„Principe und Principessa“ - 

Flöte und Laute am Berliner und Bayreuther Hof

Das „Duo Mignarda“ lässt auf seiner neuen CD die barocke Lebensfreude wiedererklingen im Zusammenspiel von Traversflöte, Sabine Dreier, und Laute, Johannes Vogt.

Markgräfin Wilhelmine prägte im 18. Jahrhundert über 3 Jahrzehnte mit ihrem „Musenhof“ das Musikleben Bayreuths. Ihr Bruder Friedrich förderte die schönen Künste in Berlin. Beide Höfe waren zu bedeutenden Treffpunkten von Künstlern aus ganz Europa geworden.

Wilhelmine wirkte als Komponistin, Opernintendantin und Sängerin, und spielte außer Cembalo auch Laute; ihr Ehemann Markgraf Friedrich sowie Friedrich der Große waren Flötisten.

Die Geschwister verband die Liebe zur Musik schon in Friedrichs Kronprinzenzeit, und sie pflegten häufig gemeinsam mit Laute und Flöte zu musizieren. Dabei nannten sie ihre beiden Instrumente personifizierend „Principe und Principessa“ und gingen als eines der ältesten Duos für Flöte und Laute in die Geschichte ein.

Ihnen wurden viele bedeutende Lauten- und Flötenkompositionen  gewidmet, von denen einige der schönsten - von Durant, Falckenhagen, Baron, Quantz, C. P. E. Bach und Kleinknecht - vereint mit Kompositionen von Wilhelmine und Friedrich auf dieser CD zu hören sind. Das Douetto von C. P. Durant sowie die Sonate der Markgräfin Wilhelmine sind Ersteinspielungen.

Bemerkungen zu den Bildnissen auf dem CD-Cover ....

Principe and Principessa

Wilhelmine and Friedrich – Lute and Flute, a Historic Duo

In May 1728 the Prussian court in Berlin welcomed the Polish King and Elector of Saxon August the Strong. In his entourage were celebrities of his court orchestra. There is not much preserved about their “wonderful concerts”. One resource of information are the records of the ambassador of Brunswick Wilhelm Stratemann. According to him the musicians stayed several months in Berlin and came again at a later point in time. Johann Joachim Quantz (see below) came on regularly to teach the crown prince Friedrich and sometimes also the heir to the throne of Bayreuth  Friedrich, the traverse flute (“Flanto traverse”). These teachings in flute had to be kept secret, for the father, the “soldier King” Friedrich Wilhelm I., did not approve. He did not like these “amusements” and forbade them to his son. The musical life and culture that Friedrich’s mother, the Queen Sophie Dorothea initiated had also to be kept secret.

Friedrich and Wilhelmine were the son and daughter of Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I. and Queen Sophie Dorothea. The siblings showed high artistic quality in the concert during the visit of the Polish King August the Strong. Almost all the locations of their appearances, like the Mirror Halll in Berlin and the Palace Monbijou were destroyed during the Second World War.

It is unclear how much the lute playing Wilhelmine profited as a student of the famous lute player Leopold Sylvius Weisss from the court of Dresden. Interesting in this context is a newly published letter from Wilhelmine, dated October 1736. In this letter a certain “Weiss) is mentioned as a member of the orchestra of Bayreuth (see below C.P.E. Bach). It is clear that already in 1728 the tracks were laid for the development of a thriving music culture initiated by Friedrich and Wilhelmine in Bayreuth and Ruppin/Rheinsberg/Berlin. These creative years in their youth were suddenly interrupted in August 1730. The crown prince tried to escape from the fatherly authority, but he was captured and imprisoned. The siblings were separated and isolated from each other. Friedrich waited for his trial in the prison of Kuestrin. Two month later, in October 1730, Friedrich smuggled out a letter of the prison. In this letter Friedrich intensely implores the good times of playing music together with his sister. He courteously switched roles and calls the lute of Wilhelmine “Principe”(the male form) and his flute as “Principessa”(the female form). These unusual Italian names in a letter written in French connect to the political book “Il Principe” by the Italian Niccolo Machiavelli. It is this book that the crown prince later anonymously responded to with his book “Antimachiavell”. He states in his book that the “Principe” (Lord) has to be the servant of the state.  The same theme Wilhelmine mentioned already in 1733. She jokingly described her lute, the “Principe”, as the servant to the flute .

