Instrumentarium und Instrumentalstil in der Wiener Hofoper

The present Habilitationsschrift offers the first systematic discourse on developments in instrumental style and performance practice in Viennese Court Chapel music at the time of its highpoint under Emperors Joseph I (1705- 1711) and Charles VI (1711 - 1740). On the basis of opera scores and orchestral parts by such composers as G. and A. Bononcini, M. A. Ziani, J. J. Fux, Fr. Conti, A. Caldara, G. Porsile, L. A. Predieri etc., as they are preserved in the Music Collection of the ÖNB, the library of the Wiener Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, and in various foreign archives, various topics are dealt with here. These include the development of scores, repertoire, instrumentation, orchestration, as well as the kinds of instruments used and how individual instruments function. Further areas of inquiry involve the formationof an autonomous orchestral style, the use of the Concerto grosso principle between 1700 and 1710, the important position of the aria with concertante instruments (oboes, chalumeau, bassoon, trumpet, violin, viola damore, violoncello, etc.) or the use of characteristic combinations of instruments in the Viennese Court Opera (for example in the double choruses between 1716 and 1736). Special attention is given to the explanation of numerous questions concerning proper instrumentation (Violini, Violini soli, Concertino, Senza or Con Fagotto, Senza or Con Hautbois? etc.) - particularly important for editorial purposes -and also concerning the generational change in Viennese copying practices around 1729. In summary, the opera scores under consideration present fascinating documentation reflecting actual stylistic trends as well as the cultivation of orchestral playing at its highest level. Because of the fact that the instrumental accompaniments used in the Viennese Court Opera were far above the level found in contemporary Viennese instrumental music - both compositionally and stylistically - the important question arises here: What was the significance of Italian opera in Wien for the development of Wiener pre-classical and classical instrumental music? The Viennese opera scores and the accomplished evolution in orchestral style that is found there make it absolutely clear that any consideration of the formation and development of Viennese symphonic instrumental style, without regarding Italian opera at the Viennese Court, can only bring incomplete results.