Thematischer Katalog Mathias Öttl

Following the recent publication of the work of Karlmann Pachschmidt the Thematische Katalog Mathias Öttl honours another composer of the late Austrian Baroque. Baptized on 21 February 1675 at Lake Constance in Bodman, Öttl`s first documented musical appearance was as a participant in a Jesuit drama performance in Vienna on 31 July 1698. Activities as a tenor in Vienna`s St. Stephen`s cathedral, employment at the Schotten monastery as well as his appointment as Musicus and subsequently Kapellmeister to the dowager Empress Eleonora, the widow of Leopold I., and his employment as "Tenorist" in the Hofmusik are further stages in his life which are discussed in the biographical section of the Katalog. In this section several up to the present day unknown details of Öttls life are discussed too. He was for example one of the musicians in Prag during the coronation-festivities of Emperor Karl VI. He "instruierte" - whatever this in one of the investigated source found word means - the "Infantinnen" Maria Theresia and her sister Maria Anna, and he worked for the "Reichsgräfin" Maria Karolina (Charlotte) von Fuchs-Mollard. Another aspect of the Katalog is the investigation, in particular the attribution of 66 compositions, found under several composers` names, which has also shed new light on several of the 37 collections from six countries, in which these works are now housed. Like many other respectable Viennese composers of the beginning 18th century Öttl is nearly unknown today. Here is still a lot to do. One can`t discuss the great musicians of the Hofmusik like Fux, Caldara and forget all the other Viennese "Maestri" of this period. They all enriched the music, one more, one less, and so did Öttl too: several of his compositions could be also a work of a composer with an up to the present day well known name.