Josef Böhm (church musician)

Josef Böhm (born February 9, 1841 in Knihnitz , Moravia, † November 6, 1893 in Vienna ) was an Austrian church musician. He is considered the founder of the Viennese Cecilianism .

Life

Böhm was the eldest son of the teacher and organist Carl Böhm and his wife Vincenzia, née Schön. He grew up in Knihnitz and from 1846 in Šubířov . Böhm received his first training in singing, piano and organ from his father. After graduating from secondary school in Brno, Böhm began studying piano, organ, composition, instrumentation and conducting at the Vienna Academy of Music in 1855. His teachers included Carl Maria von Bocklet, Franz Krenn and Carl Grädener. After his father died in Bludov , Böhm was able to complete the second year of studies in Vienna despite the family's financial difficulties. Then he received a one-year teacher training course in Brno. Then he was employed by the factory owner Hille as an educator and in 1859 received an assistant position at the Mährisch Schönberger secondary school. In 1864, Böhm appeared in Mährisch Schönberg at the Singers' Association and Turner Festival. On the advice of Anton Benewitz and Dominik Stolz, Böhm went to Vienna in the same year and took a job as a piano teacher at the Bilka educational institution. In addition, he continued his studies at the Academy of Music. In 1865, Böhm was appointed organist at the court and parish church of St. Michael. In 1867, the Barnabite Order appointed Böhm to be the choirmaster of the Maria Hilf parish. In the same year Böhm also founded a private Cecilian music school. Until 1868, Böhm also gave music lessons at the teacher novice of the school brothers in the kk orphanage and from 1868 at the teacher training course at St. Anna. Through his work in the sense of Cecilianism, Böhm got into violent differences with the pastor of Maria Hilf and in 1875 gave up his position as choirmaster.

On the teacher training course at St. Anna, he played a decisive role in the local association for the promotion of real church music . In 1871 the association was withdrawn from music lessons. Böhm then reorganized the association under the name Wiener Cäcilien-Verein . He taught singing at the school run by the association and from 1872 also directed the local choir. From 1876 Josef Böhm worked as a music teacher at the prince-archbishop's seminary. In the same year, Böhm called for a reform of singing lessons and church music in Austria in two writings. He also directed sharp attacks against the Viennese court music band led by Johann von Herbeck and Gottfried von Preyer . Böhm assumed that the clergy had inadequate musical education and called for the use of really suitable musicians. Böhm's demands aroused fierce opposition from both the clergy and musicians.

In 1877 Böhm was appointed Kapellmeister at the church at the court by the Imperial and Royal Lieutenancy. Here Böhm received the support of the pastors for the realization of his church music ideas. Under Böhm, the church at the court developed into the center of Viennese Cecilianism. In 1878 Böhm founded the Wiener Blätter for Catholic Church Music and began to organize instruction courses for church musicians.

After internal power struggles in the Vienna Cecilia Association, Böhm resigned from the association in 1880 and founded the St. Ambrosius Church Music Association in 1881 . At the school run by the association, Böhm gave the majority of the practical and theoretical lessons himself. In 1884, the association choir was named the Ambrosius Association's Choir Academy . The choir academy developed into an important institution of musical life again and spread the Cecilian church music through its performances outside the capital. During the International Music and Theater Exhibition of 1892, the Choir Academy gave three historical concerts . In the same year Böhm was appointed a member of the Executive Committee of the Monuments.

Böhm ill during a on behalf of the Imperial Ministry of Culture and Education in 1893 Opava difficult held instruction course. A spa stay in Karlsbad only improved his compromised health for a short time and Böhm died in November 1893. Josef Böhm was married to Rosa Heinisch and had two sons, Josef and Ernst. His tomb, which was built with donations, is located in the Grinzing cemetery.

Publications

• Singing lessons and the necessary reform in the public schools of Austria , Vienna 1876
• The current state of Catholic church music and ecclesiastical folk singing in Vienna and the surrounding area , Vienna 1876

Editorships

• 1878–1883: Vienna sheets for Catholic church music , from 1881 under the title Ambrosius sheet

literature

• Bohm, Josef. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 1, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 1957, p. 96. (PDF file; 173 kB)
• Josef Mantuani: Prof. Josef Böhm. Outline of his life and work. Vienna 1895.
• Mirko Cuderman: Cäcilianism in Vienna and its first representative at the Cathedral of St. Stephan August Weirich 1858–1921 with a thematic catalog of his entire work and presentation of his masses. Dissertation Vienna 1960,

Web links

• Biography on monuments of music art in Austria