Karl Alois, Prince Lichnowsky of Woschütz (, also known as ''Carl Alois, Fürst von Lichnowsky-Woschütz''; 21 June 1761 – 15 April 1814) was the second
Prince Lichnowsky and a
chamberlain at the Imperial
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
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, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...
of music and his relationships with
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...
and
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 ...
.
Life
Karl Alois, Prince Lichnowsky was born in Vienna in 1761.
[Vienna, Parish of St. Michael, ''Baptismal Register'', Volume C, page 287. Original German: ''Wien, Pfarre St. Michael, Taufbuch Tom. C, S. 287.''] Karl Alois was born as the eldest son of Prince Friedrich Karl Johann Amadeus von
Lichnowsky-Werdenberg (1720-1788) and his wife, Countess Maria Karolina von
Althann (1741-1800). Although Lichnowsky spent most of his time in Vienna, it was actually in
Prussia
Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
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. The ...
. His estates were located in
Grätz, in the Austrian part of the historic province of
Silesia, most of which was
conquered by Prussia earlier in the century. The location is today called
Hradec nad Moravicí and is within the borders of the
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
.
[Clive 2001, p. 205.]
In his youth (1776 to 1782) he was a law student, studying in
Leipzig and in
Göttingen
Göttingen (, ; ; ) 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. According to the 2022 German census, t ...
. While in Göttingen he met
Johann Nikolaus Forkel, who later was to become famous for writing the first biography of
J. S. Bach. Lichnowsky at the time began to collect works by Bach in manuscript copies.
[Grove] He also was a musician and a composer. Karl Alois was a
Mason and a lodge brother of Mozart; see
Mozart and Freemasonry.
Private life
Lichnowsky was married (1788)
to
Countess Maria Christiane von
Thun und Hohenstein (1765-1841), 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 pu ...
) daughter of Count Franz Josef Anton von
Thun und Hohenstein (1734-1801), an Imperial
Chamberlain and his wife, Countess
Maria Wilhelmine von Thun und Hohenstein, née Countess von
Uhlfeldt (1744-1800).
[Deutsch 1965, p. 339.]
Relationship with Mozart
In 1789 he traveled to
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
, taking Mozart along with him. For details of the trip, see
Mozart's Berlin journey.
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) 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 ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
, 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 (1795)
*The "Nine variations for piano on 'Quant'è più bello' from
Giovanni Paisiello's opera ''La Molinara''", for piano solo,
WoO 69 (1795)
*The
Piano sonata in C minor, Opus 13, "Pathétique" (1798)
*The
Piano sonata in A-flat major, Opus 26 (1801)
*The
Second Symphony in D major, Opus 36 (1802)
Death
He died of a stroke in Vienna on 15 April 1814.
''Wiener Zeitung'', 20 April 1814, p. 444.
/ref>
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
* Prince Lichnowsky page.
*Genealogy
15 generations of the Lichnowsky Family
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lichnowsky, Prince Carl
1761 births
1814 deaths
Austrian princes
Habsburg Bohemian nobility
Karl Alois, Prince Lichnowsky
Patrons of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Austrian patrons of music
Philanthropists from Vienna