MusMig Workshop in Mainz

The first region to study the project theme was musical situation in Dubrovnik. A list of migrant musicians was made, mostly with Italian composers who were active there in the local ensembles (Rector’s ensemble, Orchestra of the Catedral), as music teachers, etc., opera companies who came from Italy and performed Italian repertoire, and local musicians who were sent to Italy for their music education. The central person for the case study was Luca Sorgo, on whom (some further) research has been undertaken in Dubrovnik and Rome. A book has been written (in print), and an exhibition is in preparation (in Dubrovnik, on the occasion of his 280th birthday).

Luca Sorgo – a Noble Master
Luca Sorgo (1734-1789), a member of the outstanding aristocratic family from Dubrovnik (Ragusa), was primarily trained to fulfil the tasks within the complex administration of the small independent republic on the eastern shores of the Adriatic. In addition, as a descent of the intellectual family, he got his education also in philosophy and music. Showing, obviously, his talents already during his schooling at the Jesuit College of his native town, he was granted a private teacher, and later sent to Rome for further education where he took music lessons as well. He composed symphonies of the early type of the Italian overture, which were performed in Dubrovnik.

His output connected with music is put in the focus of the presentation from various aspects:

1. migration/cultural transfer: from one side through his Italian teacher in Dubrovnik, from the other through his education in Rome, and from the point of implementation of the symphony in Dubrovnik;

2. topic of the project: as a rare case study of an aristocrat with quite a thorough musical education, who composed for himself and his (closed) invited audience, but with the awareness about the local performing abilities, what influenced his musical idiom;

3. topic of the meeting: his diary kept during his diplomatic mission in Vienna in 1781, offers rich source material (meeting with composers, librettists, visiting opera performances, court balls etc.) for cultural studies of Vienna.

The paper presents the output in the field of music theory, history and aesthetic, created by the outstanding Croatian 17th-century church writer, polyhistorian and traveller Juraj Križanić (Georgius Crisanius; Giorgio Crisanio; 1618-1683?).

Križanic was born in 1617/1618 in Obrh, a village in the vicinity of Zagreb. He was first educated in humanities by Jesuits in Ljubljana, studying later philosophy in Graz and theology in Bologna and Rome. Seized very early by the idée fixe (his "intentio moscovitica") of a would-be religious unity of Slavic world, he studied Greek, Eastern liturgies and theological controversies in Rome. He also dreamed about the Christian alliance against the Ottomans in order to liberate the Slavic world from the Turkish yoke. In 1646-1647 he travelled for the first time to Russia and returned full of enthusiasm for the young Tzar Alexei Mikhailovitch Romanov. Between 1647 and 1659 he stayed in Rome, mostly writing and publishing his works on Orthodox controversies (Biblioteca Schismaticorum Universa) and on music. In the meantime, in1651, he also visited for three months Istanbul as the chaplain of the Viennese court deputation. In Rome Križanić's activities brought him into connection with some outstanding contemporaries such as A. Kircher, J. Caramuel Lobkowitz, V. Spada, L. Holstenius and F. Chigi, the future Pope Alexander VII.

In 1659 Križanić went to Russia anew, this time to stay there for 18 years. After a year or so of initial endeavours to establish himself in ecclesiastical and scholarly circles around the Court, he obviously made a wrong political step and was sentenced to 16 years of exile in Siberia, serving the full term in the town of Tobolsk. He wrote there half a dozen of works, the best known among them being Razgowori ob wladatelystwu (Conversation on Governing). In 1676, the new Tzar Fjodor Mikhailovitch Romanov pardoned Križanić, who in 1677 left for Vilnius, Lithuania, joining there the Dominican order. After writing a Historia de Siberia, dedicated to the Polish King Jan Sobieski, he soon joined his army and subsequently disappeared in the Turkish besiege of Vienna in 1683.

Križanić produced several texts on music issues. They are:
Printed works – 1) Asserta musicalia nova prorsus omnia (Rome, 1656); 2) Novum instrumentum Ad cantus mira facilitate componendos (Rome, 1658);
Manuscripts – 1) Nova inventa musica or Tabulae nouae, exhibentes musicam, Late augmentatam: Clare explicatam: Valde facilitatam (Rome, 1657-58); 2) De Musica (Tobolsk, 1663-1666); 3) O cerkovnom penju [On Church Singing] (Tobolsk, 1675);
Opera dubia: 1) Sopra le Proportioni Musicali (Rome, 1658?; MS; 2) Novi uzorak glazbe [A New Musical Pattern] (Moscow, 1676). They have been preserved and kept in various European libraries and archives (Rome, Bologna, Vienna, Barlin, Vatican, Vigevano, Paris, Moscow).

