3. - Schlösser-Magazin

V.
212
V. Report on the Music Historical Importance: Dr. Bärbel Pelker
wrote from Paris on 9 July 1778, looking back
on the music at the palatine court orchestra,
comparing and contrasting it with Salzburg and
describing the attitude towards work and the
exemplary lifestyle of the court musicians, which
was not something to be taken for granted:
“Subordination clearly rules in this orchestra!
(Such is Cannabich’s authority.) Everything
is taken seriously. Cannabich, who is the best
director I have ever seen, is both loved and
feared by those under him. He is also respected
throughout the whole town – and his troops too.
They also act differently from others, they are
well mannered, they dress well and they do not
frequent the inns and get drunk” 12 .
As Mozart’s letter already shows, the court
orchestra had above all an excellent orchestral
educator in Christian Cannabich. According to
Schubart, a “nod of the head” or a “twitch of the
elbow” 13 from him was enough to guarantee a
precise rendition of the compositions. Cannabich
trained his “troops” in performing works with
precision and in nuancing dynamic contrasts
within tight confines, and they cultivated this
until it became second nature. This exemplary
musical discipline and musical culture, both
of which are preconditions for a perfect
interpretation of compositions, are without
doubt Cannabich’s work. The introduction of
synchronous bow movements throughout the
orchestra, which has remained the usual practice
through to the present, is reputed to be the
invention of this “best director”. Cannabich’s
style of leadership was taken as the yardstick
for other orchestra leaders, for instance by
Beethoven’s teacher, Johann Gottlieb Neefe, in his
appraisal of Cajetano Mattioli, the leader of the
court orchestra in Bonn 14 .
The much admired orchestral discipline was,
however, also due to the fact that whole families,
even whole dynasties, of instrumentalists,
singers and composers, such as the Cannabich,
Cramer, Danzi, Fränzl, Grua, Lang, Lebrun,
12 Letter dated 9 July 1779. In: Mozart. Letters, vol. 2, p. 395
13 Schubart: Ideen zu einer Ästhetik der Tonkunst, p. 137
14 Alexander Thayer: Ludwig van Beethovens Leben, vol. 1, 3rd
edition, Leipzig 1917, pp. 92ff
Ritschel, Ritter, Toeschi, Wendling and Ziwny
families, stayed with the court orchestra for
decades, and at least the basics of music were,
quite literally, handed down from father to
son. This makeup of the court orchestra and,
linked to that, the uniform method of training
were major contributory factors to its elevated
musical style. The quality of the orchestra
can also be ascribed to the fact that the court
musicians were not affected when the court
otherwise needed to make savings. They were
paid through a patronage foundation, and most
of them earned an adequate annual livelihood, so
that they were able to concentrate on practising
music. The musicians’ early specialisation on a
particular instrument and the adequate financial
arrangements made for them were by no means
common practice at that time 15 .
Re 2: The musical training of the Prince Elector’s
court orchestra
It was the system of training practised by the
Prince Elector’s court orchestra that was the
decisive element in its much praised musical
discipline. Contemporaries used to regard
Johann Stamitz as the “spiritus rector” of this
school, and that was correct, since it was he who
trained the largest number of violinists during
the build-up phase, beginning in 1747. That
explains why the school was initially considered
to be just a violin or orchestra school. It was,
however, more than that – and this is another
speciality of the palatine court orchestra. During
his European tour in August 1772, Charles
Burney spent some time in Schwetzingen and
made the following entry in his diary: “I cannot
quit this article, without doing justice to the
orchestra of his Electoral Highness, so deservedly
celebrated throughout Europe. I found it to be
indeed all that its fame had made me expect:
power will naturally arise from a great number
of hands; but the judicious use of this power, on
15 Cf. on this point: Richard Petzoldt: “Zur sozialen Lage des
Musikers im 18. Jahrhundert”. In: Der Sozialstatus des Berufsmusikers
vom 17. bis 19. Jahrhundert. Edited by Walter Salmen
(= Musikwissenschaftliche Arbeiten 24), Kassel 1971, pp.
64–82, esp. pp. 68–69. Christoph-Hellmut Mahling: Herkunft
und Sozialstatus des höfischen Orchestermusikers im 18. und
frühen 19. Jahrhundert in Deutschland. Op. cit. pp. 103–136.