiti, ò fuggono
Tornano le trè Marie vicine al Sepolcro
Si rancontrano con Gioseffo d’Arimatia
A soldier of the guard in front of the Holy
Sepulcher
Joseph of Arimathea arrives
An officer comes out
From the city toward this place come Maria
Maddalena, Maria Cleofè, and Maria
Salomè with spices
They look toward Mount Calvary nearby
They go to Mount Calvary
The angel appears
[The soldiers] fall down stunned or flee
The three Marys arrive at the Sepulcher
They meet Joseph of Arimathea

With harsh severity, leave me no peace or rest:

And yet for so much pain
The reward is meagre, late, or never comes at all:
So that for every soldier [soldato], especially the lowly private,
Pay [il soldo] is just an imaginary name.35
A little later, when chastised by an officer for chatting with passers-by, the
soldier replies, rather cheekily, “Se favellar non lice, Ceder conviene al
sonno” (If talking is not permitted, I may as well go to sleep).36
The complaint about pay might have been understood as a topical
reference rather than merely the universal lament about the hard life of
the soldier. Lord Lexington, British Minister at Vienna, reported in a letter
of May 26, 1696, that “Prince Eugene [of Savoy] went away the day before
yesterday, and all he could get for the payment of the whole army, which is
near two years behind hand, was an assignation for 100,000 florins upon a
fund of money to be borrowed at Genoa, when they can get it.”37 Audience

35
Ibid., fol. A2r–v: “Guerra, o pace, che sia, le angoscie io provo. / Quegli stessi Elementi, / Che
altrui propensi danno esche vitali, / A mè sono mortali; / Poiche la nuda Terra il Ciel piovoso, /
L’Aria gelata, ed il Pianeta ardente, / Con rigore inclemente, / Non lasciano à miei guai tregua, ò
riposo: / E pur di tante pene / Il premio scarso, tardo, ò non mai viene: / Sì che d’ogno Soldato,
almen gregario, / Il soldo è sempre nome immaginario.” Thanks to Matteo Magarotto for
pointing out the pun, as well as advising me on the translation.
36
Ibid., fol. A3v.
37
Robert Sutton, Lord Lexington, The Lexington Papers; or, Some Account of the Courts of
London and Vienna, at the Conclusion of the Seventeenth Century: Extracted from the Official
 Convent passion music 1695–1710 167

members not fluent in Italian would still have been able to follow the action,
as this libretto, like others for such productions, was also printed in a
German translation.38
Soldiers are common characters in the sepolcro, casting lots for Christ’s
clothing or guarding the tomb, and they are generally portrayed seriously, as
believers, as abusing Christ as agents of their masters, or as being converted
over the course of the drama. In L’Empietà Trionfante nella Morte di Giesu
Cristo (Badia, 1701) a chorus of soldiers and their captain mock Jesus on the
cross, but are converted with the earthquake: “Pietà dolce Giesù, pietà,
pietà,” they sing.39 But soldiers were very often comic or crude characters
in plays of other sorts, an idea that seems to have been carefully avoided in
court sepolcri, likely on account of the solemnity and the religious meaning
of the material, and out of respect for the imperial family.40 The soldier in La
Resurezione has a serious side as well as a comic one, first doubting Jesus,
then becoming a believer. The blend of serious and comic here suggests that
Viennese convents enjoyed a lively tradition; the inhabitants of this convent
continued to appreciate popular comedy, and to find it appropriate to
solemn occasions.
Sadly, no music for La Resurezione appears to survive – it would be
very interesting to hear what Badia devised for the “Sinfonia allusiva a
terremoto” that begins the second part. The earthquake was a common
feature of the convent sepolcro, providing an opportunity for vigorous
music to contrast with the abundance of the slow and sad. An example in
Georg Reutter Jr.’s Mater dolorum, performed at St. Agnes, appears
below.
Although no other work appears so clearly to have been acted out, the
libretto of Giesu nel Pretorio, ò sia l’Innocenza giudicata dalla Malizia
(Badia, 1700) describes the setting, the action, and the time for the auditors’
imagination: “The Place. Pilate’s courtyard, where the people have flocked to
await the sentencing of Jesus of Nazareth. The Action. The sentence of death
is pronounced against the most innocent Saviour. The Time. The morning

and Private Correspondence of Robert Sutton, Lord Lexington, British Minister at Vienna,
1694–98, ed. H. Manners Sutton (London: John Murray, 1851), 209.
38
Joseph Triller (trans.), Die Aufferstehung Jesu Christi[,] Oratorium Von Denen Hoch-
Ehrwürdigen Closter-Jungfrauen der Ursulinerinnen in Wien, Am Heiligen Oster-Abend Bey dem
Heiligen Grab Welisch gesungen mit der Music. Von Dem Herrn Carl Augustin Badia, der
Römischen Kayserl. Majest. Compositorn. In das Teutsche übersetzt, Von Joseph Triller, der
Römischen Kayserl. Majest. Hoff-Poeten (Vienna: Andreas Heyinger, 1702).
39
L’Empietà Trionfante nella Morte di Giesu Cristo, [fol. 7v] (librettist unidentified, Vienna:
Andrea Heyinger, 1701).
40
Renker, “Das Wiener Sepolcro,” 40–41, 78.
168 Commedia dell’arte, talking animals, and the three Marys

of Good Friday, a little before the third hour [9 a.m.].”41 The work is
dramatic in conception: a contemplative first part is followed by a dramatic
second part, the trial of Jesus.
In Badia’s La Sepoltura di Christo (1698) the characters venerate the
sepulcher in a recitative that suggests there might have been a few gestures:42

Maddalena: Oh Sepolcro del Cielo! Oh sepulcher of heaven!

S. Giovanni: Stanza del Paradiso! Place of paradise!
Gioseffo: Albergo della vita! Abode of life!
S. Giovanni: Erario, Treasury,
Maddalena: Nido, Nest,
Nicodemo: Trono, Throne,
S. Giovanni: De le Glorie d’un Dio, of the glory of a God,
Maddalena: D’immacolato Cigno, of an immaculate swan,
Nicodemo: Del Monarca celeste of the heavenly Monarch,
Giosef., Nicod.: Io ti stringo. I embrace you,
Mad., S. Gio.: Ti abbraccio. I embrace you.

The score contains no explicit performance instructions, but it may be

that gestures were part of the tradition. The final two lines of this section are
set in duet for pairs of characters, in a setting suggesting that the characters
embraced three times (Example 27).
Neither does any convent libretto specify decoration, beyond the
sepulcher itself, although this one identifies the Epitapho in large letters in
the libretto and assigns a person to read it – the only thing that character
does in the drama; the Epitapho may have been written out, on a banner
hung above the sepulcher, perhaps, for all to see. Badia’s Il pianto di Maria
Vergine, e di Santa Maria Maddalena al S. Sepolcro, opens with a recitative
describing the walls of the church as shrouded with “a lugubrious set of
draperies. What black pomp! And what livery of death decks the walls of the
beautiful temple of God? What woeful dress, and what gloomy veil has
heaven drawn over the sacred dwelling?”43

41
Giesu nel Pretorio, ò sia l’Innocenza giudicata dalla Malizia (librettist unidentified, Vienna:
Andrea Heyinger, 1700), fol. A1v: “Il Luogo. Il Cortile di Pilato, dove accorse la Gente
ad’aspettare la sentenza di Giesù Nazareno. L’Azione. E ’la sentenza di morte pronunziata contro
del Salvatore innocentissimo. Il Tempo. La mattina del Venerdi Santo, poco prima dell’ora terza.”
42
Renato Navagini Batticassa, La Sepoltura di Christo (Vienna: Andrea Heyinger, 1698),
fol. C2r.
43
Spedazzi, Il pianto di Maria Vergine, fol. 2r: “Qual lugubre Apparato, Qual nera Pompa! e qual
Livrea di Morte, Del bel Tempio di Dio veste le Mura? Qual Gramaglia funesta, E qual oscuro
Velo[,] De la Sacra Magion ricuopre il Cielo?”
 Convent passion music 1695–1710 169

Example 27. Carlo Agostino Badia, La Sepoltura di Christo, Part 2, Recitative “O Sepolcro,” mm. 10–14.

Giesu nel Pretorio, like La Resurezione, includes a character with popular

traits. Livia, the wife of Pontius Pilate, combines characteristics of the strong
woman saint who features in many court oratorios and the nagging wife of
old liturgical dramas. Pilate’s wife is mentioned only once in the Bible, in
Matthew 27:19. As Pilate sits in the judge’s seat, he receives a message from
her: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered
a great deal today in a dream because of him.” She is not named in the
biblical passage and does not appear in person, but she had become a
character in passion plays by the late thirteenth century.44 In Giesu nel
Pretorio she urges Pilate repeatedly to acquit Jesus and to consider carefully
the results of his actions.
Livia provides a foil to those urging Jesus’ conviction: “In favor di Giesù
quest’è la prima Voce, ch’oda il mio orrecchio” (this is the first voice in favor
of Jesus that has reached my ear), says Pilate.45 The opposition of good and
evil customary in seventeenth-century oratorios appears here, as Livia, a

44
Karl Young, The Drama of the Medieval Church (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1933), vol. I,
432–37.
45
Giesu nel Pretorio, fol. 7r.
170 Commedia dell’arte, talking animals, and the three Marys

good, strong woman, is set against Caiaphas, the high priest, and the Jewish
turba – “Crucifiggi, Crucifiggi” they cry, and “Croce, Croce, Croce, Croce.”46
Jesus himself does not speak in the trial scene. Several of his followers are
present, but they merely comment in asides, as if peering around a column at
the scene. As they are poor, they have neither status nor power, while Livia, as
wife of the governor, is a person of rank and influence, able to speak up
without fear. Thus, the judgment of Jesus, as presented here, conforms to
early eighteenth-century notions of class and status, as well as to conventions
of oratorio construction. The Habsburgs viewed themselves as intercessors
between God and their subjects, and Livia takes on this role here. She does not
succeed in swaying Pilate, as the story must proceed in the prescribed
manner. But she is shown to have tried – to have made a statement.
Badia’s La Sepoltura di Christo (1698) is one of only two large-scale
passion productions from Viennese convents for which the music is pre-
served. As the text in the score matches the printed libretto closely, it seems
likely that this is the piece performed “on the evening of Holy Saturday by
the Madri Orsoline at the Most Holy Sepulcher.”47 Neither score nor
libretto, nor any other surviving evidence, mentions imperial attendance,
but the score has the same binding as others presented to the emperor and is
likewise part of the imperial collection, suggesting that some member of the
family visited, and took away a score. Imperial activities in Vienna were
given short shrift in the Corriere ordinario around this time, as the court was
preoccupied with the war in Hungary, which was not going very well for the
Austrian side.
The singers are three sopranos, an alto, a tenor (who has one short aria),
and a “bass,” and the score calls for basso continuo and a variety of melodic
string instruments: two violins, two viole a braccio, and viols. This scoring is
typical of Viennese convent music, in which string instruments were
favored and viols remained in use into the middle of the eighteenth century.
The dark scorings favored in court sepolcri by Bertali, Draghi, Ziani, and
others are prominent, in the use of viols and viole a braccio. The work
includes many of the popular contemporary aria styles of church music and
opera. There are full-scale da capo arias with obbligato accompaniment and
vocal coloratura, in both gentle and vigorous styles; affective pieces with all
the musical indicators of sorrow; repetitive, dance-like pieces; and contra-
puntal ensembles.

46
Ibid., fols. 8r–9r.
47
Batticassa, La Sepoltura di Christo, title page: “Cantato la Sera del Sabbato Santo Da le R.R. Madri
Orsoline al SS. Sepolcro.”
 Convent passion music 1695–1710 171

Example 28. Carlo Agostino Badia, La Sepoltura di Christo, “Lagrime uscite,” Part 1, aria 1, mm. 1–9.
Flow, you tears, from sad eyes

A curious quality of the music of La Sepoltura di Christo is its repetitiveness,

both on the small and on the larger scale, which makes the work last much
longer than the amount of musical material presented. One might be tempted
to attribute this to lack of musical ideas, or to Badia’s having had to compose a
work of a certain length in a hurry, but I believe it to have been intentional,
meant to enhance the contemplative, ritualistic quality of the occasion. The
ways in which this repetition is worked out may be an attempt to reconcile the
traditional demands of the genre with new trends in musical style.
Both parts of the work open with paired arias (Examples 28 and 29). The
second of each pair is almost exactly like the first in structure, and the vocal
lines are almost identical, with the figuration of the second aria a little more
active. The two pairs also resemble each other in style and affect. Many
musical numbers are repeated to a second verse of text, often sung by
another character, following a ritornello based on the music of the aria.
172 Commedia dell’arte, talking animals, and the three Marys

Example 29. Carlo Agostino Badia, La Sepoltura di Christo, “Sospir volate,” Part 1, aria 2, mm. 1–6.
Fly away, you sighs

The second appearance of the aria is at the same pitch as the first, a fifth
higher or a fourth lower.
In sepolcri of the previous generation, by composers such as Draghi, Johann
Heinrich Schmelzer, and Emperor Leopold I, there are frequent strophic arias
with verses sung by different characters, the verses separated by a ritornello
based on related material. The scene sometimes continues with an ensemble
based on the opening motive of the aria. The result is a series of scene
complexes, each unified internally by musical material. But the melodic lines
are simpler than Badia’s, and thus transposition to fit the range of different
voices is often not necessary (octave transposition does appear occasionally).
In La Sepoltura di Christo, the transpositions are made necessary by the
increased virtuosity of the vocal lines, a feature of the new, late-baroque Italian
da capo aria. Most of the arias in La Sepoltura di Christo are of that type, and
they are repeated in their entirety, following the pattern of the earlier works.
Badia’s work thus seems to bridge the older and newer styles, influenced by
the aesthetic of the sepolcro, which contributes the contemplative quality and
the sorrowful affect, created through dark scorings, minor keys, slow tempi,
 Convent sepulcher music in the 1720s and 1730s 173

chromaticism, and falling lines. Badia makes use of all of these, but also adds
chaconne-like basses (see Example 28, based on a falling tetrachord), sighing
figures, and emphasis on important words through coloratura. Some individ-
ual arias are also repetitive in themselves, with an insistent quality created by
returning melodic figures, especially in accompanimental parts.
This idea is also present in contemporary sepolcri and sepolcro oratorios
for the court, but not to such a high degree, nor expressed in quite this way.
Court sepolcri written by Marc’Antonio Ziani in the early eighteenth cen-
tury include units of several numbers – for example, an aria followed by a
ritornello, a second aria setting a second verse of text, then a duet, all based
on similar musical material and beginning with a common musical motive.
Works written by Ziani after 1705, under the new regime of Emperor Joseph
I, are more modern, and include full da capo arias in virtuoso style, elabo-
rately scored concertante arias, and accompanied recitative. They no longer
include the old-style grouping of musical numbers, although they still favor
the traditional dark scorings.

Convent sepulcher music in the 1720s and 1730s: convent,

city, and popular devotion

The convent sepulcher piece, or Trauer-Gesang, seems to have developed

into a tradition in the late 1720s. The works of the 1720s and 30s are
divided between those that re-enact the passion and allegories that deal
with this theme obliquely, focusing on the idea of redemption. While court
passion oratorios have Italian texts, the convent works are in German, the
language of earlier popular presentations such as the passion play at St.
Stephen’s and the Capuchins’ early morning Trauer-Gesang. While the
passion presentation at court had by this time come to resemble the
oratorio, and was usually in two parts, convent works are mostly in one
part, following the earlier tradition.
These works were intended, I believe, for ordinary folk rather than for the
court: none is dedicated to a member of the imperial family, and the only
member of the family reported as attending was Dowager Empress Amalie
Wilhelmine, who had a special devotion to convents. With the abandonment
of the St. Stephen’s passion play after 1718, and the court’s decreasing interest
in convent music from about 1715, sepulcher presentations in convent and
parish churches may have taken the place of the earlier St. Stephen’s play for
the general public. Unsophisticated plots, simple and pointed morals, and
popular elements add to the impression that the nuns now focused their
174 Commedia dell’arte, talking animals, and the three Marys

attention on the lower classes, with whom they already had a strong relation-
ship, welcoming them to their churches for services and devotions to relics,
educating them, and dispensing food and medicine.
Late seventeenth-century court sepolcri frequently include allegorical char-
acters,48 but from the beginning of the eighteenth century such characters
became less frequent. By the 1720s, they appear rarely, and some works have
biblical characters only.49 The Italian oratorios performed in Viennese con-
vents also follow this trend, turning to biblical characters after 1698. But the
surviving Viennese convent Trauer-Gesänge of the 1720s and 30s return to an
earlier tradition – or else they never left it. Most of them include allegorical
characters, and several consist entirely of them.
The works draw on a variety of musical and textual traditions. Christus
Jesus Der . . . Gute Hirt and Die . . . Menschliche Seele, both composed for the
Ursuline convent by Alexander Ender (ca. 1693–1747), a Jesuit and organist
from Moravia,50 are pastoral in character.51 The pastoral was popular in
opera, serenata, and oratorio all over Europe, and carried theological impli-
cations, through the identification of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. Each
work has an echo section, set as recitative, and an “aria pastorella.” The “aria
pastorella” in Christus Jesus Der . . . Gute Hirt, sung by the “Good Shepherd”
to the “Lost Sheep,” suitably invokes the Twenty-Third Psalm, as well as
other biblical passages:
Just come to my pasture,
To my field clad in green,
There to graze on flowers and herbs,
Not found in the vain world:
I am the bread of life,
And my heart is the wellspring of consolation,

48
Rudolf Schnitzler, “The Sacred Dramatic Music of Antonio Draghi,” unpublished PhD
dissertation, University of North Carolina (1971), 149–81.
49
Schnitzler, “From sepolcro to passion oratorio,” 398–99, 405–7; Erika Kanduth, “The literary and
dramaturgical aspects of the Viennese sepolcro oratorio, with particular reference to Fux,” in
Harry White (ed.), Johann Joseph Fux and the Music of the Austro-Italian Baroque (Aldershot:
Scolar Press, 1992), 153–63; and White, “The sepolcro oratorios of Fux: An assessment,” in the
same volume, 164–229.
50
At his death on December 21, 1747, he was described as “Alexander Ender, Organist, gebürtig
aus Mähren, alt 54. Jahre” (Totenbeschauprotokolle 46, fol. 509v, A-Wsa). He identified
himself in 1731 as “Hr. Alexander Ender, Musophilus Libertinus, Aus P. Crombach è Soc. J.”
Letzter Kampf Der Heiligen Ursulæ, Jungfrau und Martyrin (Vienna: Andreas Heyinger,
1731), title page.
51
Alexander Ender, Christus Jesus Der Vor seine Schaaf gestorben, und im Grab liegende Gute Hirt
(Vienna: Johann Ignatz Heyinger, 1734), and Ender, Die Bey dem Grab Jesu Christi Durch
innerliche Anmuthungen Zur Buß bewegte Menschliche Seele (Vienna: Andreas Heyinger, 1731).
 Convent sepulcher music in the 1720s and 1730s 175

If you drink not here, you will seek in vain,

Distant springs in thirsting pain.52
Christus Jesus Der . . . Gute Hirt draws on popular folk tales in having
animal characters: the pious sheep, the lost lamb, and the wolf of hell (the
latter assigned to a bass). The decidedly popular character of the libretto is
illustrated in the following dialogue, with its irregular meter, colloquial
language, and play on the phrase “ein fetter Bratten”:
wolf: Ha! Ha! Now I’ve found you,
[Aren’t you] a prize catch (and a juicy roast),
For my gaping maw?
lost lamb: Oh, woe is me! Who will save me?
However did I get into this trouble?
I must die, or fall into despair.
guardian angel: Clear off, you wolf of hell . . .53

One production, Mater dolorum, with music by Georg Reutter Jr. and text by
Heinrich Rademin, circulated among religious communities, and is preserved
in a set of parts at Stift Kremsmünster and a score fragment at Stift
Heiligenkreuz.54 Rademin (1674–1731), a Hamburg-born poet, seems to
have had his finger in every popular theatrical and musical pie in Vienna
and elsewhere in Central Europe in the early eighteenth century. His specialty
was the translation and arrangement of plays and opera texts, with inserted
Hanswurst characters.55 He may have been in Vienna as early as 1710, when
his translation and setting of a Molière play as a singspiel was published there.56

52
Ender, Christus Jesus Der . . . Gute Hirt [fol. A4r–v]: “Komme nur auf meinen Wasen, /
Auf mein grün-bekleydtes Feld, / Blum und Kräuter da zu grasen, / So nicht hat dein eytle
Welt: / Ich bin selbst das Brod des Lebens, / Und die Trost-Quell ist mein Hertz, / Trinckst
nicht da, so suchst vergebens, / Fremde Quell in durstes Schmertz.”
53
Ibid. [fol. A4v]: “Wolff: Ha! Ha! nun finde ich dich, Ein fett- und guten Bratten, Vor mein
erhungerten Magen? Verlohrne Schäflein: O wehe mir! wer rettet mich? Wie bin ich doch in
diese G’fahr geratten? Ich muß sterben, oder verzagen. Schutz-Engel: Packe dich du
Höllen-Wolff von hinnen . . .”
54
Georg Reutter Jr., Oratorium Germanicum de Passione Domini [Mater dolorum], parts, F 27, 5,
A-Kr. The version of this work at Stift Heiligenkreuz could not be located in 2008. The untitled
score, with call number IV c 3, is said to consist of fragments, and the brief musical incipit
provided by RISM matches the opening of the Sonata of the A-Kr parts (RISM A/II Music
Manuscripts after 1600, no. 600.091.980).
55
Bärbel Rudin, “Heinrich Rademin, Hanswursts Schattenmann: Jurist, Bühnenchef,
Stückeschreiber: Versuch über eine Gründfigur des Wiener Theaters,” in Brigitte Marshall (ed.),
Theater am Hof und für das Volk: Beiträge zur vergleichenden Theater- und Kulturgeschichte:
Festschrift für Otto G. Schindler zum 60. Geburtstag, special issue, Maske und Kothurn, 48,
nos. 1–4 (2002), 271–301.
56
Scheitler, Deutschsprachige Oratorienlibretti, 263–67.
176 Commedia dell’arte, talking animals, and the three Marys

He worked with both Reutters in the late 1720s, producing texts for German
oratorios, including a series of four honoring St. Johann Nepomuk performed
at the Nepomuk chapel in the Theatiner monastery between 1726 and 1730.57
The text preserved in the parts of Mater dolorum matches the libretto
from the 1729 Vienna production at St. Agnes, with some small variants,58
perhaps adaptations of the poetry to Viennese tastes: Rademin’s text is in
the Upper German Protestant style of the poet’s homeland; the recitative,
for example, is set in regular iambic meter, which was not usual for Viennese
texts.59
At Kremsmünster, only a cantata-like arrangement seems to have been
performed, consisting of the opening sonata, two bass arias alternating with
two duets for soprano and alto, and the concluding chorus of Part I, all
linked by simplified and truncated recitative. The rewritten recitative is in
the hand of Georg Pasterwiz (1730–1803),60 a monk and composer who
wrote and arranged operas and other works for performance at the mon-
astery from 1756 onward and served as Regens chori between 1767 and
1783.61 The work probably came to Kremsmünster during Pasterwiz’s
tenure, obtained from Vienna as a sample of the work of the influential
Kapellmeister at both the court and St. Stephen’s.
Mater dolorum includes solos for oboe, “Trombon. Alto Solo. ô Talia”
(trombone, alto solo, or tenor oboe or viola), and trumpet. This scoring
appears to be original to the Viennese version, as none of the pieces
featuring these special instruments were included in the Kremsmünster
“cantata,” and the parts are idiomatic and reflect Viennese usage. The two
arias with oboe are gentle, sorrowful adagios in minor key with soprano
voice, the oboe echoing the voice or moving in parallel thirds with it.
A lament for Maria is scored for soprano voice, trombone (or other alto-
range instrument), and continuo, following Austrian traditions of trombone
use (Example 30).62 A lively aria with popular text for Nicodemus (alto), on

57
Ibid., 267–69: the fourteenth-century Bohemian churchman Johann Nepomuk, canonized in
1729, was a favorite saint in eighteenth-century Austria.
58
Heinrich Rademin, Mater Dolorum, Das ist: Die Schmertzhaffte Mutter bey dem letzten Athmen-
Zug Ihres geliebten Sohns (Vienna: Andreas Heyinger, 1929).
59
Scheitler, Deutschsprachige Oratorienlibretti, 264–67.
60
Information kindly provided by Pater Alfons Mansdorfer, Benediktiner-Stift, Musikarchiv,
Kremsmünster.
61
Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 2nd edn., s.v. “Pasterwiz, P. Georg” (by Rudolf
Flotzinger).
62
Stewart Carter, “Trombone obbligatos in Viennese oratorios of the baroque,” Historic Brass
Society Journal, 2 (1990), 52–77. Reutter included several pieces with trombone obbligato in his
Italian oratorios.
 Convent sepulcher music in the 1720s and 1730s 177

Example 30. Georg Reutter Jr., Mater dolorum, “Meinem Herzen bringt nicht Schmerzen,” mm. 1–15.
It brings no sorrow to my heart that my son through the cross and suffering follows
the rugged path of death. This alone is my affliction: that after his death I can still live.

the removal of Christ from the cross (To work! raise the ladder, bring ropes,
bring staves, bring a hammer and pliers, help however you can63) has trumpet
obbligato, imitating that instrument’s use as signal and encouragement on the

63
Rademin, Mater Dolorum, fol. B2r.
178 Commedia dell’arte, talking animals, and the three Marys

Example 31. George Reutter Jr., Mater dolorum, “Auf zum Werk!”

battlefield and for rousing soldiers from sleep (Example 31). Nicodemus as
workman, with ladder and tools, brings a whiff of Hanswurst to the piece.
The work begins with an unmistakably sorrowful sonata, its first section
chromatic, dissonant, and closely scored, with diminished sevenths, suspen-
sions, falling lines, sighing figures, and repeated notes. The second section is a
fugue whose subject is a falling fourth, a long-standing “emblem of lament”
(Example 32).64 The lamenting aria “Lagrime uscite” that begins Badia’s La
Sepoltura di Christo is built over another such bass. Reutter’s falling fourth is
also chromatic, an idea that goes back even further among composers known

64
Ellen Rosand, “The descending tetrachord: An emblem of lament,” Musical Quarterly, 65 (1979),
346–59.
 Convent sepulcher music in the 1720s and 1730s 179

Example 31 (cont.)

in Vienna, to Giovanni Felice Sances’s 1638 Pianto della Madonna.65 The use
of the chromatic fourth was widespread in music of the late seventeenth
century and the early eighteenth, the falling version often being used in pieces
representing sorrow in general and the Crucifixion in particular (as in J. S.
Bach’s St. John Passion).66 The device was a favorite of Reutter’s older
contemporary Antonio Caldara, who used it on a number of occasions: for
example, in his Credo à 8 voci (Crucifixus, at the text “et sepultus est”).67

65
Giovanni Felice Sances, Motetti a una, due, tre, e quattro voci (1638), ed. Steven Saunders
(Middleton, WI: A-R Editions, 2003), ix, x.
66
Peter Williams, The Chromatic Fourth during Four Centuries of Music (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1997).
67
Reinhard G. Pauly and Brian W. Pritchard, “Antonio Caldara’s Credo à 8 voci: A composition for
the Duke of Mantua?” in Brian W. Pritchard (ed.), Antonio Caldara: Essays on his Life and Times
(Aldershot: Scolar Press, 1987), 72.
180 Commedia dell’arte, talking animals, and the three Marys

Example 31 (cont.)

Caldara even produced a fugue on such a subject,68 as did another Reutter

contemporary, Ferdinand Schmidt.69 The musical qualities of the sonata,
together with the opening words of the oratorio (Johannes: “Es ist vollbracht.
Dieß war sein letztes Wort”), suggest that this piece was intended to represent
the Crucifixion.70

68
Williams, Chromatic Fourth, 128.
69
Francesco Di Lernia (ed.), Musik des 18. Jahrhunderts am Wiener Hof für Orgel (Cembalo)
(Vienna: Universal Edition, 1992), 22–23.
70
Many musical representations of the Crucifixion appear in Jasmin Melissa Cameron, The
Crucifixion in Music: An Analytical Survey of Settings of the Crucifixus between 1680 and 1800,
Contextual Bach Studies, 1 (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2006).
 Convent sepulcher music in the 1720s and 1730s 181

Example 31 (cont.)

Mater dolorum continues with a series of recitatives and arias, the latter
mostly in da capo form. Each of its two sections concludes with a chorus.
Much of the music is affective, even programmatic. The opening aria,
for example, uses repeated notes, rapid arpeggios, and a leaping vocal line
to convey the dramatic text depicting the storm and earthquake at Christ’s
death (Example 33):
fall thundery cloud, fire, inflame the air
the earth shivers, shakes, breaks apart, is torn to shreds
Burst asunder, O earth! Fall to the gloomy tomb
you eye and light of the world! Because God your creator is dead.71

71
Reutter, Mater dolorum (parts): “Stürz donnernde Wolke[,] Feuer, entflamme die Luft /
Erschittre, erzittre, zerbrich, zerreiß der Erdenkreis. / Zerberste O Erde! Falle zur düsterne
182 Commedia dell’arte, talking animals, and the three Marys

Example 31 (cont.)

An “Arioso” for Maria, “Es stirbt mein Sohn!” is one of seven Adagio
numbers. It opens with a version of the falling fourth in the bass, and is set in
C minor, in a gentle 6/8, with expressive pauses in the middle of the lines.
The ending is an evocative representation of Maria’s progression through
light-headedness to fainting: she circles around a few notes, increasingly
unable to utter the words, and grasps at a single pitch until she ends
abruptly, overcome with grief (Example 34).

Gruft. / Du Aug, und Licht der Welt! Weil Gott dein Schöpfer fällt.” In the libretto (fol. A2r)
“donnernde Wolke[,] Feuer, entflamme die Luft” is given as “donnernde Wolcken feuer-
geschwängerte Luft,” erzittre is given as “zersplitte,” and “zur düsterne Gruft” is given as “in
Nebel und Dufft.”
 Convent sepulcher music in the 1720s and 1730s 183

Example 31 (cont.)
184 Commedia dell’arte, talking animals, and the three Marys

Example 32. Georg Reutter Jr., Mater dolorum, Sonata, mm. 1–19.
 Convent sepulcher music in the 1720s and 1730s 185

Example 33. Georg Reutter Jr., Mater dolorum, “Stürz donnernde Wolke,” mm. 1–9.
186 Commedia dell’arte, talking animals, and the three Marys

Example 34. Georg Reutter Jr., Mater dolorum, “Es stirbt mein Sohn!” mm. 1–22, 63–70.
My son is dying, O God! O God, and I should live? . . . No! No! No! The crushing affliction will be the
death of me.

Another vivid aria, “Rase du wütendes Heer der Plagen” (Storm, you
furious army of torments) is accompanied by “viola alto unisono”
(the second violin plays viola also, while the first remains silent), with
the instruments commenting on the vocal utterance in furious
repeated notes, triplets, and leaping patterns – Reutter’s typical style
of rushing violins is otherwise not much in evidence in this work.
The most extensive changes in the text from libretto to parts appear in a
section of arioso and recitative.
 Convent sepulcher music in the 1720s and 1730s 187

Example 34 (cont.)

Printed text:

Maria Habt ihr Ihn so geschändt Have you so defiled him

Entmenschte Menschen-Händ?
Johannes Nicht Händ? Nein, wilde Bratzen,
Nicodemus Nicht Bratzen, Bären-Tatzen,
Joseph Nicht Tatzen, nein, entfleischte
schwartze Klauen,
Die haben Ihm die Wunden
eingehauen.
Inhuman hands of man?
Not hands? No, wild paws,
Not paws, bear paws,
Not (bear-)paws, no, fleshless
black claws,
These have given him the
wounds.
188 Commedia dell’arte, talking animals, and the three Marys

Example 34 (cont.)

Mitleiden (recitative) Ists möglich, konte Gott Is it possible, could God

So unverschuldte Schulden, Endure the faultless guilt of his
Ohn zu bestraffen diese Mörder-Rott, son
An seinem Sohn Erdulden? Without punishing this
murderous gang?

Text in the parts:

Maria Habt ihr Ihn so verletzt Have you so injured him

Untreue Menschen-Händ? Disloyal hands of men?
Johannes Nicht wir, nicht wir, O Himmel! Not us, not us, O heaven!
Nicodemus Der Juden Mordgetümmel! The murdering, unruly Jewish crowd!
 Convent sepulcher music in the 1720s and 1730s 189

Joseph Ja, ihr verführte Höllen-klauen
Habt ihm so viel der wunden
eingehauen.
Mitleiden Ists möglich könnte Gott
So übergreße Schulden
Ohn zu bestraffen diese
Mörderrott
An seinem Sohn Erdulden?
Yes, their debauched claws of hell
Have inflicted on him so many of these
wounds.
Is it possible, could God endure
Such overwhelming crimes toward
his son
Without punishing this murderous
gang?

Example 35. Georg Reutter Jr., Mater dolorum, “Habt ihr Ihn so verletzt.”
190 Commedia dell’arte, talking animals, and the three Marys

Example 35 (cont.)

The arioso, an allegro with the repeated notes and leaps of rage-inspired
music, includes all the characters, suggesting that all are in accord
with these sentiments (Example 35). The text in the parts specifically
exonerates Jesus’ followers, and pins the blame directly on the Jews,
who are not named in the printed version. It is inevitable that the
Jewish crowd should be mentioned in retellings of the biblical accounts,
but this change suggests that anti-Semitism was one of the sentiments
renewed through such performances during this emotionally charged
season.
The Trauer-Gesänge suggests a lively tradition of Good Friday and
Holy Saturday performances in early eighteenth-century Vienna, not
always as solemn as the occasion would suggest. The texts evoke strong
emotion through vivid descriptions of the suffering of Christ and the
sorrow of Mary, the earthquake was a musical highlight, pastoral features
 Convent sepulcher music in the 1720s and 1730s 191

were appreciated, and plots and texts were designed to appeal to an

unsophisticated audience. The music – in the example of Reutter’s
Mater dolorum – heightened these sentiments through musical conven-
tions reaching back into the seventeenth century. And the preparation
of the passion performance certainly represented a highlight of the
year for the nuns, who marshaled their musical skills for the occasion.
 6 Convents, music, and Habsburg rule
in eighteenth-century Vienna

In the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, convents were

frequent destinations in the court’s yearly program of worship, and members
of the imperial family participated in conventual ceremonies for noble girls.
The nuns entertained their imperial visitors with plays, oratorios, and feste
teatrali, and the court enthusiastically supported this activity; the convents’
blend of religious devotion and music mirrored the Habsburgs’ own piety and
musicality. By promoting Habsburg aims in their musical productions, the
convents established themselves as paragons of loyalty. They also became
musical and artistic showplaces that increased the brilliance of the imperial
city, and they trained young women for their role in this society.
But over the course of the eighteenth century imperial attitudes under-
went gradual, then more radical alteration. Social and economic changes
further combined to make the survival of several ancient foundations
untenable. Three points during the century appear especially significant:
from about 1712 to 1715, when the reign of Emperor Karl VI was evolving
its character; the early 1750s, during the reign of Maria Theresia, when the
use of trumpets and timpani in church came under attack, in the context of a
general simplification of religious life; and the early 1780s, when Emperor
Joseph II’s more radical reforms brought about the dissolution of six of the
seven convents within the city walls.