Information and appreciation of Križanić as a music theorist date back to the 19th and early 20th centuries, both in international (F.-J. Fétis, R. Eitner) and Croatian lexicography and music historiography (I. Kukuljević Sakcinski, V. Jagić, F. Rački, V. Klaic, M. Breyer, B. Širola, J. Andreis, A. Vidaković, I. Golub).

The crucial musicological question concerning Križanić reads: how and why such a personality, dealing throughout his life both intellectually and existentially with history, linguistics, theology, economics and politics, did occupy himself with music?

His musical output was created in two separate contexts: firstly, during his Roman period in the second half of the 1650s, and secondly, during his Russian-Siberian period, some ten to twenty years later.

In the Roman group of texts Križanić obviously wanted to prove his intellectual and social surrounding his level of insight into problems of music, and to improve and facilitate the techniques and practice of composing, reading and performing music. In Asserta musicalia he discussed in 20 'assertions' or propositions a series of musico-theoretical and musico-aesthetical problems. In the main part of Nova inventa musica or Tabulae nouae, exhibentes musicam Križanic exhibited 30 complicated graphical drawings, dealing with the problem of the classification of consonances and proposing a kind of 'equal temperament'. In Novum instrumentum he offered instructions for a device (never to be discovered afterwards) intended for 'miraculously easy way of composing songs'. For the time being we do not know whether Križanic himself was an unrealized composer, a would-be teacher of contemporary music or adviser to Pope Alexander VII concerning his bull of 1657 on music.

The Russian group of writings consist of a text is entitled 'Haeresis Politica 16. De Musica', and of a chapter entitled 'O cerkovnom penju'. In the first, Križanić discusses various aspects of music making in ancient Greeks and Romans, as well as in modern nations such as Italians, Spaniards, Turks, Croats, Serbs, Czechs, Poles, Hungarians, etc. Križanić considered the sole purpose for the existence of music to be pleasure, joy and the oblivion of troubles, and all other concepts and beliefs to be mere misconceptions. The most interesting fragments deal with the variety of European national musics, offering some directives in what to keep and what to change in contemporary Russian musical life. The second manuscript deals with a delicate issue on changes and reforms in Russian Orthodox church singing.

Thus it can be stated that Roman and Russian sets of  Križanić's texts differ considerably, one dealing mostly with music theory and aesthetics, and the other with ethnographic and sociological aspects of music. Both orientations were probably dictated by the particular and differing socio-cultural determinants effective in Rome and Russia, and Križanić's manoeuvring within these two cultural circles. However, there exist also unifying aspects in his musical thought at large, recognizable in his general attitude towards music and in his principal orientation to actively participate in religious and social politics of his time.

The paper takes into consideration the case of Giuseppe Michele Stratico (1728–1783) and his writings on music Nuovo sistema musicale (New musical system), Trattato di musica (Treatise on music) and Lo spirito Tartiniano (The spirit of Tartini), particularly on the people (names) and places (towns) that can be found in this source, explicitly or implicitly. Detecting, analysing and connecting them to the already known facts on Stratico’s life gives possibilities in understanding influences on Stratico’s theoretical thoughts, sources he used i.e. to contextualize his system and ideas, and making his profile as a writer on music.

Due to the politics of the court of Versailles under Louis XIII and Louis XIV and due to the strong cultural identity connected to its musical productions, French musicians did not shape a migratory system in early modern Europe. While the negative reception of Italian musicians at the court of Versailles reflects the intention to create a French cultural model to underline the political hegemony of France in Europe, the 17th century-mobility of French musicians is not comparable to the constant travelling of musicians from the Italian peninsula or the German lands in attendance of princes, during their education or in search for work. This conclusion is in contrast with the fact that the French court aimed at distributing its cultural norms and output beyond the borders of the kingdom to reclaim political predominance by artistic excellence and perfection and that there was a strong interest for French musical productions in many regions of Central Europe. Only after the death of Louis XIV in 1715, i.e. during the 18th century, French musicians travelled more broadly in German speaking lands and to Eastern Europe.

