Count Ferdinánd Pálffy de Erdőd (1 February 1774 – 4 February 1840) was a mining engineer and civil servant of the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...

who is better remembered for his role in managing the

Theater an der Wien The is a historic theatre in Vienna located on the Left Wienzeile in the Mariahilf district. Completed in 1801, the theatre has hosted the premieres of many celebrated works of theatre, opera, and symphonic music. Since 2006, it has served prim ...

, Vienna, in pursuit of which he lost his not inconsiderable fortune and retired from his creditors in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Life

Born in the

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

residence Vienna the son of Count Lipót Pálffy de Erdőd (1739–1799), he was a distant relative of the Imperial field marshal and Hungarian palatine János Pálffy (1664–1751). He attended the mining institute at Schemnitz, Hungary (now Banská Štiavnica,

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

) from 1794 to 1796, where he remained in government service before returning to Vienna in 1806 to work in the Austrian ministry of mines. TheateranDerWienJakobAlt

In 1807 Pálffy was among the association of court nobles that acquired the

, as well as the leases of the other two theatres patronised by the court, the

Burgtheater The Burgtheater (; literally: "Castle Theater" but alternatively translated as "(Imperial) Court Theater", originally known as '' K.K. Theater an der Burg'', then until 1918 as the ''K.K. Hofburgtheater'', is the national theater of Austria in ...

and the Theater am Kärntnertor. By degrees he became solely responsible for the court theaters, and in 1813 he acquired outright the Theater an der Wien, inducing

Louis Spohr Louis Spohr (, 5 April 178422 October 1859), baptized Ludewig Spohr, later often in the modern German form of the name Ludwig was a German composer, violinist and conductor. Highly regarded during his lifetime, Spohr composed ten symphonies, ...

to come from his court appointment in

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...

to conduct its orchestra. Count Pálffy was a dedicated patroniser of

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

, whom he reserved an honored place in his theatre—in close vicinity to the orchestra due to Beethoven's incipient deafness. According to Spohr, he nevertheless was vociferously accursed by the impetuous composer. Under Pálffy's directorship, the Theater an der Wien saw the premiere of Helmina von Chézy's ''Rosamunda'', which sank without a trace, save for its incidental music by

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

, whose 1820 melodrama '' Die Zauberharfe'' found eight performances at the Theater, for which Schubert dedicated to Palffy his Grande Sonata in B-flat major ( D 617).Clive 1997. He found fault with Spohr's 1813 opera ''

Faust Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a ...

'', so that

Carl Maria von Weber Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (5 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist, guitarist, and Music criticism, critic in the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Best known for List of operas by Carl Maria von Weber, h ...

arranged its premiere at the Prague Estates Theatre in 1816. During the period of his proprietorship, which lasted until 1826, he offered

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

and

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

and, to appeal to a wider Viennese audience, popular

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or ...

and variety acts, losing money in elaborate spectacles until he was forced to sell the theater at auction in 1826, and to disperse his library and collection of mineral specimens. Fearing arrest for his outstanding debts, he fled Vienna for Preßburg (Bratislava) where he remained for several years.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palffy Von Erdod, Count Ferdinand Impresarios 1774 births 1840 deaths Engineers from the Austrian Empire