Court and convent during the reign of Karl VI

Saturday, the 25th of this month [July 1716], the feast of St. Jakob (James), in the
morning, the most august Empress Mother [Eleonora Magdalena], together with
the serene archduchesses her daughters and the usual following, went from the
imperial palace to the church of St. Jakob, where she heard Mass [and] remained to
dine in this convent of Augustinian Canonesses. After having heard a lovely musical
work in the form of an oratorio as well as Second Vespers, Her Majesty went with
the same group to the palace of La Favorita.1

1
Corriere ordinario, July 29, 1716: “Sabbato, 25 del Cadente, Festa di. S. Giacomo, si trasferì la
192 mattina da questo Imperial Palazzo alla Chiesa di S. Giacomo l’Augustissima Imperatrice Madre
 Court and convent during the reign of Karl VI 193

Thus reported the Corriere ordinario in its usual fashion, in describing the
activities of the imperial family, from affairs of state and brilliant imperial
gala days to the more mundane family visits, church attendance, and
hunting excursions. Of a long series of newspaper reports of such events,
this was the last. In 1710, St. Jakob had been visited on its patron saint’s day
by the emperor and empress, the court, and other eminent visitors, and the
party had been entertained with an “excellent Italian oratorio” with political
implications, performed by the residents of the convent. But within a few
years, following the accession of Karl VI in 1711, almost all such state visits
were being made by lesser royals, mostly dowager empresses and their
daughters (until Eleonora Magdalena died in 1720, there were two dowagers
to be kept royally occupied). The visits to St. Jakob in 1714, 1715, and 1716
were all made by Eleonora Magdalena and her daughters.
Emperor Karl VI regularly attended services in state at two convents
only – the Königinkloster and the female Carmelite convent of St. Joseph.2
The former was already receiving state visits in the early seventeenth
century, before the flowering of the relationship between court and con-
vents,3 and thus imperial convent visiting had come nearly full circle. In its
yearly cycle of worship stations, the court visited the Königinkloster on
three occasions, including the “Feast of the Exposing of the Holy Blood”4
(the second Friday in March), when the emperor went to the convent,5 and
the anniversary of the death of the convent’s founder, Elisabeth, Queen of
France, a daughter of Emperor Maximilan II (January 22). On the latter
feast, “two rites, first the Requiem, then the rite of the Blessed Virgin Mary
(after a delay for breakfast in the refectory) are celebrated . . . with sweet
harmony by the Hofkapelle . . . which their Imperial Majesties with their
august children and the court are accustomed to attend.”6 A third court visit

Vedoua colle Seren. Arciduchesse sue Figlie, e solito Corteggio, v’intervenne all’Uffizio Divino,
restò à pranzo in quel Monastero di Canonichesse di S. Agostino, e doppo havervi sentito una
bella Musica in forma d’Oratorio, e li secondi Vesperi, si trasferì la Maestà Sua col medesimo
accompagnamento al Palazzo della Favorita.”
2
Riedel, Kirchenmusik.
3
Weaver, “Piety, Politics, and Patronage,” 117, lists imperial visits to the Königinkloster and a
Carmelite church by 1627. The latter was probably the church (completed 1624) of the male
Carmelite cloister, a church that survives in the present-day second district. The city female
convent was founded in 1638 and its church completed in 1642. Czeike, Historisches Lexikon
Wien, s.v. “Karmeliterkirche,” “Siebenbüchnerinnenkloster.”
4
This local feast honored a relic, a vial said to contain some of Christ’s blood, which had been
presented to the convent by Eleonora II.
5
Riedel, Kirchenmusik, 41, 277.
6
Placidus Herzog, Cosmographia Austriaco-Franciscana seu exacta descriptio Provinciæ Austriæ
(Cologne: Hæredum Francisci Metternich, 1740), 775: “Die 22. Januarii, qui dies obitûs est
Sereniss. Reginæ Fundatricis, ante Aram majorem tumulatæ, solemnissimo etsi lugubri cum
194 Convents, music, and Habsburg rule in eighteenth-century Vienna

took place on Portiuncula7 (August 2; the court visited until 1713) or the
feast of St. Elizabeth (November 19; the court visited from 1714).8
Special music at St. Joseph was provided by musicians from St. Stephen’s
or the Hofkapelle. According to a document prepared at Emperor Joseph II’s
request in 1784, musicians from St. Stephen’s had played at this convent
(which had been dissolved in 1782) on the founder’s day and the Feast of the
Scapular; during the novena of St. Teresa, a nine-day festival; and on the
feast of St. John of the Cross, founder of the order together with Teresa of
Ávila (November 24).9 The court visited on the feast of St. Joseph, on which
day elaborate music was heard until the dissolution; the Wedding of Mary
(Maria Vermählung) until 1715; and the feast of St. Teresa, until 1713.10
In the early 1720s, the emperor was visiting these convents only for the
Exposing of the Holy Blood and on St. Joseph’s day; the other visits –
according to the newspapers – were now usually assigned to Empress
Widow Amalie Wilhelmine.
By the time of Johann Basilius Küchelbecker’s account of the court and
city in 1730, conventual saints’ days and other special observances were still
listed in the calendar, but the emperor himself rarely attended.11 Reports in
the Wienerisches Diarium reveal that convent visits were now mostly
divided between Amalie Wilhelmine and Archduchess Maria Magdalena,
the emperor’s unmarried sister. Some visits listed by Küchelbecker were not
mentioned at all in the newspaper, and were apparently now private,
omitted, or deemed unimportant. Lesser royals visited St. Jakob in July
and St. Laurenz and St. Nikolai in August, and on St. Ursula’s day, October
21, most of the imperial family now usually went hunting at Schönbrunn.12
The emperor and empress instead attended services in the chapel of one of
their residences or in some other, more favored, city church. Occasionally

apparatu quotannis parentatur. Duo Sacra, primum de Requiem: alterum de B. Virgine sub
aulicorum Musicorum (de more sapida priùs jentatione refectorum) suavissimâ symphoniâ aut à
mitratis, aut ab infulatis Capitibus dicuntur; Quibus Augustissimæ Majestates cum Augusta
sobole & famulatu aulico perpetuò interesse consuescunt.”
7
The day on which an indulgence might be obtained by visiting the church; the Portiuncula
indulgence is named for the ancient chapel in which St. Francis of Assisi is said to have received
it. Catholic Encyclopedia, s.v. “Portiuncula.”
8
Riedel, Kirchenmusik, 41, 290.
9
“Verzeichniß deren Kirchen Musicorum, was dieselbe an ihren Gehalt bis zur letzten
Osterwoche, und von Ostern bis zu dieser Eingabe zu fo[r]dern haben,” C Norm K 4296 ad Acta
No 477 C:20 de [1]784, NöLA: “Die von den St. Stephan Music Personale versehene Kirchen 1.
Von den Siebenbüchnerinnen . . . den Jahrstag der Stifterin . . . 24 [fl.]; das jährl. Scapulier
Fest . . . 18 [fl.]; die S. Theresia Novenne . . . 210 [fl.]; das Fest Johann von Kreütz . . . 18 [fl.].”
10
Riedel, Kirchenmusik, 29, 30, 47, 111, 273, 278, 298.
11
Küchelbecker, Allerneueste Nachricht, 224–48 [calendar 1729].
12
For example, Wienerisches Diarium, October 22, 1729.
 Court and convent during the reign of Karl VI 195

the empress visited a convent incognito – that is, without the usual trappings
of state.13
The church of the Königinkloster may have served as an alternate court
chapel. In the 1760s, services were said to have sometimes been held there in
magnificent style: “[the altars] and the entire church are most elaborately
decorated on high feast days, as now and then during the year the sacred
services must be celebrated with most edifying devotion, due to the presence
of a great crowd of devout people and the entire royal and imperial court,”14
noted Matthias Fuhrmann in his mid-eighteenth-century description of the
city, perhaps documenting current practice, or recalling an older one. A
document dated April 26, 1753, confirms the regular performance of im-
perial musicians or musicians from St. Stephen’s at this church.15
Few musical entertainments are documented in the convents between
1716 and the late 1720s, but performances at either end of the period suggest
the sort of music that was being heard, and also that attitudes and practices
were changing. A momentous occasion, the second profession of the abbess
of the Ursuline convent, is reported in both the Corriere ordinario and the
Wienerisches Diarium in 1717: “On Monday, [May] 10, her majesty the
empress mother [Eleonora Magdalena] and the serene archduchesses her
daughters went to the church of the Ursuline nuns, where they attended the
second profession made by the abbess of the same, and remained to dine.”16
No music or other entertainment is mentioned, but an undated libretto,
Wett-Streit Deren Tugenden, Umb Den Vorzug Zwischen Lieb und Forcht
(Competition of the virtues, concerning which of love and fear has prece-
dence),17 survives for a celebratory work performed on such an occasion,
with music by the court and chamber organist Johann Georg Reinhardt. The
honored nun was Catharina Ursula, born Gräfin von Latzberg, who was
clothed in 1665 and served as abbess from 1707 until her death in 1721.18

13
Wienerisches Diarium, August 9, 1730. On August 8 the empress and her daughters visited St.
Agnes zur Himmelpforte incognito.
14
Matthias Fuhrmann, Historische Beschreibung und kurz gefaste Nachricht von der Römisch.
Kayserl. und Königlichen Residenz-Stadt Wien und Ihren Vorstädten (Vienna: Kraußlichen
Buchhandlung, 1766–70), part 2, vol. II, 353: “Diese und die ganze Kirche werden an hohen
Festägen prächtigst gezieret, und aufgeputzt, da öffters durchs Jahr bey grossen Zulauff des
andächtigen Volcks, und Erscheinung des ganzen Kayserlich- und Königlichen Hoffs der Gotts-
Dienst mit auferbäulichster Andacht gehalten zu werden pflegt.”
15
Klösterakten, 2.2.6.13 (Königskloster [Königinkloster]), A1/1, A-Wsa.
16
Corriere ordinario, May 12, 1717: “Lunedì, 10, la Maestà dell’Imperatrice Madre, e le Seren.
Arciduchesse sua Figlie, si trasferirono alla Chiesa delle Monache Ursoline, v’intervennero alla
seconda Professione, che vi fece la Sig. Abbadessa del Monastero medesimo, e vi rimasero al
pranso.”
17
Wett-Streit Deren Tugenden (Vienna: Simon Schmid, [1717]).
18
Zwei Jahrhunderte des Ursulinerklosters in Wien, 52–53.
196 Convents, music, and Habsburg rule in eighteenth-century Vienna

The opening text, “Des Frühlings Wonne, Die Mayen Sonne . . .,”19 also
suggests that the work was performed in May, and the simple rhyming
poetry, evoking the atmosphere of the convent and mentioning it several
times, was surely written in it. Like dramas written for the Jesuit College, this
one includes erudite Latin footnotes, referring to biblical texts and to
writings of church fathers (Augustine), doctors of the church (John of
Damascus), and even a later political writer, Francesco Guicciardini
(1483–1540).
Like earlier convent pieces, this one was not without political resonance,
although only lesser members of the imperial family were there to savor it.
“Liebe und Forcht,” whose roles in government are explored here, recall
“Durch Liebe und Furcht,” the personal motto of the deceased Emperor
Joseph I, eldest son of the empress mother. Says Liebe: “I am called the correct
virtue, and devotion of the fatherland, which is also due to the fatherland, since
without me there can be no government; thus I take precedence over Fear.”20
The event thus continued the old theme of loyalty to the crown through
expression of faith. As the convent also performed a work by Reinhardt in
1729, it may be that the composer was involved with this institution’s music
during the several decades for which little documentation survives.
Convent entertainments of the late 1720s and early 1730s appear to
be homegrown productions, and many have connections to Amalie
Wilhelmine, the convent-visiting dowager empress. A “Teutches
Oratorium,” Der Heilige Joannes Vom Creutz, performed at St. Joseph on
September 10, 1727, celebrated the canonization of St. John of the Cross, co-
founder of the Carmelite order.21 The oratorio’s text was written by the
imperial court poet Anton Prokoff and its music by Georg Gottwalt, a
member of Amalie Wilhelmine’s chapel; Amalie Wilhelmine attended the
celebrations.22 The vernacular text, singspiel format, and use of chorus (a

19
Wett-Streit Deren Tugenden, fol. A3r.
20
Ibid., fol. A3v: Leibe: “Ich werde genennet die rechte Tugend, und Andacht deß Vatterlands,
welches auch den Vatterland gebühret, dann ohne mich kein Regierung kan bestehen, darum
thue ich der Forcht vorgehen.”
21
Anton Prokoff, Der Heilige Joannes Vom Creutz, Bey Begehung Dessen Canonizations-Fest, In
Der Kirchen der Wohl-Ehrwürdigen Closter-Frauen bey St. Joseph, Barfüsser Carmeliter-Ordens
in Wienn, Durch ein Teutches Oratorium, In Kürtze vorgestellet den 10. September 1727. Verfasset
Von Herrn Prokoff, Käyserlichen Poëten. Von Herrn Gottwalt, Ihre Majestät der Verwittibten
Kayserin Amalia Musico, und Directore Chori bey der Heil. Dreyfaltigkeit, in der Musik gesetzt
(Vienna: Wolffgang Schwendimann, [1727]), title page.
22
Wienerisches Diarium, September 13, 1727: “Mittwoch den 10den September . . . Ihre Majestät
die Verwittibte Römische Kaiserin Amalia Wilhelmina . . . verfügte Sich sodann zu denen WW.
EE. Closter-Frauen zu St. Joseph . . . wohnete dem Gottes-Dienst bey, so alda wegen der
 Court and convent during the reign of Karl VI 197

gang of hellish spirits, a choir of heavenly angels) suggest that the perform-
ers were nuns and Kostfräulein.
As in other convents, the nuns at St. Joseph had entertained themselves
with music-making. The inventory made at the convent’s dissolution in
1782 noted a harpsichord or clavichord in their Rekreationszimmer and a
couple of mandoras, bass lutes of six to nine courses used especially for vocal
accompaniment in the Germanic lands throughout the eighteenth century
and played mostly by dilettantes. Surviving instruments and sources suggest
that this instrument was common in Austrian cloisters.23 There was “an old
[keyboard] instrument” in the novices’ room,24 and a small but excellent
organ in the church.
A work of 1730, Ein Gott-gefälligster . . . Triumph, honoring the second
profession of the Königinkloster’s abbess, is also in German and is “partly in
music, partly in free verse.”25 The composer was the court chaplain Anton
Gruner.
Oratorio performances are reported at St. Ursula in 1728 (eve of St.
Ursula) and 1731 (on the feast day).26 Amalie Wilhelmine attended both,
and the entertainment of 1731 was Letzter Kampf Der Heiligen Ursulæ, with
music by the convent’s house composer Alexander Ender.27 The work has
German text, makes use of chorus, and is simple in text, plot, and moral. It
was clearly planned for performance before Amalie Wilhelmine, as it praises
her as a “new-awakened Ursula.”
When these later celebratory works are considered together with the
Trauer-Gesänge performed during Holy Week, the trend appears to be

Heiligsprechung des H. Joannes von Creutz hochfeyerlich begangen wurde, speisete zu

Mittag in demselbigen Closter, und nach beygewohnten nach Mittagigen Gottes-Dienst, kehrete
höchst-dieselbe wieder zur[üc]k in Dero Frauen-Closter am Renn-Weg.” The “Nach
Mittagiger Gottes-Dienst” was probably the oratorio.
23
Grove Music Online, s.v. “Mandora” (by James Tyler) (accessed November 25, 2010);
Dieter Kirsch, “Die Mandora in Österreich: Zur Bestimmung eines Lautentyps des 18.
Jahrhunderts,” Vom Pasqualatihaus: Musikwissenschaftliche Perspektiven aus Wien, 4 (1994),
63–102.
24
“Haupt Inventorium Uber das Gesamte aufgenommene Vermögen, welches sich bey den unterm
26ten Jäner [1]782 erfolgten Aufloßungs Ankündigung in den jungfraulichen Kloster zum Heil.
Joseph Karmeliten Ordens allhier in Wien vorgefünden hat,” Klösterakten 2.2.6.16
(Siebenbüchnerinnen), A1/4, No. n: 2 ex n. 5 St. Joseph [1]782, A-Wsa: “No 9 das Rekreations
Zimmer . . . 1 Instrument” (fol. 25v); “No 37 das große Noviziat . . . 1 altes instrument” (fol. 30r).
“Licitations Prothocoll Deren wenig vorgefundenen licitando verkauften Effecten in den
Sibenbücher Kloster,” Klösterakten 2.2.6.16 (Siebenbüchnerinnen), A1/4, No. 2 ex. n. 24 St.
Joseph [1]783: “20. verschiedene alte Musicalien . . . [Geschätzt] 3. [fl.] [Verkauft] 6. [fl.] 7. [xr.]:
21. 1 alte flüg / 1 Clavicord / 2 Mandorl [Geschätzt] 7. [fl.] [Verkauft] 13. [fl.] 45. [xr.].”
25
Gruner, Ein Gott-gefalligster . . . Triumph, title page: “theils in der Musik, theils in
ungebundener Red.”
26
“Hauschronik,” II:252, 254. 27 Letzter Kampf Der Heiligen Ursulæ, title page.
198 Convents, music, and Habsburg rule in eighteenth-century Vienna

toward performances in more convents, including some not previously

noted for music. The works focus on popular worship and personal cele-
brations, texts are in the vernacular, there is a clear didactic element, and the
entertainment is generally less attuned to imperial concerns.
Behind the walls of the convents, there were probably private musical
performances, and there was, of course, music for worship. At the
Königinkloster, private music-making apparently focused on keyboard
playing and singing, the traditional music activities of well-to-do women.
The inventory of the Königinkloster (dissolved on January 22, 1782)
included ten keyboard instruments, four of which were organs: one was
identified as a Zimeren Orgl, one as a Positiv, one in the choir loft as Orgl
(likely the convent’s large organ), and another, also in the choir loft, as both
Zimeren Orgl and Positiv. The other instruments were clavichords, a spinet,
and (probably) harpsichords (“Flig instrumenten”). Two harpsichords and
an organ were found in the Arbeitszimmer, suggesting that the nuns eased
the monotony of their daily handwork with music.28
At St. Ursula, where references to many performances appear in the
complete volumes of the convent’s chronicle, beginning in 1740, some
sort of special music was probably heard any time an imperial guest or
eminent churchman visited. Nuns of notable musical skill, both singers and
instrumentalists, continued to be active at this convent, their talents
recorded in the convent’s Necrology. Music remained important to the
daily life of all the convents, and girls continued to receive musical training
to enable them to contribute to the sacred services. The commissioning of
new music at St. Nikolai in the 1740s and the careful attention paid there to
the tuning of keyboard instruments suggest a musical life of some quality;
the later problems of St. Jakob in finding girls who could sing confirms that
they too made efforts to continue their musical tradition.
With visiting duties transferred to dowagers and other royal women, the
convents became more markedly a feminine and private sphere, and apart
from the main affairs of the court. At the same time, the imperial Hofkapelle
became even grander and more brilliant, reaching its largest size in 1723,
with 134 members, including a stable of at least sixteen trumpeters.29 Rather

28
“Haupt Inventarium über das samentl. Aktiv und Paßiv Vermögen . . . 22 Jänner 1782,” Hs. A 54
(Königskloster [Königinkloster]), A-Wsa. For details, see Page, “Organs on the market,” 53–
54n3.
29
Köchel, Die Kaiserliche Hof-Musikkapelle in Wien, 80–81, and Theophil Antonicek, “1711–1740:
‘Constantia et fortitudine’; Höhenflug von Kunst und Wissenschaft unter Karl VI.,” in
Günter Brosche et al. (eds.), Musica Imperialis: 500 Jahre Hofmusikkapelle in Wien, 1498–1998,
Ausstellung der Musiksammlung der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek, Prunksaal . . . 11. Mai
 Women’s work: two new convents 199

than drawing on a variety of institutions to create a widespread show of

unity and support, the court became more centralized, more all-in-all, in its
image-making. Karl’s representational program was epitomized by the
monumental Karlskirche and the opulent magnificence of Fux’s 1723 cor-
onation opera, Costanza e Fortezza, whose title proclaimed the emperor’s
personal motto. More personal than those of his predecessors, his program
was also more dynastic, supporting his attempts, in the lack of sons, to
ensure the succession of his own line in the person of his daughter Maria
Theresia.

Women’s work: two new convents

Court women began to visit two new convents founded in the early eight-
eenth century, both outside the city walls. Both fulfilled practical duties
traditionally belonging to women: nursing at St. Elisabeth and female
education at the convent of the Salesianerinnen. The latter devoted much
of its educational effort to girls of the high nobility, thus supporting the
dynastic focus of the court, but it also educated orphans and poor girls.30
These two convents, together with St. Ursula, represented a new trend, in
being overtly dedicated to socially useful activity. The location of these
convents, outside the walls, was a practical matter – there was little space
left within – but it is also indicative of the declining status of the female
institutions.
On the feast of St. Elisabeth of Hungary, Amalie Wilhelmine visited the
recently established suburban convent church devoted to that saint. The
convent had been founded in 1709 to house Franciscan tertiaries devoted to
the care of poor, sick women; the church was completed in 1711, the
convent and hospital in 1718.31 The convent of St. Elisabeth was not

bis 10. November 1998 (Tutzing: Hans Schneider, 1998), 91–98. There had been even more
trumpeters at the beginning of Karl’s reign. When he arrived from Spain, he brought his own
corps, swelling the imperial ensemble to some twenty-seven trumpeters and three timpanists.
The number was reduced to twenty in 1718; Andreas Lindner, Die kaiserlichen Hoftrompeter und
Hofpauker im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert. Wiener Veröffentlichungen zur Musikwissenschaft, 36
(Tutzing: Hans Schneider, 1999), 12, 818–24.
30
Fuhrmann, Historische Beschreibung, II:2:594, and Gerda Mraz, “Die Kaiserinnen aus dem
Welfenhaus und ihr Einfluß auf das geistig-kulturelle Leben in Wien,” in Arnfried Edler and
Friedrich W. Riedel (eds.), Johann Joseph Fux und seine Zeit: Kultur, Kunst und Musik im
Spätbarock (Laaber-Verlag, 1996), 77–85.
31
Czeike, Historisches Lexikon Wien, s.v. “Elisabethinenkirche.” Although tertiaries, these women
were considered “nuns” (Klosterfrauen) in Vienna, like all such women who lived in institutions
and took vows of some nature.
200 Convents, music, and Habsburg rule in eighteenth-century Vienna

known particularly for music, although the church was constructed accord-
ing to the usual plan for convent churches in Vienna, with two galleries, a
Musikchor and a Bettchor above. According to the report on musical
expenses submitted at Emperor Joseph’s request in 1784, the convent paid
out annually “only 38 fl. 42 xr., for Mass and Vespers on November 19, St.
Elizabeth’s day. The remaining feasts, masses, and other services are pro-
vided with music at no cost by the nuns.”32
On January 9, 1752, the convent presented a little Applausus musicus,
Musicalische Herzens Freud, in honor of their confessor, Caspar Scheurer. A
libretto with an elaborate title page in gold ink33 includes an aria addressed to
a “crowned queen,” suggesting that some member of the imperial family was
expected to attend, although the Wienerisches Diarium records no such visit.34
Whoever created the anonymous work was familiar with the Austrian cloister
Applausus tradition.35 Although the text is in German rather than the usual
Latin, the piece begins and ends with choruses and includes five further
musical numbers, one of them a duet, and all introduced by recitative.
The more frequently visited new convent was that of the Salesianerinnen.
Planned and supported by Amalie Wilhelmine,36 the convent opened on May
13, 1719, with royal pomp, the dowager empress and the nuns escorted to
their new home in a splendid procession.37 The musical life of this convent
was private, and the nuns were divided into three classes. First, the choir nuns,
“dedicated to singing the daily praise of God”; next, the Associatas, who were
obligated to say a certain number of Pater nosters and Ave Marias daily, and
were able to take on all convent offices except that of Assistentin, leader of the
choir; and finally, the Hausgenossen, reponsible for household tasks. There
were to be no more than thirty-three women living in a convent of this order,
of which twenty were to be choir nuns and nine Associatas.38

32
“Verzeichniße Derjenigen, die ihre Ausweise über die Musikunkösten . . . eingereicht haben,” no.
61, Elisabethinerinnen, C Norm K 4296 ad Acta No. 477 C 20 de [1]784, NöLA: “daß ganz
alleinig der 19. 9ber als am Fest St Elißabeth vor das Amt, und Vesper 38 fl 42 xr bezahlet werden;
die übrigen Feste, Ämter, und Gottes Dienste werden von denen Kloster Frauen mit der Musique
unentgeltlich bedienet.” Partly summarized and partly quoted in Biba, “Die Wiener
Kirchenmusik um 1783,” 53–54.
33
Musicalische Herzens Freud, Cod. 7638, no. 19, fols. 91–95, A-Wn(h).
34
Ibid., fol. 94v: “Gecrönte Königin / Die liebe wir geneuet / Da Sie als Herrscherin / Alle Tugend
selbsten Crönnet.”
35
Andreas Lindner, “Die musikalische Huldigungsvertonung (Applausus musicus) in den
oberösterreichischen Stiften im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert,” Studien zur Musikwissenschaft, 53
(2007), 111–60.
36
Mraz, “Die Kaiserinnen aus dem Welfenhaus,” 77–85.
37
Corriere ordinario, May 17, 1719.
38
Fuhrmann, Historische Beschreibung, II:2:593: “Die Frauen so sich hierzu bekennen, werden
gleichsam in 3. Classen schieden, aus deren die ersten die Chorfrauen, die zu Absingung des
 Women’s work: two new convents 201

The convent was provided with separate accommodation for its royal
inhabitants, as was the practice in some Italian convents. There the royal
lady might – as Emperor Joseph II wrote in 1781, in arranging the marriage
of his nephew Franz to Princess Elisabeth of Württemberg – “have space for
her ladies and manservants of every kind. It would be made possible for her
to communicate with the convent at any time and yet be outside the
clausura, and she could go out in a carriage or walk with her ladies, even
have company in her rooms whenever she wanted.”39
The noble girls educated at this convent received appropriate musical
instruction. Elisabeth of Württemberg spent several years there after
arriving in Vienna in 1781 at age 15. Mozart hoped to be appointed her
clavier teacher, but the position went to Salieri, much to the disappoint-
ment of the younger composer: “As for the Princess of Wurtemberg and
myself, all is over,” wrote Mozart on December 15, “the Emperor has
spoilt everything, for he cares for no one but Salieri. The Archduke
Maximilian recommended me to her and she replied that had it rested
with her, she would never have engaged anyone else, but that on account
of her singing the Emperor had suggested Salieri. She added that she was
extremely sorry.”40
Occasional festive performances were given in this convent church by
boys from the nearby orphanage (who also performed in other convent
churches, such as St. Ursula) or by other musicians. The orphans performed
there daily during the festival honoring the canonization of the order’s co-
founder, Jeanne-Françoise Frémiot, Baronne de Chantal, May 12–20, 1768.
On May 12, there was a festive Vespers service with a Litany, and “during
this service of devotion two choirs of trumpets and timpani were to be heard
playing in alternation, as well as a really excellent music, which was per-
formed throughout the octave by the boys of the Waisenhaus from a gallery

täglichen Lob Gottes bestimmet seynd. Die anderen, so sie Associatas, ihre beygesellten nennen,
seynd zu den täglichen Gebett in bestimter Zahl daß Pater Noster, und Ave Mariae zuwiderholen
verbunden, seynd fehig aller Aemter wie die erstern, ausgenohmen der würde einer Assistentin,
welche dem Chor vorstehet. Die dritte Claß ist der Hausgenossen, welche zu Besorgung der
Häußlichen Wirthschaft bestellet seynd. So ist auch ein Gefaz bey ihnen, daß über 33. in einem
Closter nicht wohnen solten, unter welchen wenigstens 20. zum Chor 9. zum andern Gebett, und
die übrigen zum Haus wesen bestimmet werden.”
39
Derek Beales, Joseph II, vol. II: Against the World: 1780–1790 (Cambridge University Press,
2009), 126, translation of a document appearing in Joseph II. und Leopold von Toskana: Ihr
Briefwechsel von 1781 bis 1790, ed. Alfred Ritter von Arneth (Vienna: W. Braumüller, 1872), vol.
I, 40.
40
Emily Anderson (ed.), The Letters of Mozart and His Family, 3rd edn., edited and revised by
Stanley Sadie and Fiona Smart (London: Macmillan, 1985), 782, letter to Leopold Mozart from
Vienna, December 15, 1781. See also the letter to Leopold Mozart dated December 5, 1781.
202 Convents, music, and Habsburg rule in eighteenth-century Vienna

erected above the church door.”41 Typically for a special convent event at
this time, only a lesser member of the imperial family appeared – the 13-
year-old Marie Antoinette, who attended the Sunday High Mass.42 She was
a most appropriate choice, as the principal language of this convent was
French.
In 1784, the abbess reported that “for endowed masses and vigils on the
two anniversary days for the deceased Emperor Joseph and Empress
Amalie [Wilhelmine], then for the endowed mass on the feast of the
Sacred Heart of Jesus, we pay 90 fl. annually for the music, and when we
want to have a mass on some other feast day, we pay 7 fl. or 2 ducats each
time.”43 Their emphasis on the circumstance that the masses and vigils
were endowed reinforces the impression – which they were no doubt eager
to promote – that their approach to such display was modest and prudent,
that they were not frittering away their operating funds but drawing on
money that would otherwise lie unused, their celebrations thus providing
economic benefit.

“For the music we had nothing but trombones”: festive music

in Viennese convents in the 1750s

On her accession in October 1740, Maria Theresia was immediately beset

with problems. Several prominent rulers now rejected the Pragmatic
Sanction negotiated by her father, Emperor Karl VI, to ensure the succes-
sion of his own descendants as rulers of the Habsburg hereditary lands, and
the new ruler soon found herself at war with Prussia, France, Spain, Saxony,
and Bavaria. The irony of her position has frequently been noted: her father
had expended great energy and considerable resources to secure her suc-
cession, but had done nothing to prepare her to rule. He not only failed to
train her in statesmanship, but left her with aging advisors and an empty
treasury, unprepared to defend herself against the enemies that were sure

41
Wienerisches Diarium, June 1, 1768, Mittwochsanhang: “Während dieser Andacht ließen sich
wechselsweise zwey Chöre Trompeten und Paucken hören, nebst einer recht auserlesenen
Musik, welche die Octav hindurch von den Knaben des Waisenhauses auf einem ober der
Kirchthüre errichteten Chore versehen wurde.”
42
Ibid.
43
“Verzeichniße Derjenigen, die ihre Ausweise über die Musikunkösten . . . eingereicht haben,” no.
71, Konvent der Salesianerinnen: “über die an denen 2. Jahrstägen für weyl Ihro Maytten Kayser
Joseph I und Kayserin Amalia gestiftete Ämter und vigilien dann dem gestifteten Amt am Heil.
Herz Jesu Fest, wir jährl. 90 f für die Music bezahlen, und wann wir an Extia Festen ein Amt
haben wollen, bezahlen wir für jedes mahl 7 f oder 2 ducaten.”
 Festive music in Viennese convents in the 1750s 203

to arise.44 But Maria Theresia proved herself an able ruler, and the wars
concluded in 1748 with a restored balance of power, if some loss of territory
for the Habsburgs. Fears about further turmoil over the succession were
calmed when Maria Theresia and her husband, Francis Stephen of Lorraine,
produced a son and heir in 1741 and two more sons by 1747. The election of
Francis Stephen as Holy Roman Emperor in 1745 was a major victory.
As her position strengthened, Maria Theresia began an ambitious series of
reforms to modernize the administration, the military, education, and busi-
ness. Religious life was an early target, as the frugal and devout ruler sought to
unify her lands, to impose her vision of religious practice on her people, and
to abolish the more extravagant elements.45 In 1745, severe punishment was
threatened for unseemly behavior on Sundays and feast days.46 Two years
later, Maria Theresia issued new regulations for funerals: the rites were not to
last more than three consecutive days, with “a high mass with polyphony or in
plainchant” permitted only on the first.47 In 1751 various folk practices were
banned, including liturgical dramas and figural processions. These theatrical
remnants of the Middle Ages were still common in parts of the empire
including Tyrol, Styria, and Carinthia, and had been encouraged by
Counter-Reformation policies.48 In Tyrol and Carinthia at least, the ban
met with stubborn resistance and the processions persisted for decades.49
In one of her most radical reforms, in 1754 Maria Theresia reduced the
number of feast days50 in the church calendar and instituted a stricter
enforcement of religious observance on those that remained.51 She was not
the first to undertake such reforms; the large number of feast days in several

44
For example, Ernst Tomek, Kirchengeschichte Österreichs, vol. III: Das Zeitalter der Aufklärung
und des Absolutismus (Innsbruck: Tyrolia Verlag, 1959), 215; Charles W. Ingrao, The Habsburg
Monarchy, 1618–1815, 2nd edn. (Cambridge University Press, 2000), 150–72.
45
An excellent summary of the new regulations and their influence on music appears in David Ian
Black, “Mozart and the Practice of Sacred Music, 1781–91,” unpublished PhD dissertation,
Harvard University (2007), 5–14. My discussion is much indebted to his.
46
Hans Hollerweger, Die Reform des Gottesdienst zur Zeit des Josephinismus in Österreich
(Regensburg: Friedrich Pustet, 1976), 60.
47
Ibid., 55.
48
Tomek, Kirchengeschichte Österreichs, III:229; Hollerweger, Die Reform des Gottesdienst, 56;
Melton, “From image to word,” 95–124.
49
Hollerweger, Die Reform des Gottesdienst, 56–59.
50
Tomek, Kirchengeschichte Österreichs, III:223; Hollerweger, Die Reform des Gottesdienst, 59–60.
The pope’s pronouncement in support of these reforms was published in German in the
Wienerisches Diarium on March 9, 1754.
51
Tomek, Kirchengeschichte Österreichs, III:290; Hollerweger, Die Reform des Gottesdienst, 60;
Peter Hersche, “Wider ‘Müssiggang’ und ‘Ausschweifung’: Feiertage und ihre Reduktion im
katholischen Europa, namentlich im deutschsprachigen Raum zwischen 1750 und 1800,”
Innsbrucker Historische Studien, 12/13 (1990), 97–122.
204 Convents, music, and Habsburg rule in eighteenth-century Vienna

Spanish and Italian dioceses had been the target of bishops and popes in the
preceding decades.52 Maria Theresia reduced the number of feast days to
fifteen, besides Sundays, with twenty-four more Halbfeiertage (half feast days).
On the latter, observance of the Vigil and attendance at Mass were required,
but the rest of the day was to be an ordinary work day – the duty of religious
observance was retained, but not the pleasures of a holiday.
The Halbfeiertage not only pushed the Habsburg lands toward more
efficient work and business practices (it had not escaped notice that those
countries surging ahead economically were the Protestant ones, where
religious holidays were few),53 but also reflected Maria Theresia’s personal
inclinations. Except for gala days, she lived simply. She rose early, heard
Mass, then worked until evening, stopping only for meals and a period of
relaxation in the afternoon.54 Nevertheless, the Halbfeiertage engendered
many protests and much confusion, and there was so much abuse that they
were abolished in 1771.55 The new order of 1754 suited those in comfortable
circumstances, and also benefitted the very poor, who now had more days
on which to earn their bread. But it disrupted the age-old life rhythms of
other laboring people, who counted on religious feast days for a little
relaxation and recreation.56
Among the days reduced to Halbfeiertage were the feasts honoring St.
Jakob (James), St. Laurence, and St. Nicholas, all patron saints of Viennese
convents, further decreasing the visibility of these institutions and no doubt
adversely affecting their musical life. The declining status of Vienna’s female
convents can be further traced in the reduction of official court visits: in
1738, all seven city convent churches and the convent of the Salesianerinnen
appeared in a list of thirty-six churches; in 1758 two of the city convents,
St. Ursula and St. Nikolai, were omitted in a list of thirty churches; in 1767,
the list contained eleven churches and there were no convents.57
An elaborate clothing ceremony, apparently the last of its kind, for a girl
with lofty connections, took place in June 1753 at the Königinkloster.
Reports stress the event’s archaic character, and note that such pomp had
not been seen for decades.58 Court carriages were no longer set up to allow

52
Hersche, “Wider ‘Müssiggang’ und ‘Ausschweifung,’” 104–5. 53 Ibid., 102–3.
54
Tomek, Kirchengeschichte Österreichs, III:215–16. 55 Ibid., III:222–27.
56
Hersche, “Wider ‘Müssiggang’ und ‘Ausschweifung,’” 108–9, 111–13.
57
Kovács, “Kirchliches Zeremoniell am Wiener Hof des 18. Jahrhunderts,” 125, 128–29, 131–32.
58
The ceremony is described in the Wienerisches Diarium, June 13, 1753, and Johann
Josef Khevenhüller-Metsch, Aus der Zeit Maria Theresias: Tagebuch des Fürsten Johann Josef
Khevenhüller-Metsch, Kaiserlichen Obersthofmeisters 1742–1776, ed. Rudolf Khevenhüller-
Metsch and Hans Schlitter (Vienna: Adolf Holzhausen; Leipzig: Wilhelm Engelman, 1910),
vol. III, 118–19.
 Festive music in Viennese convents in the 1750s 205

the public viewing of an honoree, and an elevated seat had to be constructed

to re-enact the old practice. The young woman, a daughter of a distin-
guished courtier, Fürst von Lamberg, wore an expensive wedding dress and
was adorned with imperial jewels; the empress presented her with a valuable
ring set with diamonds and a large emerald. She traveled to the convent in a
procession of four court carriages, containing – among other distinguished
guests – the entire imperial family, accompanied by many gentlemen on
horseback, “in gala dress and with beautiful equipages.” To satisfy the large
crowd who wanted to see the rare event, the procession traversed the main
squares and streets of the city according to the old practice, even though the
convent was only a few steps from the Hofburg. The ceremonies were
conducted in the presence of the court, and followed the plan of nearly a
century before. Also following earlier practice, the girl was clothed in the
nuns’ choir, and the guests crowded round to view the ceremony through an
open door. The festivities concluded with a magnificent Tafel in the con-
vent, the girl sitting at the empress’s table. Except for the detail that the Mass
was sung, nothing specific was reported about the music, which was prob-
ably provided by the Hofkapelle. With the diminishing of ceremony of the
past decade, this event, in its elaborateness and in the full participation of
the imperial family, brought special honor to the girl’s family. Its archaism, a
reminder of the way things used to be, made the symbolism of elaborateness
even more potent.
On December 24, 1753, in an attack on age-old ceremony, a ban on the
use of trumpets and timpani in church was announced by the archbishop of
Vienna, Johann Joseph Fürst Trautson:

