Johann Vesque von Püttlingen

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Johann Vesque von Püttlingen, lithograph by Josef Kriehuber , 1838

Johann Vesque von Püttlingen (pseudonym: Johann Hoven; born July 23, 1803 in Opole , Galicia , † October 29, 1883 in Vienna ) was a lawyer and composer. He is considered one of the most important Austrian songwriters between Schubert and Brahms .

Life

Johann Vesque von Püttlingen was born in the castle of Count Alexander Lubomirski in Opole near Lublin. His father, who came from the French-Dutch nobility - expelled from the Habsburg Netherlands by Napoleon as a kk civil servant - worked there as a librarian and tutor. In 1804 the family moved to Vienna during the political turmoil at the time. From then on, this city represented the center of his life until his death.

After completing his school education at the Schottengymnasium , Vesque began his studies at the University of Vienna in 1819, initially mainly in the subjects of Greek philology and philosophy. From the winter semester 1821/1822 he turned to the study of law and camera science . In 1827 he was awarded the highest distinction Dr. jur. PhD . He was then accepted into the civil service, where he worked from 1827 to 1872 - most recently as head of section in the Foreign Office - and finally brought it to the rank of Privy Councilor through the position of District Administrator of Salzburg, State Chancellery and Court Councilor . In 1866 he was raised to the rank of baron ; In 1876 he became a member of the manor house . He was one of the leading Austrian lawyers who was also active as a writer in this field, so u. a. with a groundbreaking work published in 1864 on “The musical author right”, as well as a presentation of the law on foreigners applicable in Austria and an overview of Austria's treaties with foreign states.

Vesque was married to Anna Maria Márkus zu Eör (1814-1893). The marriage had ten children. Through the marriage, von Püttlingen became wealthy. In his house in Vienna he organized house concerts that made his salon one of the cultural centers of Vienna. His contacts with Robert and Clara Schumann , Hector Berlioz , Franz Liszt , Carl Loewe , Giacomo Meyerbeer , Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy , Otto Nicolai and others, which are documented by extensive correspondence, testify to his artistic importance and mutual appreciation.

The basis for this was - after the student Vesque had dealt intensively with literature and the natural sciences in addition to music - a sound musical education. At the age of 13, Vesque received his first piano lessons from Maximilian Josef Leidesdorf , a friend of Franz Schubert and Ludwig van Beethoven , then from 1816 with Ignaz Moscheles and finally with Jan Hugo Worzischek . In 1821 he became a student at the Conservatory of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, majoring in piano and choral singing. From 1828 he studied composition with Eduard von Lannoy and in 1833 he was instructed in strict sentence by Simon Sechter . In 1827/1828 Vesque had contact with Franz Schubert and through him met the famous singer Johann Nepomuk Vogl . It can be assumed that the musical impressions gained here had a formative effect and formed the basis for Vesque's lifelong predilection for the song genre. In 1912 the Püttlingengasse in Vienna- Hietzing was named after him.

Complete works

Vesque's first published compositions are still - following the taste of the time - in the field of easy and pleasing piano music in the form of länders, cotillons, gallopes and waltzes (opus 1-5). The song production starts with opus 6, and in opus 7 there is already the first setting of a text by Heinrich Heine with “The Dancer” , whereby this song can be counted among the best creations by Püttlingen.

Vesque also enjoyed a high reputation among his contemporaries as a singer - especially his own songs. He was gifted with a well-trained tenor voice and often performed in the context of his own house concerts or in other circles in Vienna as well as on the occasion of his mostly work-related trips to Germany and abroad, although his reports in letters indicate that this time and again the performance of his Heine settings in particular was required of him. He obviously knew how to perform this masterfully. "The witty, slightly pointed, almost French-inspired tone that Vesque knew how to put into the lecture, especially his humorous songs, was absolutely unique."

Tomb of the Püttlingen family in the Penzing parish cemetery in Vienna

Johann Vesque von Püttlingen's main work is “Heimkehr”, published in 1851 - probably the most extensive song cycle in music history - which is a complete setting of the 88 numbers of Heinrich Heine's poetry collection of the same name. Hector Berlioz described these songs as "masterpieces of humor, imagination and grace".

The complete oeuvre of Püttlingens essentially comprises around 300 songs (including 117 based on texts by Heinrich Heine), as well as nine operas - which were performed not without success in Vienna and partly in other European countries -, two masses (in D and in It) along with other church music works, various male choir pieces, three missing string quartets and piano pieces. The songs clearly represent the focus of the oeuvre, whereby the special musical historical importance of Vesque is seen in his Heine settings. Like hardly anyone before and after him, Vesque was able to musically trace the subliminal or open irony of Heine's texts. Here the independence of the musical language of Püttlingens is evident, far removed from all epigonism. His settings are congenial re-creations or, perhaps better, new creations of Heinrich Heine's literary models.

