Karl Alois, Prince Lichnowsky (german: Karl Alois Johann-Nepomuk Vinzenz Leonhard, Fürst Lichnowsky, also known as ''Carl Alois, Fürst von Lichnowsky-Woschütz''; 21 June 1761 – 15 April 1814) was the second

Prince Lichnowsky The House of Lichnowsky or House of Lichnovský is the name of an influential Czech aristocratic family of Silesian and Moravian origin, documented since the 14th century. History The noble family first appeared in the Duchy of Pless (Pszczyna) ...

and a

chamberlain Chamberlain may refer to: Profession *Chamberlain (office), the officer in charge of managing the household of a sovereign or other noble figure People *Chamberlain (surname) **Houston Stewart Chamberlain (1855–1927), German-British philosop ...

at the Imperial

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n court. He is remembered for his

patronage Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

of music and his relationships with

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

and

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

Life

Lichnowsky was born in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

as the eldest son of Prince Friedrich Karl Johann Amadeus von Lichnowsky-Werdenberg (1720-1788) and his wife, Countess Maria Karolina von

Althann The House of Althann (also spelled Althan, Altham or Altheim) is the name of an ancient German noble family that originated from Lower Bavaria, whose members occupied many important political and clerical positions during the Holy Roman Empire. F ...

(1741-1800). Although Lichnowsky spent most of his time in Vienna, it was actually in

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

that he held the title of

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

. His estates were located in Grätz, in the Austrian part of the historic province of

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

, most of which was

conquered Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms. Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, t ...

by Prussia earlier in the century. The location is today called

Hradec nad Moravicí Hradec nad Moravicí (; german: Grätz) is a town in Opava District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 5,400 inhabitants. The historic town centre with the castle complex is well preserved and is protected by law as ...

and is within the borders of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

.Clive 2001, 205 In his youth (1776 to 1782) he was a law student, studying in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

and in

Göttingen Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, t ...

. While in Göttingen he met

Johann Nikolaus Forkel Johann Nikolaus Forkel (22 February 1749 – 20 March 1818) was a German musicologist and music theory, music theorist, generally regarded as among the founders of modern musicology. His publications include ''Johann Sebastian Bach: His Life, ...

, who later was to become famous for writing the first biography of

J. S. Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

. Lichnowsky at the time began to collect works by Bach in manuscript copies.Grove He also was a musician and a composer. Lichnowsky was married (1788) to the former Maria Christiane Imperial Countess von Thun und Hohenstein, the "beautiful" (according to

Otto Erich Deutsch Otto Erich Deutsch (5 September 1883 – 23 November 1967) was an Austrian musicologist. He is known for compiling the first comprehensive catalogue of Franz Schubert's compositions, first published in 1951 in English, with a revised edition pub ...

) daughter of Imperial Countess

Maria Wilhelmine von Thun und Hohenstein Maria Wilhelmine von Thun und Hohenstein, born Uhlfeldt (Vienna 13 June 1744 – Vienna 18 May 1800) was a Viennese countess. She is remembered as the sponsor of a musically and intellectually outstanding salon and for her patronage of music, notabl ...

née Imperial Countess von Uhlfeldt, and of Imperial Count Franz Josef Anton von

Thun und Hohenstein The House of Thun und Hohenstein, also known as Thun-Hohenstein, belonged to the historical Austrian and Bohemian nobility. There is one princely and several comital branches of the family. The princely branch of the family lived at Děčín (Te ...

(born 1734), who later became an Imperial Chamberlain. Deutsch 1965, 339 Lichnowsky was a

Mason Mason may refer to: Occupations * Mason, brick mason, or bricklayer, a craftsman who lays bricks to construct brickwork, or who lays any combination of stones, bricks, cinder blocks, or similar pieces * Stone mason, a craftsman in the stone-cut ...

and a lodge brother of Mozart; see

Mozart and Freemasonry For the last seven years of his life Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a Freemasonry, Mason. The Masonic order played an important role in his life and work. Mozart's lodges Mozart was admitted as an Apprentice to the Viennese Masonic lodge called "Zur ...