Since His Holiness considers trumpets and timpani to be solely military instru-
ments, and through a papal bull has banned them in churches, such bull is likewise
promulgated with greatest leniency in the hereditary lands by her imperial royal
majesty our most gracious ruling archduchess and noble lady, who has already
accordingly abolished the trumpets and drums in the court churches and chapels.
Thus, it is also hereby decreed that in no church and at no devotional service nor in
any further procession, shall trumpets and timpani be used.59

Maria Theresia followed with a similar edict of her own on January 8, 1754,
and a further edict, issued on January 26, extended the ban to the rest of the
realm.60
The ban was an interpretation of one small part of Pope Benedict XIV’s
encyclical Annus qui of February 19, 1749, which set out guidelines for the

59
Black, “Mozart and the Practice of Sacred Music,” 9–10. 60
Ibid., 11–12.
206 Convents, music, and Habsburg rule in eighteenth-century Vienna

care of churches, liturgical practice, and appropriate church music in

advance of the upcoming Jubilee year.61 On music, the pope was particularly
concerned that theatricality be avoided and that the words be understood.
Instruments could be useful if they enhanced the experience of worship, but
were an abuse if they drowned out the words, created a theatrical effect, or
tempted the mind away from worship.62
The encyclical was not intended as a set of direct orders, but rather as a
guide to appropriate local practice,63 and Maria Theresia seized upon it,
several years after its appearance, to further her own agenda. The announce-
ment of the ban may have been timed for the greatest effect: it appeared on
the day before Christmas, a feast on which trumpets and timpani were
prominently used.64 Setting an example, Maria Theresia had eliminated the
instruments from church services at court by December 20. That the court
chamberlain and diarist Johann Josef Khevenhüller-Metsch refers to the
instruments as “bruyante Musique” confirms the court’s attitude.65
Although there were some protests, and some concern about how the
trumpeters were now to support themselves,66 the ban seems to have been
obeyed immediately, and in its severest interpretation, by many groups and
institutions. The elaborate annual patron’s day celebrations of the various
Landes-Genossenschaften (national societies) held at several Viennese
churches appear to have eliminated trumpets and timpani at the end of
1753.67 The Kärntnerische Landes-Genossenschaft, for example, celebrated
“with great festivity” the feast day of their national patron, St. Domitian, on
Sunday, February 14, 1753, at St. Peter’s “with a special performance of
vocal and instrumental music and also with a triple choir of trumpets and
timpani.”68 On Sunday, February 10, 1754, the same group celebrated this
feast at the same church “festively, with special vocal and instrumental

61
The document and its Viennese interpretation are examined in detail in ibid., 5–14.
62
Ibid., 6. 63 Ibid., 6. 64 Ibid., 11. See also p. 216 below.
65
Khevenhüller-Metsch, Aus der Zeit Maria Theresias, III:156 (December 21, 1753).
66
Ibid., III:156; Black, “Mozart and the Practice of Sacred Music,” 12; Lindner, Die Kaiserlichen
Hoftrompeter und Hofpauker, 12.
67
Janet K. Page, “Brass and percussion instruments and players in Vienna, 1740–1760, according
to the Wienerisches Diarium,” Historic Brass Society Journal, 10 (1998), 27–29; also Adolf Mais,
“Das mährische Nationsfest in Wien,” in Jahrbuch des Vereines für Geschichte der Stadt Wien, 13
(1957/58), 101–2.
68
Wienerisches Diarium, February 14, 1753: “Sonntag den 11. . . . hat die alhier versammlete Löbl.
Kärntnerische Landes-genossenschaft das Fest ihres Landes und Schutz-patrons heiligen
Domitiani in der St. Peters-kirchen mit einer besondern Vocal- und Instrumental-musik auch
unter dreyfach-angestimmten Trompeten- und Paucken-chor hoch-feyerlich begangen.”
Domitian was a spurious saint, the result of “a confused medieval fabrication”: Evans, The
Making of the Habsburg Monarchy, 189.
 Festive music in Viennese convents in the 1750s 207

music, [and] also a magnificently lighted high altar.”69 Trumpets and

timpani are not mentioned in this or later reports. But although magnifi-
cence was reduced, such groups were still permitted to honor their local
saints, following the pope’s direction that saints’ days for each region were
to be retained.70
Trumpets and timpani did not disappear entirely from church services
and religious processions. A baptismal service in the Hofkapelle on June 2,
1754, included these instruments, used by special dispensation.71 The child
was Ferdinand Karl, another son for the imperial couple. The Piarists in
Vienna began to use the instruments again at the beginning of 1755,
apparently without imperial objection.72 And not very far from the imperial
city, celebrations for the translation of a saint to the Augustinian female
convent of St. Joseph in Eisenstadt in September 1756 included a procession
with the “princely Hofmusik with trumpets and timpani.”73 Several masses
and other liturgical works including trumpets and timpani by Georg Reutter
Jr. are thought to date between 1756 and 1766, and three masses by
Marianna Martines include these instruments.74 According to dates on
the original performance parts, some of these works were performed in
the court chapel or at St. Michael’s before the ban was lifted in 1767.75
The chronicle of the Ursuline convent reveals details of that institution’s
use of trumpets and timpani, and their response to the ban. Although
commentary from the 1780s, the time of dissolution, suggests that
Viennese nuns then played the trumpet, at this convent in the first half of
the eighteenth century trumpets and timpani were hired in, from among the
city trumpeters. Payments were regulated by contract, and the musicians
were paid according to how much they played: in 1745, the chronicle noted

69
Wienerisches Diarium, February 13, 1754: “mit einer besondern Vocal- und Instrumental-music
auch prächtig beleuchtete Hoch-altar feyerlich begangen.”
70
Wienerisches Diarium, March 9, 1754.
71
Khevenhüller-Metsch, Aus der Zeit Maria Theresias, III:179. Discussed also in Black, “Mozart
and the Practice of Sacred Music,” 12n24.
72
Otto Biba, “Der Piaristenorden in Österreich: Seine Bedeutung für bildende Kunst, Musik und
Theater im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert,” Jahrbuch für österreichische Kulturgeschichte, 5 (1975), 113.
73
Wienerisches Diarium, September 15, 1756: “Eisenstadt 8 Septemb. Den 5. dieses ist bey denen
Wol-ehrwürd. Chor-frauen Can. Reg. S. Aug. in dem Hochfürstl. Esterhasischen Stift zu St.
Joseph der Heil. Leib des Heil. Martyrers Justini folgender Gestalten zu offentlicher Verehrung
ausgesezt worden. Es wurde eine solenne Proceßion angestellet, dero Anfang nach einer grossen
Kirchen-fahne machten die Kinder von der Christen-lehr mit ihren Standarten . . . hernach die
Fürstl. Hof-musik mit Trompeten und Paucken.”
74
Black, “Mozart and the Practice of Sacred Music,” 13–14, and Irving Godt, Marianna Martines:
A Woman Composer in the Vienna of Haydn and Mozart, ed. John A. Rice (University of
Rochester Press, 2010), 35–47, 56.
75
Black, “Mozart and the Practice of Sacred Music,” 13–14.
208 Convents, music, and Habsburg rule in eighteenth-century Vienna

that it cost “10 fl. 17 xr. to have [trumpets and timpani] play with the Litany,
but only 7 fl. 7 xr. when they play only the fanfares; when they play for the
Mass that costs 15 fl. 17 xr., but when they played only the fanfares it costs
9 fl. 7 xr.”76 Thus one could choose the elaborateness of the ceremony, and
how much to spend on the festive music.
Ensembles of these instruments appeared regularly on feast days and at
ceremonies of entry, clothing, and profession. New priests often read their
first Mass (Primitz) at St. Ursula, an event for which trumpets and timpani
were often hired. The musicians were usually paid by the priest or his family.
On September 29, 1708, the feast of St. Michael, for example, a priest read
his first Mass and “[we] also had trumpets, for all of which the new priest
bore the cost.”77
Special conventual events were celebrated with trumpets and timpani. On
May 8–10, 1718, the convent marked the centenary of the confirmation of
their order with three days of services “most beautifully celebrated” with
“grand imperial music, trumpets, and timpani.” On the third day, May 10,
the convent also celebrated the first anniversary of the abbess’s second
profession, and there was special festive music: “around midnight, by
order of someone unknown, music was performed by two choirs of trum-
pets and timpani in the street in front of the convent, in the presence of a
large crowd.”78 Trumpets and timpani were heard on the abbess’s name day
(St. Edmund’s day, November 16) in the 1740s,79 and on the occasion of the

76
“Hauschronik,” III:121: “wan sie mit d[er] litany mit blasen so kost es allerzeit 10 f. 17 x[;] wann
sie nur die aufzüch blasen, so kost es 7 f. 7 x[;] wann mit einem Ambt mit blasen so kost es
allerzeit 15 f. 17 kretzer[;] wann sie nur die aufzüch blasen kost es 9 f. 7 kretzer.”
77
Ibid., II:151: “den 29 ditto das Fest St. Michaeli, eine Erste Mesß . . . [wir] haben auch Trompeten
gehabt, welches alles d[er] Breutigamb ausgehalten.”
78
Ibid., III:178–79: May 10, 1718[?]: “und ist Jedes ambt, vesper, und litany, voraus gesetzten H.H.
hochwürdtigen gut unter pomposer Kayl. Music, Trompete und Hörpaucken, auf das schönste
gefallen worden. Welche 3 Tag hindurch eine unbeschreibliche menge Volcks von frühen
morgens bis in der späthen Nacht mit besonderer andacht die kirche besuchten. Endlich weillen
eben dem dritten Jubel-Tag als am 10ten May einfühle der Ersten Jahrs Tag von anderter
proffession Ihro gnadten und Hoch. Hochgebohrnen frauen oberin hiesigen Convents S. Ursula;
doch ersticktes Es sich das sowohl zum schlus einer seltsames Jubel-Fests, also auch zu Ehren
einer Eben so ungemeinen Frauen profession und würdigsten oberin, gegen Mitternacht, durch
unbekante anordtnung, ein Music mit zweyen chören Trompeten und Hör-Paucken vor dem
Closter auf d[en] gassen unter zulauf villen Volcks gehalten wurde.” This entry, apparently
written in the 1740s, was probably copied from an earlier description or perhaps recalled by
an older nun. Up to that time, 1718 is the only year in which an abbess at this convent had
celebrated the anniversary of her second profession. The chronicle notes Amalie Wilhelmine’s
attendance at the festivities, and the Corriere ordinario records that Amalie Wilhelmine and
Eleonora Magdalena attended on different days (May 11, 1718).
79
“Hauschronik,” II:288: “[1741] den 16 Novemb: das Fest des H. Edmundi, wird solenniter
gehalten mit pauckhen und trompeten, wegen des Nahmens tag Unser Oberin . . .”; II:293:
 Festive music in Viennese convents in the 1750s 209

completion of the convent, in 1745, after ten years of construction: “27

July . . . was solemnly celebrated a thanksgiving for the happy completion of
the convent building after ten years . . . we had timpani, trumpets, and
trombones at both Mass and Vespers.”80
Trumpets and timpani were heard at this convent until the institution of
the ban. On October 21, 1753, “the feast of St. Ursula fell on a Sunday . . . at
Mass, trumpets and timpani played, and also trombones.”81 On December
17, the convent celebrated the entry of Françoise and Marianna Cavriani,
girls of the high nobility: “on Monday just before four o’clock they came
with two carriages; in the first was Fräulein Françoise with Gräfin von
Lamberg and the Bohemian Gräfin Cavriani; [in the second] with
Fräulein Marianna was her mother with Gräfin von Breiner . . . and they
had two choirs of trumpets and timpani to perform.”82
A week later, on December 24, the chronicle reported that “on Christmas
eve the decree came, which our worthy abbess must subscribe to, that no
trumpets or timpani are to be used for liturgical services, or for entry,
clothing or profession ceremonies.”83 Trautson’s decree, or some version
of it directed at convents, was apparently sent round to the institutions
concerned, and these nuns obeyed immediately and completely. The
chronicle reported that “on January 3, Sister Maria Francisca’s profession
ceremony took place . . . along with our musicians there was nothing else
but the trombonists.”84 On January 10, the clothing ceremony of the
Cavriani girls took place, attended by the court, including the emperor
and empress, the young Archduke Joseph (aged 12), the young

“[1743] den 15 und 16 Novemb: das Fest des Edmundi, . . . Nahmens Tag Unserer Oberin . . . alle
ware gehalten mit Pauken und trombeten, aber nur die aufzüge”; III:85: “[1743] H. Edmundy den
16 November . . . bey allen beiden litaneyen wahren Drompeten und Pauckhen, auch bey dem
ambt aber nur die aufzüg, bey d[er] ersten litany und bey dem ambt wahren posannen.”
80
Ibid., II:304: “[1745] den 27 July . . . wurde solemniter das danckh fest gehalten, wegen nach 10
Jahren glüklich vollendten Closter Bau . . . wir hatten so wohl beym ambt als vesper Paucken
Trompeten, und Posanen.”
81
Ibid., III:271: “den 21 October [1753] an einen Sonntag ist das fest sanct Ursula gefahlen . . . bey
dem ambt seint trompetten undt paucken wie auch possaunen geblassen.”
82
Ibid., III:275–76: “den 17 December [1753] ist der Eintritt von denen zweyen freyllen
Caprianinnen, an einen Monntag vor 4 uhr seint sie kommen mit zwey wagen, in den ersten
wahr gewessen die freyle francoisse, mit der graffin von Lamberg, und der böhmischen graffin
von Capriani, und bey der freyle Marianna war ihre Mamma mit der gräffin von brinnerin . . .
und zwey chör trumpetten undt baucken haben sie darbey gehalt.”
83
Ibid., III:276: “an den 24 December [1753] an H. abend ist das decreit kommen, das sich die
würdigte Mütter unterschreiben solle, das keine trompetten und pauckhen unter dem gottes
dienst, wie auch bey denen Eintritt, Einkleidung, und profession nicht darbey, sein treffen.”
84
Ibid., III:277: “1754 den 3 Janner ist die schwester Maria Franciscas proffes worden . . . bey der
Musik ist nichts anders gewessen als die possannisten.”
210 Convents, music, and Habsburg rule in eighteenth-century Vienna

archduchesses, Charlotte of Lorraine, many court ladies, and relatives male

and female of the girls, in total about two hundred people. Music is not
mentioned in the account (with such a distinguished audience, it was
probably provided by the Hofkapelle), but ceremony was clearly reduced:
the chronicle noted that the Archbishop’s accoutrements were much plainer
than before and that the court did not stay for the festive meal.85 Nor did the
court travel in state to the convent, in contrast to the Lamberg girl’s
procession six months before.86 And in a foretaste of what was to come,
the young Joseph’s dislike of ceremony was already evident, in his refusal to
participate in the traditional hand-kissing. For another clothing ceremony,
on June 13 of that year, the chronicle reported that “there were no trumpets
present, nor any in the procession of the residents of the Bürgerspital.”87
The latter comment probably referred to a Corpus Christi procession, as
that feast fell on June 14 that year, and suggests that trumpets disappeared
there as well, at least temporarily.
There had been plenty of signs that the days of splendid ceremonies in the
convent were numbered. In the spirit of Maria Theresia’s decrees, convent
ceremonies at St. Ursula were already becoming generally simpler and less
ostentatious by the late 1740s. Court visits became more the province of
archduchesses and lesser royals, and were sometimes even assigned to
young children. For a profession ceremony in July 1746, the royal party
consisted of Archduchesses Marianna (aged 7) and Marie Christine (aged
4), and Archduke Joseph (aged 5). “All three remained in the choir for the
entire Mass and ceremony; the empress provided the musical ensemble.
When all was over, the royal party even went into the refectory, but they
weren’t permitted to have anything, neither café au lait nor anything else.”88
As convent ceremonies became simpler and more private, such visits
became even more homely. On May 5, [1754],
the two archduchesses Johanna Gabriela and Maria Josefa, the first aged 4, the
second aged 3, came to the convent from Schönbrunn, together with Gräfin von

85
Ibid., III:277–81. The event is also noted in the Wienerisches Diarium (January 12, 1754), but
nothing is said about the music.
86
Khevenhüller-Metsch, Aus der Zeit Maria Theresias, III:158: “Den 10. [January] fuhren die
Herrschaften ohne offentlicher Begleitung zu denen Ursulinerinnen, um die Einkleidung zweier
Freile Cavriani (Töchter des Gr. Max) beizuwohnen.”
87
“Hauschronik,” III:300: “den 13. Juny [1754] Einkleidung freyle Josepha Sauer . . . es seint keine
trompetten darbey gewessen, wie auch bey dem umbgang von denen burger Spittaler.”
88
Ibid., III:132: “welche alle 3 unter den Gantzen Ambt und ceremony im chor wahren, die Music
hat die Kayserin geschickht, nachdem alles aus wahre sein die herrschaften zwahre in das
Refectio gangen, haben aber nichts, weder einen Milch Cavée noch etwas Andres nehmen
derffen.”
 Festive music in Viennese convents in the 1750s 211

Wiltenstein, two women of the chamber, and two female servants. They all went into
the abbess’s room, where they looked at the present and ate a snack – it was some
rolls and a Wiener schnitzel. Then we nuns went with the young royals into the
novitiate to hear the first Benediction; after the Benediction, Sister Josepha had to play
on the harpsichord, then they went into the music choir again and heard the complete
Litany, because the Lady Johanna wanted to see how the nuns sang and played.89

From the late 1740s onward, the chronicler often observed that trumpets
were lacking or used in a reduced role at clothing and other such ceremonies.
In 1748, for example, “on October 28, Sister Peregrina and Sister Sidonia were
clothed . . . at the high mass there were no trumpets [and] the organ played
for the entry of the candidates into the church.”90 The empress also encour-
aged the convent to perform its own music: “on July 6 [1747] Sister Vincentia
was clothed. Her Majesty the reigning empress was present as well as Princess
Charlotte, the emperor’s sister . . . we performed our own music, because the
empress had ordered this.”91 Some ceremonies were noticeably less elaborate,
more private; members of the imperial family, when they attended, stayed for
a shorter time and took less part in the festivities. Following Sister Vincentia’s
clothing ceremony, the empress visited a convent resident in her cell, then
spent some time in the refectory, “but she took nothing but some black bread
and a glass of water to drink, sitting on a bench.”92

89
Ibid., III:292: “den 5. May seint die zwey Ertz-Hertzogin, die frau Johanna Gabriella, undt die
frau Maria Josepha, die Erste wahr 4 Jahr und die anderte 3 Jahr[,] umb 4 uhr zu uns in das
Closter kommen von schönbrun herin, gleich seint sie mit der gräffin von Wiltenstein, undt mit
denen zwey Cammer Frauen, und zwey cammer dienerin in d[er] würdigte frau ihr zimmer
gangen, dort haben sie das present geschaut, undt hernach die Jaussen geessen[.] Das war ein
wenig handt semel undt ein schnitzel zwibacken[.] nach disen seindt wir Closter-frauen mit den
jungen herrschaften in das Noviziat gangen dem Ersten Seegen gehört, nach dem Seegen hat die
schwester Maria Josepha schlagen müssen auf das instrument[.] noch mahl seint sie in den
Musick cohr gangen undt die litany gar ausgehört, weill die frau Johanna die Closter Frauen
begert hat zu sehen wie sie singen undt geigen thuen.” Other such visits by royal women and
children are described in Kölbl, “Die Ursulinen in Wien,” 153–60.
90
“Hauschronik,” III:165: “den 28 October [1748] ist die Schwester beregrina, und schw. Sidonnia
eingekleidet worden . . . bey dem hoch-ambt wahre keinen trompeten[.] bey dem eingang der
braüthen in die kürche, haben sie die orgel geschlagen.”
91
Ibid., III:138: “den 6 July [1747] . . . ist die schw. Vincentia eingekleidet worden, es wahre ihre
Mayestätt die Regierende Kayserin darbey, wie auch die princess charlott die Kaisers
schwester . . . Wir haben unser selbsteigne Music gehabt, weill es die kayserin verlanget hat.”
92
Ibid., III:138: “nachdem die ceremonia sambt allen geendet ist, die kayserin zur frl. Pedatz gangen
in ihres zimmer anzuschauen, als dan ins Refectorium allda sie sich ein Zeitlang aufgehalten, hat
aber nichts als ein schwartzes brodt und ein glas wasser, auf der banckh sitzent getrunckhen.”
Another such visit, for a profession on May 4, 1761, was made by the empress, several of her
daughters, Archduke Leopold (aged 14), and other nobles. No music is mentioned, and the
entertainment consisted of eating, coffee-drinking, and hearing the young students speak
French: “Hauschronik,” IV:159, cited in Kölbl, “Die Ursulinen in Wien,” 159–60.
212 Convents, music, and Habsburg rule in eighteenth-century Vienna

Trumpets and timpani disappeared in 1751 for about a year, apparently

on account of some dispute concerning the contract. On Easter Sunday
1751, “a new priest, a Jesuit in the lower college,93 read his first Mass . . . and
there were trumpets and timpani, but they played only the fanfares. The
convent paid the cost, as they [the Jesuits] have been so gracious to us.”94 On
that day, the chronicle noted that “today the trumpeters’ contract is also
ended; on St. Ursula’s day and other [feast days] they are paid 10 fl., with the
exception of the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and clothing and
profession ceremonies, [for which they are paid] 15 fl., as already specified
by the first contract.”95 The matter was not resolved for some time. On the
feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in June – one of the convent’s principal
feasts, the name day of the brotherhood attached to the convent – “we had
no trumpets this year; at the service we had nothing but trombones.”96
That there were no trumpets, but only trombones, is similarly reported for
other important feasts that year: the abbess’s name day (September 15), St.
Mathias (September 21) – even St. Ursula.97 But on July 2, 1752, there were
trumpets and timpani on the feast of the Visitation of Mary: “a Pazmaniter
made his first profession; there were trumpets and timpani, but they were
military trumpeters, since the new priest had requested them, as no other
city trumpeters could be obtained.”98 Trumpets and timpani are then
reported again, until the announcement of the ban, although they were

93
The Collegium Academicum, connected with the University; see Czeike, Historisches Lexikon
Wien, s.v. “Jesuitengebäude.”
94
“Hauschronik,” III:215: “am oster Sonntag hat das Hoch ambt gehalten ein primitzcianten, ein
Jesuiter in unter Collegio, der pater Geiger . . . es seint auch Trompeten und paucken darbey
gewessen aber nur bey den aufzug haben sie geplassen[.] die Closter frauen haben die unkosten
gezahlt weil wir so viel gnaden von ihnen Empfangen.”
95
Ibid., III:215: “heur ist auch die contract von denen trompeten geehnter worden, am Ursula Tag
undt anderten wirdt 10 f. ausgenomben am Herz Jesu fest und bey den Einkleidung und
profession 15 f. weil die Erste Contract schon so eingericht ist.”
96
Ibid., III:217: “den 18 Juni [1751] Herz Jesu Fest . . . wir haben disses Jahr kein Trompeten
gehabt[,] bey dem gottes-dienst nichts als possannen.”
97
Ibid., III:220: “den 1[5?] September haben wir die kirch-weyl gehalten . . . wir haben auch bey
dem hoch ambt, vesper, undt litaney bey d[er] Music die possaunen gehabt wegen der
würdigsten Mütter ihren Nahmens Tag, sonst haben wir sie niemahls wegen d[er] kirch-weyl”;
III:221: “21 September H Mathias bey dem ambt seint keine trompeten gewessen, nichts als die
possaunen”; III:221–22: “21 October S Ursula den abendts und an dem Tag H. Ursula, und am
H. Cordula Tag bey dem ambt, seint die possaunen darbey gewessen, aber bey d[en] vesper und
litany nicht.”
98
Ibid., III:234: “den 2 July am Fest Maria Heimsuchung, hat ein pazmanit sein Erster primitz
gehalten, es seint trompetten undt paucken gewössen aber seint gewessen Soldaten trompetten
weil d[er] primitziant statt gesagt hat, undt sonst keine andere Stadt Trompetter bekommen
haben.” The Pazmaniten were graduates of the Pazmaneum, a college for Hungarian priests
founded in Vienna in 1623 by the Jesuit priest and Hungarian cardinal Peter Pázmány von Panaz
(Czeike, Historisches Lexikon Wien, s.vv. “Pazmaneum,” “Pázmány v. Panaz, Peter”).
 Festive music in Viennese convents in the 1750s 213

sometimes used less or even omitted at some ceremonies. On St. Ursula’s

day 1753, “trumpets and timpani as well as trombones played for the
Mass . . . for First Vespers [on the eve of the feast] as well as [Vespers] on
the feast itself, only the trombones played.”99
The banning of trumpets and timpani and the reduction of feast days may
have accelerated the trend toward simplicity and privacy already evident.
Instead of a festive Mass, the abbess’s name day in 1754 was honored with a
special musical performance.100 On September 13 [1754], “Fräulein Liserl
Willingner made her entry not in public but rather only inside the cloister
beside the Holy Grave. Her sponsors were Baroness Caroly and Frau von
Wirz; none of her friends attended, so the novice Josepha looked after
everything.”101 Music is not mentioned in accounts of these simpler cere-
monies, which now became the norm rather than the exception. The empress
continued to visit the convent, but her visits were more often private; she is
said to have often visited the school to observe the teaching.102 Public visits
included one on May 1, 1759, when she attended the clothing of Sister Anna
Maria (Gräfin Goess), accompanied by several of her children.103 On the
occasion of the second profession of the convent’s abbess, Mother
Emerentiana, in 1774, the empress visited the convent with two of her
daughters and women of the court:

The festivities began at 8:30 a.m. with a profound speech of praise made by the
worthy Herr Schneller, the cathedral preacher here; then followed High Mass
celebrated by his Grace the Reverend Herr Franz Anton Marxer, Bishop of
Chrysopolis, cathedral provost at St. Stephen’s, etc., with magnificent music . . .
And after the services her Majesty the Empress graciously deigned to allow her hand
to be kissed by the numerous members of the nobility who were present, and then
took her mid-day meal in the convent. After the meal, the worthy nuns sang a little
musical oratorio.104

99
“Hauschronik,” III:271: “den 21 October [1753] an einen Sonntag ist das Fest sanct Ursula
gefahlen . . . bey dem ambt seint trompetten undt paucken wie auch possounen geblaessen[.]
bey d[er] vor Vesper wie auch am fest selbsten seint nur die possannen geblassen worden.”
100
Ibid., III:308: “den 28 Augusty [1754] . . . die Novitzinen undt Jung professinen haben ihrer
Novitzin Maisterin ein Recht schön Music gemacht.”
101
Ibid., III:312: “an einn Sonntag hat die freyl liserl willingnerin das Eintritt gemacht nicht
offentlich sondern nur bey d[er] clausur bey d[em] H. grab in die kirchen hinaus[.] die einfür
frauen wahren die baronnin caroly undt die frau von wirtz[.] das wahr kein persohn von ihro
freundtschafft darbey, also die Jungfrau Josepha die gantzlich von sie gesorgt hat.”
102
On private visits, see Zwei Jahrhunderte des Ursulinerklosters in Wien, 18, and Schneider,
Kloster als Lebensform, 234–35.
103
Zwei Jahrhunderte des Ursulinerklosters in Wien, 17.
104
Wienerisches Diarium, May 4, 1774: “Montags [May 2] darauf nach 10 Uhr früh, beliebten Ihre
Majest. die Kaiserinn Königinn in Begleitung der Erzherzoginn Maria Anna, und Elisabeth
214 Convents, music, and Habsburg rule in eighteenth-century Vienna

This was the last official Habsburg visit to the convent until 1790, when the
children of Leopold II began to visit. Maria Theresia came to the convent for
the last time in September 1775.105 The Habsburg children made sponta-
neous visits to the convent especially frequently in the early 1760s.106 They
dropped in seemingly at any time, and usually stayed for only a short while.
The most frequent visitor was the teenaged Archduchess Maria Elisabeth,
later abbess of the Damenstift in Innsbruck.
The Ursuline convent interpreted the ban on trumpets and timpani in the
strictest manner, and the chronicler registered her disapproval in frequent
comments on the instruments’ absence at ceremonies where they had
customarily been present. But the nuns’ prompt obedience suggests that
the ban might otherwise have come as something of a relief. For them, there
had been clear premonitions that less costly, less ostentatious music was on
the horizon: the trend toward simplification in nuns’ life ceremonies; the
fading of imperial attention and loss of imperial musical resources; and the
disappearance of trumpets and timpani for about a year from mid-1751.
The decline of the convent’s formerly brilliant musical life is reflected also
in the disintegration from the late 1760s of clausura, one of the fundamental
bases of post-Tridentine convent life. The chronicle of these years reports
many abuses and attempts to remedy them: there was much coming and
going of nuns’ relations, workmen, and servants, and music masters entered
the convent, which had never before happened, “so long as the convent had
existed.”107 Nevertheless, the nuns continued to worship in up-to-date
fashion. They added to their music library into the 1770s, obtaining motets,
symphonies, and other pieces by locally popular composers such as
Christoph Sonnleithner (1734–86), the court organist Ferdinand Arbesser
(1719–94), Wagenseil, and Johann Georg Zechner (1716–78).

königl. Hoheiten, sich in das löbl. Frauenkloster der Ursulinerinnen zu erheben, um allda der
Feyer des zweyten Gelübteides der hochwürdigen Frau Maria Emerentiana vom heil. Joseph,
gebohrnen Freyinn Dillher von Altheen, beyzuwohnen. Diese Feyerlichkeit wurde um ½ 9 Uhr
mit einer sinnreichen Lobrede, so der ehrwürdige Herr Schneller, allhiesiger Domprediger
gehalten, angefangen, darauf das Hochamt von Titl. Ihro Hochwürden und Gnaden Herrn
Franz Anton Marxer, Bischoffen zu Chrysopoli, des hohen Erzstifts zu St. Stephan
Domprobsten, etc. unter einer herrlichen Musik abgesungen . . . Und nach vollendeten
Gottesdienste geruheten Ihre Majestät die Kaiserinn den zahlreichen anwesenden Adel zum
Handkuß allergnädigst gelangen zu lassen, und hierauf das Mittagmahl allda einzunehmen;
nach der Tafel wurde von den ehrwürdigen Klosterfrauen ein kleines musikalisches Oratorium
abgesungen, nach welchem Ihre k. k. apost. Majestät mit den zwey Erzherzoginnen königl.
Hoheiten sich nach der Hofburg begaben.” This event is also described in Zwei Jahrhunderte des
Ursulinerklosters, 41–42, and Schöpfleuthner, Aus den Annalen des Klosters von St. Ursula in
Wien, 19.
105
Schneider, Kloster als Lebensform, 234. 106 Ibid., 235. 107 Ibid., 159–73.
 Festive music in Viennese convents in the 1750s 215

In June 1767, the Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Anton

Migazzi, presented Emperor Joseph with a petition requesting permission
to use trumpets and timpani in services celebrating Maria Theresia’s recov-
ery from smallpox. The petition was signed by some fifty representatives of
Viennese churches and religious institutions, including the abbesses of all
nine convents.108 Joseph approved the petition, and trumpets and timpani
were heard again, and not only in those churches connected with the court.
According to the Wienerisches Diarium of June 20,
The eagerness to praise the Almighty on account of the convalescence of her
Majesty, our most beloved ruler, continues in this city and its suburbs, with public
expressions of thanks and songs of praise. No day of this week has passed without
the resounding of the joyous sounds of a Te Deum, with choice music and trumpets
and timpani, in one or more churches.109

Once restored, trumpets and timpani continued in use, and the require-
ment that official permission be obtained was perhaps not strictly
observed.110 Celebrations at the convent of the Salesianerinnen in honor
of the canonization of their founder in May 1768 included them,111 as did
celebrations at the Ursuline convent in honor of the beatification of theirs,
Angela Merici, on May 31–June 2, 1769.112 For the octave of that event,
further special music was provided by Ignaz Parhammer and the boys of
the Waisenhaus, who performed the Mass with “trumpets, trombones,
and flutes.”113 For the celebration of the first Mass by a new priest in the
Ursuline convent church on August 23, 1773, several choir nuns shared

108
Black, “Mozart and the Practice of Sacred Music,” 16–21; a facsimile of the first page of
signatures attached to the petition appears on page 16. I thank David Black for further
information and for providing me with copies of the rest of this petition and of a second copy of
it. These are found in Liturgie 2, Gottesdienstordnung 1621–1781, A-Wda.
109
Wienerisches Diarium, June 20, 1767: “Der Eifer, in hiesiger Stadt, und ihren Vorstädten dem
Allerhöchsten, wegen der Ihrer k. k. Majest. unserer geliebtesten Landesfrau verliehenen
Genesung, mit öffentlichen Dankbezeigungen, und Lobgesängen zu preisen, gehet noch immer
fort, und es ist kein Tag in dieser Woche gewesen, an dem nicht eine oder mehrere Kirchen von
der freudigen Anstimmung des Te Deum, unter auserlesenen Musiken, und vom Trompeten-
und Pauckenschalle erthöneten.”
110
Black, “Mozart and the Practice of Sacred Music,” 19–20. 111 See pp. 201–2 above.
112
Wienerisches Diarium, June 10, 1769.
113
Pfannhauser, “Zu Mozarts Kirchenwerken von 1768,” 165. Pfannhauser cites an entry in the
convent’s chronicle volume of 1764–75, p. 149: “als den 7t Juny . . . am Mittwoch die octav von
unsser Seelligen Mutter Angela had der pater parhammer sich aus gebötten . . . umb 10. uhr ein
ambt zu halten, zu Ehren d Seelligen Mutter Angela mit seinen buben; . . . mit allen seinen
leihten bey den ambt haben gedient; Der Herr Macarowitz d diacon undt Sub Diacon der Herr
Schnabel, undt seine 7 buben undt die übrigen pubn haben die Musicalische ambt gesungen wie
auch mit trompeten und posssaunen, und uotravers [Flautotravers].”
216 Convents, music, and Habsburg rule in eighteenth-century Vienna

the payment for an ensemble of trumpets and timpani and the abbess paid
for some trombones.114
Many of the surviving sets of parts from the Ursuline convent have
trumpet and timpani parts on different paper from the rest, and circum-
stantial evidence suggests that these parts were added in or around 1769.
One such work, a Dixit Dominus by Johann Georg Zechner, was – according
to performance dates noted on the cover – performed between 1758 and
1766 on various feast days, especially saints’ days, or octaves of feasts. In
1769 this Dixit Dominus was heard on the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
(celebrated that year on June 2, the final day of the grand festival honoring
Angela Merici), and from then on it was heard on solemn feasts such as
Easter and Christmas. Trumpets and timpani were used on this date in
1769, and the parts were very possibly added at this time.115 The feast of the
Sacred Heart of Jesus, associated with the convent’s principal brotherhood,
was one of the few on which the instruments were still being heard in
February 1783, when the abbess drew up a list of the convent’s musical
expenses, as required by the court of all religious institutions. According to
her report, “on the feasts of the brotherhoods, outside musicians are some-
times invited for the wind instruments and paid 8–10 fl., also sometimes
more if, however, the music is important; on such feasts there are no other
expenses.”116 The nuns provided most of the musical ensemble, with the
trumpets and timpani, and also trombonists, joining in.
The ban throws into relief the use of another brass instrument, the
trombone. Although it remained in use here and there in civic music, the
trombone had mostly disappeared by the early eighteenth century.117 But in
Austria it survived as an obbligato and accompanying instrument, especially
in church music.118 Friedrich Nicolai, after visiting Vienna in 1781, noted
that “in Austria and Bavaria this instrument is still used very frequently and

114
“Hauschronik,” V, entry for August 23, 1773; cited in Schneider, Kloster als Lebensform, 133. I
have not yet been able to examine the volume of the convent’s chronicle covering this period.
115
Janet K. Page, “New light on eighteenth-century Viennese church music, from behind the
convent wall,” in Kathryn Libin (ed.), Selected Papers from the Fifth Biennial Conference of the
Society for Eighteenth-Century Music (Ann Arbor, MI: Steglein Press, forthcoming).
116
“Verzeichniße Derjenigen, die ihre Ausweise über die Musikunkösten . . . eingereicht haben,”
no. 31, St. Ursula, C Norm K 4296 ad Acta No. 477 C 20 de [1]784, NöLA, cited in Biba, “Die
Wiener Kirchenmusik um 1783,” 52. The document is dated February 3, 1783.
117
Trevor Herbert, The Trombone (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2006), 109–26,
Chapter 6, “Decline, survival, and rehabilitation: The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.”
118
Many examples appear in Carter, “Trombone obbligatos in Viennese oratorios of the baroque,”
52–77, and J. Richard Raum, “Extending the solo and chamber repertoire for the alto trombone:
From the late baroque and early classical periods,” International Trombone Association Journal,
16, no. 2 (Spring 1988), 11–23.
 Festive music in Viennese convents in the 1750s 217

is well played, especially in churches.”119 He heard obbligato trombone

solos on several occasions, and also attended a funeral mass at the
Augustinerkirche, at which the small musical ensemble included a pair of
the instruments.120 Although smaller churches had apparently given up
using the instruments on a regular basis by 1784, trombones, mostly in
pairs, were still then included in the musical ensembles of ten important
Viennese churches.121
During the reign of Karl VI, trombones had been used at court in
liturgical music of all types, in an ensemble of cornett, two trombones,
and bassoon.122 This ensemble typically doubled the voice parts, and trom-
bone and bassoon were frequent obbligato instruments. In court practice, a
pair of trombones, playing alto and tenor parts, seems to have been the most
common arrangement; bass trombone, while not unknown, was rare.123
Vienna was a minor center of trombone-making in the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries (Nuremberg being by far the most important), and
twenty Viennese trombones made between 1630 and 1794 are known to
survive. Most surviving Viennese instruments are tenors, but there are two
basses (Miler or Milner, 1637, and Hanns Geyer, 1671) and one alto (Geyer,
1702).124 Several instruments survive in pairs, a circumstance reflecting
their usage: there are two pairs by Geyer (1676 and 1702; the latter pair an
alto and a tenor), and pairs by Leichnamschneider (1738, from the
Michaelerkirche) and Kerner (1752, Stift Seitenstetten).
The Ursuline convent’s music often includes parts labeled alto and tenor
(or sometimes first and second) trombones; these double the alto and tenor
vocal parts in choral sections and occasionally have obbligato parts in arias.
A typical example, a Magnificat by Alexander Ender, has the trombones
doubling in choral sections, and playing obbligato parts in the “Et miseri-
cordia” (alto solo) and the “Suscepit Israel” (tenor and bass duet).125 The
effect is particularly striking in the latter, providing a dark coloring unex-
pected in a female convent, especially since both instruments were probably
tenors, the alto instrument being rare (Example 36).
At the Ursuline convent in the mid-eighteenth century, the trombonists
were hired in, and paid much less than trumpeters and timpanists: in 1753 the

119
Nicolai, Beschreibung einer Reise, II:545. 120 Ibid., II:545, 548, 549.
121
Biba, “Die Wiener Kirchenmusik um 1783,” 24–48.
122
Riedel, Kirchenmusik, especially 63–64, 134, 146.
123
Black, “Mozart and the Practice of Sacred Music,” 99n108.
124
With thanks to Stewart Carter for providing me with information from his unpublished
database of instruments. See also Herbert, The Trombone, Appendix 1, 311–19.
125
Alexander Ender, Magnificat, Ursuline Collection, uncatalogued, A-Wgm.
218 Convents, music, and Habsburg rule in eighteenth-century Vienna

Example 36. Alexander Ender, Magnificat, “Suscepit Israel.”

trombonists were paid 2 fl. for playing with the convent’s musical ensemble on
the abbess’s name day.126 The hired musicians probably played in the galleries
above the side altars while the nuns sang and played in the choir loft.
Trombones were used frequently at St. Ursula in the 1740s and 50s, often
on the special occasions for which trumpets and timpani were also hired. On
St. Leopold’s day (November 15) in 1743, “there were trumpets and timpani
for both Litanies, and also for the Mass, but there, only the fanfares. For the

126
“Hauschronik,” III:266, September 6, [1753]: “die possaunnen seint mit d[er] Music gegangen
wegen der würdige Mutter ihren Nahmens Tag[.] hat die unkosten gekauft die Closter frauen
von der Music, 2 f.”
 Festive music in Viennese convents in the 1750s 219

Example 36 (cont.)

first Litany and at Mass there were trombones.”127 All of these instruments
were used on July 27, 1745, for the celebration of the completion of
the convent, and all played for both Mass and Vespers. But sometimes only
trombonists appeared: on the feast of St. Ursula in 1743, “at both Masses
we had trombones, but we did not have them for Second Vespers.”128

127
Ibid., III:85: on St. Leopold’s day, November 15, “bey allen beiden litaneyen wahren Drompeten
und Pauckhen, auch bey dem ambt aber nur die aufzüg, bey d[er] ersten litany und bey dem
ambt wahren posannen.”
128
Ibid., III:85: “bey beiden Ambtern haben wir posannen gehabt, aber bey der lezten vesper nicht
mehr.”
220 Convents, music, and Habsburg rule in eighteenth-century Vienna

Example 36 (cont.)

They were also used for Requiem Masses in the convent church, in December
1751 and May 1754.129
The Ursuline abbess’s report of 1783 suggests that trombonists might
have then been hired on a few special occasions; but no convent listed them
among its musicians in that year. The descriptions of Viennese convent
music-making from the 1780s, including Nicolai’s and the anonymous
account in the notorious Ueber die Kirchenmusik in Wien of 1781, do not

129
Ibid., III:224: “20 December [1751] . . . Es sind bey dem Requiem ambt die possaunen gewessen,
die Würdtiger Mutter hat er bezahlt von ihren geldt”; 296: “den 14 May [1754] seint die
Exequien gehalten worden vor die verstorbenen freyle Renata, undt auch ein Requiem ambt mit
denen posannen.”
 Festive music in Viennese convents in the 1750s 221

Example 36 (cont.)

mention them.130 It seems likely that they disappeared from regular convent
use as the nuns increasingly took responsibility for their own music and
made less use of outside musicians.
Reutter’s Mater dolorum of 1729, performed at St. Agnes zur
Himmelpforte, calls for a trombone, and in the surviving parts the single
obbligato aria for that instrument is labeled “Trombon: Alto solo. ô Talia,”
suggesting that an alternative instrument might have been employed. The
suggestion that a viola might replace the trombone was common in

130
Nicolai, Beschreibung einer Reise, II:545–46; Ueber die Kirchenmusik in Wien, 14.
222 Convents, music, and Habsburg rule in eighteenth-century Vienna

Viennese church music.131 In a set of parts for a Dixit Dominus by

Ferdinand Schmidt in the Ursuline collection, treble-clef versions of the
trombone solos of the “Juravit” are found on separate sheets in the violin
parts, confirming that the work was performed at some point without the
trombones.132

Music and the dissolution of the convents

O, does not a virginal bass voice strike one through the heart, and the devout
squeaking of the violins to one’s very marrow!
Beiträge zur Schilderung Wiens, 1781133

Monastic reform was already in Maria Theresia’s mind by about 1750. In

her political testament of around that time she criticized the clergy for not
using their resources appropriately, thus burdening the public with their
support, and for not carrying out their work efficiently. “All this will call for
a great remedy,” she wrote, “which I propose to effect in good time and after
due consideration.”134 That nuns were also in her thoughts is made clear by
her remarks about Hungary, “where much still remains to be done for
religion.” There, she envisioned the clergy as coordinating with the laity
in establishing “seminaries, colleges, academies, hospitals for the sick and
injured, conservatories (as in Italy) for unmarried women, for the better
instruction of the young, etc., taking careful pains to support and develop
what is useful to the public, and not what profits the private advantage of the
clergy, monks and nuns in any province.”135
Maria Theresia never developed any such organized program, but a
debate concerning the usefulness of monastic institutions began to take
shape after 1765, when Joseph succeeded his father as Holy Roman
Emperor and became co-ruler of the Habsburg lands with his mother.

131
Many examples are listed in Raum, “Extending the solo and chamber repertoire,” 18, 21.
132
Ferdinand Schmidt, “C / 8 / Dixit Dominus / â 4 voci Conc:to / Del Sigl: Schmidt,”
Ursuline Collection, uncatalogued, A-Wgm. The work lacks its original cover, and thus its
performance dates are unknown; but the other works by Schmidt in the collection have
initial performance dates of 1757 or 1758. The transposed parts appear to date from the
eighteenth century, like the rest.
133
Joseph Maria Weissegger von Weisseneck, Beiträge zur Schilderung Wiens, vol. I (n.p.: 1781),
75: “O wie dringt nicht eine jungfräuliche Baßstimme durchs Herz, und das andächtige
Geigenquitschen durch Mark und Bein!”
134
Derek Beales, Enlightenment and Reform in Eighteenth-Century Europe (London: I. B. Tauris,
2005), 229.
135
Ibid., 229, with further discussion on 230–37, in which Beales warns against making too much of
this, noting that “the program, like the syntax, appears both incoherent and elusive.”
 Music and the dissolution of the convents 223

Serious reform soon began. Although the relatively small number of nuns in
Vienna suggests that few girls entered convents unwillingly, Maria Theresia
decreed in 1771 that the novitiate was to last seven years and that no man or
woman was to take final vows in any order before the age of twenty-four.
She limited dowries to 1,500 florins and extra payments for living expenses
to 200 florins annually. Further regulations demanded that institutions
inventory their possessions (1770), forbade the sending of money to
Rome or other direct contact with the authorities there (1771), ended the
traditional Spendtage, on which convents distributed food to the poor
(1773), and forbade any disposal of an institution’s possessions (1775).136
These regulations not only made entry difficult and restricted the convents
financially, but also effectively isolated them, both from the rest of the
church and from the people who had supported them and counted on
them for aid.
Convents were included in Joseph’s early plans for educational reform.137
In 1773 he dissolved the Jesuit order, which had been responsible for the
majority of primary education in Austria. Convents thought capable, and
whose version of clausura permitted it, were now ordered to undertake
“useful” work and to establish schools for girls. On May 15, 1776, the
Wienerisches Diarium reported that “the new schools for girls were opened
on the sixth and eighth of this month in the three foundations of regular
canonesses, and are up and running with improved methods. At St. Laurenz
there are ninety pupils, at the Himmelpforte convent seventy-five, and at St.
Jakob forty-six.”138 St. Laurenz, long occupied with the education of noble
girls, established its school in 1775, and it seems to have flourished – there
were six teachers and a prefect in 1782.139 The small school at St. Jakob
had only a few teachers.140 Maria Theresia gave her personal support to
this endeavor, visiting the school at the Himmelpforte convent in August
1777 (where she observed the teaching and inspected the pupils’ work)141

136
Tomek, Kirchengeschichte Österreichs, III:227–28, 295.
137
On Joseph’s educational reforms, and connections between these and monastic reforms, see
Beales, Joseph II, II:307–32, Chapter 9, “Josephism rampant II: Lay education and a new
Catholicism.”
138
Wienerisches Diarium, May 15, 1776: “Die neuen Schulen für die Mägdlein sind in den drey
Frauenstiftern der regulirten Kanonissinnen, und zwar bey St. Lorenz mit 90, bey der
Himmelspforte mit 75, und bey St. Jakob mit 46 Schülerinnen den 6ten und 8ten dieses Monats
eröffnet worden, und nun nach der verbesserten Lehrart schon in vollem Gange.”
139
Perger and Brauneis, Kirchen, 207.
140
Four nuns are recorded as having been teachers in the “Normalschule” at St. Jakob; Razesberger,
“Die Aufhebung der Wiener Frauenklöster,” Appendix II, 24–25.
141
Wienerisches Diarium, September 3, 1777: “Den 30 verflossenen Monats August ware es Ihrer
kaiserl. königl. apostol. Majestät gefällig, sich in das allhiesige Frauenkloster Ord. St. Augustini
224 Convents, music, and Habsburg rule in eighteenth-century Vienna

and the school at St. Jakob in September.142 Entry of candidates into these
institutions was now restricted to those trained as teachers. The convent of
St. Joseph and the Königinkloster were not permitted to establish schools, as
their especially strict clausura was incompatible with such activity.143
But female convents had little place in the developing new vision of an
orderly, rational Austrian society. Women could not be trusted to control
their natural urges, asserted one of many opponents to the continuation of
convents, recalling earlier distrust of communities of women – they ought to
be married, and if that is not possible, they should occupy themselves with
socially useful work. Neither could they be trusted to remain on a proper
religious path, being especially susceptible to heresy, which they spread to
others. The convents’ wealth also rankled, as such goods and property were
out of economic circulation.144
The writer and observer of Viennese cultural life Johann Pezzl expressed
similar views, if somewhat more sympathetically: convents were bad for
girls, he wrote, and the loss of women to them detrimental to society. No girl
in her right mind would want to enter one. But a girl might be brainwashed
from a young age into believing that she was destined for a cloistered life,
and thereby be lost to society, her dowry going to the institution; she might
be convinced to sacrifice herself to a convent to bring economic advantage
to other family members; or she might enter one to escape an unwelcome
marriage. In the convent she spent her time on useless activities or quarrel-
ing with the other nuns and absorbing ignorant ideas, leaving her disap-
pointed and melancholy.145 He noted approvingly that

in Austria, people had finally had enough of these sorts of people and their supposed
profession. Under the present regime, all female cloisters that occupied themselves

zur Himmelspforte zu begeben und allda sich über 2 Stunde zu verweilen. Allerhöchst
Dieselbe . . . verfügten sich sodann in die daselbstige öffentliche Mägdlein-Schule, hörten eine
geraume Zeit allergnädigst die Lehrart an, ließen sich die Arbeiten der Lehrlingen vorzeigen,
und äußerten über ein- so anderen Gegenstand das allerhöchste Wohlgefallen.”
142
Wienerisches Diarium, September 17, 1777. She visited St. Jakob on September 13.
143
“Ihre Kail. Königl. apostl. Maitt hätten über den Höchstdemselben . . .,” Klösterakten 2.2.6.16,
A1/3 (Siebenbüchnerinnen), Akten aus dem Kloster, unnumbered document, fol. 1v, A-Wsa:
“Wie dann auch ausßen dem den allhiesigen Kloster Frauen mit ausnahme der allhiesigen
Sibenbücherinnen, und jener des Königlichen Klosters denen zu strengen Klausur mit dem
Schulhalten sich nicht wohl vereinbahren liege, mitzugeben seyn, künftig hier keine
Candidatinn anzunehmen, die nicht vorhin in der neüen Lehrmethode Unterricht genommen
habe um in Falle einer Künfftig nothwendig werden den vermehrung der Mägdtleinschulen
hinzu schon abgerichtete Kloster Frauen zu finden.”
144
Ferdinand von Geusau, Uiber die Aushebung der Nonnenklöster (Vienna: Sebastian
Hartl, 1782).
145
Johann Pezzl, Skizze von Wien (Vienna: Krauss, 1786–90), 659–64.
 Music and the dissolution of the convents 225

solely with choir singing were dissolved. Only two sorts of orders have been
retained: first, those sisters who maintain hospitals for poor women; and second,
those that concern themselves with the education of girls.146

Even so, convent education left much to be desired, he said, blaming the
problems on the French. The girls gain little in the way of understanding,
and end up either foolish and shy, or full of cunning, intrigue, and malice.147
The result of such social and economic pressures and ever stricter
regulation was that few girls – and even fewer with dowries – entered
convents. By the time of dissolution, the contemplative and former con-
templative convents averaged about twenty-eight choir nuns, and novices
were few.148
Emperor Joseph determined first to dissolve the contemplative orders, on
account of “the long-standing evidence that such orders, which are nearly
or completely useless to people, cannot be pleasing to God.” He took special
aim at “all female Carmelites, Clarissans, Capuchins, and similar that teach
no children, maintain no schools, nor nurse the sick, and which, either
female or male, live solely contemplative lives.”149 Accordingly, the one
Carmelite and two Clarissan convents in Vienna were among the first
monastic institutions to be dissolved, in January 1782.150 Joseph’s subse-
quent emendation of his policy later that year, to retain those monastics who
devoted themselves to “preaching, hearing confessions, and attending
deathbeds” or to the “cure of souls,” was of major importance to the survival
of monasteries,151 but did not alter the fate of nuns, who could do none of
these things. The poor finances of St. Jakob offered an excuse to dissolve that
convent and, along with it, others of the Augustinian order, even though
they had established schools as ordered.152 According to Joseph,

that such deluded persons should bind themselves to the life of the convent would
be very grievous to their earthy bliss and of extremely dubious value for their life in

146
Ibid., 664: “In Oestreich ward man endlich dieser Menschengattung und ihres vermeintlichen
Berufes satt. Seit der gegenwärtigen Regierung sind alle Nonnenklöster aufgehoben worden, die
sich mit blossem Chorsingen beschäftigten. Man hat nur zweierlei Orden beibehalten: den
einen, dessen Schwestern Spitäler für arme Weibsleute unterhalten; und den anderen, welcher
sich mit Unterweisung der Mädchen abgibt.”
147
Ibid., 665–66. 148 Razesberger, “Die Aufhebung der Wiener Frauenklöster,” Appendix II.
149
Ibid., 2–3, quoting Joseph’s decision: “der schon lang bestehende Beweiß, daß diejenige Orden,
die dem Nächsten ganz oder gar unnütz sind, nicht Gott gefällig seyn können . . . alle weibliche
Karmeliterinen, Klarisserinen, Kapuzinerinen und dergleichen mehrere, so keine Jugend
erziehen, keine Schulen halten und nicht die Kranken warten und welche sowohl weiblich als
männlich bloß vitam comtemplativam führen.”
150
Ibid., 74–97. 151 Beales, Joseph II, II:285.
152
Razesberger, “Die Aufhebung der Wiener Frauenklöster,” 61–63.
226 Convents, music, and Habsburg rule in eighteenth-century Vienna

eternity; also, their way of thinking appears unsuitable for educating youth, either in
schools or as boarding pupils; and one cloister of this order [i.e., the monastery of
St. Dorothea, dissolved in 1786] is perhaps sufficient for the city.153

The convents of St. Jakob, St. Laurenz, and St. Agnes zur Himmelpforte
were dissolved in September 1783, their rich possessions and extensive
property devolving to the state.154
The procedure for dissolving a convent or monastery was characteristic
of Joseph’s harshly practical methods. On the day appointed for dissolution,
of which the nuns received no warning, a court official arrived, called the
women together, and read out the decree. At the Königinkloster, the
appearance of the official provoked such an uproar, with handwringing
and weeping all round, that he was unable to continue with his task for some
time.155 The stunned nuns were then required to sign a document to
indicate their understanding of the terms. Their keys were taken from
them, and an inventory of the convent’s possessions began. Auctions took
place soon thereafter, and the nuns had five months to leave the convent, by
then probably emptied of all but their personal possessions, which they were
allowed to retain.156 The nuns were provided with small pensions and
entered other convents, formed small communal groups, or returned to
their families.
Beyond the determination that conventual choir singing and a life organ-
ized around the monastic hours were now “useless,” nothing was said
officially about music. But the convents’ poor music was held up as further
evidence that such institutions ought to be dissolved. Friedrich Nicolai, who
visited the city in 1781, was unimpressed with Viennese church music in
general, finding it inappropriately operatic and too noisy. On the music at
St. Laurenz, performed “as was usual in female convents, by the nuns alone,”
his report was mixed:

153
“Hofdekret an die nö. Regierung, das die Aufhebung der drei Wiener Augustiner
Chorfrauenklöster verfügte,” 4180 C 1783, NöLA, cited in Razesberger, “Die Aufhebung der
Wiener Frauenklöster,” Appendix I, 23: “Da nun dergleichen misvergnügte Personen an das
Klosterleben zu binden, sowohl für ihre zeitliche Glükseligkeit sehr drükend und für ihre ewige
äusserst bedenklich seyn würde, ja auch sie bey der geäusserten Denkungsart zu Bildung der
Jugend sowohl in Schulen als der Kostgängerinnen keineswegs aufgelegt zu seyn scheinen, und
in der Stadt die Beybehaltung eines Klosters dieses Ordens vielleicht hinlänglich seyn därfte.”
154
Razesberger, “Die Aufhebung der Wiener Frauenklöster,” 97–119.
155
Gerhard Winner, Die Klosteraufhebungen in Niederösterreich und Wien (Vienna: Herold,
1967), 102.
156
Beales, Joseph II, II:271–306, Chapter 8, “Josephism rampant I: Monasteries, general seminaries
and parishes,” especially 281–82.
 Music and the dissolution of the convents 227

The execution was certainly bad, because the lovely violinists were out of tune. The
best was the contrabass, from which instrument perhaps few men could draw so
sonorous a sound as did a nun here. The soprano voices were hoarse and impure.
But there was a beautiful, clear, and pure low alto voice, a chest voice, between the
bright and clear one of Porporino157 in Berlin and the gentle and slowly swelling one
formerly possessed by Mademoiselle Salomon. In the choruses, female hastiness
appears to have taken hold, as they were very rushed.158

The 1781 pamphlet Ueber die Kirchenmusik in Wien criticized conventual

music-making with misogynous indignation. The account paints a vivid
picture of the musical results of the convents’ decline:
We also have in our city some churches where praying is impossible on account of
the inferior and horrible music, and these are the churches of our female convents.
The author of Beyträge zur Schilderung Wiens is on my honor not at all wrong
when he find a virginal bass voice and the charming fiddling of an old maiden choir-
nun not very pleasant; it is unspeakable how often this goes on in these churches,
just like a school of Jews. One nun sings as delicately as a Loreto bell [i.e., in a high,
squeaky voice], another as deep as a decrepit old violone; one sings through her
nose, as if she had a mute stuck on it; another plays false notes and scratches on her
out-of-tune violin in accompaniment; two bow off the strings entirely; and one
blows on the trumpet fit to burst her lungs . . . the least uplifting thing about the
convent churches is the plainchant, the breviary sung absolutely abominably by
spinsters accompanied by a croaking organ, and in Latin of which they understand
not a word.159

Echoing this report, the Kirchenkronik auf das Jahr 1784 spiced its account
with names that correspond to those of no particular Viennese convent:
Since here [in Vienna] church music is even reported of nuns, what great content-
ment does it not give to hear a virginal bass voice, accompanied by the charming
fiddling of an old maiden nun! There a young novice sings as delicately as a Loreto
bell, and the mistress of the novices as deep as an old violone. Sister Hiacintha sings
through her nose, as if she had a mute stuck on it; Sister Basilika bows an obbligato,
and scratches on her out-of-tune pastryboard in accompaniment. Sister Agatha
often misses the string as if she were in dire straits; and Sister Angelica blows into
the trumpets as if threatened by multiple disasters. – What joy must such music
have brought to the holy angels in Heaven!160

157
The castrato Antonio Uberi, who served at the court of Frederick the Great in Berlin.
158
Nicolai, Beschreibung einer Reise, IV:545–46. Appendix 2, no. 7.
159
Ueber die Kirchenmusik in Wien, 13–15. Appendix 2, no. 8. The author of Beyträge zur
Schilderung Wiens was equally critical of nuns’ poor knowledge of Latin (p. 64).
160
Kirchenkronik auf das Jahr 1784, 56. Appendix 2, no. 9. I thank David Black for providing me
with a copy of this source.
228 Convents, music, and Habsburg rule in eighteenth-century Vienna

That the convents’ music-making had declined is not surprising, consider-

ing the problems they had faced during the previous decades. Their musical
failings were perhaps particularly offensive to the music-loving Viennese,
and had come to represent the problem of convents in general, the nuns
portrayed as incompetent, ignorant, false in their religious practices, and
corrupt and unnatural, the latter represented musically by the female bass
voice and by their playing of “unfeminine” instruments such as the trumpet.
But festive music continued to resound in convent churches until the
dissolution. Defiantly, or else supremely out of touch with reality, the nuns
at St. Joseph’s – officially dissolved on January 22, 1782, but not yet
emptied – tried to make their usual splash on their patron saint’s day,
March 19, proposing to hire in musicians from St. Stephen’s for “High
Mass and Vespers, Compline, and the Litany together,” along with an
ensemble of trumpets and timpani for the Mass, a cohort of extra priests,
and a special preacher.161 The convent had customarily celebrated the Mass
in music on several feast days each year, with musicians brought in for St.
Joseph’s day and the Feast of the Scapular.162 The Himmelpforte convent
had brilliant music on several occasions annually until the end, paying out a
considerable sum for trumpeters. Special music at this convent was likewise
provided by musicians from St. Stephen’s, this convent paying at approx-
imately the same rate as the others, with the trumpets and timpani hired
separately.163 The detailed breakdown of payments illustrates the relative
importance of the various feasts at this convent.
In 1783 the court required each church in and around Vienna to submit a
report of its musical expenses, and these declare that the remaining con-
vents were taking care of most of their music themselves, St. Jakob and St.
Ursula paying out small sums for instrument upkeep.164 St. Ursula was still
attempting to maintain a full musical ensemble, hiring in a bass singer to fill
the lowest part, and all the convents had special music performed by outside
musicians on important feast days, paid for either by themselves or by

161
“Specification deren Ausgaben bey den Haupt Fest des Heil. Joseph welches den 19.ten Marty
1782 gehalten wird,” Klosterakten 219, Klosterrat, Siebenbücherinnen zu Wien, 44, ad num: 49,
AT-OeStA/HHStA (A-Whh). Appendix 2, no. 10.
162
“Verzeichniß Deren Gottes diensten, wie selber in der Kirche zu St. Joseph sowohl von den drey
Hl: Kaplänen als den P.P. Carmeliten gehalten worden,” Klosterakten 219, Klosterrat,
Siebenbücherinnen zu Wien, 40, AT-OeStA/HHStA (A-Whh). Several further “masses in
music” were celebrated by the Carmelite fathers.
163
Appendix 2, no. 11.
164
C Norm K 4296 ad Acta No 477 C:20 [1]784, nos. 30 (St. Lorenz), 31 (St. Ursula), 32 (St. Jakob),
33 (St. Agnes zur Himmelpforte), 61 (Elisabethinen), and 71 (Salesianerinnen), NöLA; see Biba,
“Die Wiener Kirchenmusik um 1783,” 52–55.
 Music and the dissolution of the convents 229

benefactors. St. Nikolai, St. Joseph, and the Himmelpforte convent had
used musicians from St. Stephen’s and the Königinkloster probably from
the Hofkapelle; the remaining convents apparently hired other city
musicians.
The reform of worship that took effect at Easter 1783 further simplified
the musical life of those convents that remained. The chronicler at the
Ursuline convent remarked on that year’s Easter services that “as joyous
as the Resurrection of our Saviour is to all people, yet this year we celebrate
this glorious feast with mingled joy and sorrow, as all our elaborate feast-day
celebrations have thereby come to an end. All the nuns, especially the
musicians, thus cried bitterly at the Resurrection.”165 The performance
dates listed in the parts from the Ursuline convent suggest that this was in
any case the inevitable culmination of a decline. There are few performance
dates after 1781 and none after 1783, and by about 1780 the convent’s
musical repertoire had narrowed, the nuns mostly performing just a few old
favorites.166
Among the possessions to be disposed of at the dissolution were music
and musical instruments. Musical scores and parts are nowhere mentioned
in any detail in the inventories of convent possessions drawn up at this time,
but at the convent of St. Nikolai, “polyphonic music for the entire year” was
to be found in a chest in the choir room,167 and a collection of “old music”
from St. Joseph was auctioned as a single lot.168 According to the Kirchen-
kronik auf das Jahr 1784, “also to be auctioned is a fine collection of church
music, consisting of High Masses, Vespers, Litanies, Te Deums, Misereres,
etc., gathered together from various female convents.”169 Notable was “a
Veni sponsa with trumpets and timpani by Marco Cornaro, 1694,” a work
probably used for clothing ceremonies in one of the convents.170 The music
probably came from the three Augustinian convents dissolved in 1783 and
emptied of their inhabitants by March 1784. In the months following, the
Wiener Zeitung was full of announcements for auctions of the convents’

165
Klosterchronik St. Ursula, entry of April 19, 1783, quoted in Christine Schneider, Die niedere
Klerus im josephinischen Wien: Zwischen staatlicher Funktion und seelsorgerischer Aufgabe
(Vienna: Franz Deuticke, 1999), 113.
166
Page, “New light on eighteenth-century Viennese church music.”
167
“Haupt Inventarium,” Klösterakten 2.2.6.15 (St. Nikola), A1/18, fol. 67r, A-Wsa.
168
See p. 197n24 above.
169
Kirchenkronik auf das Jahr 1784, 56: “Auch ist zu versteigern eine schöne Sammlung
Kirchenmusikalien, bestehend in Hochämtern, Vespern, Littaneyen, te Deum, miserere, etc. aus
verschiedenen Nonnenklöstern zusammen getragen. Samt einem veni sponsa mit Trompeten
und Paucken. Del Signore Marco Cornaro. 1694.”
170
No such work appears to survive.
230 Convents, music, and Habsburg rule in eighteenth-century Vienna

possessions, including property, furniture, church ornaments, cellars full of

wine from conventual vineyards, and musical instruments.
Disposing of large organs no longer needed for worship in the defunct
institutions was another problem: now there were fewer churches than
before (and therefore a glut of organs); due to the decline of musical practice
in many institutions over the past several decades, instruments were some-
times in poor condition; and their size and placement made them difficult to
move. But at the same time, Emperor Joseph’s reforms concerning churches
and church music prompted some churches to acquire larger organs.171
Some city or town parish churches had previously used a small organ plus
other instrumentalists for the church music, but when in 1783 such
churches were forbidden to use an instrumental ensemble at all services
except High Mass on Sunday and feast days,172 they needed more substan-
tial organs to fill the loss. The reforms also established new parishes, and the
new churches needed organs; one such was the church of St. Laurenz am
Schottenfeld in suburban Vienna, funded by the Schottenstift as part of an
agreement to avoid its own dissolution.173 The new church’s organ, com-
pleted by the eminent builder Franz Xaver Chrismann in 1788, was praised
by Mozart and Albrechtsberger as the best in Vienna.174 St. Nikolai’s
organ was purchased by the Protestant Church in Vienna.175 The organ at
St. Agnes was another candidate for relocation, to the parish church of St.
Stephan in Baden bei Wien. But the deal fell through, probably on account
of the instrument’s age, poor condition, and general unsuitability. Instead,

171
Page, “Organs on the market,” 46 and 54n6.
172
Biba, “Die Wiener Kirchenmusik um 1783,” 7–8. In Stadtpfarren (city or town parishes),
instrumental music was permitted only at High Mass on Sundays and feast days. Vespers on
great feast days might be performed with organ accompaniment, and the plainchant Mass on
work days might be performed with or without organ. Vespers on weekdays was to be
performed in chant only. Services and music were even more restricted in village and country
churches. The musicians themselves complained that, having lost their livelihood, they and their
families would soon be reduced to begging (pp. 11–15).
173
Derek Beales, Prosperity and Plunder: European Catholic Monasteries in the Age of Revolution,
1650–1815 (Cambridge University Press, 2003), 199–200.
174
An up-to-date list of Chrismann’s organs appears in Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart,
2nd edn., s.v. “Chrisman, . . . Franz Xaver,” by Karl Schütz. On the organ for St. Laurenz am
Schottenfeld, see Otto Erich Deutsch, Mozart: A Documentary Biography, trans. Eric Blom,
Peter Branscombe, and Jeremy Noble (Stanford University Press, 1965), 369. See also
C. F. P[ohl], “Chrismann, Franz Xaver,” in Sir George Grove (ed.), A Dictionary of Music and
Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1896), where Pohl notes that the organ “is still in existence,
and in spite of its small dimensions the workmanship is admirable, particularly the arrangement
and voicing of the stops.”
175
Christian Fastl, “Der Wiener Orgelbauer Franz Xaver Christoph: Zur Vervollständigung seiner
Biographie,” Wiener Geschichtsblätter, 62, no. 3 (2007), 59.
 Music and the dissolution of the convents 231

the parish obtained a larger, more modern instrument from another dis-
solved institution, the monastery of St. Dorothea in Vienna.176
With the dissolution of six of the seven convents within the city walls and
de-emphasizing of music at the one remaining, the age of Viennese convent
music came to an end. This book has traced a path from the aligning of
musical and religious practices with political concerns in the seventeenth
century, creating circumstances favorable to the development of convent
music in Vienna; to a golden age of music fit for an emperor, written by
accomplished composers and performed by highly skilled musicians;
through loss of court interest and a turn to private music-making and
popular musical performances; and finally, to incompetent playing and
chant sung without understanding, the poor state of the convents’ music
now considered representative of their social uselessness. For a time, these
women transcended the limitations that would be imposed on them, and
their brilliant music fit perfectly with political concerns. The limitations are
evident most strongly at the two ends of the arc, as suspicion of women’s
ability to control themselves led at the beginning to the cloistering of the
convents and encouragement of female music-making, at the end to their
being returned to society, where they could be watched over by men, their
musical tradition forgotten.

176
Page, “Organs on the market,” 46–53.
 Appendix 1
Plays, oratorios, cantatas, sepolcri, and feste teatrali
performed in Viennese convents ca. 1660–1774

232
 Composer, work Source,
Date Place (librettist) comments

??Holy Week, ?St. Jakob Anon., Tonantis aula lugeat Score: A-Wn
ca. 1660?
??Holy Week, ?St. Jakob Anon., Oratorio della tre Mariæ al Sepolcro Score: A-Wn
ca. 1670? di Christo
Jun. 21, 1668 St. Ursula Play Feast of St. Aloysius (FO 95)
Jun. 21, 1670 St. Ursula Play about St. Dorothea Feast of St. Aloysius: emperor and empress
attended (AB)
Oct. 21, 1671 St. Ursula Play Patron saint’s day: emperor and empress
attended (PKL II:195)
Oct. 21, 1672 St. Ursula Play Patron saint’s day (FO 97)
Aug. 11, 1688 St. Laurenz Anon., Beglückte Verbundtnüß Patron saint’s day:
performed by Kostfräulein; emperor and empress
attended (CO). Score: A-Wn
Aug. 12, 1688 St. Laurenz Anon., Beglückte Verbundtnüß “fù repetita la Rappresentazione Sacra.” Archduke
Karl and his three sisters attended (CO)
Aug. 14, 1690 St. Laurenz Rappresentazione sacra teatrale Patron saint’s day: Archduke Karl and his sisters
attended (CO)
Aug. 10, 1691 St. Laurenz Divertimento Patron saint’s day: emperor and empress
attended (CO)
1692 Königinkloster D. Pietro Romolo Pignatta, San Francesco Saverio Lib: B-Gu (Sartori 20528)
1692 Königinkloster Pignatta, Il Tobia “Dedicata di P. R. Pignatta al Conte Charles-Ernest
de Waldstein.” Lib: B-Gu (Sartori 23280)
1692 ?Koniginkloster Pignatta, Davide pentito “Oratorio sacro . . . dedicata di P. R. Pignatta al conte
Leopold-Guillaume de Königsegg.” Lib: B-Gu
(Sartori 7205)
[Oct. 21?], 1692 St. Ursula Giuseppe Pacieri, Il trionfo dell’Amor Divino “Cantato dalle Madre Ursoline di Vienna l’anno
1692.” Score: A-Wn
Jul. 25, 1694 St. Jakob Maria Anna von Raschenau, Gli infermi risanati Patron saint’s day: “Sacro componimento,”
dal Redentore (Marco Antonio Signorini) dedicated to the emperor. Lib: I-Vnm, SK-BRnm
(cont.)