Vesque's pseudonym as a composer - Hoven - is derived from the name of an old family estate in Lorraine.

He was buried in the Penzing parish cemetery in Vienna.

literature

  • Constantin von Wurzbach : Vesque von Püttlingen, Johann Freiherr (son) . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 50th part. Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1884, pp. 196–207 ( digitized version ).
  • Eusebius Mandyczewski :  Vesque von Püttlingen, Johann . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 39, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1895, p. 651.
  • Anonymous: Johann Vesque von Püttlingen (A sketch of life) . Vienna 1887
  • Eduard Hanslick : Vesque von Püttlingen (J. Hoven) . In: Ders: The modern opera . Part 4: Musical sketchbook. New reviews and accounts . General Association for German Literature, Berlin 1888. pp. 196–203.
  • Helmut Schultz : Johann Vesque von Püttlingen . Dissertation, Leipzig 1928
  • Reinhold Sietz: Vesque von Püttlingen . In: Music in the past and present . 1st edition, volume 13, column 1566 f.
  • Ludwig Finscher : Vesque of Püttlingen . In: The music and history and the present . 2nd edition, volume 16, columns 1520 to 1523
  • Erich Wolfgang Partsch : Johann Vesque von Püttlingen . In: Penzinger Museum Papers . Volume 50, Vienna 1987, page 1 ff.
  • Renate Federhofer-Königs : R. Schumann's Viennese companion J. Vesque von Püttlingen . In: New musicological yearbook . 2000, page 111 ff.
  • Martin Wiemer: Johann Vesque von Püttlingen . In: Neue Juristische Wochenschrift, 2004, page 573 ff.
  • Martin Wiemer: 2 lawyers, 88 poems and a lot of music. In: Neue Juristische Wochenschrift, 2018, page 746 ff.
  • Günter Metzner: Heine in music . Tutzing 1989, Volume 4, p. 424 ff (keyword "Hoven")
  • Michael Jahn : The Vienna Court Opera from 1848 to 1870. Personnel - performances - program. Tutzing 2002, pp. 12, 109, 145, 701.
  • Sonja Gesse-Harm: Between irony and sentiment. Heinrich Heine in the 19th century art song; Düsseldorf 2006.
  • Sheet music editions: 7 selected volumes with a total of 84 songs (Edition Walhall, Magdeburg) based on texts by Heine, Goethe, Chamisso, Uhland, Prudhomme and others; Missa in D (LMM Verlag, Magdeburg); 6 songs for male choir opus 45 (Verlag LMM, Magdeburg); 6 songs for male choir opus 49 (Verlag LMM, Magdeburg); The Doctor and the Patient, duet for 2 bass voices with piano accompaniment (LMM Verlag, Magdeburg); "Das Schifflein" (text by Ludwig Uhland) for a voice with piano, flute and horn (Verlag LMM Magdeburg).
  • "Knight Toggenburg" (text by Friedrich Schiller). Ballad for one voice with piano accompaniment (Verlag LMM Magdeburg).
  • “Once and now” (text by Nikolaus Lenau). For a voice with piano accompaniment and cello or horn (LMM Magdeburg publishing house).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Renate Federhofer-Königs: R. Schumann's Viennese companion J. Vesque von Püttlingen . In: New musicological yearbook . 2000, page 112.
  2. ^ Eduard Hanslick: Vesque von Püttlingen (J. Hoven) . In: Ders: The modern opera . Part 4: Musical sketchbook. New reviews and accounts . General Association for German Literature, Berlin 1888. pp. 196–203, quotation p. 199.
  3. ↑ See e.g. B. The Geisterinsel as a setting of the poem Mein Liebchen, we sat together by Heinrich Heine. in: Collection of pieces of music from old and new times, as a supplement to the new magazine for music , 1838, issue 4.
  4. ^ Eduard Hanslick: Vesque von Püttlingen (J. Hoven) . In: Ders: The modern opera . Part 4: Musical sketchbook. New reviews and accounts . General Association for German Literature, Berlin 1888. pp. 196–203, here p. 199.
personal data
SURNAME Vesque von Püttlingen, Johann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian lawyer and song composer
DATE OF BIRTH July 23, 1803
PLACE OF BIRTH Opole , Galicia
DATE OF DEATH October 29, 1883
Place of death Vienna