Three prince-bishops
Several brothers from this family chose ecclesiastical careers like Count Rudolf Franz Erwein (1677–1754). This man, contrary to the family’s expectations, declined the priestly vocation. He was an amateur cellist and ardent lover of music, constantly on the search for new compositions. His musical tastes took shape in Italy, where he studied the cello – primarily in Rome. He met Corelli there, as Corelli sends his regards to the von Schönborn family in one of his letters from 1709. Living in Rome or staying there on his way from Germany and back, the young Count von Schönborn several times used the chance to listen to “good Italian music". It was during his Roman studies that he started collecting sheet music, either through buying prints or through ordering handwritten copies. Thanks to Count Rudolf Franz Erwein, many manuscripts were preserved in abundance in the Wiesentheid (D-WD) collection, including manuscript scores of Giovanni Benedetto Platti.
Music Collection "Graf von Schönborn-Wiesentheid"
Würzburg musicians
Giovanni Benedetto Platti
Johann Wilhelm Hertel
1727 - 1789
Court musicians of the Würzburg Prince-archbishop residence
Würzburg region
Würzburg is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. In 1720, the foundations of the Würzburg Residence were laid. In 1796, the Battle of Würzburg between Habsburg Austria and the First French Republic took place. The city passed to the Electorate of Bavaria in 1803 but, two years later, in the course of the Napoleonic Wars, it became the seat of the Electorate of Würzburg (until September 1806), the later Grand Duchy of Würzburg.
Great support for the musical life of Würzburg was provided by three prince-bishops: Johann Philipp Franz von Schönborn (1719-24), Friedrich Carl von Schönborn (1729-46), and Adam Friedrich von Seinsheim (1755-79). Adam Friedrich von Seinsheim deserves special credit for making it possible for musical theatre to flourish during the twenty-four years he governed, and for first opening his two theatres in Würzburg and Bamberg to the public. For the three music loving prince-bishops, the education and professional development of promising talents cost the court many thousand Gulden, and in addition to musicians on-site training, the preferred locations were the court of Mannheim and especially Italy – more precisely Padua and Rome. In Rome favored vocal teachers were Giovanni Carestini (1700-1760) and Giovanni Battista Ferrandini (c.1710-1791), both of whom had close ties with Munich.
There were, of course, also musicians who travelled in the opposite direction, from Italy to Würzburg. The most influential among these was Giovanni Benedetto Platti, who was the only Italian to remain in Würzburg until his death. He served six prince-bishops as oboist, violone player, vocalist, singing and oboe teacher, and also composed from 1722 until his death in 1763. After Platti, Prince-Bishop Adam Friedrich recruited only three Italians: the vocalists Costa and Steffani, as well as the dancing master Voltelino. Viennese influences can also be discerned during Friedrich Carl von Schönborn’s term of office, but otherwise younger musicians were usually recruited from within the diocese. In many cases, these youths came from musical or teaching families. The elector of Mainz, Franz Lothar von Schönborn (1655-1729), an uncle of the two prince-bishops of Würzburg, sent two horn players there to take composition lessons from Chelleri in 1723; one was his future Kapellmeister Johann Ondrascheck.