Composer, work Source,

Date Place (librettist) comments

Oct. 21, 1694 St. Ursula Carlo Agostino Badia, S. Orsola vergine, e martire Patron saint’s day: dedicated to the emperor,
(Rocco Maria Rossi) performed “avanti L’Augustissima Casa.” Score:
A-Wn; lib: I-Vnm
1694 St. Joseph Antonio Draghi, Le cinque vergini prudenti (Nicolò Sung first in the chamber of Empress Eleonora
Minato) Magdalena by her ladies, then sung by the same
performers at St. Joseph “nel Sacro Choro.”
Possibly the work performed during a court visit
to the Carmelite convent in Wiener Neustadt on
May 22, 1694, “nella Chiesa delle quali si recitera
un’Oratorio da alcune Dame, che un’altro volta
l’hanno cantata quà in Vienna.” Report of Abate
Anton Francesco Montauti (SO, 830). Score:
A-Wn; lib: A-Wn
Apr. 2, 1695 St. Ursula Badia, Giesu crocifisso (A. Catelani) Holy Saturday: “Trattenimento divoto,” dedicated
“Alle Medesime Madri [i.e., to the Ursuline
nuns].” Lib: I-Vnm
Jul. 25, 1695 St. Jakob Raschenau, Le sacre stimmate di S. Francesco Patron saint’s day: dedicated to the emperor. Score:
d’Assisi (Signorini) A-Wn; lib: I-Vnm, SK-BRnm
Oct. 21, 1695 St. Ursula Badia, Sant’Orsola, vergine e martire Patron saint’s day. Score: A-Wn
Apr. 21, 1696 St. Ursula Badia, La morte del Redentor (Petronilla de Holy Saturday. Lib: I-Mb
Massimi)
Jul. 25, 1696 St. Jakob Raschenau, I tributi del tempo all’augustissimo casa Patron saint’s day. Lib: SI-Lsk (Sartori 23598)
d’Austria (Signorini)
Oct. 21, 1696 St. Ursula Badia, Il sacrificio d’Abramo (text of Introduzione Patron saint’s day: dedicated to the emperor, “Cantato
by Marco [Marc’Antonio] Caresana) avanti L’Augustissima Casa.” Lib: I-Vnm
Apr. 6, 1697 St. Ursula Badia, L’Invenzione della Croce (Massimi) Holy Saturday: dedicated to Archduchess Eleonore
Maria Josepha, “Cantato dalle RR. Madri Orsoline
di Vienna al S. Sepolcro.” Lib: A-Wn, I-Vnm
Apr. 6, 1697 St. Ursula Badia, Il pianto di Maria Vergine, e di Santa Maria Holy Saturday: “in occasione della visita fatta al
Maddalena al S. Sepolcro Raddolcito dalla S. Sepolcro, dalla Maestà del Rè de’Romani
Consolatione (Giuseppe Spedazzi) Giuseppe.” Lib: A-Wn, A-Wtm, I-Vnm
Jul. 25, 1697 St. Jakob Raschenau, Il consiglio di Pallade (Signorini) Patron saint’s day: dedicated to the emperor. Score:
A-Wn; lib: I-Vnm
Oct. 21, 1697 St. Ursula Badia, Lo Sposalizio di S. Orsola (?S. Amerighi) Patron saint’s day: “in presenza dell Augustissime
Cesaree e Regie MM. e di tutta la serenissima
prole.” Lib: I-Vnm
Mar. 29, 1698 St. Ursula Badia, La Sepoltura di Christo (Renato Navagini Holy Saturday: “Cantato la sera del Sabbato Santo da
Batticassa) le R.R. Madri Orsoline al SS. Sepolcro.” Score:
A-Wn; lib: A-Wtm
Jul. 27, 1698 St. Agnes Johann Michael Zächer, Friedsamer Streit: Das ist Feast of St. Valentine (FK, 78)
Gesang zu Academischen Discursen . . .
Oct. 21, 1698 St. Ursula Badia, Il ritorno di Tobia (Giovanni Battista Patron saint’s day: “Dedicato, e cantato dalle RR.
Lampugnani) Madri Orsoline alla Sacra Cesarea Real Maestà
di Leopoldo Imperatore.” Score: A-Wn; lib: I-Mb,
I-Vnm
Apr. 18, 1699 St. Ursula Badia, La Depositione dalla Croce, e Sepoltura di Holy Saturday: “cantato dalle RR. Madri Orsoline
Giesù nella di loro Chiesa il Sabbato Santo.” Lib: I-Mb,
I-Vnm
Jul. 25, 1699 St. Jakob Raschenau, Il martirio di S. Giacomo il Maggiore Patron saint’s day: dedicated to the emperor. Lib:
(Signorini) I-Vnm
Oct. 21, 1699 St. Ursula Badia, Il Trionfo della Bellezza, della Grazia e della Patron saint’s day: dedicated to Amalie Wilhelmine,
Virtù (Girolamo Frigimelica Roberti) performed “alla presenza delle Augustiss.me
Cesaree, e Regie M.M. e di tutti i Serenis.mi Figl.”
Lib: A-Wtm, I-Vnm
Apr. 10, 1700 St. Ursula Badia, Giesu nel Pretorio, ò sia l’Innocenza Holy Saturday: “Nel giorno del Sabbato Santo al
giudicata dalla Malizia (Roberti) Santo Sepolcro.” Lib: A-Wtm, I-Vnm
Oct. 21, 1700 St. Ursula Badia, La corte, noviziato del chiostro, per la Beata Patron saint’s day: “Cantato dalle RR. Madri
Catterina da Bologna (Roberti) Orsoline alle Sacre Cesaree, e Regie Maesta, et
Serenissime Altezze.” Lib: I-Mts, I-Vnm,
SK-BRnm
ca. 1700 St. Ursula Anon., Cantata sacra Holy Saturday: “all’arrivo di S. M. Cés.a nella visita
del S.o Sepolcro.” Score: A-Wn
(cont.)

Composer, work Source,

Date Place (librettist) comments

??ca. 1700 ?St. Ursula Anon., Oratorio di S. Geneffa Score: A-Wn

??ca. 1700 ?St. Ursula Anon., Il martirio di S. Sinforosa: Oratorio Score: A-Wn
Mar. 26, 1701 St. Ursula Badia, L’Empietà Trionfante nella Morte di Holy Saturday: “Per cantarsi dalle RR. MM. Orsoline
Giesu Cristo di Vienna, nel Giorno del Sabbato Santo al Santo
Sepolcro.” Lib: I-Vnm, SI-Lsk, Ger. trans. A-Wu.
An oratorio by Badia with the same title was
performed by the Compagnia della Purificazione
Maria Vergine di San Zanobi di S. Marco
(Florence: Vincenzio Vangelisti, 1702), lib: I-Fm
(Sartori 8827).
??Oct. 21, 1701 ?St. Ursula Anon. (?Badia), Oratorium di B.V. Maria Score: A-Wn; no Viennese libretto known. The
(Pietro Ottoboni, La Santissima Annuntiata) libretto was first set by Alessandro Scarlatti in
1700.
Apr. 15, 1702 St. Ursula Badia, La Resurezione di Giesu Cristo Holy Saturday: “Oratorio da Cantarsi dalle RR. MM.
Orsoline nella Sera del Sabbato Santo al Santo
Sepolcro.” Lib: A-Wn, I-Mb, WB, Ger trans.
A-Wn
Oct. 21, 1702 St. Ursula Badia, Le Prommesse Nuzziali di S. Orsola Patron saint’s day: “Oratorio da cantarsi dalle RR.
MM. Orsoline nel Giorno della Santa alle Sacre
Cesaree, e Reali Maesta e Serenissime Altezze.”
Lib: A-Wn
April 6 or 7?, St. Ursula Badia, Trattenimento Divoto Possibly Good Friday or Holy Saturday. “Per
1703 (“parlano Dio, l’Anima, ed il Demonio”) l’Augustissima Padronanza.” Lib: I-Vnm
Jul. 25, 1703 St. Jakob Raschenau and Ferdinand Tobias Richter, Le sacre Patron saint’s day: dedicated to the emperor; the
visioni di S. Teresia (Signorini) court visited the convent (CO). Score: A-Wn, with
two choruses by Richter; lib: A-Wn.
Jul. 29, 1703 St. Agnes Anon., Judith Feast of St. Valentine: lib of 1704 notes that the
oratorio of that year was a continuation of the
previous year’s. The imperial couple visited St.
Agnes on Sunday Jul. 29 (CO).
Oct. 21, 1703 St. Ursula Badia, La fuga in Egitto del Patriarca S. Giuseppe Patron saint’s day: imperial couple and royal
con Giesu e Maria children attended (CO); all their imperial
majesties and the young royals attended (WD).
Score: A-Wn; lib: I-Vnm; recording: ORF CD 236
(1999).
Jul. 27, 1704 St. Agnes Johann Michael Zächer, Die heldenmüthige Judith Feast of St. Valentine: “Teutsches Oratorio”; all their
majesties and the young royals as well as the
Palatine elector attended (WD). Lib: A-Wn, WB
Oct. 21, 1704 St. Ursula Badia, La Giuditta (Pietro Ottoboni) Patron saint’s day: the imperial couple, Amalie
Wilhelmine, and archduchesses attended (WD).
Lib: I-Vnm
Oct. 21, 1705 St. Ursula Badia, La fuga di S. Teresa Patron saint’s day: imperial couple (Joseph and
Amalie Wilhelmine) and dukes of Lorraine
attended, with the court; the visitors were
entertained “mit einem Wälschen Oratorio von
denen Closter-Frauen” and given gifts of
“künstliche Closter Arbeit” (WD). Lib: B-Bc,
I-Vnm
Jul. 25, 1706 St. Jakob “un bell’Oratorio” Patron saint’s day: imperial couple, Dowager
Empress Eleonora Magdalena, and her daughters
attended (CO). Fräulein von Landau (a future
prioress) made her profession; the visitors dined,
heard “ein annehmlich gehaltenes Oratorio,” and
then another service (WD).
Oct. 21, 1706 St. Ursula Badia, L’Innocenza calpestata dal mondo, e protetta Patron saint’s day: imperial couple, widowed
da Dio (Giuseppe Spedazzi) empress, and young royals attended. “Ihre
Majestäten . . . mit einem kurtzen Wälschen
Oratorio sich divertiren” (WAB 1706, 91). Score:
A-Wn (“Il trionfo di Davidde”); lib: I-Vnm
Jul. 25, 1707 St. Jakob Giovanni Antonio Costa, La confessione gloriosa Patron saint’s day: “un bell’Oratorio,” attended by
di S. Agostino the imperial couple, empress mother, and her
daughters (CO). Lib: I-Vnm
(cont.)

Composer, work Source,

Date Place (librettist) comments

Aug. 14, 1707 St. Agnes Oratorio Assumption of the BVM: emperor, empress, and
court dined in the convent, attended services, and
heard the oratorio (WD).
Oct. 21, 1707 St. Ursula Badia, Il martirio di S. Susanna (Paolo Antonio Patron saint’s day: imperial couple and children
Del Negro) attended; “Ihre Mayestäten . . . mit einem kurtzen
Oratorio sich divertiren” (WAB 1707, 86). Score:
A-Wn; lib: I-Vnm. In the same hand and on the
same paper as Badia’s Santa Teresa, 1708.
Jan. 23, 1708 St. Ursula Oratorio Attended by the “Herrn Thumprobsten” and other
noblemen (H II:140).
Apr. 15, 1708 St. Ursula Oratorio Imperial family and Elisabeth Christine, bride of
Archduke Karl, attended (H II:144).
Jul. 25, 1708 St. Jakob “un bell’Oratorio” Patron saint’s day: imperial couple, empress mother,
and her daughters attended (CO).
Aug. 12, 1708 St. Agnes Zächer, Poetisches Freyden-Gedicht Feast of St. Clara: dedicated to the imperial couple,
who visited along with the empress mother and
young royals. The bishop of Vienna presided at
mass, the imperial party dined, and “nachdeme
haben die Regierende Kayserl. Majestäten bey
einem Teutschen Oratorio alldort verweylet”
(WD). Score: A-Wn
Oct. 21, 1708 St. Ursula Badia, Santa Teresa Patron saint’s day: imperial couple, empress mother,
and young royals attended a “fürtreffliches
Oratorio” (WD). The performance lasted one
hour (H II:152). Score: A-Wn; lib: I-Vnm. See Oct.
21, 1707 above.
Nov. 7, 1708 St. Ursula Badia, Santa Teresa St. Ursula’s day oratorio repeated for the bishop and
other churchmen (H II:153).
Jul. 25, 1709 St. Jakob “un Trattimento in Musica” Patron saint’s day: imperial couple, widowed
Perhaps Trattenimento Estivo empress, young royals, the two dukes of Lorraine,
and all the court attended (CO, WD). Score:
A-Wn
Apr. 18, 1710 Königinkloster Francesco Antonio Gruner, Suspiria animæ Good Friday: “Bey dem gnadenreichen Grab Christi
amantis (Johann Baptist Hilverding) in der Kirchen der Wohl-Ehrwürdigen Jungfrauen
deß Königl. Stiffts bey St. Maria der Engeln St.
Claræ Ordens in Wienn am heiligen Charfreytag
Nachmittag umb 1. Uhr gesungener dargestellt
wird”; empress mother, young royals, and duchess
of Lorraine attended (WD). Lib: WB
Apr. 19, 1710 St. Ursula Sepolcro cantata? Holy Saturday: “Eine kleine music” at the Holy
Sepulcher; emperor and empress attended
(H II:193).
Jul. 25, 1710 St. Jakob Casilda (Rocco Maria Rossi) Patron saint’s day: emperor, empress, and
archduchesses attended “un bell’Oratorio in
Musica” (CO); “fürtreffliches Wälsche Oratorio”
(WD). Lib: I-Vnm, A-Gu, SI-Lsk
Aug. 15, 1710 St. Agnes Zächer, Arety-Poletimia Assumption of the BVM: emperor and empress
attended. Score: A-Wn
Jul. 25, 1714 St. Jakob Francesco Scarlatti, Debbora profetessa guerriera Patron saint’s day: empress mother and her
daughters attended “un bellissimo oratorio” (CO).
Score: ?GB-Lbl (fragment); lib: I-Vnm
Scarlatti was trying at this time to win a position at
the Viennese court; he did not succeed. A work by
Scarlatti entitled La profetessa guerriera was
performed in Palermo, Convento dell’Immacolata
Concezione, 1703 (GMO).
Jul. 25, 1715 St. Jakob F. Scarlatti, La caduta di Lucifero Patron saint’s day: empress mother and her
daughters attended: “un bell’oratorio intitolato la
Caduta di Lucifero.” (CO). Lib: I-Vnm
Jul. 25, 1716 St. Jakob Oratorio Patron saint’s day: empress mother and her
daughters attended “una bella Musica in forma
d’Oratorio” (CO).
(cont.)

Composer, work Source,

Date Place (librettist) comments

May 10, 1717 St. Ursula Johann Georg Reinhardt, Wett-Streit deren In honor of the second profession of Abbess
Tugenden Catharina Ursula, born Gräfin von Latzberg.
Eleonora Magdalena and archduchesses visited
the convent, dined, and attended the ceremonies
(WD, CO). Lib: WB
Sep. 10, 1727 St. Joseph Georg Gottwalt, Der Heilige Joannes vom Creutz “Ein Teutches Oratorium,” Amalie Wilhelmine
(Anton Prokoff) attended (WD). Lib: WB
Mar. or Apr. St. Agnes Georg Reutter Sr., Schmertzliche Beweinung Good Friday? 1730 libretto notes that the work was
172[?8] then being performed for the second time.
Oct. 20, 1728 St. Ursula “Ein kleines oratori” Eve of patron saint’s day: Amalie Wilhelmine visited
the convent (H II:253).
Apr. 15, 1729 St. Agnes Georg Reutter Jr., Mater dolorum (Heinrich Good Friday. Parts: A-Kr; lib: A-Wn
Rademin)
Apr. 16, 1729 St. Ursula Johann Georg Reinhardt, Der von der eytlen Holy Saturday: “Trauer-Gesang.” Lib: A-Wn
Welt-Lust. . . .
Apr. 7, 1730 St. Agnes Georg Reutter Sr., Schmertzliche Beweinung Good Friday: “Trauer-Gesang,” performed
“Nachmittag, um halber 1. Uhr.” Lib: WB
Jul. 2, 1730 Königinkloster Francisco Antonio Gruner, Ein Gott-gefälligster . . . In honor of the second profession of Abbess Maria
Triumph (play with music) Barbara, Freiin von Wertema; “theils in der Musik,
theils in ungebundener Red.” Lib: WB
1730s? St. Jakob Reutter Jr., Der Durch des Liebes Brand-Opfer . . . Holy Saturday. Lib: A-Wn
Mar. 24, 1731 St. Ursula Alexander Ender, Die bey dem Grab Jesu Christi . . . Holy Saturday: “Trauer-Gesang.” Lib: WB
Oct. 21, 1731 St. Ursula Ender, Letzter Kampf der Heiligen Ursulæ Patron saint’s day: Amalie Wilhelmine attended, “ein
kleines Oratori” (H II:254). Lib: WB
Apr. 5, 1733 St. Ursula Ender, Sicherer Zufluchts-Orth des Sünders Holy Saturday. Lib: WB
1733 or later St. Jakob Reutter Jr., Die Beschuldigte Unschuld (Andreas Good Friday: “Oratorio.” Lib: WB
Weidner)
Apr. 24, 1734 St. Ursula Ender, Christus Jesus der . . . Gute Hirt Holy Saturday. Lib: WB
First performed St. Jakob Wagenseil, Die hitzige Liebe des sterbenden Christi Good Friday or Holy Saturday. Lib: WB
1739 or 40?
Aug. or Sep. St. Ursula Oratorio Entry of Gräfin Saurau (H III:62).
1742
Sep. 17, 1742 St. Ursula Oratorio Clothing of Sister Eleonora (Gräfin Saurau); oratorio
performed in the parlatorio (H III:62).
Jul. 4, 1748 St. Ursula J. N. Boog, Oratorio St. Johann Nepomuk H III:160–61
Jan. 9, 1752 St. Elisabeth Anon., Musicalische Herzens Freud For name day of the convent’s confessor Caspar
Scheurer. Lib: A-Wn(h)
May 1, 1759 St. Ursula Oratorio Clothing of Sister Anna Maria (Maria Aloysia, Gräfin
Goess) (Schöpfleuthner, 17). The empress,
Archduke Joseph, Archduchesses Maria Anna,
and Marie Christine attended, as well as members
of the court; the visit was “in public,” unusual for
this time. The oratorio was performed twice, first
for the empress and her party following the
clothing ceremony, then, after 6 p.m., for
Archduchesses Maria Elisabeth and Maria Amalia
and their attendants.
Feb. 11, 1774 St. Ursula “großartiges Concert” in the church In honor of the second profession
of the Abbess, Mother Emerentiana (ZJ, 41;
Schöpfleuthner, 19).
May 2, 1774 St. Ursula Oratorio In honor of the second profession of Mother
Emerentiana; Maria Theresia, princesses, and
court ladies attended (ZJ, 41; Schöpfleuthner,
19; WD).
Undated St. Laurenz Anon., Hortus conclusus dilecta mea (Singspiel) Kirchenkronik auf das Jahr 1784, Anhang, 20–21
Abbreviations
For library sigla, see Abbreviations, p. xi.
AB Vienna, Ursulinenkloster, “Ausführlicher Bericht d[er] Reyse und Ankunfft.”
CO Corriere ordinario.
FK Fach-Katalog der Abtheilung für Deutsches Drama und Theater, Internationale Ausstellung
für Musik und Theaterwesen Wien 1892.
FO “Aus der Frühzeit des Ordens: Aufzeichnung der Mutter Alexis de Jonghen über die Gründung
des Wiener Ursulinenklosters,” Jahrbuch des Verbandes selbständiger
deutscher Ursulinen Klöster, 4 (1929), 91–98.
GMO Grove Music Online
H Vienna, Ursulinenkloster, “Hauschronik.”
PKL Leopold I, Privatbriefe Kaiser Leopold I. an den Grafen F. E. Pötting
1662–1673, ed. Alfred Francis Pribram and Moriz Landwehr von Pragenau.
Schöpfleuthner Anton Schöpfleuthner, Aus den Annalen des Klosters von St. Ursula in Wien.
SO Herbert Seifert, Die Oper am Wiener Kaiserhof im 17. Jahrhundert.
WAB Wienerisches Andachts-Büchl oder Fest-Calender.
WD Wienerisches Diarium.
ZJ Zwei Jahrhunderte des Ursulinerklosters in Wien.
?? possible convent work
? date, place of performance, or composer unknown
Appendix 2
Selected documents

1. Kilian Reinhardt, “Rubriche generali per la funzioni Ecclesiastiche

Musicali di tutto l’Anno 1727,” Mus. Hs. 2503, fols. 6v–7r, A-Wn
The sources of the versicles and responses are noted in brackets.
[fol. 6v]
Per quando sì veste una Monaca a S.to Giuseppe [the Carmelite convent
of St. Joseph]
Tutta La Messa sì fà della Festa corrente, 2.do il Rito Romano. Quando però
non vi sia altr’ordine in contrario. Veni Creator Spiritus à suo Luogo. Finita La
Messa, e che siano seguite Le Cerimonie dalle Monache. Il Pontificante intuona
Te Deum Laudamus. Questo sì canta mediocrem.te con Trombe. Rispondendo
doppo di ciò quelli responsori, che daranno Li P.P. di quella Chiesa.
[fol. 7r]
Quando sì veste una Monaca alla Regina [the Königinkloster].
Com’è seguito li 11. xbre 1725, per La Figlia del Conte Tomaso
Gundachero di Starenbergh.1 Arrivando La Sposa Monaca alla Porta, per
entrare in Chiesa, suonano le Trombe, e Timpani L’Intrate, e viene il Padre
Commissario, con il Clero di quella Chiesa delle Monache à ricevere La
sposa. Finito che sia il Cerimoniale consueto, La conducono in Chiesa al suo
Luogo preparato. Poi segue la Messa, che sarà ordinata sol.ne, con Trombe, e
Timpani. Finita la Messa, il Padre predetto benedice la Sposa, e l’Abito, e
dapoi intuona Veni Creator Spiritus. Quale sì canta solennem.te con
Trombe, e Timpani, breve, ed in quel tempo conducono la Sposa, fatta
Monaca in Convento. E termina la Funzione, senza verun Responsorio.
Per una Professione alla Regina.
Seguita li 12. xbre 1726. per la Figlia del nominato Conte di Starenbergh.2
Doppo le p.me Cerimonie, che seguono dal Clero di quella Chiesa, nella
Clausura. Il Padre Commissario intuona Veni Creator Spiritus, che si canta
sol.ne, con Trombe, e Timpani, breve, con li responsori seguenti.
1
According to the Wienerisches Diarium, December 12, 1725, the imperial couple, Dowager
Empress Amalie Wilhelmine, and Archduchess Maria Magdalena attended.
2
The imperial couple, Amalie Wilhelmine, and Maria Magdalena attended (Wienerisches Diarium,
December 14, 1726). 243
244 Appendix 2: Selected documents

V Emitte spiritum tuum, et creabuntur.

R Et renovabis faciem Terrae. [Veni Creator Spiritus]
V Post partum Virgo inviolata permansisti.
R Dei Genetrix intercede pro Nobis. [Alma Redemptoris Mater]
V Signasti D[omi]ne Servum tuum Franciscum.
R Signis Redemptionis n[ost]rae. [Absorbeat, quæso, Domine; antiphon
honoring the stigmata of St. Francis]
V Ora pro nobis Beata Mater Clara.
R Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi. [adapted from Salve Regina]
V D[omi]ne Exaudi orationem meam.
R Et clamor meus ad te veniat. [Psalm 102 (101); penitential psalm]
V D[omi]nus vobiscum.
R Et cum spiritu tuo.
Finito ciò, seguono altre Cerimonie. Poi il pred.to Padre Commissario
intuona Te Deum Laudamus. Questo sia sol.ne, come sopra. E breve, il Clero
viene dalla Clausura in Chiesa, portando il SS.mo Sacram.to, ponendolo
sul’Altare, e segue il Versetto.
V Benedicamus Patrem, et Filium, &c.
R Laudemus, et superexaltemus eum in saecula. [Benedicte, canticle for
Lauds on Sundays and feast days]
Ed incomincia La Messa cantata sol.ne con Trombe, e Timpani, ed Intrate
de Immaculata Conceptione B.M.V. La Benedizione con il SS.mo avanti, ed
in fine della Messa.

2. Klösterarchiv 2.2.6.13 (Königinkloster), A1/1, A-Wsa

A. Verzeichnus Aller beyläuffigen Außgaaben, wehrend 3. Jahr hindurch,
alß meine nunmehro geistl[ich]e J[un]gfr[au] Tochter die Apotecker-Kunst
gelehrnet, und Ao 1740 d[en] 15.ten Marty eingekleidet word. Alß

fl. xr.

No 1. et Erstl. bringe anhero das Lehr gelt, welches H. Hertzog lauth quitting
2. N.o 1 et 2. bezahlet habe mit 200, –
Das gleichen habe denen Rechen Meistern, Musicis, alß H. Hiller
und Himmelbaur wegen Erlehrung des Corals, Item den Geistl.en
H. wegen dem Brevier bezahlen muss zusammen 128,48
Dan ist dißen 3. Lehr Jahr hindurch H. Apotecker, denen gesellen all
Jahrl: zum Neuen Jahr, Totten Ey, Heiligen Krützl, und Nahmens-
Tagen die gewohnl[ich].en Discretion gegeben, auch Wille andere
sowohl in Silberwerch, alß baaren gelt bestehende Regalia gemacht
worden nur weitlauffiger Auffschreibl. nach Pr. 256,–
 Appendix 2: Selected documents 245

fl. xr.

Nit weniger betragen die Prasentz und Trinck Gelder vor und bey der
Einkleydung denen Camer Jungfrauen, Laquaien, gutscheren
[Kutchern], Lehr jung beym Apotecker und ubrigen Leuth
beyläuffig 180,–
Item koennen alhero anzusetzen verschidene unentberliche
außgaaben, welche in kleinigkeiten, sowohl diße 3 Jahr
hindurch alß bey dem Eintritt gemacht und zusamen
gechriben word pr. 148,50
Abermahl bezahle wegen Versetz- Abschreib- und Einbündung
des Apotecker-buchs, wie auch Verschaffung einiger anderer
Bucher 30,44
Mehr der Frau Radlmayrin vor Frisiren, und Auffsetzen, gebe 8,18
Dan ein paar gestickte Schuhe bezaht mit 2,30
Die Soldaten Wacht bezalt mit 3,–
Vor Wagen, und Seßltrager 6,28
Vor Music, Kertz, und opfer gelt zalt 17,45
No. 3 Auch habe lauth beyligendes zeldl A.o 3. zalt 83,36
No. 4 Dan dem Kauffman vor den Zeug zum Hoch-Zeit Kleyd lauth Conto
No. 4 zalt mit 182,–
No. 5 Dem Schneider Macherlohn laut außzugl No. 5 zalt mit 11,38
No. 6 Ihro Hochwurden und Gnad in paaren lauth quitt. No. 6 erlegt 300,–
Auch der |Titl.| grafin bey der Einkleydung extra geben 20,45
Letzl: Vors Kleyd bey der Einkleydung zalt 4. Dicaten id e 16,36
Summa 1596,58

B. Ausstellung. Über die zugestellte Verzaichnuß deren Außgaaben, alß

welche von der Schwester Colleta Assonin ihren angefallenen Vätterlichen
Erbthaill pr. 2000 fl defalcirt werden wollen

Zumallen richtig und Unstrittig ist, das bey auf- und annehmung derselben
verglichen, und abgeredet worden, das dises Vätterl. Erbthail nach abzug
des Lehr gelds von der Apodeckher Kunst den Löbl. Stüfft und Closter
Verbleiben solle, ohnsonsten, und widrigen fahls dieselbe Unmittlbahr
nicht wäre acceptiret worden, alß khönnen nachfolgende Außgaaben in
abzug zu bringen nicht passiret werden.

1. Daß Lehr geld pr. 200 fl. hat seine Richtigkeit, dahingegen

2. Die 128 fl. 48 xr. kheines weeg, gestalten den Coral und das Brevier
zuerlehrnen, die Schuldigkeit ware, und habe dise mit der Apodeckherey
kheine Connexion.
246 Appendix 2: Selected documents

3. Waß der Herr Stieff Vatter, und Leibl. Frau Muetter denen Apodechher
gesellen geschenket, ist ia eine freywillige Sach, und khönnen dise
ebenfahls mit Fueg nicht defalciret werden, gestalten die
geschanknusßen auf aigenen beittlen und nicht mit des 3.ten schaden
geschehen müesßen, also von disen 256 fl. nichts passiret werden.
4. Gleicherweis die mehrmalligen angesetze geschanknussen pr. 180 f.
5. Nichtweniger die Ebenmässig angerechnete 148 fl. 30 xr. alß welche
mann nicht einmall zubenennen gewüß, werden nicht passiret.
6. Gegen Extradirung dises Apodeckher und übrigen bücher werden
passirt die angesezten 30 fl.
7. Das Haar Frisiren pr. 8 fl. 44 xr., S.v. Erkauffte Schuh pr. 2 fl. 30 xr.,
Soldaten wacht 3 fl. vor Wägen und Sesßl Tragen 6 fl. 28 xr., Vor Music,
Kerzen, und opfergeld 17 fl. 45 xr. seyen lauther Posten, welche das
Löbl. Stüfft und Closter nicht angehen, sondern die Frau Muetter zu
lieb ihrer Tochter hat außgeben.
8. Die in N.o 3 angesezte betürfftigkeiten pr. 83 fl. 36 xr. so die Schwester
Colleta, alß sie noch herauß ware, mechte empfangen, und ihr der Herr
Vatter und Frau Mutter villeicht geschaffet haben, gehören gar nicht
daher, dan die Nothdürfftige Klaidung ihr zugeben gegen geniesßung
des Inte[ress]e. Unmittlbahr wierd eine Schuldigkeit gewesten seyn.
dahingegen hat
9. Das mit des Löbl. Stüfft und Closters willen und Einwilligung
erkhauffte Brauth Klaid sein richtigkeit mit 182,–
10. Auch der Schneider Außzügl mit 11,38
11. Die dem Löbl. Stüfft und Closter erlegte 300 fl. haben auch ihre
richtigkeit dahingegen.
12. Werden die mehrmallen alß geschancknußen eingesezte 20 fl. 45 xr.
und 16 fl. 36 xr. aufgestelt, dan der so geschanknusßen aufthaillet, Mag
es auf aignen beüttl Thunn, oder Ehevor bey denen sich anfragen, die es
angehet, ansonsten khombete es auf das bekhante Sprüchwort, auf
frembden Löder ist guet Riembschneiden.

Summa deren hieoben passirten abzugs Posten 723,38

Zumallen Aug. 1741 bey der Profession zum heyrath gueth erlegt worden 408,–6
408 fl. 6 xr. alß khomben Jenne anhero anzusezen mit
Summa 1131,44

Erhellet demnach, das anoch den löbl. Stüfft und Closter zu vergüetten
seynd v. Capital 868 fl. 16 xr.
Ohne das Inte[ress]e: Von zeit der Closterlichen Eintritt wo seye
Schwester Colleta auf der Mütterlichen Verpflegung und Kost gekhomben.
 Appendix 2: Selected documents 247

3. Klösterarchiv 2.2.6.15 (Klarissen St. Nikola), A1/15, Rechnungs-

Schriften N.ro 13, A-Wsa
Verzeignus.

Waß Ich in das Hoch Löbl. Stüfft, und Kloster St. Nicolay alhier pro Anno. fl. xr.
1742.ten Jahr gemacht habe wie folgt:

Erstlich 3. Instrumenter in Lehrzimmer zugericht 1,30.

Mehr bey der Chor orgel, und herunten bey der Gleinen gestimt. Macht 3,30.
Mehr mahl ist der Herr Sonenholtz darinen gewest und hat zue gericht. 2,–
Macht
Mehr mahl In Chor, zwey Instrumenter zu der orgel gestimbt. und 3. in 7,30
Lehr zimmer, auch die orgel in Chor, wie auch die gleine orgel herunten
zumb Fesst St. Nicola gestimbt. vor dißes Macht
Macht in Summa 14 fl. 30 xr.

