Joseph Wenzel zu Fürstenberg-Stühlingen (21 March 1728 - 2 June 1783) was a German nobleman and from 1762 to 1783 the sixth ruling Prince of Fürstenberg.

Life

Joseph Wenzel was the eldest son of prince Joseph zu Fürstenberg and Maria Anna von Waldstein. He studied in

Straßburg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin department and the official seat of the European Parliament. The cit ...

and

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

. He tried to develop the principality's education and introduced a chancery for it. Teaching was based on the Austrian system and a Jesuit was made head of the Donaueschingen Gymnasium and later the Benedictine Franz Uebelacker was put in charge of the whole school system. He also had a history of the House of the Fürstenberg written from the principality's archives. He set up a zuchthaus in

Hüfingen Hüfingen ( Low Alemannic: ''Hifinge'') is a town in the district of Schwarzwald-Baar, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the river Breg, 4 km south of the source of the Danube. History Hüfingen has the historical distin ...

and stopped his father's industrialisation policy and made resettlement difficult, since he saw industry as immoral - he preferred home handiwork such as watchmaking. In 1777 he set up a fire brigade. He was made director of the Swabian College of Reichsgrafen and in 1775 the

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...

appointed him a major general (with his rank effective from 1765). He was also a music lover and was said to have been an excellent cellist. In 1762 he began building a private chapel at his court at

Donaueschingen Donaueschingen (; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Eschinge'') is a German town in the Black Forest in the southwest of the States of Germany, federal state of Baden-Württemberg in the Schwarzwald-Baar ''Districts of Germany, Kreis''. It ...

, and bringing a number of foreign musicians to man it. In 1783 he appointed Franz Christoph Neubauer as his musical director. He employed

Ernst Christoph Dressler Ernst Christoph Dressler (23 September 1734 – 6 April 1779) was a German composer, operatic tenor, violinist and music theory, music theorist. He began his career as a self taught singer and violinist, but eventually received vocal training from ...

Kapellmeister ( , , ), from German (chapel) and (master), literally "master of the chapel choir", designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term has evolved considerably in i ...

Wetzlar Wetzlar () is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany. It is the twelfth largest city in Hesse with currently 55,371 inhabitants at the beginning of 2019 (including second homes). As an important cultural, industrial and commercial center, the un ...

between 1767 and 1771. In 1766

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

and his son Wolfgang Amadeus spent around two weeks at the

Donaueschingen Palace Donaueschingen Palace (), also known as the Fürstenberg palace (), is a princely residence in French Baroque Revival architecture. It is situated in Donaueschingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the seat of the princes of House of Fürs ...

as Joseph Wenzel's guest.

Marriage and succession

On 9 June 1748 Joseph Wenzel married Maria Josepha, countess of Waldburg-Scheer-Trauchburg, daughter of count Hans Ernst von

Waldburg-Scheer Waldburg-Scheer was a County ruled by the House of Waldburg, located in southeastern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Waldburg-Scheer was a partition of Waldburg-Trauchburg, to which it was restored in 1764. Counts of Waldburg-Scheer * Joseph Will ...

-Trauchburg. They had seven children: * Johann Nepomuk Joseph (25 July 1755 - 6 October 1755) * Josepha Maria Johanna (14 November 1756 - 2 October 1809) ∞ Phillip Maria von Fürstenberg-Pürglitz * Joseph Maria (9 January 1758 – 24 June 1796) * Maria Anna Josepha (4 April 1759 - 26 June 1759) * Karl Alexander (11 September 1760 - 19 February 1761) * Karl Egon (5 June 1762 - 20 February 1771) * Karl Joachim (31 March 1771 – 17 May 1804)

Bibliography

* * Erno Seifriz: ''„Des Jubels klare Welle in der Stadt der Donauquelle“. Musik am Hofe der Fürsten von Fürstenberg in Donaueschingen im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert'' In: Mark Hengerer und Elmar L. Kuhn (ed.): ''Adel im Wandel. Oberschwaben von der frühen Neuzeit bis zur Gegenwart''. Verlag Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2006, , Band 1, S. 363–376.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Joseph Wenzel #Furstenbergstuhlingen category:1728 births category:1783 deaths House of Fürstenberg (Swabia) 18th-century nobility from the Holy Roman Empire