Musicologica Brunensia (Jun 2014)
Die von Questenbergschen Musikern aufgeführten Oratorien in Mähren in der 1. Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts
Abstract
Count Johann Adam von Questenberg was regarded, next to cardinal Wolfgang Hannibal von Schrattenbach, as yet another important nobleman who participated in running of oratorios in the first half of the 18th century in Moravia. While Schrattenbach organized the oratorio performances in a vast amount and in an exclusive setting of his residencies for members of aristocracy, count Questenberg's endeavor aimed strongly to his villeins from Jaroměřice nad Rokytnou and to the worshippers attending Capuchin churches in Brno and Olomouc. So far there have been in total 10 historical performances of oratorios definitely documented in Jaroměřice, some of them were performed several times. It is fewer than in the case of secular dramatic music, as there are 33 of these performances documented. The total number of preserved librettos for oratorios is 11 out of the overall number of 22 performed music dramatic works. Accessible sources are printed librettos, scores from the count Questenberg's assets and other archive sources. The presented study mentions known authors, libretto translators and also composers. Among them Questenberg's personal conductor and composer Franz Anton Mitscha dominates with the amount of documented librettos. Accessible information also gives us the evidence that the oratorio repertoire on Questenberg's court considerably depended on the music works of composers from the Imperial court, mainly in the 20's and 30's of the 18th century. It is somewhat remarkable that count Questenberg assigned the translations of librettos, mainly of sepolcri, into Czech. The count respected the fact that Jaroměřice was mostly Czech speaking town; he made an effort to mediate some of the dramatic music productions to his villeins in the language they commonly used. This fact shows his strong patriotism that cannot be found in the extent among the Moravian nobility.
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