Johann Adam von Questenberg

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Johann Kupetzky : Johann Adam von Questenberg with lute

Count Johann Adam von Questenberg (baptized February 24, 1678 in Vienna ; † May 10, 1752 in Jarmeritz ) was an Austrian nobleman, Reichshofrat , music lover, lord of the castle and patron .

Life

Johann Adam von Questenberg came from the Cologne branch of the Questenberg family . His grandfather Gerhard von Questenberg (1586–1646) had entered the service of the Habsburgs and had acquired several dominions in Bohemia , Moravia and Lower Austria , including Jarmeritz Castle , which his son Johann Anton (1633–1686), Johann Adam's father, was the headquarters chose.

Johann Adam studied philosophy in Vienna (1692–1694) and law in Prague (1694–1696). In the year of graduation, he received the hereditary title of count . After several years of traveling through Central, Western and Southern Europe, he came to the Imperial Court of Vienna in 1702 as a councilor, where he became Reichshofrat in 1706 and, in 1723, real Privy Councilor and kk chamberlain . In 1735 Charles VI sent him . as principal commissioner to the Moravian state parliament, which ended his stay at the imperial court. - He has been close to the Jesuits since he was a student .

Questenberg expanded his Viennese palace and his mansions in the baroque style . Since 1702 he has organized musical performances in the Vienna Palais, since 1722 in the Jarmeritz Castle Theater. There he maintained a permanent music ensemble with his own composers, 20 vocalists and 70 instrumentalists who also took part in church and school music. During this time, Jarmeritz became a national music center.

Questenberg was a self-practicing musician (lute, theorbo ) and composer . Two pieces of him have survived. He was also a passionate collector of music; He commissioned or acquired numerous works by contemporary composers, which provided the authors with important income. His most important correspondence partners were Antonio Vivaldi and Johann Sebastian Bach . He may have met Bach in Karlsbad , where he had accompanied Prince Leopold von Anhalt-Köthen as court music director in 1718 and 1720 and where Questenberg regularly contributed to the summer music program. There is evidence of Questenberg's contact with Bach through a Leipzig middleman in April 1749, which presupposes that the acquaintance has already existed, but whose purpose is unknown. According to a hypothesis by Michael Maul , he could have commissioned Bach to write the B minor Mass .

In 1707 he married Countess Maria Antonia Waldburg (1691–1736) and in 1738 Countess Maria Antonia Kaunitz (1708–1778). Of the six children from his first marriage, only the daughter Maria Carolina (1712-1750) reached adulthood. He appointed Dominik Andreas von Kaunitz , a nephew of his second wife, as heir to his property and his name.

literature

Web links

Commons : Johann Adam von Questenberg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Christoph Wolff : Johann Sebastian Bach . Frankfurt am Main 2000, p. 230f.
personal data
SURNAME Questenberg, Johann Adam von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian nobleman, imperial court councilor, music lover, lord of the castle and patron
DATE OF BIRTH baptized February 24, 1678
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH May 10, 1752
Place of death Jarmeritz