Tragedy and Inspiration in the Life of the Pair of Siblings

According to a legend of the time the crown prince fell in love with playing the flute during a boat ride. It was one evening in 1727 on the river Spree close to the Palace Monbijou. Also present was a friend of Friedrich, Hans Hermann von Katte. He was later tried and condemned to death by the father of Friedrich, Friedrich Wilhelm I, But during this evening ride on the water  von Katte played the flute and impressed the 16 year ols crown prince so much that he fell in love with the instrument (According to Maria von Katte). This is also supported by over 120 sonatas for flute the crown prince and later King Friedrich the Great (1712-1786) composed during his life. Musicologists gave Friedrich’s work much attention, but his sister Wilhelmine’s musical compositions were only rarely published at the end of the 19.th century or in the middle of the 20.th century. The most recent discovering of the composer Wilhelmine von Bayreuth (1709-1758) is her sonata for flute in a-major (Nikolaus Delius 2002).

Jakob Friedrich Kleinknecht – Star of the Flute Capital Bayreuth

Jacob Friedrich Kleinknecht (1722-1794) was born into a family of musicians in Ulm and arrived in the early 1740s at the orchestra of the court in Bayreuth. He was a talented composer and with him started the climax of Bayreuth as a capital of flute music. Beginning 1748 he published a series of highly valued flute chamber music with the publishing house of lute player Johann Ulrich Haffner in Nuremberg. Already Adam Falkenhagen (see below) was in contact with Haffner. For both composers Johann Wilhelm Stoer engraved the notes and tabulature. Jakob Friedrich Kleinknecht was the younger brother of the first violinist of the orchestra in Bayreuth Johann Wolfgang Kleinknecht. He got the title “Vice-Concertmeister”. Additionaly he received the title “Composer of the Court”, one of the only Bayreuth musicians with this title. His work was published in Paris and London and it was even “pirated”, which testifies to his international acclaim.

Johann Georg Meusel’s writing (“Miszellanteen artistischen Inhalt”) from 1781 describes Wilhelmine’s love for “wild roaring’ flute play. She influenced with this preference the composer Jakob Friedrich Kleinknecht and a style of music called “Sturm und Drang” became popular at the court of Bayreuth.

Paul Charl Durant – Successor of Adam Falckenhagen

Bayreuth was also the caital for playing the lute. Shortly after the death of Falkenhagen in 1754 the lute tradition continued on with the engagement of Paul Charl Durant (1712- ?). Durant’s career started in the boy choir of the cathedral of Pressburg. He was a member of the orchestra in Mannheim until 1746. His expierence in Mannheim could have influenced his new work in Bayreuth. But lute players became increasingly unpopular and were engaged less frequently. After the death of Wilhelmine Durant left Bayreuth. He was last mentioned in 1759 in the court calendar. In the court orchestra of Bayreuth the flute players began to dominate. Four flutes are mentioned in the court calendar. The duet in g-major was original composed for violin and lute and was rearranged for flute and lute (Durant e.g. look R. Thomson-Fuerst, P.Kiraly, J.Domning and F.Legl: The Lute, Yearbook of the German Lute Society, Nr. VII-X, Frankfurt a.M. 2009-2011).

Adam Falckenhagen – Lute Teacher for Wilhelmine

Wilhelmine first learnt to play the piano and in addition learnt to play the lute with her less famous teacher “Feldern”. Through the published letters between Friedrich and Wilhelmine we know that she got more musical training to play the lute beginning 1732 in Bayreuth with the teacher Adam Falckenhagen (1697-1754). She invited him to come to Berlin and even planned to send him to Weiss in Dresden. It is unknwn if this took place.

On a print portrait of Falckenhagn he is playing an instrument which could have been made by Weiss. It is a “theorbierte” lute with 13 strings. This instrument is described by Johann Christoph Gottsched’s encyclopedia from 1760. Falckenhagen dedicated his Opus II. to the Prussian Queen Sophie Dorothea. That can be interpreted as a sign of his connection to the court. He might have played in the Palace Monbijou or was planning to do so. His Opus I. was six sonatas for lute which he dedicated to Wilhelmine in 1736. He thanked her for her professional criticism and for helping him become more familiar with a modern style of music.