. He died of a stroke in Vienna on 15 April 1814.

Relationship with Mozart

In 1789 he traveled to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, taking Mozart along with him. For details of the trip, see

Mozart's Berlin journey One of the longest adulthood journeys of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a visit, beginning in Spring 1789, to a series of cities lying northward of his adopted home in Vienna: Prague, Leipzig, Dresden, and Berlin. Departure The journey took place d ...

. He also lent Mozart money, which Mozart was unable to repay. This led the Prince to sue Mozart, and on 9 November 1791, a few weeks before Mozart died, the Lower Austria Court (''Landrechte'') decided the case in favor of the Prince, ruling that Mozart owed him the sum of 1,435 florins and 32 kreutzer, a substantial amount. The court issued an order to the chamber of the Imperial court (Mozart's employer) to attach half of Mozart's salary of 800 florins per year. The evidence of the lawsuit was uncovered (by

Otto Mraz Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', ''Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded fro ...

) only in 1991, and hence is not discussed in earlier Mozart biographies.

Relationship with Beethoven

Lichnowsky was one of the most significant aristocratic supporters of Beethoven. In an 1805 letter the composer called him "one of my most loyal friends and promoters of my art." In 1796, the Prince traveled to

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

, this time taking Beethoven with him. The composer was on his way to Berlin. In 1800, Lichnowsky gave Beethoven an annual allowance of 600 florins until such time as he found a regular appointment as a musician. The stipend continued until 1806, when a furious quarrel erupted between the two, terminating their friendship: Beethoven, staying at Lichnowsky's country estate, had refused to play for visiting French officers. Later, arriving home in Vienna, Beethoven smashed a bust of the Prince. Seven of Beethoven's musical compositions, all before 1806, were dedicated to Lichnowsky: *The three piano trios, Opus 1 (1793) *The "Nine variations for piano on 'Quant'è più bello' from

Giovanni Paisiello Giovanni Paisiello (or Paesiello; 9 May 1740 – 5 June 1816) was an Italian composer of the Classical era, and was the most popular opera composer of the late 1700s. His operatic style influenced Mozart and Rossini. Life Paisiello was born in T ...

's opera ''La Molinara''", for piano solo,

WoO Woo, WoO, WOO, W.O.O. and variants may refer to: People Woo or Wu, romanization of several East Asian names: * Hu (surname): 胡, 瓠, 護, 戶, 扈, 虎, 呼, 忽, 斛 * Wu (surname): 吳, 伍, 武, 仵, 烏, 鄔, 巫 * Ng (name): 吳, 伍 * Woo ...

69 (1795)Date from Nosow (1997) *The Piano sonata in C minor, Opus 13, "Pathétique" (1798) *The Piano sonata in A-flat major, Opus 26 (1801) *The Second Symphony (1802)

Notes

References

Sources

*Clive, Peter (2001) ''Beethoven and his World: A Biographical Dictionary''. Oxford University Press. *Deutsch, Otto Erich (1965) ''Mozart: A Documentary Biography''. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. *''Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', article "Lichnowsky". Online edition. Copyright 2007 by Oxford University Press. The article is by Elliott Forbes and William Meredith. *Nosow, Robert (1997) "Beethoven's popular keyboard publications," ''Music and Letters'' 56-76. *Solomon, Maynard (1995) ''Mozart: A Life''. New York: Harper Collins.

External links

page. *Genealogy
15 generations of the Lichnowsky Family
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lichnowsky, Prince Carl 1761 births 1814 deaths Austrian princes Bohemian nobility

Karl Alois, Prince Lichnowsky Karl Alois, Prince Lichnowsky (german: Karl Alois Johann-Nepomuk Vinzenz Leonhard, Fürst Lichnowsky, also known as ''Carl Alois, Fürst von Lichnowsky-Woschütz''; 21 June 1761 – 15 April 1814) was the second Prince Lichnowsky and a chamberla ...

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's employers and patrons Austrian patrons of music Philanthropists from Vienna