The project aims at investigating the paradox and its chronological evolution under three different aspects:

1. A systmatic survey of French musicians travelling in Central Europe on the basis of the current state of research will bring light to collective and individual reasons for mobility from the viewpoint of migratory musicians. Since in German speaking regions the reception of French musical theatre and instrumental genres was more common than on the Italian peninsula, a survey in this differentiated geographical area constitutes an interesting approach to study the intentions and experiences of travelling French musicians beyond the kingdom. Until now, intentions and experiences have been analysed on the basis of a few case studies on single musicians like Jean-Baptiste Volumier, on courts like Dresden (Louis André, Pierre Gabriel Buffardin, Louis Marchand) or on families of musicians and instrument makers (Hotteterre, Philidor). These case studies reveal virtuosity, political connections and the interest for new instruments like the oboe as the main reasons for mobility. A collective biography out of recent studies on German courts may detail the knowledge on musical activities of travelling French musicians as well as on their cultural and social affiliations. To achieve this, a constant reflection on the scale of analysis between systematic overviews and case studies is important to deal with the musicians’ often fragmentarily documented biographies. At the same time, following the concept of histoire croisée, the study of the presence of French musicians in Central Europe offers the possibility to enlarge studies in early modern music history of France that are often centered on the court of Versailles.

2. On the basis of a systematic survey the issue what migration or mobility meant for French musicians in early modern times between courtly politics and professional career can be explored. In order to understand how connected the migration to the political aims of the French kings was, the range of musical and non-musical activities and the networks of patrons and agents have to be dressed. This does not only concern diplomatic networks and representatives but also theoretical exchanges (e.g. the translation of practical treatises like François Couperin’s L’Art de toucher le clavecin, 1716) that document the situation of reception of French musical practices in German speaking areas. The question whether the reception of French musical culture was dominated by printed items or by the experience of musical practice and direct communication is a central point to understand the professional validity of mobility. In addition, a bipartite study including French migratory musicians as well as the situation of the culture of reception may give new hints on the importance of dance in comparison to instrumental and vocal music as well as on the connection of them in the planning and realization of migration.

3. Finally, the question of musical genres as factor of the musicians’ migration can be addressed in connection to musical education but also to virtuosity. The fact that Philippe d’Orléans was very interested in violinists like Jean-Baptiste Anet that were educated by Corelli in Italy shows that there was a market for musical faculties that could be classified as "authentic". As to travelling French musicians, the manner how to show oneself "authentic" beyond the cultural environment of Versailles but also how to convert one’s own faculties into a selling musical practice in new political, social and cultural contexts has to be analyzed. While the amount of wages may reflect the supraregional success of travelling or migrating musicians their individual activities or integration in complete ensembles give hint to the intention to demonstrate personal knowledge or to broaden their musical skills. The confrontation of a systematical analysis of French musicians in Central Europe and case studies of well-known and better documented musicians will detail the issue of the importance of musical genres to generate "authenticity" in musical and compositional practice or to serve as instruments for a demonstration of great knowledge and flexible skills.

This project will investigate possible migrations of musicians in a dynasty, in my case the Wittelsbach dynasty. Different branches of the dynasty existed since the Middle Ages: These are grosso modo the main line (Dukes, since 1623 Electors of Bavaria, residence: Munich), Pfalz-Neuburg (Electors Palatine, residence: Neuburg, Düsseldorf, Heidelberg, Mannheim), Pfalz-Sulzbach (Dukes, residence: Sulzbach) and Pfalz-Zweibrücken (Dukes, residence: Zweibrücken). During the 18th century the branches merged because of dynastic successions due to the extinction of houses: in 1742 Karl Theodor von Pfalz-Sulzbach succeeded the Neuburg line as Elector Palatine, in 1778 the same succeeded the main line as Elector and in 1799 Maximilian Joseph von Pfalz-Zweibrücken succeeded the latter and became Elector (and in 1806 first King) of Bavaria himself. Moreover the Wittelsbach took over important ecclesiastical offices like the Archbishopric of Cologne which had been occupied by the Bavarians since the 16th century and was held in the 17th and 18th century by Joseph Clemens and Clemens August of Bavaria; or the Prince Bishopric of Augsburg held by Alexander Sigismund von Pfalz-Neuburg between 1690 and 1737. All these courts had a musical establishment with more or less brilliant musical display and reputation and defined their self-concept through musical engagement to some extent.

It is beyond controversy that courts were the cultural centres in the Old Kingdom. In their quality of attractive working places they appealed not only to members of the ruling class (i.e. advisory, ruling, serving etc. courtiers) but also to lower staff like painters, gardeners, librarians, footmen – or musicians. The political structure of the Old Kingdom dominated by the courts encouraged migration for being employed by a more or less renowned prince. In the competition of power and reputation arts had a special force.

