Music for Sisi

Elisabeth ("Sisi"), Empress of Austria (1837-1898). A collection of six manuscript scores from the library of Elisabeth, Empress of Austria, four of which dedicated to her.

€ 9,500.00

This collection of six musical manuscripts from Sisi's library, some of them bearing her own bookplate, are a window into the first two decades of her life as Empress. Four of them are explicitly dedicated to her, and these inscriptions, aided by some interesting letters also included in the collection, provide an insight into the hopes and motivations of the composers who made their music known to Empress Elisabeth.

Wilhelm Heinefetter (1833-1934) was a Kapellmeister from a family of singers; a number of his compositions were published by Schott from 1860 onwards. As Konzertmeister of the orchestra of Mainz he also led the spa orchestra at Bad Kissingen during the summer months from 1855 until the late 1860s, while Elisabeth took the waters there regularly from 1862. One of his two presents included here (a polka and a polka-mazurka), bound in a rich blue cloth and written by hand on decorative pages printed in purple ink, appears to have been dedicated to her as a memento of a visit ("zur Erinnerung an Kissingen").

A composition of a very different nature, the "Grosse Militair-Messe" bound in white silk, was presented by Karl Kempter (1819-71), organist of the Augsburg cathedral from 1839 until he was appointed cathedral conductor in 1865. Probably the best known among this group of composers, his work is still performed, particularly the Great Pastoral Mass in g minor (op. 24, 1851). Enclosed is a personal letter sent by Johann Nepomuk Maier, a priest and then head-rector of the Karlskirche, to Kempter, discussing the musical conception of church music.

Dedicated not to Sisi but to her first child, Archduchess Sophie, born on 5 March 1855 but who would die as an infant in 1857, is the lullaby presented by a Benedikt Kretschmer. Attached to the lullaby, which is presented by a part printed, part calligraphic title-page, is a letter dated 18 March 1855, where the otherwise unknown Kretschmer introduces himself as a music teacher in Mährisch-Schönberg, Moravia (now Šumperk, Czech Republic), expressing his hope that Sophie will at least once be sung to sleep by his music. Even without a bookplate, it is significant that such an emotional present, including the autographed letter, survives.

Steffen Mayrhofer, who describes himself on the title-page of his gift as "Capellmeister u. Violin Concertist", as well as a recipient of the "Orden für Kunst u. Wissenschaft", was largely active in Vienna. He gifted Elisabeth a composition for fortepiano titled "Christnacht Träume" ("Christmas Eve Dreams"). Stitched into a dark purple portfolio blocked with gilt decorations, the work is addressed to Empress Elisabeth of Austria, Queen of Hungary, on the title-page.

Finally, the composition titled "Weiss und Blau" ("White and Blue", alluding to the Bavarian heritage of the Wittelsbach-born Empress) by the well-known actress and soprano Agathe (Anna) Reuss-Gaudelius (1818-61), was a written in honour of Sisi's marriage to Franz Joseph on 24 April 1854. Supplied in two copies, presumably one for the singer and one for the pianist, it is handwritten on beautiful paper with an elaborate border printed in gold (interestingly, the same design appears in Mayrhofer's contribution, only there it is in blue). Sisi was herself a poet manqué, though it is not reported that she sang.