Ferdinand Schretter Königl. Hof orgelmacher. Wienn Den 3ten Jenner

1743.
Dises aus Zügl ist Mir Mit 14 f 30 x Par und richtig bezalt.

4. Johannes Matthias Testarello della Massa, Kurze doch Eigentliche

Beschreibung darinen gründlich, angeführt wird. Auf was weiße die
kayserliche Residenz- und Haubtstatt Wienn in Österreich, änfänglich zum
Christlichen Glauben bekhert. Sodan wie die geistliche obrigkeit alß
Bischöffe & Priester, Pfarrherrn, Pröbste, widerumb Bischöffe und
leztlichen, alß Reichs fürsten, das geistliche wesen biß auf das 1685.te Jahr
administrirt haben, unnd successive gefolgt seind. Cod. 8227, 951–58,
A-Wn(h)
The convent of St. Ursula
[p. 951]
Die ordenung der Jungfrauen Clöster allhier beschliesßen die geistliche
Schwestern Sanctæ Ursulæ welche Ihre May[es]t[ä]t die verwittibte Kayßerin
Eleonora, Ein gebohrne Hertzogin von Mantua, undt Kayßers Ferdinandi
Terty glorwürdigsten andenckens dritte gemählin, von Lüttig hieher beruf-
fen, und kahmen darauff Anno 1660 den 16.ten Monatstag Augusti, in der
zahl acht Closterfrawen gedachten ordens hier zu Wien glücklich an, alß
nemblichen die Ehrwürdige Mutter Catharina Alexia Augustina Ein
gebohrne Von Jonghen mit ihren hienechst folgenden Schwestern,
benandtlichen Georgia Josepha gebohrne Vaes von Schalkoven, Maria
Rosalia gebohrne De Thuarts, Maria de Ascensione gebohrne Del Rye,
Maria Angelina gebohrne de Noyrevaux, Anna Carolina gebohrne Capers,
248 Appendix 2: Selected documents

Catharina Lambertina gebohrne Paulistravius, und Maria Joanna Josepha

gebohrne Gall. Für jetzbesagte geistliche Jungfrawen namme
höchstgedachte Kayßerin Eleonora einiges in St. Dorotheæ gasßen bele-
genes, wan man vom graben hineingehet rechter handt das [p. 952] dritte,
anjetzo einem Buchbinder mit nahmen Bittmann aigenthumbliches Hauß
in bestandt, worin selbige Schwestern ein Zeitlang verblieben, und von
dießer Kayßerin zum öfftern besucht wurden. [M]ittler weyle Kaufften
Sie, die Closterfrawen, auß ihren eigenen zusahmen gesparten mittlen
etliche theils in St. Johannis, und theils in St. Annæ gasßen belegene, alß
erstlichen Herrn Johann Ludtwigen Graffen von Stahrenberg, Herrn
Johann Ludwigen von Königsperg, Herrn Johann Sebastian Stösßel,
andreen Kerschen, und andreen Schratzen zugehörig geweste häußer
beyßahmen, so Sie ihnen zur bequemblichen wohnung machten, richteten
zugleich auch zu eine kleine Hauß Capellen, worin Sie ihren Gottesdienst
unter desßen halten konten, nachmahls bezohen Sie selbige wohnung, und
seind mithin von Ihro Fürstl: Gndt: Herrn Philippo Friderico Breiner, alß
damahligen Wienerischen Bischoffen alldorten stabilirt worden.
Wie nun alßo mehrerwehnte Closter Jungfrawen S. Ursulæ dahier einge-
setzt undt bestättiget waren, [p. 953] fiengen sie endlichen an ein größere
zu ihrem Gottesdienst taugliche Kirchen in St. Johannis gaßßen zu erbawen,
welche auch nachmals von dem Wienerischen Weybischoffen Herrn
Joanne Episcopo Helenopolitano und Abbten bey den Schotten zu der Ehre
Gottes der heyligen Jungfrawen und Martyrinnen Ursulæ, alß deroßelben
Patronin im jahr 1675 den 13.ten Septembris solenniter consecrirt und
geweyhet worden. Dießes Gotteshauß ist eines unter den schönsten
ClosterJungfrawen Kirchen dießer Stadt, inmasßen solches gantz hell und
sauber auffgeführt ist, hat außwendig ein ziehrliches frontispicium, undt
einen mit Kupffer gedeckten Thurn, inwendig aber fünff herrliche alß einen
hohen, und vier Seithen altär, auch einen schön gemachten undt reichlich
überguldten Predigstuehl, darbenebenst zuruckhwerts zwey übereinander,
mit saubern gemählen, von Bildthawer arbeit ziehrlich durchbrochenen
und außgeschnitzten gättern verzogene, wie auch noch vier andere zu beeden
[p. 954] seithen oberhalb deren Capellen gebawte Chör; das Kirchengewölb
ist mit schöner stockethor arbeit beziehrt, zu ebener Erdt neben dem hohen
altar ad Cornu Evangely ist die Sacristey, auff der andern, alß der Epistel
seithen der Schwestern Chor inwendig behenckt und außstaffiert mit ver-
schiedenen Bildern, außwendig aber mit einem eyßernen Gatter, sodan
schwartzen fürhängen und andern höltzernen Thüren verschlosßen, allhierin
thuen sie ihre horas singen, die Novitzien einkleyden, und sonsten von dem
Priester communicirt werden.
 Appendix 2: Selected documents 249

Daß an dieße Kirchen gesetztes Closter belangend, ist von selbigem nicht
sonderliches zu melden, umbwillen es dato in keiner rechten ordtnung
gebawet ist, allein seind hinter demselben in St. Annæ gasßen auß denen
zusahmen gebrochenen Häußern drey abgesönderte Schuelen formirt und
zugerichtet, in welchen dieße geistliche Jungfrawen, und zwar in einer jeden
Schuel drey von ihnen die jugendt weiblichen geschlechts, [p. 955] alß in der
ersten betten und Buchstabieren, in der anderten leßen, schreiben, nähen,
stricken, klöcklen, Teppichnadt, und in der dritten undt letzten rechnen,
reisßen, knüpffen, sticken von silber und goldt und gemahlener arbeit, auch
andern erdencklichen weiblichen exercitien unterrichten und lehren; zu
dießen Schuelen werden sowohl arme alß reiche, Niedern alß hohen standts
Kinder an: und auffgenommen, undt zwar leütet man ihnen darzue mit
einem absonderlichen glöckel <vormittag> ein viertel vor: biß acht, und
bleiben darinnen biß halber Eilff uhren, nach gehaltenen Schuelen gehen Sie
sämptlich zur heyligen Meesß. Nachmittag aber fangen die Schuelen, mit
vorhergehendem geleüht umb Ein Viertel nach Ein, biß halber zwey uhren,
wiederumb an, und verbleiben die Kinder allda biß vier uhr, nachgehendts
Sie sich abermahl in die Kirchen verfüegen, und das Salve regina singen.
Deß Sonn: und Feyertages aber werden die Schuelen umb Ein uhr
geöffnet, umb welche Zeit sich [p. 956] die jugendt alldorten versamblet,
damit Sie der Kinderlehr, so von denen Closter Jungfrawen hierin gehalten
wird, beywohnen können, undt ist nicht allein denen Kindern, sondern
auch deroßelben anverwandten, alß Müttern, Schwestern und andere per-
sohnen weiblichen geschlechts zugelasßen, mit denen geistlichen
Schwestern (so zu solcher Zeit auch in die Schuelen zu kommen pflegen)
zu reden. Wan die Christliche lehr in den Schuelen Ein Endt hat, so
fanget alßdan an Ein Pater auß der Societät Jesu in der Kirchen ein andere
Sermon, oder geistliche Unterweißung (wobey nicht weniger die
Schueljugendt erscheinet, und vorhin einige geistliche Lieder singet) zu
halten, und ihnen vorzutragen, auch in dem Christlichen Tugendtwandel
weiter zu informiren. Nachgehendts singen die Closterfrauen ihre vesper
choraliter, umb vier uhr aber die Litany Unßer Lieben Frauen, bey
außsetzung deß hochwürdigen Guets, musicaliter, zu letzt nach gegebenem
Seegen, [p. 957] ließet Eine Schwester in obbeschriebenem ihrem Chor
neben dem hohen altar durch das gatter dem anweßenden weltlichen
Volck auß der Legenda eine geistliche Historie vor, so sich nach der Zeit
und tagen schicket.
Dieße offtvorbesagte Sanctæ Ursulæ Closter Jungfrawen werden mit
täglichen Meesßen von zween Capellänen, mit beichthören und predigen
aber von denen Herrn PP.bus Societatis Jesu (welche auch in spiritualibus
250 Appendix 2: Selected documents

und allen geistlichen sachen die visitation und obsicht über sie haben)
versehen. Das vornembste Ziehl undt Endt ihres geistlichen beruffs ist,
neben trachtung nach ihrer eigenen Seeligkeit, auch die vermehrung der
Ehre Gottes in unterweißung der Jugendt weiblichen geschlechts ohne
forderung einiger Vergeltung, in der Christlichen lehr, im leßen, schreiben,
rechnen, allerhandt ihres standts wohlanständigen arbeiten. Über dießes
halten Sie auch einige Kostgängerinnen von Hoch: und Niedern Standt, die
in der [p. 958] Clausur wohnen, und ohne erlaubnus der oberinn nicht auß
dem Closter gehen dörffen, es sey ihre Freündt zu besuchen, oder wegen
andern ursachen; dieße werden gleichermasßen in der Gottesforcht, guten
sitten, allerhandt schönen arbeiten, und musicquen, wie auch in Sprachen
informirt und unterrichtet.
Letzlichen ist in dießer geistlichen Schwestern Gottes Hauß eine so rare
und annembliche, sowohl vocal alß instrumental music anzuhören, auch
anderer alßo sauberer von ihren händen gemachter Kirchenrocht und
auffputz zu sehen, daß wo Sie andern hießigen Closterfrauen darmit nicht
vorgehen, jedoch das geringste nicht nachgeben werden.

5. “Aus der Frühzeit des Ordens [I]: Aufzeichnung der Mutter Alexis de
Jonghen über die Gründung des Wiener Ursulinenklosters,” Jahrbuch des
Verbandes selbständiger deutscher Ursulinen Klöster: Beiträge zur
Darstellung und Geschichte des Ursulinenordens, 1 (1926), 156–57
11 d’aout 1689
Ma Rde et tres chere Mere!
En response de la chere votre du 21 Juillet, ie vous diroy qu’ou les
Augustin ne sont, nos Religieuses observent touttes les Festes de l’ordre
ou il at Indulgence avec Solemnité, comme nous avons fait quelque temps
aussi, mais les Peres n’ayant plus voulu prescher at ayant vu que personne de
dehors venoit pour les gaigner, nous nous soes (sommes) reglee selon les
autres Cloistres de la ville lesquelles professent la mesme Regle nous con-
tentant comme elles d’en faire la devotion pour nous et nos domestiques les
Augustins deschausez sont pres de nous, les chausez plus esloigne, puis les
Chanoisne Regulier dans ce lieux, le monde le preferrat tousiours la feste de
notre St Pere s’observe avec grande solemnité, celle de Ste Monique moins,
mais a notre grande et glorieuse Patronne Ste Ursule il y a si grand Concours
du peuple que 2 Peres ont assez a faire d’entendre les confessions dans nos
Confessionaux, cette Sainte est fort reveree et aymee ce qui nous est une
grande consollation, Les festes, qui ne sont commandee de la Ste Eglise, nous
ne disons l’office de N. D. qu’en particulier tant parce que cela ne
 Appendix 2: Selected documents 251

s’accorderoit avec la feste de laquelle on Chante les Vespres en musique

qu’aussi la Matinee il y a Continuellement des Messes en tres nombre qu’on
ne voudroit interrompre, les Festes et Dimanche nous chantons les Vespres
comme on est obligee en plain chant tres devotement comme il se fait la
Sepmaine Ste non seulement le Matinees et Laudes, mais aussi touttes les
Ceremonies qui se font le Matin de ces trois iours, ont fait le mesme au Noel,
les Benedictions des Chandelles, des Cendres, des Palmes, le tout tres
correctement toutes celles qui ont voix sont instruite de la Mere des
Chant; apres la Lecture D’une heure on recorde [accorde?] ensemble le
Lundy ce qui tombe la Sepmaine et pour le Dimanche suivant, comme nos
Religieuses y sont ferme c’est plaisir d’entendre comme agreablement et
avec touttes les observances requises elles chantent le tout Dieu soit Beny,
pour les Recreations on n’en donne apres le Lecture a celles qui ont esté a la
seconde table que fort [font?] rarement le Jeudy apres la Chapitre[.] on parle
tout l’apresdisné le mardy apres 4 heures comme aussi le Dimanche et festes
les vespres, mais c’est peu de temps car a 4 heures on at la Benediction du
S. S. devant et apres le Salut qui se chante en Musique les Litanies, un Motet,
et a present le Salve Regina, en autre tems l’Antiphone selon qu’il se doit
apres l’office, les grandes festes se fait une chanson ou devot Motet d’une
voix avec deux ou 3 luth, une Teorble, une viole de Gambe et un violin et
apres suit la Meditation qu’on lit a la grille du Choeur d’enhaut aussi bien
pour les Rles (Religieuses) que pr (pour) les Seculiers a l’Esglise qui l’escou-
tent attentivement, nous ne servons qu’un iour a table celles qui l’ont fait
lavent le l’endemain les vaisselles avec les Converses qui sont a douze en
nombre et bientost a 13, i’espere Ma Rde Mere qu’avec cila d’avoir satisfait a
vos demandes priez par charité pour votre tr. h. et affectuée
S. et S. Alexis

6. “Hauschronik,” II:265–66 (“Stift Brief und gebau bericht auch einige

andere anmerkungen, von 1708 bis auf das absterben, des Herrn Beicht
Vatter Andreas Kral Anno 1751”), WU
July 16, [1731] Undt bis diser gewölbt künte werdten, indessen für die gottes
dienst zu halten, auf der Kostgangerinen Chor eine kleine orgl aufrichten
lassen . . . In ermanglung einer Passistin, Singete den Paß Worhin, durch ein
fenster auf den Music Chor, der wohlEhw. Herr Anthoni Semlrog, wegen
des bawen Kunte es aber Nicht anderst geschehen als in die Clausur Herein
zugehen, Welches aber Unser Hochw: gudt: H: Weychbüschoff Nur auf
etlich Mahl zu gröster Nothwendtigkheit Erlaubt, Undt für langwührige
zeitt ohne Vorwissen Ihro Eminentz Unseres H. Cardinals Nicht
252 Appendix 2: Selected documents

Dispensieren wolte für ordinari in die Clausur einzulassen, Undt haben

gedacht Ihro Eminentz selbst disen einlasß in die Clasur [sic] wegen
längeren Verzug des gebaw grosses bedenckhen gehabt zu Dispensieren,
Jedoch Umb Unß der Ursach die gottes dienst \Nicht/ zuberauben, gnädigst
Verwilligt das dan Undt so lang es Nothwendtig Ist, der wohlEhrw: Herr
Pasist in begleithung des wohlEhrw: H: Beicht Vatters oder Unseres H:
Caplan, zum Singen Köne Undt solle in die Clausur eingelassen werden.

7. Friedrich Nicolai, Beschreibung einer Reise durch Deutschland

und die Schweiz, im Jahre 1781 (Berlin, 1783–84), IV:545–46
Am Peter-Pauls-Tage hörte ich auch bey den Lorenzerinnen eine Musik,
welche, wie in Nonnenklöstern gewöhnlich geschieht, bloß von
Frauenzimmern aufgeführet ward. Die Execution was freilich schlecht;
denn die schönen Geigerinnen hatten nicht rein gestimmt. Das beste war
noch der Contraviolon, aus welchem Instrumente vielleicht wenig
Mannspersonen so sonore Töne ziehen möchten, als hier eine Nonne
that. Die Sopranstimmen waren heiser und unrein. Aber es war da eine
schöne helle reine tiefe Altstimme, eine Bruststimme, zwischen dem hellen
deutlichen, wie Porporino in Berlin, und dem sanften und langsam aufsch-
wellenden, wie Mademoiselle Salomon in Berlin ehemals hatte. In die Chöre
schien sich die weibliche Flüchtigkeit zu mischen, denn sie wurden sehr
gejagt.

8. Ueber die Kirchenmusik in Wien (Vienna: Sebastian Hartl,

1781), 13–15
Wir haben auch in unserer Stadt einige Kirchen, wo man wegen zu
schlechter und garstiger Musik nichts bethen kann, und dieß sind die
Kirchen unsrer Frauen-Klöster.
Der Herr Verfasser der Beyträge zur Schilderung Wiens hat bey meiner
Ehre gar nicht Unrecht, wenn ihm eine jungfräuliche Baßstimm, und die
anmüthige Geigerey einer alten Chor-Jungfer nicht zu angenehm scheint,
denn es ist unaussprechlich, wie es oft in diesen Kirchen zugeht, wie in einer
Juden-Schule. Eine Nonne singt fein wie ein Loretto Glöckel, die andere tief
wie ein uralter Violon, eine singt durch die Nase, als hätte sie auf selber eine
Sordine stecken, die andere geigt falsch und kratzt auf ihrer verstimmten
Violin zum davon lauffen, zweien springen die Saiten ab, und eine blaset auf
der Trompete, daß sie ihr Brustblatt zersprengen möchte . . . Das
Auferbaulichste in den Nonnen-kirchen scheint mir das Choralamt zu
 Appendix 2: Selected documents 253

seyn, unter welchem von den Jungfern das Brevier unter Begleitung der
heisrigen Orgel, recht gar abscheulich gesungen, und zwar in lateinischer
Sprache gesungen wird, von der sie kein Wort verstehen.

9. Kirchenkronik auf das Jahr 1784

A. p. 56
Weil hier eben von der Klosterfrauen Kirchenmusik Meldung geschieht,
welche eine Herzenslust war es nicht so eine jungfräuliche Basstimme, und
die anmuthige Geigerey einer alten Chorjungfer mit anzuhören!; da sang
eine junge Candidatin so fein als ein Loretoglöckel, die Novizenmeisterin
tief, wie ein alter Violon. Schwester Hiacintha sang durch die Nase, als hätte
sie eine Sardine [sic] darauf stecken: Schwester Basilika geigte ein Falset
dazu, und kratzte auf ihrem verstimmten Nudelbrett zum davonlaufen. Der
Schwester Agatha sprang oft die Saite ab, just da sie selbe am nöthigsten
brauchte; und Schwester Angelica bließ in die Trompeten, daß ihr nicht nur
einmal ein Unglück drohte. – Welche Freude muß wohl eine solche Musik
den heiligen Engeln im Himmel verschaft haben?

B. Anhang, 20–21
Klosterfrauen-Operetl.
Daß die Klosterfrauen hin und wieder Komödien und Opereteln spielen,
wußten wir schon lange, daß aber dieses Operetl, welches wir jetzt bekannt
machen, in einem Frauenkloster aufgeführt worden ist, haben wir erst bey
Aufhebung der Lor[enzerinnen] in W[ien] erfahren.
Der Beichtvater stellte den Tod, die Klosterfrauen aber Bäume vor: der
Tod war wie ein Gärtner gekleidet, und der Titel des Stücks hieß, hortus
conclusus dilecta mea. Meine Geliebte ist ein verschlossener Garten. Der
Tod sang folgende Arie.

Keins darf hier den Eingang hoffen,

Mir allein steht alles offen,
Ich brock diese Früchte ab,
Weil nur ich den Schlüssel hab.
Mir bleibt niemals was verborgen,
Was heut geschieht, das weis ich morgen,
Was man allen sonst versteckt,
Ist mir blos und aufgedeckt.*
*O heilige Einfalt!
254 Appendix 2: Selected documents

10. Specification deren Ausgaben bey dem Haupt Fest des Heil. Joseph
welches den 19.ten Marty 1782 gehalten wird, Klosterakten 219,
Klosterrat, Siebenbücherinnen zu Wien 44, ad num: 49, AT-OeStA/
HHStA (A-Whh)

als:

dem Prediger Regall ein dukaten pr 4. [fl.] 18. [xr.]

dem Pralaten zum Hochamt eingeladen worden – –
dazu 8 geistliche zur bedienung erstadert worden 4. [fl.] –
die Musik von St Stephann vor Hochamt und Vesper, nachmittag 28. [fl.] –
Completh und Litaney zusammen
Trompether vormittag 6. [fl.] –
Pauker trager – 17. [xr.]
Wegen Wagen vor Prediger – 51. [xr.]
Vor betten bey den 40stundigen, den 17, 18, 19, und 20zigsten 4 Tag 1. [fl.] 8. [xr.]
jeden Tag 17 xr.
Summa 44. [fl.] 34. [xr.]

11. Statthaltereiakten 1784, C Norm K 4296 ad Acta No. 477 C:20

de [1]784, NöLA
Musical expenses of the convent of St. Agnes zur Himmelpforte, 1783.
A. Verzeichniß deren Kirchen Musicorum, was dieselbe an ihren Gehalt bis
zur letzten Osterwoche, und von Ostern bis zu dieser Eingabe zu fordern
haben . . . December 4, 1783
Die von dem St. Stephan Music Personale versehene Kirchen
3. Von dem Stift zum Himmelpforten

für das Fest S. Augustini 33

[für das Fest] S. Valentini 33
[für] die 9 Frauen Litaneyen 68
[für] das Kirchweyl Fest 27
[für] das Fest Maria Himmelfahrt 27
[für] detto Allerheiligen Ordinis 16
[für] detto Maria Empfängniß 15
[für] das Amt S. Agnetis 10
[für] die Conversio S. Augustini 12
Summe 241
 Appendix 2: Selected documents 255

B. Verzeichniß Derjenigen, die ihre Ausweise über die Musikunkösten . . .

eingereicht haben, no. 33 [February 4, 1783]: Ausweisung Deren
Unkosten, welche für die in der Klosters-Kirche zur Himmelpforte zur
Feyerlichen Begehung nachstehender Festtägen gebrauchte Musik jährl.
bezahlt werden, Als

für die

Herr Gott,
Ämter Vespern Litaneyen dich loben Zusammen

fl.
In dem Monath Jäner am St.
Agnes Tage als dem
Patrociny-fest der Kirche, für
das Amt . . . 10 10
In dem Monath März an dem
Tage der dißseitigen Ordens-
Heiligen für das Amt 10
Und wenn dieses Fest aines fast
meistens gescheihet, in der
Fasten fallet, noch besonders
für die Vesper 6 16
An dem Tage der bekehrung
des Heil[ig]en Vaters
Augustins für das Amt 10
Für das Herr Gott, dich
loben wir 2 12
In dem Monath July am
Festtage des heil. Martyrers
Valentins, das ist jedesmal
am nächsten Sonntag nach
St. Annen-Tage für das Amt 15
Und besonders für die
Trompeter 10
Für 2. Vespern der Musick à 6 fl 12
denen Trompetern ebenfalls 12
Für 2. Litaneyen der Musick
à2fl 4
Denen Trompetern besonders
à3fl 6
Für das Herr Gott, dich loben
wir, p. der Musick 2
denen Trompetern 2 63
256 Appendix 2: Selected documents

für die

Herr Gott,
Ämter Vespern Litaneyen dich loben Zusammen

In dem Monath August bey der

abhaltend 9. Tägigen Mutter-
Gottes-insgemein Haus-
Mutter-Andacht genannt,
von 7ten bis 15ten Aug[ust]
inclusive, unter welcher
Andacht jeder Zeit der
Kirchweyl-Sonntag und das
Fest der Himmelfahrt
Mariens einfallet.
An Kirchweyl-Sonntag für
das Amt 15
Denen Trompetern besonders 12
Für 2. Vespern der Musick à 6 fl 12
denen Trompetern ebenfalls 16
Für 2. Litaneyen der Musick
à7fl 14
denen Trompetern ebenfalls 6
Am Fest der Himmelfahrt
Mariens für das Amt 15
denen Trompetern besonders 12
Für 2. Vespern der Musick 12
denen Trompetern ebenfalls 16
Für 2. Litaneyen der Musick
a7fl 14
denen Trompetern 6
Für 5. Litaneyen durch die
übrige Täge der 9 Tägigen
Andacht à 7 fl 35
Für ein Herr Gott dich loben
wir. der Musick 6
denen Trompetern 4 195
Eben im Monath Aug[ust] am
festtage des Heil: Vaters
Augustins für das Amt 15
denen Trompetern 10
Für 2. Vespern der Musick 12
denen Trompetern 12
Für 2. Litaneyen der Musick 4
denen Trompetern 6
 Appendix 2: Selected documents 257

für die

Herr Gott,
Ämter Vespern Litaneyen dich loben Zusammen

Für das Herr Gott dich loben

wir. der Musick 2
denen Trompetern 2 63
In dem Monat Xbris
[December] am Fest der
unbefleckten Empfangniß
Mariens für das Amt 18 18
152 110 95 20 377

Aus diesem Ausweis ergiebt sich, daß gleichwie dermalen für die Musick
bey denen \andern/ obbenannten Sonn- und Festtägen abhaltenden
Hochämtern eine Summe p. 152 fl. bezahlet worden, dieser nämliche betrag
auch künftighin zu entrichten seyn. Wienn den 4ten Hornung [1]783.
Maria Theresia v. Hacklberg und Landau Obristin bei der
Himmelspforten.
Appendix 3
The Habsburgs and their family connections

259
Figure 17. Members of the Habsburg family who founded, visited, were educated in, or otherwise concerned themselves
with Viennese convents.
 Appendix 3: The Habsburgs and their family connections 261

Based primarily on Brigitte Hamann, Die Habsburger: Ein biographisches

Lexikon (Vienna: Amalthea, 1988).
Amalia. See Maria Amalia.
Amalie Wilhelmine (1673–1742). Daughter of Johann Friedrich of Brunswick-
Lüneburg, she married the future Emperor Joseph I in 1699. She founded the
Salesianerinnenkloster.
Charles Alexander of Lorraine (1712–80). A younger brother of Francis Stephen,
he married Maria Theresia’s sister Maria Anna in 1744 (she died after less than
a year of marriage). He served his brother and sister-in-law as a military
commander and as governor of the Austrian Netherlands.
(Anne) Charlotte of Lorraine (1714–73). Youngest sister of Francis Stephen, she
was abbess of Remiremont, Mons, and Essen, but was able to travel and visit
her brother in Vienna.
Claudia Felicitas (1653–76). Daughter of Archduke Ferdinand Karl of Tyrol
and Anna de’ Medici. She was the second wife of Leopold I, whom she married
in 1673.
Eleonora Gonzaga (1598–1655) (Eleonora I). Daughter of Duke Vincenzo I of
Mantua and Eleonore de’ Medici, she married Ferdinand II in 1622. She
founded the Clarissan convent of St. Nikolai in Vienna and Carmelite convents
in Graz and Vienna.
Eleonora Gonzaga-Nevers (1630–86) (Eleonora II). Daughter of Carlo II
Gonzaga, Duke of Rethel, and Maria Gonzaga, she became the third wife
of Ferdinand III in 1651. She founded the Ursuline convent in Vienna.
Eleonora Magdalena (1655–1720). Daughter of Elector Philipp Wilhelm of the
Pfalz, she became the third wife of Emperor Leopold I in 1676, and was
the mother of Emperors Joseph I and Karl VI. She served as regent following
the death of Joseph I in April 1711.
Eleonore Maria Josepha (1653–97). Daughter of Emperor Ferdinand III and
Empress Eleonora II, in 1670 she married Michael Korybut Wiśniowiecki
(1640–73), king of Poland. After his death, she returned to Vienna. In 1678
she married Duke Karl V of Lorraine (1643–90). The couple lived in
Innsbruck, where Karl served as governor of Tyrol and Vorderösterreich.
After Karl’s death, she was instrumental in arranging the return of her
husband’s ancestral lands to their son Leopold. She returned to Vienna in
her last year.
Elisabeth. See Maria Elisabeth.
Elisabeth Christine (1691–1750). Daughter of Duke Ludwig Rudolf of Brunswick-
Wolfenbüttel, she married Archduke Karl, then styled Charles III of Spain, in
1708. When Karl returned to Vienna to succeed his brother, Joseph I, following
the latter’s death in April 1711, Elisabeth Christine remained in Spain,
where she served as Statthalterin (governor) and Generalkapitän (military
commander). She returned to Vienna in 1713 when the Habsburg attempt to
win control of Spain was abandoned.
262 Appendix 3: The Habsburgs and their family connections

Elisabeth, Queen of France (1554–92). Daughter of Emperor Maximilian II

and Maria of Spain, she married Charles IX of France in 1569. After the
death of her husband in 1574, she moved to Vienna, where she founded the
Königinkloster.
Elisabeth Wilhelmine of Württemberg (1767–90). Daughter of Duke Friedrich II
Eugen of Württemberg, she came to Vienna at age 15 as the prospective bride
of the future Emperor Franz, whom she married in 1788. She was educated in
the Salesianerinnenkloster.
Ferdinand Karl of Tyrol (1628–62). Father of Claudia Felicitas, he was archduke
of Tyrol from 1646.
Ferdinand Karl Anton (1754–1806). Fourth son (and fourteenth child) of
Maria Theresia and Francis Stephen. He married Maria Beatrix d’Este in
1771 and was governor-general of Lombardy, later commandant of the
Italian armies.
Francis Stephen (1708–65). Son of Duke Leopold of Lorraine (himself a son of
Karl V of Lorraine and Eleonore Maria Josepha) and Elisabeth Charlotte of
Orléans, he came to the Viennese court in 1723. He married Maria Theresia in
1736 and was elected Holy Roman Emperor in 1745.
Franz II (I) (1768–1835). Eldest son of Leopold II and Maria Ludovica.
Johanna Gabriela (1750–62). Eleventh child of Francis Stephen and Maria
Theresia.
Joseph I (1678–1711). Eldest son of Leopold I and Eleonora Magdalena, he was
named King of Hungary in 1687, King of Rome in 1690, and Habsburg ruler
and Holy Roman Emperor in 1705. He married Amalie Wilhelmine in 1699.
Motto: Amore et timore / Durch Liebe und Furcht.
Joseph II (1741–90). Eldest son of Francis Stephen and Maria Theresia, he was co-
ruler with his mother from 1765, and succeeded her in 1780. He was Holy
Roman Emperor from 1765.
Karl VI (1685–1740). Second son of Leopold I and Eleonora Magdalena, he was
named Charles III of Spain and fought there from 1704 in an attempt to retake
Spain for the Habsburgs after it had been left to Philip of Anjou, a grandson of
Louis XIV of France, on the death of the last Spanish Habsburg king, Charles II.
He succeeded his brother Joseph as Habsburg ruler and Holy Roman Emperor
in 1711. Motto: Constanter continet orbem / Unabänderlich hält er die Welt
zusammen, often given as Costanza e Fortitudine.
Karl Joseph (1649–64). Son of Ferdinand III and his second wife,
Maria Leopoldine of Tyrol. He was destined for high church office, but died
young.
Leopold I (1640–1705). Son of Ferdinand III and his first wife, Maria of Spain. At
his father’s death in 1657, he became Habsburg ruler and Holy Roman
Emperor. He married first Margarita Maria Teresa of Spain, then Claudia
Felicitas of Tyrol, and finally Eleonora Magdalena of Pfalz-Neuberg. Motto:
Consilio et industria / Mit Klugheit und Eifer.
 Appendix 3: The Habsburgs and their family connections 263

Leopold II (1747–92). Third son of Francis Stephen and Maria Theresia, he

succeeded his brother Joseph in 1790.
Leopold Wilhelm (1614–62). Second son of Ferdinand II and Maria Anna of
Bavaria. A churchman, he was a keen supporter of the Counter-Reformation
and the Jesuit order, and served as bishop of Olmütz and of Breslau; he later
served as governor of the Netherlands. He is best known for his extensive art
collection.
Margarita (Maria) Teresa (1651–73). The first wife of Leopold I, she was a
daughter of King Philip IV of Spain and Maria Anna of Austria, Leopold’s
elder sister.
Maria Amalia (1746–1804). Eighth child of Francis Stephen and Maria Theresia,
she was later duchess of Parma.
Maria Amalie (1701–56). Younger daughter of Emperor Joseph I and Amalie
Wilhelmine, she married Karl Albrecht of Bavaria in 1722. The latter was
elector from 1726 and Holy Roman Emperor 1742–45.
Maria Anna (1683–1754), queen of Portugal. Daughter of Leopold I and Eleonora
Magdalena, she married King Joan V of Portugal in 1708. She was a gifted
musician, and the mother of the more famous Maria Barbara, queen of Spain.
Maria Anna (Marianne, Marianna) (1738–89). Second child of Francis Stephen
and Maria Theresia, she suffered a severe illness in 1757 that left her hunch-
backed. Pious and scholarly, in 1766 she became abbess of the Adeliger
Damenstift in Prague, an institution founded by her mother. In later years
she was closely associated with the Elisabethinerinnenkloster in Klagenfürt. She
supported this convent but did not become a nun.
Maria Anna Josepha (1654–89). A daughter of Ferdinand III and Eleonora II, she
married Elector Johann Wilhelm of Pfalz-Neuburg in 1678. She died while on a
visit to Vienna.
Maria Antonia (1669–92). The daughter of Leopold I and Margarita Teresa, she
married Prince-Elector Maximilian II Emanuel of Bavaria in 1685.
Maria Elisabeth (1680–1741). Eldest daughter of Leopold I and Eleonora
Magdalena, she served as Statthalterin (governor) of the Austrian Netherlands,
1725–41.
Maria Elisabeth (1743–1808). Sixth child of Francis Stephen and Maria Theresia.
Her beauty was destroyed by smallpox in 1767. She was abbess of the Adeliger
Damenstift in Innsbruck 1781–1806.
Maria Josepha (1699–1757). Elder daughter of Joseph I and Amalie Wilhelmine.
In 1719 she married Friedrich August of Poland, who became king of Poland in
1733.
Maria Josepha (1751–67). Twelfth child of Francis Stephen and Maria Theresia.
Maria Magdalena (1689–1743). Fifth and youngest child of Leopold I and
Eleonora Magdalena. She remained unmarried and lived in Vienna with the
families of her brothers, Joseph and Karl. She was especially close to her niece
Maria Theresia.
264 Appendix 3: The Habsburgs and their family connections

Maria Theresia (1717–80). Eldest daughter of Emperor Karl VI and Elisabeth

Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. She succeeded her father as Habsburg
ruler in 1740, sparking the War of the Austrian Succession. Her husband,
Francis Stephen of Lorraine, was elected Holy Roman Emperor in 1745, and
she was thus empress from that time.
Marie Antoinette (1755–93). Youngest daughter of Francis Stephen and Maria
Theresia, she married the Dauphin of France, the future Louis XVI, in 1770.
Marie Christine (1742–98). Fifth child of Francis Stephen and Maria Theresia.
Appendix 4
Glossary of terms and titles

Bassistin. A female “bass,” a woman who sang in the low register.

Bettchor. In a convent church, an upper gallery above the music gallery
(Musikchor), where nuns, lay sisters, and other convent residents gathered to
pray, and from where they could observe unseen, or at least hear, the religious
services in the church.
Canoness. An Augustinian nun. A canoness traditionally did not take full vows, the
convent remaining unenclosed. From the enclosure of the convents (in Vienna,
in the early seventeenth century) canonesses were indistinguishable from other
nuns, although the designation remained in use.
Chor. A place in the church or convent where music was performed or sacred
services took place.
Damenstift. An institution in which noble women lived a communal, quasi-
monastic life. The women used monastic titles, such as abbess, but did not
take religious vows.
Dowager Empress (verwittibte Kaiserin, Imperatrice Vedova). The widow of an
emperor: for example, Amalie Wilhelmine.
Ducat. A form of currency sometimes used in Austria. Its value varied somewhat:
in a document of 1740 one ducat was equal to 4 fl. 9 xr. (Appendix 2, 2A); in a
document of 1782, one ducat was equal to 4 fl. 18 xr. (Appendix 2, 10).
Empress Mother (kayserliche Frau Mutter, Imperatrice Madre Vedova). The
mother of an emperor and widow of a previous one; for example, Eleonora
Magdalena, during the reigns of her sons Joseph I and Karl VI.
Fl. [florin], gulden. The unit of currency common in Vienna. One gulden was
divided into sixty kreutzer.
Foundation. See Stift.
Frauenkloster. A convent – in Austria, for women who took vows of any kind,
including tertiaries.
Gulden. See Fl. [florin].
Habsburg (crown) lands. The lands ruled by the Habsburgs, including, in the
eighteenth century, Austria, the kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia, Silesia
(mostly lost to Prussia in 1742), Transylvania, Tuscany (from 1738), and the
Austrian Netherlands (1713–94). The Eastern portions of the Habsburg lands
were outside the Holy Roman Empire.
Hofdame. A woman of noble family serving as a lady-in-waiting at court.

265
266 Appendix 4: Glossary of terms and titles

Holy Roman Emperor. The leader of the empire of German nations. Although
usually a member of the Habsburg family, he was elected by a group of electors,
whose positions were hereditary.
Incognito. For a royal or noble personage, to travel, visit, or attend a performance
without the usual trappings of state, such as trumpets and drums, a military
and court escort, and festive court carriages.
Kammer-Fräulein. A girl of noble family serving as a lady-in-waiting at court. She
often held the position for a few years only, then marrying or entering a
convent.
Kellermeisterin. A nun in charge of the cellar, or the supplies, of a convent. This
position was one of great responsibility, one of a convent’s highest offices, as it
necessitated contact with outsiders.
King of Rome. The ceremonial title awarded to the presumptive successor of
a Holy Roman Emperor; the title was generally awarded to the Emperor’s
eldest son.
Klosterfräulein, Klosterfrau. A woman who has taken vows and lives in a convent.
Kostfräulein. A girl boarding (hence Kost) in a convent for education.
Musikchor. In a convent church, the music gallery, usually the lower of two at the
back of the church, the upper one being the prayer gallery (Bettchor). It often
contained a convent’s large organ. The choir nuns performed here during Mass
and for other services on feast days, when special music was called for.
Oberin, Obristin, Abtissin. The highest officer of a convent.
Office of Our Lady. A version of the Office focused on the Virgin Mary, used as a
supplement or sometimes replacing the regular Office. It was less varied than
the regular Office.
Parlatorio. See Redezimmer.
Redezimmer, parlatorio. The parlor of a convent, divided by a grate through
which nuns and other residents talked with visitors. Musical performances
and music instruction also took place there.
Second profession. A ceremony marking the fiftieth anniversary of a nun’s pro-
fession, often celebrated with elaborate music.
Second Vespers. Taking place on a feast day, in Vienna sometimes directly follow-
ing Mass. It might also be referred to as the “second service” (Mass being the
first) or form part of the “evening service.”
Sepolcro. A devotional musical-dramatic work, recounting the crucifixion story or
a related one, performed on Good Friday or Holy Saturday in a church before a
model of the Holy Sepulcher.
Stift (foundation). An institution founded and endowed by a royal or noble
personage (for example, the Esterházy Stift St. Joseph in Eisenstadt or the
Königinkloster).
Tertiary order. An order taking less than full vows. Women of such orders were
usually devoted to teaching or nursing. In Austria, they often lived in convents,
were semi-cloistered, and were considered nuns.
Trauer-Gesang. A musical piece with German text intended for performance at a
model of the Holy Sepulcher on Good Friday or Holy Saturday. See also Sepolcro.
Bibliography

Primary sources
Documents
Rome, Archivio Segreto Vaticana
ASV, VR, Sezione monache, l’anno 1650 (agosto–settembre), Mantova/Alla Sacra
Cong.ne de Vescovi e Regolari/die 12. Aug.ti 1650/“epo ad mentum”/Per Il
Vescovo di Mantova.
ASV, VR, Sezione monache, l’anno 1662 (gennaro–marzo), 30 marzo 1662.
ASV, VR, Sezione monache, l’anno 1662 (aprile–giugno), documents of 28 April
and following, 2 June.

St. Pölten, Niederösterreichisches Landesarchiv (NöLA)

Statthaltereiakten 1784, C Norm K 4296 ad Acta No. 477 C:20 de [1]784.

Vienna, St. Stephan, Dompfarre (A-Wd)

Taufbuch, Tom. 16 (01.06.1643–30.11.1644); Tom. 20 (03.06.1650–31.12.1651).
Trauungsbuch, Tom. 16.

Vienna, Diözesanarchiv (A-Wda)

Liturgie 2, Gottesdienstordnung 1621–1781.