The project focuses on migrations of musicians in the courts of a dynasty and investigates three main questions:

1. Does a dynastical network enable an easier and more vivid exchange of musicians or are the courts "closed", ensuring a special musical profile through a special musical staff?

2. Which effects have court mergers on the migration of musicians?

3. Are there any hints on the building of reputational profiles through employing musicians coming from a certain area?

The aim is to understand the cultural exchange in a courtly network highly characterised by the principle of cultural uniqueness.

The project is dealing with German, Dutch and in particular Italian musicians at the Bavarian court of the Wittelsbach dynasty in the second half of the 17th and the 18th century. It is this competition between musicians of different origins which drives the project. In order to approach the micro-historical research concerning social and artistic integration of foreign musicians in the centre of Europe, i.e. to approach the project aims in its entirety, it should be considered to be indispensable to take a precise look at European courts as detailed case studies. Therefore an appropriate choice is certainly the Bavarian court in Munich, which was one of the most important catholic courts within the Holy Roman Empire. From the 17th century onwards, an incomparable triumph of Italian music can be noticed throughout the whole of Europe and especially in Munich, where Duke Albrecht V was attempting to create a musical establishment on a par with the major courts in Italy. One of several foreign composers to work there – and one of the most famous – was Orlando di Lasso who joined the Munich court chapel in 1556.

Foreign musicians – especially Italian, a decreasing number of Dutch and a few from other points of origin – were employed on a regular basis at the Wittelsbach court.  The period of examination refers to the reign of the elector Maximilian I through to Ferdinand Maria, Max Emanuel and Karl Albrecht respectively Emperor Charles VII. Consequently, the breakthrough of Italian "drammi per musica" with their ephemeral interaction of music, scenery, costumes and the monarch himself emerged in the 1680ies and let to a constant competition between native musicians and the increasing number of musicians, conductors and choir masters from the Italian peninsula. The research project will focus on a prosopographic outline of employed musicians and supplies concrete data on migrating musicians in southern Germany. Furthermore the project examines which factors could determine the success or failure of integration processes at this special court considering especially forms of communication and particularly with regard to the closeness of musicians to the monarch and/or the princely family.

The project combines a close look on the Munich case study in particular with a widening perspective by referring to court musicians working as well at the nearby courts of Eichstätt, Ansbach, Bamberg and – presumably – Stuttgart.

The following archives are to be considered:

• Stuttgart, Hauptstaatsarchiv, Altwürttembergisches Archiv
  e.g. provincial authority, cabinet and court administration
• Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Generallandesarchiv und Landesbibliothek Karlsruhe
  e.g. estate of Johann Melchior Molter (1696-1765), manuscripts and correspondence (both private and referring to his court position)
• Eichstätt, Diözesanarchiv / Nürnberg, Staatsarchiv
  e.g. court chapel of the Eichstätt bishopric, Liber Mortuorum (1630-1813 available -> 1696-1750), St. Walburg's church registers (1597-1811 available -> 1650-1750)
• Bamberg, Staatsarchiv
  e.g. Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, court administration, in particular 774, 776, 781, 782, 788, 795, 1137/1, 1225, 1233 (connections to the Saxon court, Dresden), 4590
• Berlin, Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz
  e.g. court administration Bayreuth

The period under research spans the reigns of five Polish kings, who were at the same time Grand Dukes of Lithuania. They were Sigismund III Vasa (1587–1632), followed by his sons Ladislaus IV (1632–48) and John II Casimir (1648–68), and also Michal Korybut Wisniowiecki (1669–73) and John III Sobieski (1674–96).

The year of 1595, when King Sigismund III reorganized the chapel by importing more than 20 musicians from Italy, has been accepted as the beginning of the discussed period. From this time until the monarch's death, a group of Italian musicians resided at court, presided over by one of their (more or less stable) number. Ladislaus IV modified the ensemble to match his keen interest in operatic theatre. Apart from Italians, who now arrived also via the imperial court like his first wife, Cecilia Renata Habsburg, Ladislaus employed several musicians from France, the homeland of his second wife Marie Louise Gonzaga de Nevers. The political turmoil during the reign of John II Casimir, including the wars which started in 1648, reduced the number of musicians in the ensemble and eventually led to the suspension of its activities in 1655.