Falckenhagen came from Weimar to Bayreuth. His title was soon “Virtuosissimo”, which is the equivalent of a concert master. From 1744 he held the esteemed position as Secretary of Chamber (“Kammersekretaer”) until his death in 1754. Ernestine Charlotte Chretienne Falckenhagen, who might have been his daughter, wrote two tributes for Wilhlmine and her husband Friedrich in 1750. In these published testimonials she mentioned that the court always honored her family.

Falckenhagen died October 6.th 1754 and in the same month Wilhelmine and Friedrich went on a journey to Italy until August 1755. After they returned a music room in the Palace of Bayreuth was decorated. This music room shows how important the relationship between Wilhelmine and Falckenhagen was. On the ceiling of the room is a painting by the court artist Wilhelm Ernst Wunder. It shows Orpheus playing a lyre. The instrument has 13 strings, which is unusual for a lyre, but is equivalent to Falckenhagens 13 stringed lute. In this painting is also a little dog. His name was Folichon and he belonged to Wilhelmine, but died during her journey to Italy. The painting is a memory of him and the court lute player Falckenhagen painted as Orpheus, sitting on a (grave) stone with the little dog by his feet.

Johann Joachim Quantz – Flute Teacher of Friedrich

Johann Joachim Quantz (1697-1773) was taught to play several instruments as a municipal musician in Merseburg. He became court musician in Dresden. From there he traveled regularly to Berlin to teach prince the flute until Friedrich became King in 1740. Quantz moved to the court in Berlin when Friedrich was crowned in 1740 and he was well paid. The same year an unknown correspondent in Berlin wrote about Friedrich’s sister Wilhelmine: “We will soon have the fortune to see here the countesse from Bayreuth. The princess of Oranien has wonderful musical qualities and a special skill in playing the lute.”

Wilhelmine’s husband Friedrich (1711-1763) became count in 1735. He had a good musical education. He was an excellent flute player . His teachers were the same Quantz and Michel Blavet in Paris.

Gottlieb Ernst Baron – Lute Player and Bass Player (“Generalbassspieler”)

In 1732 the crown prince Friedrich started his first small ensemble with the financial help of his mother.It was to be kept a secret. A little later, in 1735, he employed the lute player Gottlieb Ernst Baron (1696-1769).Thus Rheinberg/Berlin became a musical center next to Dresden, Mannheim and Bayreuth. The musicians of Friedrich ensemble liked the plucking of figurine accords of the bass (“Gerneralbass”). This development was a new style of chamber music. This style was different from the orchestra music. Maybe this explains the “vanishing” of Falckenhagen in Bayreuth from the officially published Musical lists of Bayreuth, although he stayed as a member of the chamber staff. There is a collection of lute music in the archives of the city of Augsburg. Composed by the musicians from Bayreuth the collection indicates a “late bloom” of lute music.

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach – Royal Court Harpsichord Player

It is unclear when the connection between Friedrich the Great and the son of Johann Sebastian Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788) started. The crown prince Friedrich and his Sister Wilhelmine were a magnet for young musicians who were seeking a career opportunity or were looking for new employment, especially after the death of August the Strong in 1733.

The young violinist Franz Benda of Bohemia visited during his journey from Ruppin to Bayreuth the house of the Bach family in Leipzig. There he met the 20 year old Carl Phhilipp Emanuel. Carl was thinking of leaving Leipzig. It is possible that Benda awakened his interes about the journeys destination and about the Prussian sibling pair Friedrich and Wilhelmine. A newly published letter conforms that Carl Bach had already in 1735 contact to the crown prince Friedrich. (see “Bagatellen aus Berlin”, ed. By G. Berger and J. Wassermann, Berlin 2010). Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach came officially into service after the crowning of Friedrich in 1740.

Antoine Mahaut – a Real Pioneer of the Flute

Wilhelmine’s husband Friedrich had an excellent training in music. He was in Paris a guest of the “concerts spirituels”. Through his influence Bayreuth, a Franconian Caoital, became a center for not only lute playing but also for flute playing. Friedrich became count in 1737 and invited a series of international master musicians. He employed the then very young frendh man Antoine Mahaut (1719-1785) from Namur. Martial Leroux described Mahaut as the “real pioneer” of the flute. (MGG2, supplement 2008). Unexpectly Mahaut was employed as a singer in Bayreuth. In 1735 Mahaut stayed at the court of Bayern. His stay in Franconia could have happened right after that. He had to leave the court in 1737 because of debt, as written in the archives of the treasury (“Markgraefliche Schatulle”).

Irene Hegen

(Translation: Antje Müller)