Vienna, Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv

(A-Whh)
AT-OeStA/HHStA HA OMaA, 628–19. Testamente 1700–1710, 1702/7:
“Testament des Johann Rasch von Raschenau, Antikammertürhüter.”
AT-OeStA/HHStA HA OMeA, Obersthofmeisteramtsakten. ÄR 1 (1650–1668);
ÄR 2, 1669–1675.
AT-OeStA/HHStA OMeA ÄZA. Ältere Zeremonialakten 9 (1673–1700); 11,
(1677–79); 18 (1695–98). 267
268 Bibliography

Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Musiksammlung (A-Wn)

Mus. Hs. 2503. Reinhardt, Kilian. “Rubriche generali per la funzioni ecclesiastiche
musicali di tutto l’anno” (1727).
S.m. 2478. “Verzeichniß jener Musikalien aus der Privat-Sammlung weil.
Allerhöchst. S. M. Kaiser Leopold I., welche sich gegenwärtig noch in dem
K. K. Hofmusikgrafenamts Archive Befinden. 1825.”

Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Sammlung von Handschriften

und alten Drucken (A-Wn[h])
Cod. 7638, no. 19, fols. 91–95. “Musicalische Herzens Freud an dem Vierten Tag
Unter der Octav des Glorreich- u[nd] Heiligen Nahmens Fest des Hoch
Würdigen in Gott Geistl: Patris M[a]g[ist]ri Caspari Scheürer Ord: Eremit
S. P. Augustini . . . Zur Ehr-Bezeigung Uns Geistlichen Töchtern und Closter
Jungfrauen Elisabethinerinen der 3te Regl des Heiligen Seraphischen Vatters
Francisci zu Wien auf der Landstrassen den 9ten Jan[uarius] [1]752
abgeseegen.”
Cod. 8227. Testarello della Massa, Johannes Matthias. “Kurze doch Eigentliche
Beschreibung darinen gründlich, angeführt wird. Auf was weiße die
kayserliche Residenz- und Haubtstatt Wienn in Österreich, anfänglich zum
Christlichen Glauben bekhert. Sodan Wie die geistliche obrigkeit alß
Bischöffe & Priester, Pfarrherrn, Pröbste, widerumb Bischöffe und leztlichen,
alß Reichs fürsten, das geistliche wesen biß auf das 1685.te Jahr administrirt
haben, unnd successive gefolgt seind.”
Cod. 14188/2, fols. 57r–107v. “Acta originalia monasterium St. Jacobi Viennæ
concernentia.”

Vienna, Österreichisches Staatsarchiv (A-Wös)

AT-OeStA/FHKA AHK NÖHA. Finanz- und Hofkammerarchiv,
Niederösterreichische Herrschaftsakten, W-61/A/32/B.
AT-OeStA/FHKA SUS HZAB. Finanz- und Hofkammerarchiv,
Hofzahlamtsbücher.

Vienna, Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv (A-Wsa)

Hs. A 47/1. “Über die der Franz de Hardischen gewesten Pupillin Jungfrauen
Theresiæ aniezo Schwester Benedicta in dem Closter St. Lorenz in Wien
gelegte Erstere Vormundtschaffts Rechnung de Anno 1684 Bis 1688zig.
betref.”
 Bibliography 269

Hs. A 54. “Haupt Inventarium über das samentl. Aktiv und Paßiv Vermögen . . . 22
Jänner 1782” (Königinkloster).
Hs. A 302. “Annderte Vormundschaffts Rechnung, Welche durch mich Conrad
Rüdolph Littig Kay[ser]l. HoffJübelier alhier in Wien. als Ober Weillandt Herrn
Frannzen de Harde gewesten kay[ser]l. Cammerdienners seel[ig] hinderlassenen
Jungfrauen Pupillin nammens Theresia dermahlen Geistlichen Jungfrauen in
Nunen Closter St. Laurentii alhier . . . vom 28. 7bris de Ao 1688. bis Lezten 9bris
Ao 1692. Empfäng und Außgaab fehrners geführt worden.”
Hs. B 57. “Eingang und Approbirung Des Erstens und uralten Canonischen
ordens Sancti Augustini, welchen Er Nach Ordnung Der Heilligen Aposteln
Eingesezt und solchen wider Erhöbt und Erneyert” (St. Laurenz, Vienna).
Haydn, Joseph. “Letzte Wille.” Mag. Zivilgericht, Fasz. I, Test. 402/1809.
Klösterarchiv
Himmelpforte: 2.2.6.1, A1/1–20
Königinkloster (Königskloster): 2.2.6.13, A1/1–4; 2.2.6.14, A1/1–5
Klarissen St. Nikola: 2.2.6.15, A1/1–18
Siebenbüchnerinnen: 2.2.6.16, A1/1–4
St. Jakob: 2.2.6.17, A1/1–12
St. Laurenz: 2.2.6.18, A1/1–8; 2.2.6.19, A1/1–4
Klosterrat: 2.2.6.20, A1/1
Totenbeschauprotokoll
Totenprotokolle Adelige

Vienna, St. Michael, Pfarrarchiv (A-Wstm)

Protocollum Mortuorum 10–11 (1646–1663).

Vienna, Ursulinenkloster (WU)

“I. Annalen Notizen 1660.”
“Aufzeichnung aller Verstorbenen Mitschwestern unsers geistl. Hauses.”
“Ausführlicher Bericht d Reyse und Ankunfft.”
“Hauschronik,” II (1708–1751) (“Stifft Brief und gebau bericht auch einige andere
anmerkungen, von 1708 bis . . . 1751”).
“Hauschronik,” III (1740–1755).
“Verzeichniss der Chorschwester dieses Hauses.”

Musical manuscripts and contemporary prints (all A-Wn unless

otherwise noted)
Anonymous. Andächtige Geistliche Gebett, Hymni, Collecten, und Psalmen, Mit
deren beygefügten Thonen; So In dem Hoch-Löblichen Jungfrauen-Closter
270 Bibliography

St. Jacob Canonissarum Regularium S. Augustini in Wienn, Zu

unterschiedlichen Zeiten gebettet und gesungen werden. Vienna: Johann Ignaz
Heyinger, 1754 (WB, A 10378).
Beglückte Verbundtnüß Des Adels mit der Tugend unter dem Vorwandt
Angenommener Persohnen Eugeny und Aretinæ . . . Von Hochadelicher Und
Tugendt geflisszner Versamblung Deren im Frawen Closter Ord. St. August.
Regul. bey St. Lorentz Unterwiesenen Kostfreylen . . . vorgestelt Im Jahr Christi
1688. den. 10. August. Monath. Mus. Hs. 18493.
Cantata sacra. Per il Sabbato Santo Riposando l’Hostia Sacrosanta entro il Core di
Giesù nella Chiesa delle R.R. M.M. Orsoline di Vienna. Mus. Hs. 18698.
Il martirio di S. Sinforosa: Oratorio. Mus. Hs. 18694.
Oratorio delle tre Mariæ al Sepolcro di Christo. Mus. Hs. 18699.
Oratorio di S. Agostino. Mus. Hs. 18952.
Oratorio di S. Geneffa. Mus. Hs. 18318.
La Santissima Annuntiata (Anonymus, Oratorium de B. V. Maria). Mus. Hs.
18509.
Tonantis aula lugeat. Mus. Hs. 18789.
Trattenimento Estivo. Per L’Augustissima e Serenissima Padronanza. Nel
Monastero delle R.R. M.M. Di S. Giacomo. In Vienna, Per Il Giorno della di
Loro Festa Di S. Giacomo Apostolo. Nel quale Viene onorato il predetto
Monastero Della presenza dell’ Augus.me Reali, e Ces.ee M.M. Loro E
Serenissime Arciduchesse. Mus. Hs. 18606.
Badia, Carlo Agostino. La fuga in Egitto del Patriarca S. Giuseppe con Giesu e Maria.
Mus. Hs. 16585.
L’Innocenza calpestata dal mondo, e protetta da Dio (Il trionfo di Davidde).
Mus. Hs. 16292.
Il martirio di S. Susanna. Mus. Hs. 19166.
Il ritorno di Tobia. Mus. Hs. 16305.
Sant’Orsola, vergine e martire. Mus. Hs. 18767 (1695).
Santa Teresa. Mus. Hs. 19165.
S. Ursula vergine e martire (libretto: S. Orsola vergine, e martire). Mus. Hs. 16906
(1694).
La Sepoltura di Christo. Oratorio. Mus. Hs. 16891.
Draghi, Antonio. Le cinque vergini prudenti. Mus. Hs. 16007.
Ender, Alexander. Magnificat. A-Wgm, uncatalogued.
Pacieri, Giuseppe. Il trionfo dell’Amor Divino. Cantata a 5 Voci Con istro:ti . . .
Cantato dalle Madre Ursoline di Vienna l’anno 1692. Mus. Hs. 16584.
Raschenau, Maria Anna von. Il consiglio di Pallade (Anonymus, Fragment operis
musici dramatici Pallade). Mus. Hs. 18495.
Le sacre stimmate di S. Francesco d’Assisi (Anonymus, S. Francesco). Mus. Hs.
18507.
Raschenau, Maria Anna von, and Ferdinand Tobias Richter. Le sacre visioni di
S. Teresia (Anonymus, S. Teresa). Mus. Hs. 18597.
 Bibliography 271

Reutter, Georg Jr. Oratorium Germanicum de Passione Domini [Mater dolorum].

A-Kr, F 27, 5.
Scarlatti, Francesco. Debbora profetessa guerriera. GB-Lbl, Add. Ms. 31608, fol. 10v
(fragment).
Schmidt, Ferdinand. Dixit Dominus. A-Wgm, uncatalogued.
Vismarri, Filippo. Cantate, e Ariette per Camera À Voce Sola Composte in Musica
Dà D. Filippo Vismarri Musico di Camera Di Sua Maestà Cesarea. Mus. Hs.
17753.
Zächer, Johann Michael. Arety-Poletimia reduplicata a fervore Charitatis ac
Formidinis. Daß ist, Wettstreitt deren Tugenden umb den Vorzug zwischen Lieb
undt Forcht denen Römischen Kayserl. Mayestäten Joseph Dem Ersten undt
Amalia Wilhelmina auch dem Gesambten Durchleüchtigsten Ertz-Hauß
Öesterreich . . . vorgetragen worden den 15. Augusti 1710. In die Music gesezt
durch Herrn Johann Michael Zächer, Ihro Röm: verwittibten Kay: May[estä]tt,
undt der Cathedral Kirchen bey St. Stephan Capellmeistern. Mus. Hs. 18929.
Poetisches Freyden-Gedicht von einem dem Unüberwündlichsten u[nd]
Durchleüchtigsten Ertz-Herzoglichen Hause Österreich Wohlbekandten Adler
und Lerchlein . . . Vorgetragen den 12. Augusti 1708. Mus. Hs. 16902.

Editions of music
Caldara, Antonio. Kirchenwerke, ed. Eusebius Mandyczewski. Denkmäler der
Tonkunst in Österreich, 26 (Jahrg. XIII/1). Graz: Akademische Druck- und
Verlagsanstalt, 1959.
Cesti, Marc Antonio. Il pomo d’oro, ed. Guido Adler. Denkmäler der Tonkunst in
Österreich, 6 (Jahrg. III/2) and 9 (Jahrg. IV/2). Graz: Akademische Druck- und
Verlagsanstalt, 1959.
Il pomo d’oro (Music for Acts III and V from Modena, Biblioteca Estense, Ms. Mus.
E. 120), ed. Carl B. Schmidt. Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque
Era, 42. Madison, WI: A-R Editions, 1982.
Di Lernia, Francesco (ed.). Musik des 18. Jahrhunderts am Wiener Hof für Orgel
(Cembalo). Vienna: Universal Edition, 1992.
Leonarda, Isabella. Selected Compositions, ed. Stewart Carter. Recent Researches in
the Music of the Baroque Era, 59. Madison, WI: A-R Editions, 1988.
Sances, Giovanni Felice. Motetti a una, due, tre, e quattro voci (1638), ed.
Steven Saunders. Middleton, WI: A-R Editions, 2003.

Printed libretti
[Amerighi, S.] Lo Sposalizio di S. Orsola Vergine, e Martire[,] Oratorio. Cantato dalle
RR. Madri Orsoline di Vienna nel Giorno della Festività della medesima in
presenza dell. Augustissime Cesaree e Regie MM. e di Tutta la Serenissima Prole.
Posto in Musica dal Sig. Carlo Agostino Badia Compositor Trattenuto per
272 Bibliography

l’Augustissima Capella di S. C. M. Vienna: Andrea Heyinger, 1697. I-Vnm,

MISC 2654, 20.
Anonymous. Adam per culpam deperditus, morte Christi repertus. Musica
decantatus ad sepulchrum Christi di Veneris sancto coram Sac. Caes. Majestate
in ecclesia fratrum Eremitarum Discalceatorum S. Augustini. Viennae die 27.
Martij Anno 1671. Vienna, 1671. A-Gu, 21017.
La caduta di Lucifero. Oratorio à 5 voci cantato dalle R.R. M.M. di S. Giacomo
all’Augustissima Famiglia L’Anno M. DCC. XV. Poesia di Auditore incerto.
Musica del Sig. Francesco Scarlatti. Vienna: Gio. Van Ghelen, 1715. I-Vnm,
MISC 2641, 20.
Christus Jesus Der Vor seine Schaaf gestorben, und im Grab liegende Gute Hirt,
Von denen WW. EE. Closter-Jungfrauen der Gesellschaft Der Heiligen Ursulæ
In Wienn Bey dem Heiligen Grab, Und in der Music vorgestellet An dem Heil.
Char-Sambstag Nachmittag. Compositore Domino Alexandro Ender. Vienna:
Johann Ignaz Heyinger, 1734. WB, A 5473.
La confessione gloriosa di S. Agostino, oratorio cantato dalle RR. MM. di
S. Giacomo nel giorno del santo mede[si]mo, avanti L’Augustissime Maestà
dell’Imperatore Giuseppe Primo, Augustissime Imperatrice, e Serenissime
Prencipesse, ed Arciduchesse, Dalle RR. MM. sudette, e Dedicato alle Maestà
loro dalle MM. Proposita, Decana, e Capitolo del Monasterio di S. Giacomo in
Vienna. Le Musica è del Sig. Giovanni Antonio Costa di Pavia, Accademico
Filarmonico, nell’Anno 1707. Vienna: Heredi Cosmeroviani della Stamperia di
S. M. C., 1707. I-Vnm, DRAMM 829.32.
Debbora profetessa guerriera. Oratorio cantato dalle R.R. M.M. di S. Giacomo
all’augustissima famiglia l’anno M. DCC. XIV. Poesia di Autore incerto. Musica
del Sig. Francesco Scarlatti. Vienna: Gio. Van Ghelen, 1714. I-Vnm, MISC
2641, 15.
La Depositione dalla Croce, e Sepoltura di Giesù. Oratorio Cantato dalle RR.
Madri Orsoline nella di loro chiesa il Sabbato Santo. Dell’ Anno 1699. Posto in
Musica dal Sig. Carlo Agostino Badia Compositore di Musica di S. M. Cesarea.
Vienna: Andrea Heyinger, 1699. I-Vnm, MISC 2654, 29.
Der Durch des Liebes Brand-Opfer verzehrten, Doch in seinen Eigenthum
Unversehrten Lamms groß gemachte Und von Glaub, Hoffnung, und Liebe
hoch-berühmte Creutzes-Sieg. Durch die Wohl-Ehrwürdige Regulirte Closter-
Frauen bey Sanct Jacob In Wienn, An dem Creutz-siegenden Char-Samstag
Musicalisch producirt in obbemeldter Closter-Kirchen. Componirt Von Hrn.
Georg v. Reutter, Sr. Kays. Königl. Majest. Cammer-Compositoren, und Capell-
Meistern bey St. Stephan. Vienna: Johann Ignaz Heyinger, ca. 1730. A-Wn(h),
221845-B.Adl.37.
Der Von der eytlen Welt-Lust Eingeschläfferte Aber Bey dem Grab Christi
Erwachende Sünder, In der Kirchen der Wohl-Ehrwürdigen Closter-Frauen der
Gesellschaft S. Ursulæ, Am Heil. Char-Sambstag Nachmittag in einem
Trauer-Gesang entworffen. In die Music gesetzt: Von Herrn Johann Georg
 Bibliography 273

Reinhard, der Röm. Kays. und Königl. Cathol. Maj. Cammer- und Hof-
Organisten, wie auch in der St. Stephans Metropolitan-Kirchen bey Unser
Lieben Frauen Capell-Meister. Vienna: Andreas Heyinger, 1729. A-Wn,
4124-B Mus.
doLorIs et pIetatIs speCVLVM IesVs In CrVCe DeMorIens BonIs &
peCCatorIbVs à Deo proposItVm. Oder, Christus JEsus am Creütz ein Spiegel
der Schmertzen und Göttlicher Erbarmnussen . . . Vorhero in Wienn: Jetzt aber
in der kleinern Stadt Prag, bey anmüttiger Vorstellung deß im heiligen Grab
ruhenden Heylands, In der Kirchen S. Nicolai, der Wohl-Ehrwürdigen PP. Soc.
JESU, am H. Charfreytag Nachmittag um 12. Uhr, von der Edlen Music
beflissenen Liebhabern in einem traurigen Gesang entworffen. In die Musik
gesetzt von Herrn Georg Reutter, der Käyserl. und Königl. Majestät Organisten,
in der Kirchen Unser Lieben Frauen bey S. Stephan Capellae Magister.
Prague: Barbara Francisca Bergerin, [1713; date from chronogram]. A-Wn,
302776-B Mus.
L’Empietà Trionfante nella Morte di Giesu Cristo, Oratorio Per Cantarsi dalle
RR. MM. Orsoline Di Vienna, nel giorno del Sabbato Santo al Santo
Sepolcro, posto in musica dal Sig. Carlo Agostino Badia, Compositore di
Musica di S. M. Cesarea. Vienna: Andrea Heyinger, 1701. I-Vnm, DRAMM
829.5; SI-Lsk.
Friedsamer Streit. Das ist Gesang zu Academischen Discursen . . . welche denen
Röm. Kayserl. Majestäten Leopold I und Eleonora . . . und der gesambten . . .
jungen Herrschaft Auff Anordnung Anna Antonia Breinerin, Obristin . . . dess
Stift und Closters zur Himmelporten . . . vorgetragen worden. 27. Julij 1698. In
die Music durch Joh. Michael Zacher. Vienna: Susanna Christina Cosmerovin,
1698. (Cited in Fach-Katalog der Abtheilung für Deutsches Drama und Theater,
Internationale Ausstellung für Music und Theaterwesen Wien 1892. Vienna: im
Selbstverlage der Ausstellungs-Commission, 1892, 78.)
La fuga di S. Teresa[.] Oratorio. Cantato dalle RR. Madri Orsoline alle Sacre
Cesaree e Regie Maesta, et Serenissime Altezze nel giorno di S. Orsola Dell’ Anno
1705. Posto in musica dal Sig.r Carlo Agostino Badia, Compositor in Servitio di
Sua Maj. Cesarea. Vienna: Andrea Heyinger, 1705. I-Vnm, DRAMM 829.17.
Die Heldenmüthige Judith, In einem teutschen Oratorio Denen Römis. Käyserl.
Majestäten Leopold Dem Grossen, und Eleonora Magdalena Theresia, Auch
dem gesambten Durchleuchtigisten Ertz-Hauß Oesterreich, Auff Anordnung
Mariæ Magdalenæ Klugin von Grienenberg, Obristin, wie auch der Dechantin,
und deß Capituls deß Stiffts und Closters zur Himmel-Porten, zu Bezeigung
aller Ehrerbietigster Schuldigkeit, Vorgetragen den 27 Julii im Jahr 1704. In die
Music gesetzt Durch Herrn Johann Michael Zächer, Ihro Röm. Käyserl. Majest.
Hof-Musicum und Capel-Meister bey St. Stephan. Vienna: Johann Georg
Schlegel, 1704. WB, A 17376.
Die hitzige Liebe Des Sterbenden Christi Am Creutz Hat Ihme den Durst erwecket
nach unserer Erlösung. Durch die Wohl-Ehrwürdige Regulirte Closter-Frauen
274 Bibliography

bey St. Jacob In Wienn, In einem Oratorio Bey dem Heil. Grab, Am Heiligen
Char-Samstag \Freytag/ vorgestellet In obgedachter Closter-Kirchen. Die
Music componiret Von Herrn Georg Christoph Wagenseil, Ihro Kays. Königl.
Majestät Hof- und Cammer-Compositoren. Vienna: Johann Ignaz Heyinger,
[ca. 1739–40]. WB, A 82535.
Letzter Kampf Der Heiligen Ursulæ, Jungfrau und Martyrin, So Zu
unterthänigster Ehr-Bezeugung, und in höchster Gegenwart Der
Allerduchlaüchtigsten verwittibten Römischen Kayserin Wilhelminæ Amaliæ,
Die W. W. E. E. Closter-Frauen der Gesellschaft der Heil. URSULÆ in Wienn an
dieser Heiligen Fest-Tag abgesungen, Und in die Music gesetzt [von] Hr.
Alexander Ender, Musophilus Libertinus, Aus P. Crombach è Soc. J. Vienna:
Andreas Heyinger, 1731. WB, A 5490.
Oratorio La fuga in Egitto del Patriarca S. Giuseppe con Giesu e Maria. Cantato
Dalle RR. Madri Orsoline alle Sacre Cesaree e Regie Maesta, et Serenissime
Altezze nel Giorno di S. Orsola Dell’ Anno 1703. Posto in Musica dal Sig. Carlo
Agostino Badia, Compositor in Servizio di S. M. Cesarea. Vienna: Andrea
Heyinger, 1703. I-Vnm, DRAMM 829.9.
Le Prommesse Nuzziali di S. Orsola. Oratorio Da Cantarsi Dalle RR. MM. Orsoline
nel giorno della Santa alle Sacre Cesaree, e Reali Maesta e Serenissime Altezze.
Posto in Musica dal Sig. Carlo Agostino Badia, Virtuoso di Camera di S. C. M.
Vienna: Andrea Heyinger, 1702. A-Wn, 406747-B.Adl Mus.
La Resurezione di Giesu Cristo. Oratorio Da Cantarsi Dalle RR. MM. Orsoline Nella
Sera del Sabbato Santo al Santo Sepolcro. Posto in Musica dal Sig. Carlo Agostino
Badia, Virtuoso di Camera di S.M.C. Vienna: Andrea Heyinger, 1702. A-Wn
406747-B. Mus 2. German trans. Triller, Joseph, Die Aufferstehung Jesu Christi.
San Francesco Saverio Apostolo dell’Indie. Oratorio sacro rappresentato nella
chiesa delle madri di S. Chiara dette della Regina. Composto in musica dal
Signor D. Pietro Romolo Pignatta. Vienna: Gio. Van Ghelen, 1692. B-Gu:
Sartori 20528.
S. Teresa[.] Oratorio da cantarsi dalle RR. Madri Orsoline il giorno di Santa Orsola
dell anno M.D.C.C.VIII. avanti di Gioseppe I. Imperador dè Romani ed a tutta
l’Augustissima Casa. Posto in musica dal Sig.r Carlo Agostino Badia,
Compositor di sua Maesta Cesarea. Vienna: Andrea Heyinger, 1708. I-Vnm,
DRAMM 829.35.
Schmertzliche Beweinung Des Angehefften Heylandes Jesu Christi An dem
Schmerzreich- und heylsamsten Holz des Creutzes, Bey dem Heiligen Grabe, In
der Kirchen deren Wohl-Ehrwürdigen Chor- und Closter-Frauen des
Fürstlichen Stifft und Closters zur Himmels-Porten, Am Heiligen Charfreytag
Nachmittag um halber 1. Uhr, in einem Trauer-Gesang zum andertenmal allen
Welt-Menschen vor Augen gestellt, und in die Music gesetzt wird Von Herrn
Georg Reutter, Der Römisch-Kayserlichen Majestät Hof- und Cammer-
Organisten / wie auch der Metropolitan-Kirchen bey St. Stephan Capell-
Meistern. Vienna: Andreas Heyinger, 1730. WB, A 5489.
 Bibliography 275

Sicherer Zufluchts-Orth des Sünders, Das Göttliche Allerheiligste Herz Jesu.

Welches Von der in der Kirchen S. Ursulæ Aufgerichten Bruderschaft
Andächtigist angebettet wird. Und von denen W.W. E.E. Closter-Jungfrauen der
Gesellschaft der Heil. Ursulæ In dem H. Grab, Und in der Music vorgestellet Am
Heil. Char-Sambstag um halber drey Uhr. Musices Compositore Domino
Alexandro Ender. Vienna: Johann Ignati Heyinger, 1733. WB, A 5494.
SoLatIosa aMorIs pVgna LIbrI Vitæ apoCaLYptICI In VIrentI saL VtIferæ
CrVCIs LIgno eXposItI. Das ist: Deß an dem Baum deß heylbringenden Creutzes
eröffneten Apocalyptischen Buch deß Lebens CHRISTI JESU Trost-voller Liebes-
Kampff. Welcher nebst andern zweyen Kämpffen in einem Trauer-Gesang der
für CHRISTO streittenden Kirchen vorgestellet. Bey dem glorwürdigen Grabe
CHRISTI, In der Kirchen Deren Wohl-Ehrwürdigen PP. Capucinern auff dem
Neuenmarck am Heil. Charfreytag früh umb 7. Uhr vor, in, und nach der
Passion-Predig in einem Sing-Spiel entworffen. Anno qVo LIber Iste Vitæ
apoCaLYptICVS ab VnIVersa CathoLICa eCCLesIa pIè In gLorIoso
reCLVDebatVr sepVLChro (Music by Johann Michael Zächer, Ferdinand
Tobias Richter, and Georg Reutter Sr.). Vienna: Leopold Voigt, [1700: date
from chronogram]. WB, A 17383.
Il Tobia. Oratorio sacro rappresentato nella chiesa delle RR. Madri S. Chiara, dette
della Regina. Composto in musica dal Signor D. Pietro Romolo Pignatta.
Vienna: Gio van Ghelen, 1692. B-Gu: Sartori 23280.
Trattenimento Divoto nel Monastero delle RR. MM. Orsoline di Vienna per
L’Augustissima Padronanza[.] Parlano Dio, l’Anima, et il Demonio.
Compositione per Musica fatta dal Sig. Carlo Agostino Badia, Compositore di
Sac. Maj. Cesarea. Vienna: Andrea Heyinger, 1703. I-Vnm, DRAMM 829.8.
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Index

Nuns and novices not known as composers are listed under nuns and novices; Kostfräulein are listed
by name under Kostfräulein. For nun-composers, see nun-composers and individual names.

a capella, 42 as organist, 79
academies (entertainments), 54, 142 biography, 93–95
Albrechtsberger, Johann Georg, 230 musical works
Alghisi, Paris Francesco Amor che vince lo sdegno, 94
Divote Canzonette, 89 La corte, noviziato del chiostro, per la Beata
Litanie al S. Cuore di Giesù per Orsoline di Catterina da Bologna, 235
Vienna, 89 La Depositione dalla Croce, e sepoltura di
Mottetti à 4 voci, 89 Giesù, 235
Amalie Wilhelmine, Empress, 12, 22, 153, 193, L’Empietà Trionfante nella Morte di Giesu
200, 202 Cristo, 167, 236
and convent musical entertainments, 196, 197 La fuga di S. Teresa, 237
convent visits, 1, 6–8, 22, 88, 98, 129, 160, La fuga in Egitto, 82, 237
173, 194, 199, 208, 237, 238, 239, 240 Giesu crocifisso, 234
dedications to, 235, 238 Giesu nel Pretorio, 167, 169–70, 235
Kapelle, 92, 196 La Giuditta, 237
ambassadors, 19, 22 L’Innocenza calpestata dal mondo, e
Amerighi, Stanislao, 235 protetta da Dio, 237
Andächtige Geistliche Gebett (1754), 50 L’Innocenza illesa dal tradimento, 94
anti-Semitism, 186–90 L’invenzione della Croce, 95–97, 159,
Apollo, 66, 119, 122, 129 234
Applausus musicus, 200 Il martirio di S. Susanna, 103, 107, 238
Arbesser, Ferdinand, 214 La morte del Redentor, 234
Arlini, Celidonia, 86 Ninfa Apollo, 94
Ash Wednesday, 78 Il pianto di Maria Vergine, 159, 168, 235
Astr(a)ea, 131–133 Le Prommesse Nuzziali di S. Orsola, 236
auctions (of convent possessions), 142, 226, 229 La Resurezione di Giesu Cristo, 163–167,
Auersperg, Aloysia von, 29 169, 236
Auersperg, Johann Weikhard, Fürst von, 29 Il ritorno di Tobia, 235
Aufzüge, 30, 31, 84, 208, 212, 218 Il sacrificio d’Abramo, 234
Augustine, saint, 196 S. Orsola vergine, e martire (1694), 64, 72,
feast of, 88 94, 234
Augustinian monks, 10, 21 Sant’Orsola, vergine e martire (1695), 94,
Aureli, Aurelio, 94 97, 234
Santa Teresa, 88, 97–101, 238
Bach, Johann Sebastian La Sepoltura di Christo, 162, 168, 170–73,
St. John Passion, 179 178, 235
Baden bei Wien, Lower Austria Lo sposalizio di S. Orsola, 235
Church of St. Stephan, 230 Trattenimento Divoto, 236
Badia, Carlo Agostino, 15, 67, 81, 82, 83, 84, 95, Il trionfo della Bellezza, della Grazia, e
160, 161, 162, 172 della Virtù, 235
295
296 Index

Barcelona, Spain, 145 Chorton, 82

bass parts, 81–83. See also musicians, female Chrismann, Franz Xaver, 230
monastic, Bassistinnen Christmas, 78, 206, 216
Batticassa, Renato Navagini, 235 chromatic fourth, 178, 179
Beglückte Verbundtnüß des Adels mit der Tugend Cistercian nuns, 10
(anonymous convent musical work), 66, Clara, saint
111–12, 114–29, 135, 147, 233 feast of, 7–8, 39, 238
Beguines, 42 Clarissan nuns, 73, 225
Benedict XIV, Pope Claudia Felicitas of Tyrol, Empress, 86
Annus qui (1749), 205 musical household, 54
Benediction, 76, 78, 79, 211 Clement XI, Pope, 133
Bertali, Antonio, 170 clothing ceremony, 9, 15, 18, 20, 22, 23, 24–27,
Bohemia 29, 32, 34, 76, 204–5, 208, 209, 210,
musical passion presentations, 158 211, 212
Boog, Johann Nepomuk and Habsburg representation, 21
St. Johann Nepomuk (oratorio), 241 expenses, 30–31
Bratislava, Slovakia. See Pozsony, Hungary imperial attendance at, 22, 205, 209, 213, 241
Breitenbucher, Father, 130 music at, 23–27
Breslau. See Wrocław music for, 229
Breuner, Bishop Philipp Friedrich, 21 Columbina, 32
Breuner, Graf, 19 commedia dell’arte, 159, 164
Breuner, Gräfin von, 209 Compline, 228
brotherhoods, 156, 157, 212, 216 convent drama, 1, 9, 10, 13, 85–87, 145, 163
Burbury, John, 158 convents
Burgos, Spain, 130 active, 12, 199, 225
contemplative, 224, 225
Caldara, Antonio, 179 edicts concerning, 18, 29, 209, 223, 225
Candlemas, 78 negative views of, 28, 224–28
cantata, 57, 158, 159, 176 performance spaces, 48, 87, 88, 139, 200
Cantata sacra (anonymous convent musical social stratification of, 200
work), 82, 160–62, 235 Cornaro, Marco
Capuchin nuns, 225 Veni sponsa, 229
Carafa, Countess, 6 Cornetton, 82
Caresana, Marc’Antonio, 234 Corpus Christi (feast), 80, 210
Carinthia, 203 Corriere Ordinario, 15, 170, 193
Carmelite nuns, 98, 225 Costa, Giovanni Antonio, 46
Caroly, Baroness, 213 La confessione gloriosa di S. Agostino, 137, 237
carriages, 28, 204 L’empietà delusa, 137
as social symbol, 19, 22, 23, 28 Council of Trent, 44
Casilda (anonymous convent oratorio), 130, 239 Counter-Reformation, 4, 9, 75, 203
Casilda, saint, 130 and convents, 42
castrati, 146 and education, 75
Catelani, Anacleto, 234 Cozzolani, Chiara Margarita, 13
Cavriani, Gräfin, 209
Cecilia, saint, 19, 91 Da Ponte, Lorenzo, 164
Cesti, Antonio Damenstifte, 2–3, 214
Il pomo d’oro, 134, 140 dance, 9, 53, 54, 119, 121, 122, 138, 139
Charles II, King of Spain, 129 Danube river, 139, 143
Charles XII, King of Sweden, 133 Del Negro, Paolo Antonio, 238
Charles Alexander of Lorraine Del Riccio, Anna Maria, 54
convent visits, 25 Devotion of the Mysteries of the Rosary, 156
Charlotte of Lorraine Devotions of Our Lady. See Salut, Le
convent visits, 26, 210, 211 Dies, Albert Christoph, 35

dissolution (of convents and monasteries), 39,
142, 192, 222–31
Domitian, saint (spurious), 206
Dorothea, saint, 233
as subject of convent drama, 87
dowry
secular, 114
spiritual, 15, 50–51, 53, 55, 90, 118, 223, 224,
225
Draghi, Antonio, 72, 98, 170, 172
Le cinque vergini prudenti, 12, 234
earthquakes
in convent passion music, 167, 181, 185
Easter, 212, 216, 229
drama, 42
Echo, 149
echo pieces, 127, 149, 174
Edmund, saint
feast of, 208
education, female, 12, 53–54, 76–77, 112, 114,
133, 192, 199, 201, 223–24, 225
Eisenstadt, Burgenland, 35, 36
St. Joseph (Augustinian convent), 207
Elena, saint
as subject of convent musical production, 95
Eleonora I, Empress, 10, 47, 73, 156
Eleonora II, Empress, 12, 19, 20, 55, 73–74, 76,
85, 86, 87
convent visits, 45, 77, 78
Eleonora Magdalena, Empress, 12, 22, 23, 45,
75, 153, 193
convent visits, 6–8, 22, 24, 34, 45, 80, 88,
111, 151, 159, 192, 193, 195, 208,
233–40
Kapelle, 160
Eleonore Maria Josepha, Archduchess, 20, 77,
93, 95, 159
as subject of convent musical production, 97
convent visits, 95, 111
dedications to, 159, 234
Elisabeth Charlotte of Orléans, Duchess of
Lorraine, 160
convent visits, 159, 239
Elisabeth Christine, Empress, 22, 50, 88,
145, 146
convent visits, 6, 7, 8, 25, 146, 238
Kapelle, 24, 25, 34
Elisabeth, Duchess of Pfalz-Neuburg (née
Princess of Hessen-Darmstadt), 45
Elisabeth of Hungary or Thuringia, saint, 12,
131
feast of, 8, 194, 199, 200
Index 297
Elisabeth of Württemberg, 201
Elisabeth, Queen of France, 9
anniversary of death (feast), 6, 193
Elisabethinen, 2, 199
Elizabeth of Portugal, saint, 131
enclosure (of convents), 9, 42, 85, 113, 214
Ender, Alexander, 84, 174
Christus Jesus Der . . . Gute Hirt, 174–75, 241
Letzter Kampf Der Heiligen Ursulæ, 197, 240
Magnificat, 217
Die . . . Menschliche Seele, 174, 240
Sicherer Zufluchts-Orth des Sünders, 240
England, 143
Englische Fräulein, 2
entrance and clothing ceremonies combined, 30
entrance and clothing ceremonies, separation
of, 29, 34
entrance ceremony, 9, 15, 18–27, 31–34, 208,
213, 241
and Habsburg representation, 21
“bridal” gifts, 21
expenses, 30–31
imperial attendance at, 19, 205
imperial jewels, 19, 21, 205
music at, 19, 20, 21–22, 23, 24–27, 29,
34, 87
music for, 39
“wedding” dress, 19, 205
entrance procession, 23, 28, 31, 204–5, 209
Esterházy court
Hofmusik, 207
Eugene of Savoy, Prince, 166
Evans, R. J. W., 107
evening service, 23, 83
Exposing of the Holy Blood (feast), 6, 193, 194
fanfares. See Aufzüge
feast days, reduction of, 203–4, 213
Ferdinand II, Emperor, 5, 107
re-Catholicization efforts, 44
Ferdinand III, Emperor, 86
Ferdinand Karl, Archduke, 207
Ferdinand Karl of Tyrol, Archduke, 86
festa teatrale, 1, 10, 45, 72, 131, 134
first Mass (celebrated by a new priest), 208,
212, 215
Florence, Italy
Compagnia della Purificazione Maria
Vergine di San Zanobi di S. Marco, 236
flowers
symbolism, 151
forced monachization, 2, 28–29, 224
France, 143
298 Index