In the 2nd half of the 17th century, the ensemble failed to regain the splendour it enjoyed in its heyday, but also during this period numerous musicians were imported from abroad. The regions from which new members were recruited depended on matrimonial politics. Apart from the steady Italian presence, musicians from the imperial court arrived along with Eleonora Maria of Austria, the wife of King Michal Korybut Wisniowiecki, followed by Frenchmen arriving when John III Sobieski married Maria D’Arquien. The situation changed when the kings from the House of Wettin were elected to the Polish throne (in 1697). The research objectives and issues connected with this period will be discussed by Alina Zórawska-Witkowska.

The state of preservation of the sources related to musical life at the courts of 17th-century Polish kings is highly unsatisfactory. Only vestigial sources produced by the ensemble itself have survived, including financial records. Neither have any musical documents used by the members of the ensemble been preserved. Its repertoire has been reconstructed mainly on the basis of copies produced in various circles (mostly foreign and of a different religious denomination).

The list of foreign musicians known to have been active at the Polish royal court (including over 150 names) has been compiled by 'ferreting out' information from scattered sources of very different nature. The list is dominated by musicians who were members of the ensemble in the 1st half of the 17th century. As for the second half of the century, there is a need for a comprehensive preliminary archival research, which is scheduled to be carried out within the framework of the project in various Italian centres as well as in Minsk and Sankt Petersburg.

The major result of the project will be a database of information about foreign musicians in the service of Polish kings. Also, it will include information about their fellow musicians who arrived from centres that were under Polish rule at the time, but were culturally distinct from the royal court (e.g. from Gdańsk) and about local musicians known to have travelled abroad.

The aim of creating the database is to enable its users to find well-documented facts related to musicians' lives and work, to trace their itineraries and to identify the persons (especially other musicians) they interacted with. The database will also include many names of foreign musicians who stayed and worked in Poland and about whom Polish musicologists possess only scarce information. It cannot be excluded, however, that various participants in the project will contribute their knowledge, which the database will correlate so as to make our knowledge about the musicians' lives more complete.

The presentations and articles prepared within the framework of the project will address the issue of the significance of migratory musicians' presence and activities at the courts of Polish monarchs for the local music culture and for themselves.

In 1744 a list of 98 Italian opera arias was compiled for their owner "Illustrissima Signora Signora Giuseppa Contessa d’Atthembs Nata Contessa di Khuen". The list as well as most of the arias were recently unearthed in the Provincial Archives of Maribor within documents dislocated after World War II from the castle of Slovenska Bistrica till that time the seat of the noble family of Attems. Among the surviving 77 arias at least three major groups as to the origin were detected through repertorial research, paper and watermarks and handwritings: one is apparently local, one Roman and one possibly Viennese. The original locations form where the repertoire reached the Contess’s Styrian homes in Graz and possibly Slovenska Bistrica are explicable through family connections and travels. All arias from the list are for soprano with basso continuo and in some cases with other instruments, such as two violins, transverse flute, etc. The paper proposes an overview of the contents of this most interesting collection.

In the frame of the international project Music migrations in the early modern age: the meetings of the European east, West and South, the Slovenian partner group is collecting various data on musicians for the common database. The data include different kinds of musicians that were crossing the territory of what is nowadays Slovenia from the beginning of the 17th to the beginning of the 19th century. Besides composers, performers and conductors, the repository includes other musical figures that were contributing to the musical life of the time. Examples are music theoreticians, writers on music, music copyists, printers, engravers, publishers, builders of musical instruments et al. In the process of collecting and formalizing the data many dilemmas crop up. E.g. how to demarcate the different territories. More static and mapped to present day countries or more dynamic, along the changing historic borders. The interpretation of the boundaries of the period under research, e.g. whether or not to consider a musician, born well within the timeframe, but migrating (partly) outside of it. Setting the minimal period abroad to be counted as migration. The paper will outline the flows of the migrations of the musicians under discussion and expose some of the most acute problems of criteria.

This MusMig project (P3) is located at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Its main purpose is to structure and disseminate the research contents as well as the process in a digital form.

Primarily, the project will focus on building up a database with a common semantic vocabulary on migrating musicians. All MusMig research projects will be able to enter their data into this common database. The project is backed up by the Person Data Repository, a digital infrastructure project on prosopographical data.

It is intended to publish the MusMig database to the public and to develop a data visualization which reflects the research questions of the various MusMig projects in geographical, chronological, networked, statistical or other creative forms of displays. The documentation of the data scheme and of the developed methods will be a part of the process.

Secondly, the project will also maintain two websites for dissemination purposes: (1) An official website with more formal information, supported by professional designers, and (2) a less formal project blog on the widespread hypotheses.org platform, which will inform about ongoing progress in the MusMig sub projects and provide news that are of interest for researchers in the topic.