Music in the service of the Habsburgs

In the 17th and the first half of the 18th centuries, music played an important role representing the House of Habsburg as both the political and the ecclesiastic leader of the Holy Roman Empire. The genre of oratorio rose to special prominence as a major instrument of imperial propaganda: not directly liturgical yet based on biblical texts, the oratorio offered a perfect combination of the secular and the sacred. This article explores the distinct, often idiosyncratic ways in which the genre developed at the Imperial Court Chapel, the center of Vienna’s musical life. In addition to oratorios proper, the Court Chapel cultivated the genre of sepolcro, which, despite its Italian origin, can be seen as a specifically Austrian type of oratorio. The one-part sepolcri were performed alongside the model of the holy sepulchre and had a limited number of plots, all centering on the last days of Christ’s life. A thorough analysis of textual and music-stylistic specificities of the Austrian sepolcri demonstrates deep connections between this genre and Viennese court culture as well as local religious traditions. The extent to which ecclesiastic genres were dependent on the tastes and demands of the Austrian court much determined the evolution of these genres. The juncture of music, politics, and religion greatly contributed to the creation of the rich tradition that, in its own turn, influenced the ecclesiastic output of the Viennese classical school

Art · Art history · Chapel · Literature · Musical · Oratorio · Political science · Politics · Roman Empire · Classics · Historical and Cultural Studies of Poland · Historical Influence and Diplomacy · History · Law · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity