Sigismund Graf von Schrattenbach (28 February 1698 – 16 December 1771) was

Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg The Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg (german: Fürsterzbistum Salzburg; Erzstift Salzburg; Erzbistum Salzburg) was an ecclesiastical principality and state of the Holy Roman Empire. It comprised the secular territory ruled by the archbishops ...

from 1753 to 1771. Both Leopold and Wolfgang Mozart served under him.

Life

He was born in

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popula ...

Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered ...

, the son of Count Otto Heinrich von Schrattenbach and Maria Theresa, Countess of Wildenstein and widowed Baroness Gall von Gallenstein. After studying theology in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, Schrattenbach was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

a priest in 1723 and obtained a seat in the Salzburg

cathedral chapter According to both Catholic and Anglican canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics ( chapter) formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese during the vacancy. ...

in 1733. In 1747 he was appointed administrator of

Hohenwerfen Castle Hohenwerfen Castle (german: Festung Hohenwerfen, lit=Hohenwerfen Fortress) is a medieval rock castle, situated on a precipice overlooking the Austrian market town of Werfen in the Salzach valley, approximately south of Salzburg. The fortress i ...

, later also cathedral dean and privy councillor. He was elected Archbishop of Salzburg after the death of Count

Andreas Jakob von Dietrichstein Andreas Jakob von Dietrichstein (27 May 1689, Moravia – 5 January 1753, Salzburg) was successor to Prince-Archbishop Liechtenstein and ruled in Salzburg from 1747 to 1753, shortly before the birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Biography Early li ...

in 1753, after numerous rounds of voting he finally prevailed against rivalling Joseph Maria von Thun,

Bishop of Gurk The Bishop of Gurk is the head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gurk, which was established in 1072 as the first suffragan bishop by Archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg in the Duchy of Carinthia. Initially performing the functions of a mere archiep ...

. During his tenure

Leopold Mozart Johann Georg Leopold Mozart (November 14, 1719 – May 28, 1787) was a German composer, violinist and theorist. He is best known today as the father and teacher of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and for his violin textbook ''Versuch einer gründlichen ...

as well as his son Wolfgang Amadeus were appointed members of the episcopal court orchestra and he financed the grand tour across Europe. In 1763 he employed

Michael Haydn Johann Michael Haydn (; 14 September 173710 August 1806) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period, the younger brother of Joseph Haydn. Life Michael Haydn was born in 1737 in the Austrian village of Rohrau, near the Hungarian border. ...

as court composer. Between 1764 and 1767, Sigismund was responsible for the construction of the Sigmundstor, a road tunnel that connects the Salzburg Altstadt with the Riedenburg quarter through the Mönchsberg mountain. The tunnel now bears his name, although it is more commonly known by its earlier name of the Neutor. Schrattenbach died in

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

, aged 73. His funeral service on 2 January 1772 was the occasion for the first performance of Michael Haydn's

Requiem A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...

''Missa pro defuncto Archiepiscopo Sigismondo''MusicAndHistory.com:1772
Accessed 12 March 2013 written in his honour. Schrattenbach was succeeded by Count

Hieronymus von Colloredo Hieronymus Joseph Franz de Paula Graf Colloredo von Wallsee und Melz (Jérôme Joseph Franz de Paula, Count of Colloredo-Wallsee and Mels; ) was Prince-Bishop of Gurk from 1761 to 1772 and Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg from 1772 until 1803, w ...

, the last Salzburg prince-archbishop before the 1803 secularisation. Michael Haydn stayed in Salzburg under the reign of Colloredo; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, on the other hand, left soon after.

Notes

References

* Alessandro Cont
''Leopoldo Ernesto Firmian (1708-1783) e l'arcidiocesi di Salisburgo''
“Annali dell’Istituto storico italo-germanico in Trento”, 32 (2006), pp. 71–126.

External links

(in German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sigismund 3 Christoph von Schrattenbach 18th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the Holy Roman Empire 18th-century Austrian people Roman Catholic archbishops of Salzburg Counts of Austria Clergy from Graz Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's employers and patrons 1698 births 1771 deaths Prince-archbishops of Salzburg