Francis Stephen of Lorraine, Emperor (Franz I), convent visits, 1, 6–8, 12, 13, 15, 22, 28, 45,
203 88, 129, 141, 146, 158, 160, 170, 192,
convent visits, 25, 26, 209 193, 194, 198, 204, 210–11, 214, 234,
Franciscan monks, 10, 19, 21, 47 235, 236, 237, 238, 239, 241. See also
Franz II (I), Emperor, 201 individual family members
Frémiot, Jeanne-Françoise, Baronne de foot-washing ceremony, 155
Chantal, 12, 201 Holy Week church visits, 6–7, 155–56, 158,
Frühwirth, Anton, 90 159
Frühwirth, Maria Elisabeth, 91 mottoes, 151
Frühwirth, Philipp, 90 as subject of convent musical production,
Fuhrmann, Matthias, 195 103, 143
Fux, Johann Joseph, 13 piety, 4–5, 16, 192
Costanza e Fortezza, 199 pilgrimages, 155, 156
Fux, Vincenz, 47 political alliance through marriage, 150
representation of, 3, 9, 15, 16, 28, 40, 57,
Gall, Maria Teresia von, 74 66–67, 85, 119, 140, 151–54, 192
Geyer, Hanns, 217 succession, 16, 133–34, 147, 150, 151, 154
Gluck, Christoph Willibald, 13 as subject of convent musical production,
Golden Legend, The, 76 139, 141, 145, 147
Gonzaga, Aloysius, saint, 85 weddings, 145, 147
feast of, 78, 85, 87, 233 as subject of convent musical production,
Gonzaga family, 73 133, 139–41, 145
Good Friday, 6, 48, 50, 155, 157, 158, 159, 190, women of
239, 240, 241 religious duties, 5, 23
Gorizia worldview, 16, 57, 150
Ursuline convent, 77 Halbfeiertage, 204
Gottwalt, Georg, 196 Hall, Tyrol
Der Heilige Joannes vom Creutz, 196, 240 Königliches Damenstift, 3, 145
Graz, Styria, 21 Hanswurst, 160, 175, 178
Elisabethinen, 2 Haydn, Joseph, 13, 15, 34–35, 39–40
Ursuline convent, 74, 77 Concerto in F for violin and organ, Hob.
Griesinger, Georg August, 34–35, 39 XVIII:6, 39
Gruner, Franz Anton (Francisco Antonio), 160 Organ concerto in C, Hob. XVIII:1, 40
Ein Gott-gefälligster . . . Triumph, 160, 197, 240 Salve Regina in E, Hob. XXIIIb:1, 40
Suspiria animæ amantis, 159–60, 239 Haydn, Magdalena, 35
Guicciardini, Francesco, 196 Haydn, Maria Anna Aloysia (née Keller), 35
Heiligenkreuz, Stift (monastery), 175
Habsburg court, 18 Hernals, Lower Austria
Accademie di Dame, 114 pilgrimage to, 155, 156
convent visits, 47, 151, 236, 237, 238, 241 Heyinger, Johann Ignaz, 48
Hofdamen, 19, 21, 22, 23, 28, 114, 234 Heyinger firm, 48
Hofkapelle (musical ensemble), 3, 4, 9, 12, 15, Hildesheim, Saxony, 147
16, 19, 21–22, 25, 26, 30, 32, 45, 72, 78, Hilverding, Johann Baptist, 160, 239
83, 146, 157, 193, 194, 195, 198, 205, Holy Saturday, 6–7, 48, 50, 155, 156, 158, 159,
210, 217, 229 160, 170, 190, 234, 235, 236, 239, 240, 241
Hofzahlamtsbücher, 53 Holy Sepulcher (imitations of), 16, 48, 155, 156,
Imperial Chapel, 16, 94, 155, 164, 207 157, 158, 159, 160, 168, 170
Imperial Library, 13 Holy Stairway, 156
stational worship, 4–5, 9, 47–48, 192, 193 Holy Trinity (feast), 79
Habsburg family, 18, 193 Holy Week, 16, 78, 155–58
as subject of convent musical production, 56, musical passion presentations, 155, 158,
57, 95, 97, 103–7, 119, 131–34, 135, 159–91. See also sepolcro and
139, 141, 143–45, 147–51, 196, 197 Trauer-Gesang
 Index 299

Hortus conclusus dilecta mea (anonymous convent visits, 1, 22, 88, 111, 129, 159, 160,
convent musical work), 113, 241 235, 237, 238, 239
hours, monastic, 76, 78, 79 dedications to, 238
Hungary, 222 extra-marital affairs, 120
hymns, 50, 76, 156 motto, 143
as subject of convent musical production,
Imperial family. See Habsburg family and 196
individual family members musical compositions
incognito, 195 Regina coeli, 146
Innsbruck, Tyrol Joseph II, Emperor, 201, 215
Damenstift, 214 as child, convent visits, 26, 209–10
Hofkapelle, 3 church music reforms, 10, 39, 216, 220,
Ursuline convent, 77 228–29
intrada. See Aufzüge convent visits, 209, 241
inventories (of convent possessions), 197, 226, dislike of ceremony, 210
229 education reforms, 223–24
Inzigkofen, Baden-Württemberg religious reforms, 10, 17, 192, 194, 200, 222,
Augustinian convent, 92 225–26, 230
Italy Joseph, saint
convent drama, 85, 114, 121 feast of, 6, 194, 228
convents, 1, 9, 13, 18, 45, 50, 79, 149 Patronage of (feast), 7
churches, 12 Judith (anonymous convent oratorio), 236
music, 13 Judith (Old Testament heroine), 153
musical restrictions, 9
musical training, 45 Karl V of Lorraine, 93, 95
Karl VI, Emperor, 17, 48, 129, 133, 143, 145,
Jakob (James), saint, 42, 129 192, 193, 202
feast of, 7, 22, 45, 47–48, 56, 129, 137, 192, and convent music, 193–95, 198–99
204, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 239 as child, convent visits, 233
Jesuit school drama, 68, 85, 114, 149, 159, 196 convent visits, 6, 7, 8, 193, 194
Good Friday productions, 158 motto
Jesuits. See Society of Jesus as subject of convent musical production,
Jesus of Nazareth 103
as subject of convent musical production representation of, 198–99
as Good Shepherd, 174 Karl Joseph, Archduke, 19, 20
Crucifixion, 48, 155, 167, 176–90 Kärntnerische Landes-Genossenschaft, 206
entombment, 168 Kaunitz family, 118
Resurrection, 42, 167 Keller, Johann Peter, 35
trial, 167, 169 Keller, Theresia. See nuns and novices
Jews, 227 Kerner, Anton (brass instrument maker), 217
Johanna Gabriela, Archduchess, 210 Khevenhüller-Metsch, Johann Josef, 206
John V, King of Portugal, 147 Kirchenkronik auf das Jahr 1784, 113, 227,
John of Damascus, 196 229
John of the Cross, saint, 196 Klagenfurt, Carinthia
feast of, 8, 194 Elisabethinen, 2
John the Baptist, saint Ursuline convent, 77
Beheading of (feast), 8 Klostertafel, 20, 21, 23, 32–34, 205
Joseph I, Emperor, 28, 111, 129, 130, 131–33, Königsegg, Leopold-Guillaume de, Count,
143, 145, 152, 173, 202 233
as composer, 3 Košice, Slovakia (formerly Hungary)
as dancer, 139 Ursuline convent, 77
as musician, 3, 6, 54, 75 Kostfräulein, 1, 10, 29, 44, 45–47, 54, 87, 97, 112,
as subject of convent musical production, 56, 118, 122, 139, 197, 233
131–39, 152–53 musical education, 45, 46–47, 75, 112
300 Index

Kostfräulein (cont.) liturgical drama, 169, 203

St. Jakob auf der Hülben. Ljubljana, Slovenia
Hardin, Theresia de. See nuns and novices Ursuline convent, 77
Kugler, Anna Maria, 47 Lope de Vega y Carpio, Félix Arturo, 131
St. Laurenz Lorraine and Bar, 97
Kaunitz, Fräulein, 125
Paar, Fräulein von, 125 Magnificat, 14, 33, 82
Volcker, Fräulein, 122–23 Mantua, Italy, 73
St. Ursula convent drama, 85–86
Cavriani, Fräulein, 88. See also nuns and Sant’Orsola (Clarissan convent), 73, 74
novices St. Barnaba (convent), 86
Kremsmünster, Stift (monastery), 175, 176 Margarita Teresa, Empress, 23, 53, 54, 134
Küchelbecker, Johann Basilius convent visits, 78, 87, 233
Allerneueste Nachricht, 194 Maria Amalia, Archduchess
Kugler, Anna Maria, 47 convent visits, 88, 241
Kugler, Burckhardt, 47 Maria Anna, Archduchess (1683–1754), 147
convent visits, 233
Lamberg, Fürst von, 205 Maria Anna, Archduchess (1738–89), 213
Lamberg, Gräfin von, 209 convent visits, 25, 26, 210, 241
Lampugnani, Giovanni Battista, 235 Maria Anna, Queen of Portugal, 131
Laurence, saint Maria Anna Josepha, Archduchess, 20, 77
feast of, 7, 204, 233 convent visits, 45, 111
Leichnamschneider (brass instrument maker), Maria Antonia, Archduchess, 23, 158
217 convent visits, 45
Lemene, Francesco, 94 Maria Elisabeth, Archduchess (1680–1741), 80
Lent, 94 convent visits, 192, 193, 195, 233, 238, 239,
Leonarda, Isabella, 13, 74 240
Leopold I, Emperor, 4, 19, 20, 23, 53, 55, 66, 72, Maria Elisabeth, Archduchess (1743–1808),
75, 77, 85, 94, 111, 114, 121, 129, 134, 213, 214
152, 155, 158 convent visits, 241
as composer, 3, 19, 22, 172 Maria Josefa, Archduchess, 210
as musician, 3, 14 Maria Magdalena, Archduchess, 2, 34, 80
as subject of convent musical production, 97, convent visits, 24, 192, 193, 194, 195, 233,
153 238, 239, 240
convent visits, 45, 78, 87, 111, 151, 233, 235, Maria Schnee. See Our Lady of the Snows
236, 237 Maria Theresia, Archduchess and Empress,
dedications to, 233, 234, 235, 236 10, 29, 32, 192, 199, 205, 206,
library, 170 211, 215
Schlafkammerbibliothek, 14 convent visits, 25, 26, 209, 211, 213–14,
Leopold II, Emperor, 211 241
Leopold V, Duke of Austria and Styria, 42 religious reforms, 17, 202–4, 223–24
Leopold VI, Duke of Austria and Styria, 42 Marie Antoinette, Archduchess
Leopold, Duke of Lorraine, 97 convent visits, 202
convent visits, 237, 239 Marie Christine, Archduchess
Leopold, saint convent visits, 26, 210, 241
feast of, 218 marriage, 120
Leopold Wilhelm, Archduke, 19, 20 as subject of convent drama, 121
Linz, Upper Austria as subject of convent musical production,
Elisabethinen, 2 120, 145
Ursuline convent, 77 Martines, Marianna, 207
Lisbon, Portugal, 147 Il martirio di S. Sinforosa (anonymous
Litany, 25, 26, 31, 33, 79, 82, 208, 218, 228 oratorio), 236
Litany of the Virgin, 76, 78, 79 Marxer, Bishop Franz Anton von, 27, 213
 Index 301

Mary, Blessed Virgin keyboard instruments, 10, 12, 36, 45, 82, 142,
Assumption of (feast), 8, 142, 238, 239 197, 198
Purification (feast), 6 lute, 41, 53, 54, 75, 78, 79, 82
Visitation (feast), 93, 212 mandora, 12, 197
Wedding of (feast), 6, 194 oboe, 176
Marys, the Three, 161, 164 organ, 26, 36, 51, 53, 54, 79, 80, 83, 142, 197,
Masotti, Giulia, 54 198, 211, 227, 230–31
Mass, 19, 24, 25, 29, 30, 31, 32, 45, 47, 76, 79, 80, recorder, 4, 41, 54, 142, 147, 150
84, 88, 130, 142, 159, 192, 200, 202, 203, spinet, 198
204, 205, 208, 209, 211, 213, 215, 218, string instruments, 51, 142
219, 228 string instruments, bowed, 45
Massimi, Petronilla Paolini de, 95, 234 string instruments, plucked, 45
Mathias, saint talia, 176
feast of, 212 theorbo, 19, 41, 42, 54, 79, 82
Maximilian II, Emperor, 9 timpani, 41, 67, 75
Maximilian, Archduke, 201 tools for tuning (keyboard instruments), 36
menstruation, 92–93 trombone, 19, 25, 27, 83, 84, 176, 209, 212,
Merici, Angela, saint, 215, 216 213, 215, 216–22
Michael, saint trumpet, 19, 21, 25, 30, 32, 67, 75, 176, 177,
feast of, 208 211, 215, 228
Michaeleon (comedy actress), 25, 32 trumpet marine, 41, 67
Migazzi, Christoph Anton, Cardinal, 215 trumpets and timpani, 19, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27,
Milan, Italy, 145 30, 31, 34, 84, 192, 201, 206, 207–10,
convents, 2 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 218, 228
Miler (Milner) (brass instrument maker), 217 ban on use of, 205–7, 209, 212–14
Minato, Nicolò, 234 declining use of, 211–12
Miserere, 157 revival of, 215–16
Möhner, Reginbald, 41 viol, 41, 66, 82, 97, 170
Molina, Tirso de, 131 viola da braccio, 82, 170
monastic hours, 142 viola da gamba, 19, 42, 53, 54, 75, 79, 82, 97,
Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley, 28, 112–13 101, 120, 123, 160, 161
Montauti, Anton Francesco, Abate, 234 violin, 19, 41, 42, 54, 75, 79, 83, 97, 120, 124,
Moravia 142, 160, 162, 170, 222
musical passion presentations, 158 violin family, 53, 66, 135
motet, 14, 77, 78, 79, 82, 91, 214 violoncello, 82, 83, 101, 147
Moyse, Johann Caspar, 37 violone, 83, 142
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 13, 201, 230 Musicalische Herzens Freud (anonymous
Don Giovanni, 164 convent Applausus musicus), 200, 241
Müller, Anna Regina (Floriana vom Guten musicians, female monastic, 34, 41–43, 53, 197,
Hirten, St. Ursula), 89, 92, 93 198, 200, 211
Müller, Johann Sebastian, 19, 20–21, 41, 47 Bassistinnen, 16, 67, 80, 81, 82, 92, 222, 227
Munich, Bavaria Chormeisterinnen, 41, 47, 54, 91
convents, 42–43 composers, 74–75. See also nun-composers
musical instruments, 1, 21 Dechantinnen, 50
bassoon, 82, 83, 97, 101, 160, 161, 217 guitarists, 90
cembalo, 160, 161 harpsichordists, 211
clavichord, 36, 197, 198 instrumentalists, 10
cornett, 19, 217 Kapellmeisterinnen, 75
dulcian, 41 keyboard players, 34, 36, 198
flute, 4, 41, 53, 54, 142, 147, 150, 215 lutenists, 75, 79, 87, 90, 92
guitar, 53, 54 organists, 35, 74, 79, 89, 92
harp, 41 singers, 1, 10, 75, 90, 91, 92, 93, 142, 198, 227
harpsichord, 4, 36, 53, 142, 197, 198 theorbists, 79
302 Index
musicians, female monastic (cont.)
trumpeters, 75, 207, 227
viol players, 74
viola da gambists, 34, 75, 79, 91
violinists, 34, 75, 79, 89, 90, 91, 92, 227
violone players, 227
musicians, male, and female convents, 9,
12–13, 16, 32, 34, 44, 84–85, 201,
216, 228
brass players, 33
composers, 14, 39
contracts, 212
organists, 79–80, 83–84
payments to, 12, 31, 200, 202, 207
singers, 67, 80, 81
teachers, 45, 46, 214
trombonists, 84
trumpeters, 25, 228
trumpeters and timpanists, 84, 207–10, 228
Nepomuk, Johann, saint, 176
Newbrett, Hannsen, 84
Nicholas, saint
feast of, 8, 31, 39, 204
Nicolai, Friedrich, 81, 216, 220, 226
nine-day devotion, 7
Novara
Collegio di S. Orsola, 74
nun-composers. See Cozzolani, Chiara
Margarita; Gall, Maria Teresia von;
Leonarda, Isabella; Müller, Floriana vom
Guten Hirten; Raschenau, Maria Anna
von; Wohl, Viktoria Maria
nuns and novices (Religious names and
convents are indicated as (Maria Anna,
St. Agnes). If a nun’s birth name is
unknown, she is listed by her religious
name. All convents are in Vienna unless
otherwise noted.)
Adam, Maria Agnes (St. Ursula), 92
Asson, Coletta (Königinkloster), 30–31
Auersberg, Augustina, Fürstin von (St.
Ursula), 89
Breuner, Cäcilia (Maria Anna?,
Königinkloster), 21, 29
Breuner, Maria Clara (St. Agnes), 21
Bruckner, Maria Magdalena (Sidonia, St.
Ursula [lay sister]), 26, 211
Cavriani, Franziska, Gräfin (Josepha, St.
Ursula), 27, 88, 89, 209, 211, 213
Cavriani, Marianna, Gräfin (Michaela, St.
Ursula), 27, 209
Cavriani, Theresia von (St. Ursula), 24, 29
Cothman, Josepha von (Ludovica, St.
Ursula), 25, 32, 81, 84
Cousin, Cécile (Ursuline convent, Mons),
78
Csáky, Regina, Gräfin von (St. Ursula),
79, 83
Dilf, Augustina von (St. Ursula), 89
Dilher, Emerentiana, Freiin von (St. Ursula),
213, 241
Dirnböck, Anna (Walburga, St. Ursula [lay
sister]), 24
Döcker, Anna (Xaveria, St. Ursula), 25
Ferrer, Franziska Ferdinanda, Gräfin von
(Vincentia, St. Ursula), 26, 211
Ferro, Annica (St. Jakob), 44
Frank, Regina (St. Jakob), 44
Frühwirth, Theresia (Maria Cecilia Theresia,
St. Ursula), 90, 91
Geim, Anna Rosa von (St. Ursula), 91
Goess, Maria Aloysia, Gräfin (Anna Maria,
St. Ursula), 213, 241
Hardin, Theresia de (Benedicta, St. Laurenz),
46, 112
Haslberg, Maria Anna von (St. Ursula), 24
Hatowetz, Aloysia (St. Ursula), 26
Hießler, Agnes (St. Jakob), 44
Hildebrandt, Freiin von (St. Jakob), 42
Hoyos, Ernestina, Gräfin von (St. Ursula), 24,
32
Huber, Franziska (St. Ursula), 91
Jell, Elisabeth (Francisca, St. Ursula), 27, 209
Jonghen, Katharina Alexis de (St. Ursula), 78,
89, 101
Keller, Theresia (Josepha, St. Nikolai), 35, 36,
39, 40
Kern, Maria Johanna Nepomucena (St.
Ursula), 81, 92
Koller, Lucia Josepha von (Juliana, St.
Ursula), 26
Lamberg, Elisabetta, Fürstin von
(Königinkloster), 205
Landau, Maria Victoria von (St. Jakob), 22,
51, 237
Langetl, Maria Anna von (Maximiliana, St.
Ursula), 25, 26, 33
Latzberg, Catharina Ursula, Gräfin von (St.
Ursula), 24, 195, 240
Manicor, Susanna von (St. Ursula), 26
Marie de St.-Joseph (Ursuline convent,
Quebec), 74
Mener, Maria Theresia (Peregrina, St.
Ursula), 26, 93, 211
Nigrelli, Amalia (St. Agnes), 22
 Index 303

Paar, Maria Anna, Gräfin von (St. Laurenz), Olomouc, Moravia

112 Ursuline convent, 77
Petermayr, Michaela ã Jesu (St. Ursula), 91 opera, 159
Pötting, Charlotte, Gräfin von (Anna oratorio, 1, 10, 23, 24, 34, 45, 48, 72, 101,
Theresia, St. Ursula), 25 157–58, 169, 170
Precht, Maria Theresia (Apollonia, St. Ursula convent, 87, 88, 130, 146, 159, 174, 192, 193,
[lay sister]), 24 196, 213
Puchheim, Dorothea von (St. Jakob), 43 court, 169
Püchler, Zäzilia (St. Nikolai), 36 passion oratorio, 158, 173
Rebenstein, Josepha von (Elisabeth, Oratorio di S. Agostino (anonymous
St. Ursula), 25 oratorio), 137
Richili, Fräulein (St. Jakob), 42 Oratorio di S. Geneffa (anonymous
Saleburg, Sidonia Catharina Sibilla von oratorio), 236
(St. Ursula), 90 Oratorium di B. V. Maria (anonymous,
Sauer, Josepha, Freiin von (Thekla, La Santissima Annuntiata), 82, 236
St. Ursula), 27, 210 Orel, Alfred, 158
Saurau, Eleonore, Gräfin von (Eleonora, Ottoboni, Pietro, 237
St. Ursula), 24, 25, 34, 241 La Giuditta, 82
Schalthaus, Agnese Ottilie (St. Ursula; La Santissima Annuntiata, 82, 236
Ursuline convent, Pozsony), 75, 90 Our Lady of the Snows (Maria Schnee) (feast), 7
Scheinerl, Nickolaia (St. Nikolai), 36
Schnierer, Theresia (St. Laurenz), 119, 120 Paar family, 118
Schöndorffer, Philipp, daughter of Pacieri, Giuseppe
(St. Jakob), 47 Il trionfo dell’Amor Divino, 95, 97, 233
Siebenbürgen, sister of Georg II Rákóczi, Palermo, Sicily
Fürst von (St. Jakob), 42 Convento dell’Immacolata Concezione, 239
Sophia, Singmeisterin (St. Jakob), 43 Palm Sunday, 6, 78
Staremberg, Countess (Königinkloster), 30 Parhammer, Ignaz, 26, 215
Straffoldi, Anna Dorothea (St. Agnes), 23 parlatorio. See Redezimmer
Tattenbach, Franziska Isabella, Gräfin von passion plays, 156. See also Vienna,
(St. Laurenz), 112 St. Stephen’s Cathedral
Trautmannsdorf, Theresia Christina, Gräfin Pasterwiz, Georg, 176
(Sigismunda, St. Ursula), 24 pastoral, 174, 190
Wagenseil, Anna Clara Leonora (Domenica, theological implications, 174
St. Jakob), 50 pastoral drama, 114, 127, 143, 149
Wagenseil, Maria Theresia Polixena (Anna patron saint’s day
Katharina, St. Elisabeth), 50 music on, 45, 57, 72. See also individual saints
Waters, Augustina von (St. Ursula), 26, 93 and institutions
Weber, Ursula (St. Jakob), 44 Pazmanites, 212
Welz, Maria Catharina von (St. Joseph), 28 Pázmány von Panaz, Peter, 212
Wenger, Catharina (Bonaventura, Pezzl, Johann, 224
St. Ursula), 25 Pfannhauser, Karl, 14
Wertema, Maria Barbara, Freiin von Philip V, King of Spain (Philip of Anjou), 129
(Königinkloster), 160, 240 Philip and James, saints
Willinger, Nothburga (St. Ursula [lay sister]), feast of, 84
25 Philipp Wilhelm, Duke of Pfalz-Neuburg, 45
Willingner, Liserl (Catharina, St. Ursula), 27, Piarists, 207
213 Pignatta, Pietro Romolo
Zimmerman, Maria Anna von H. Augustinus Davide pentito, 233
(St. Ursula), 91, 98 San Francesco Saverio, 233
Nuremberg, Germany, 217 Il Tobia, 233
pilgrimages, 156. See also Habsburg family,
Öed, Gräfin, 34 pilgrimages
Office of Our Lady, 78 plainchant, 10, 11, 41, 76, 78, 203, 227, 230
304 Index

Portiuncula (feast), 7, 194 Reinhardt, Johann Georg, 79, 83, 84

Portugal, 145 Der von der eytlen Welt-Lust . . ., 196, 240
Pozsony, Hungary (Bratislava, Slovakia), 77 Wett-Streit deren Tugenden, 24, 195, 240
Elisabethinen, 2 Reinhardt, Kilian
Ursuline convent, 75, 77, 90 “Rubriche generali per la funzione
Prague, Bohemia Ecclesiastiche Musicali di tutto l’Anno,”
Jesuit College, 158 20, 30
Ursuline convent, 77 Requiem, 193, 220
processions, 75, 156, 200, 207. See also entrance Ressel, Joseph, 84
procession and Habsburg family, Reutter, Georg Jr., 40, 84, 160, 176, 186, 207
pilgrimages Die beschuldigte Unschuld, 240
Corpus Christi, 210 Der durch des Liebes Brand-Opfer, 240
figural, 156, 203 Mater dolorum, 167, 175–91, 221, 240
profession ceremony, 9, 15, 18, 22–23, 24–27, Reutter, Georg Sr., 176
32, 78, 84, 87, 208, 210, 212, 237 Doloris et pietatis speculum Jesus in Cruce, 158
and Habsburg representation, 22 Schmertzliche Beweinung, 240
expenses, 31 Richter, Ferdinand Tobias, 68, 84, 236
music at, 23–27 Le sacre visioni di S. Teresia, choruses, 68
Prokoff, Anton, 196, 240 Rinck, Eucharius Gottlieb, 66
Protestantism, 9, 75 Ritter, Johann Baptist, 47
and female convents, 43–44 Rizi, Jean, 131
psalms (musical settings), 14, 24 Roberti, Girolamo Frigimelica, 235
Rome
Quebec Spirito Santo (convent), 95
Ursuline convent, 74 Römer, Herr (organist), 80
Rossi, Rocco Maria, 46, 130, 234, 239
Rademin, Heinrich, 175–76, 240 Rummel, Bishop Franz Ferdinand, Fürst, 1,
Rasch von Raschenau, Anna, 52, 55 23, 88
Rasch von Raschenau, Johann, 52, 55, 56 Ryswick, Peace of, 97
will, 54
Raschenau, Maria Anna von, 15, 131, 134, 136 Sacred Heart of Jesus (feast), 7, 80, 202, 212, 216
biography, 52–56 Sales, François de, 12
court stipend, 53, 55–56 Salesianerinnen, 12
education, 53–54 Salieri, Antonio, 201
musical works Salomon, Mademoiselle (singer), 227
Il consiglio di Pallade, 57–66, 134, 235 Salut, Le, 78, 79
Gli infermi risanati dal Redentore, 233 Salve Regina, 79
Il martirio di S. Giacomo il Maggiore, 235 Salzburg
Le sacre stimmate di S. Francesco d’Assisi, Ursuline convent, 77
57, 67, 234 Sances, Giovanni Felice
Le sacre visioni di S. Teresia, 68–72, 82, Pianto della Madonna, 179
131, 136 Santa Clara, Abraham a, 29
I tributi del tempo all’augustissimo casa Sbarra, Francesco
d’Austria, 234 La contessa dell’aria e dell’acqua, 140
oratorios, 67 Il pomo d’oro, 134
Raschenau, Maria Anna von, and Ferdinand Scapular, feast of the, 7, 194, 228
Tobias Richter Scarlatti, Alessandro, 236
Le sacre visioni di S. Teresia, 236 Scarlatti, Francesco, 46, 160
Redezimmer, 13, 34, 45, 88 La caduta di Lucifero, 239
Regensburg Debbora profetessa guerriera, 239
Deutsche Reichstag, 97 Schedl, Joseph, 51, 84
 Index 305

Scheurer, Caspar, 200, 241 as political allegory, 133–135

Schmelzer, Johann Heinrich, 54, 172 Trauer-Gesang, 10, 48, 156, 197
Schmelzer, Theresia, 54 Capuchin Church, 173
Schmidt, Ferdinand, 180 convent, 173–76
Dixit Dominus, 222 Trautson, Archbishop Johann Joseph, Fürst,
Schrötter, Ferdinand, 37 205, 209
Schüessel, Ferdinand, 84 Tyrol, 203
second profession (celebrations), 15, 22, 32,
160, 195, 197, 213, 240, 241 Uberti, Anton (Porporino), 227
Seitenstetten, Stift (monastery), 217 Ueber die Kirchenmusik in Wien, 220, 227
Semlrog, Anthony (bass singer), 80 Ursula, saint, 73
sepolcro, 10, 16, 95, 155–56, 158, 163, 167 feast of, 8, 74, 77, 88, 92, 97, 197, 209, 212, 213,
court, 158, 170, 172–73, 174 219, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 240
sepolcro oratorio, 173 Ursuline nuns, 73
serenata, 134, 159 as educators, 76–77
Seven Years War, 51
Signorini, Marco Antonio, 46, 56–57, 233, 234, Valentine, saint
235, 236 feast of, 7, 142, 151, 235, 236, 237
Singspiel, 113, 196 Valentini, Giovanni, 47
Society of Jesus, 19, 21, 76, 77, 158, 174, Varaždin, Croatia (formerly Hungary)
212, 223 Ursuline convent, 77
as educators, 77 Veni Creator Spiritus, 30
colleges, 85 Venice
soldiers, as characters in convent passion pieces, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, 14
164, 167 convents, 113
Sonnholz, Gottfried, 37 ospedali, 81
Sonnleithner, Christoph, 89, 214 Vespers, 25, 31, 33, 45, 48, 76, 78, 79, 83, 88, 130,
Spain, 143, 145 146, 159, 192, 200, 201, 213, 219, 228
Spedazzi, Giuseppe, 235, 237 Vienna
Il pianto di Maria Vergine, 159 Augustinian church, 29, 155, 156, 159, 217
St. Pölten, Lower Austria Augustinian monastery, 10, 29, 155, 156,
Englische Fräulein, 2 159, 217
Staremberg, Gundaker, Count, 30 Bürgerspital, 210
Stranitzky, Anton, 160 Capuchin church, 156
Styria, 203 convents, 13
Sutton, Robert, Lord Lexington, 166 churches, 12–13, 204
symphony, 14, 214 dissolution of, 10, 13, 17, 225–28
history of, 5–10
Te Deum, 24, 25, 26, 30, 215 musical decline, 226–28
Teresa of Ávila, saint, 194 musical instruction in, 46–47
as subject of convent musical production, performance spaces, 13, 218
97–101 rise of, 9
Camino de Perfección, 98, 100 schools in, 224
feast of, 8, 97, 194 size, 1
novena of, 194 Franciscan monastery, 10
tertiary orders, 2, 12 Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, Archive, 14
Testarello della Massa, Johannes Matthias, 41, Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv, 15
45, 78, 141 Holy Trinity column, 4, 66
trattenimento, 134 Jesuit churches and colleges, 10
Trattenimento Estivo (anonymous convent Jesuit College, 85, 155, 158
musical work), 56, 82, 131–41, 151, 154 passion dramas, 158
as allegory of royal marriage, 133–135 Karlskirche, 199
306 Index

Vienna (cont.) enclosure, 44

Kärntnertortheater, 160 Holy Week performances, 233
Königinkloster (Clarissan convent), 6–8, 9, music, 9, 10, 41–42
10, 19, 20–21, 30–31, 159, 193, 198, 204, musical entertainments, 48, 130, 234, 235,
224, 225, 226, 229 239
church, 195 oratorios, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 239
court visits, 6–7, 204 scandals, 43–44
inventory, 198 school, 223, 224
music, 10, 21 sepolcri, 233
musical entertainments, 197, 240 state visits, 129
oratorios, 233 Trauer-Gesang, 240, 241
sepolcri, 239 St. Joseph (Carmelite convent), 6–7, 8, 10, 28,
Maria am Gestade (church), 47 30, 193, 194, 197, 224, 225, 228, 229
Minoritenkirche, 156 auction of possessions, 229
Orphanage on the Rennweg, 215 court visits, 204
musicians, 201–2 music, 10
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek musical entertainments, 196
Musiksammlung, 13 oratorios, 234, 240
Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, 15 St. Laurenz (Augustinian convent), 6–8, 10,
Protestant Church 28, 43, 46, 81, 91, 111–29, 139, 226
organ, 230 as educational institution, 112
Salesianerinnenkloster, 10, 12, 199, 215 convent drama, 113
court visits, 204 court visits, 194, 204
music, 200–2 living conditions, 112–13
Savoyensches Damenstift, 2–3 musical entertainments, 112, 233, 241
Schottenstift, 230 Redezimmer, 113
St. Agnes zur Himmelpforte (Augustinian school, 223
convent), 1, 6–7, 8, 10, 21, 22, 23, St. Laurenz am Schottenfeld, 230
51, 68, 141–53, 176, 221, 226, St. Michael’s Church, 207, 217
228, 229 St. Nikolai (Clarissan convent), 10, 15, 31, 35,
auction of possessions, 229 36, 198, 225, 229
court visits, 142, 204 auction of possessions, 229
music, 10 court visits, 194, 204
musical entertainments, 235, 238, 239 inventory, 229
oratorios, 236, 237, 238 music, 10, 36, 37–39
organ, 230 organ, 230
plays, 10 St. Peter’s Church, 206
school, 223 St. Stephen’s Cathedral, 10
style of living, 141–43 foot-washing ceremony, 156
Trauer-Gesang, 240 musicians, 2–3, 12, 22, 31, 39, 46, 194, 195,
St. Dorothea (Augustinian monastery), 21, 228, 229
226 organs, 37
organ, 231 passion play, 157, 173
St. Elisabeth (Franciscan tertiaries), 2, 8, 10, St. Ursula (Ursuline convent), 7, 8, 10, 15, 16,
12, 199 23–24, 32, 51, 146, 162, 199, 201, 215, 228
music, 12, 199–200 Bassistinnen, 81–83
musical entertainment, 241 celebrations, 215–16
St. Jakob auf der Hülben (Augustinian Chronicle, 15, 31, 32, 84, 88, 198, 207
convent), 7, 10, 12, 15, 22, 41–72, 129, church, 74, 76
149, 198, 225, 226, 228 convent drama, 85–87, 163, 233
auction of possessions, 229 court visits, 77–78, 195, 204
Bassistinnen, 82 daily life, 78–79
court visits, 45, 192, 193, 194, 204 education at, 75–77
 Index 307

Holy Sepulcher, 159 War of the Austrian Succession, 202–3

Holy Sepulcher performances, 159, 160, War of the Grand Alliance, 97
170 War of the Spanish Succession, 97, 129
male basses, 80, 81–83 as subject of convent musical production, 56,
music, 12, 14, 88 133, 139, 149–50, 151, 153
music library, 216, 217, 222, 229 Weidner, Andreas, 240
musical entertainments, 34, 87, 195–96, Wiener Neustadt, Lower Austria
198, 240, 241 Carmelite convent, 74, 234
musical scoring, 82–83, 97, 98 Wienerisches Diarium, 1, 15
oratorios, 197, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, Wilnauer, Caspar, 44, 84
240, 241 Wiltenstein, Gräfin von, 211
organs, 79, 80, 83 Wirz, Frau von, 213
school, 74, 75, 77, 213 Wiśniowiecki, Michał Korybut, King of
separation of entrance and clothing Poland, 95
ceremonies, 29 Wohl, Viktoria Maria, 74
sepolcri, 234, 235, 236, 239 Wrocław, Poland (Breslau)
simplification of musical life, 229 Ursuline convent, 77
Trauer-Gesang, 240, 241
trombonists, 217 Zächer, Johann Michael, 68, 141, 143
trumpets and timpani, 207–10 Jesuit school dramas, 149
Stadt- und Landesarchiv musical works
Klösterarchiv, 14–15 Arety-Poletimia reduplicata, 143, 239
Theatiner monastery, 176 Friedsamer Streit, 235
Waisenhaus, 12. See Vienna, Orphanage on Die Heldenmüthige Judith, 142, 151, 153,
the Rennweg 237
Visitandines. See Salesianerinnen Poetisches Freyden-Gedicht, 141, 151, 238
visitation, 88 Solatiosa amoris pugna . . ., 157
Vismarri, Filippo, 57 Zechner, Johann Georg, 214
Dixit Dominus, 216
Wagenseil, Anna Clara Leonora. See nuns and Zeno, Apostolo, 14
novices libretto collection, 14
Wagenseil, Georg Christoph, 48–50, 84, 89, Ziani, Marc’ Antonio, 170, 173
160, 214 Ziani, Pietro Andrea, 67
Die hitzige Liebe des sterbenden Christi, 48, 241 Zinzendorff, Anna Rebecca, Gräfin von, 21
Waldstein, Charles-Ernest de, Count, 233 Zurbarán, Francisco, 131