Beethoven’s World: Engravings of Vienna
In 1792 Beethoven arrived in the imperial capital of the Holy Roman Empire from the small town of Bonn as a twenty-one year old fortepianist and composer who had been sent to receive “the spirit of Mozart from the hands of Haydn.” However lofty this musical goal was, musicians, including composers, were mere servants and far from the equals of the aristocracy and nobility at whose pleasure they served. With letters of introduction to the nobility in hand, Beethoven entered the palaces of Vienna to prove himself their equal and within a decade had succeeded.
Treasure 1
Hand-colored “perspective view” engraving of the Schwarzenberg Summer Palace
engraved by Chez Huquier fils, Paris, 1760-80Gift of the American Beethoven Society, 2005
Prince Joseph Johann Nepomuk Schwarzenberg (1769-1833) was a famous music lover in Vienna who maintained his own private orchestra, supported composers such as Haydn and Salieri (both of whom were Beethoven’s teachers), and served as one of the vice-directors of the Royal Imperial Court Theater. He regularly arranged performances of chamber music and oratorios at his winter and summer palaces. The premieres of Haydn’s oratorios The Creation and The Seasons were given in the prince’s winter palace in 1798 and 1801 respectively, performances that Beethoven surely attended. Prince Schwarzenberg did not become one of Beethoven’s important patrons, but Beethoven dedicated his Quintet for Fortepiano, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn, and Bassoon, Opus 16, to him in 1801. This type of engraving, known as a “Vue d’Optique,” is meant to be viewed through an optical machine such as a zograscope or “peep box” with a curved lens and mirror that makes the print appear to be three-dimensional and reverses the mirror image of the title of the print on the top.
See entry with more details and downloadable image in the Beethoven Gateway
Also on display:
Engraving of the Hohe Markt by Johann Emanuel Fischer von Erlach engraved by Johann Sigrist, ca. 1720, Augsburg, Akadamie Imperiale d’Empire des Arts liberaux
Gift of the American Beethoven Society, 2007
See entry with more details and downloadable image in the Beethoven Gateway
Hand-colored engraving of a general view of Vienna engraved by chez Daumont in Paris, ca. 1780
Gift of the American Beethoven Society, 2005
See entry with more details and downloadable image in the Beethoven Gateway
