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Michael Lorenz

Haydn Singing at Vivaldi's Exequies: An Ineradicable Myth

The following post is based on a paper which in September 2002 I submitted to the conference"Music and Death in the Eighteenth Century" (King’s College London, 8–9 February 2003)and which was rejected by the organizer of this conference.

Introduction

That on 28 July 1741 the nine-year-old Joseph Haydn sang at Antonio Vivaldi's exequies atSt. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna is one of the most beloved myths of music historiography.Many authors seem to be deeply enamored with the image of two great artists, meetingunknown to each other and somehow "passing the torch" from one creative spirit to the other.And yet this scenario is pure fiction. Caused by a series mistranslations andmisunderstandings it became a popular myth and made its way into the biographies of bothcomposers.

I have developed a simple and quick litmus test for the quality of a new Haydn biography:look for Vivaldi's name in the index, go to the page where Vivaldi is referred to (usually nearthe beginning of the book) and check if young Haydn is described as "having sung atVivaldi's funeral". And if this is the case the book can be put away immediately. Countlessbooks about Haydn – especially some of those published on the occasion of the 2009anniversary – did not pass this test, because many authors simply cannot let go of this belovedmyth. The most recent item that caused my surprise at the longevity of this story, is FrankHuss's book Joseph Haydn. Das unterschätzte Genie, published in 2013, where on p. 17 theauthor states: "Likewise Haydn sang in the Requiem which was performed in the course ofthe funeral service of the composer Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741), who had surprisingly diedin Vienna." On p. 823 of the Haydn-Lexikon (Laaber-Verlag 2010) Christin Heitmann writes:"Haydn war zu dieser Zeit Chorknabe an St. Stephan – es ist daher zu vermuten, dass er imChor bei der Beerdigung Vivaldis gesungen hat." The Vivaldi and the Haydn literature areequally flawed concerning this issue. Since every author copies from all the others,scholarship soon ends up in a kind of echo chamber and printed misinformation is spreadingrelentlessly. As I stated in a lecture on source studies that I gave in October 2005 at theUniversity of Salzburg: "Going back to the original sources often leads to a systematicdemolition of the secondary literature."

To shed more light on the fascinating genesis of the Haydn-Vivaldi myth we have to go backseveral decades when the music world first learned where and when Abbate Vivaldi met hismaker.

Vivaldi's Funeral

Until 1938 the year and place of Vivaldi's death were unknown. It was generally assumed thatVivaldi had died in Venice around 1743, until the Venetian scholar Rodolfo Gallo (1881-1964) came across the following passage in the Commemoriali of Pietro Gradenigo (1695-1772) in the collection of the Museo Correr (Mss. Gradenigo II, cap. 36):

L'Abbate Antonio Vivaldi eccelentissimo Sonatore di Violino detto il Prete Rosso,stimato compositore de concerti, guadagnò ai suoi giorni cinquantamille ducati, maper sproporzionata prodigalità mori miserabile in Vienna.

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The Abbé Antonio Vivaldi, a most excellent violinist called the Red Priest, the famouscomposer of concertos, is said in his times to have earned fifty thousand ducats, butowing to excessive prodigality died a pauper in Vienna.

Gradenigo's reference made it easy to locate the Viennese sources pertaining to Vivaldi'sdeath. In 1938 Rodolfo Gallo was the first to publish the entry in the death records of St.Stephen's Cathedral concerning Vivaldi's funeral on 28th July 1741 and the second, moredetailed one in the so-called Bahrleihbuch (protocol of funeral fees) concerning the costs ofthis ceremony. Surprising as it may seem, the original document has never been transcribedcompletely and without mistakes. The entry in question in the Bahrleihbuch (with folios 177vand 178r merged into one picture) looks as follows:

The entry concerning Antonio Vivaldi's exequies on 28 July 1741 in the Bahrleihbuch of the parish of St.Stephen's Cathedral (A-Wd, Bahrleihbuch 1741, fol. 177v and 178r)

This entry can be translated as follows:

28 JulyConduct VivaldiThe Hon. Mr. Antonius Vivaldi, secular priest, who died of internal inflammation atthe age of 60, was seen by the coroner at the Saddler's House next to the CarinthianGate and was buried in the graveyard of the civic hospital.Peal of the small bells .........." 2"36"Curate ..................................." 3"―Shroud .................................." 2"15"Parish picture ......................." 0"30"Gravesite .............................." 2"―Bier renter and sexton .........." 1.15"Sacristan ..............................." –"306 bearers with coats .............." 4"306 lanterns .............................." 2"―

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6 cowlboys ..........................." –"54"Bier ......................................." –"15"Pelican S[um] "19"45"

Most translations in the literature, like the one in the 1970 English edition of Kolneder's book(with the symptomatically wrong shelfmark "necrology, Vol. 23, fol. 63") and in Karl Heller'sAntonio Vivaldi: The Red Priest of Venice (Portland: Amadeus Press 1997) are flawed: aBahrleicher is not a gravedigger and a Kuttenbub is not a choirboy. It seems that DavidMarinelli, the translator of Heller's book, copied some of his mistakes directly from Kolneder.

The "Wallerisches Haus" and the "Spitaller Gottsacker"

Vivaldi died on 28 July 1741 of internal inflammation at the house of Agatha Waller, néeFreisinger (1674-1751). The spelling of her name as "Wahler" which appears in the literatureis based on a mistranscription of the h-like sign before the l, which – as I have explainedelsewhere on several occasions – was not an h, but a sign that doubled the followingconsonant. In 1714 the four-story building at the south end of the Kärntnerstraße was boughtby the Prague-born saddler Augustin Waller (1678-1730). Waller was able to afford thispurchase, because he was the personal master saddler of the widowed Empress WilhelmineAmalia. Even in 1830 there was still a saddler's workshop located on the ground floor of thebuilding.

The "Wallerisches Haus" at the southwest corner of the Kärntnerstraße opposite the Kärntnertor in 1778. Thisclip from Huber's map shows that in the 18th century the building had only four storeys.

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The groundplan of the fourth floor of the "Wallerisches Haus" which was drawn in March 1826 on the occasionof the addition of a fifth floor (the red color marking the reenforcements of the walls). On the right is the

Kärntnerstraße, at the bottom the Sattlergasse towards the city wall. This floor is described in the 1788 taxregister as consisting of two apartments of which each consisted of "2 rooms, 2 chambers, 1 kitchen". On the topa small atrium is visible. On the ground floor the big room at the corner of the house was the seating room of an

inn. (A-Wsa, Unterkammeramt, A33, 11811/1826)

There is a well-known photograph dating from before 1858 that shows the two top floors ofVivaldi's last residence looking over the old city wall right beside the old Kärntnertor. Irefrain from using this photograph which has been published many times in the literature.Instead I present an unknown photograph that has so far completely escaped the attention ofVivaldi scholars. It was taken in 1863 from the roof of the newly built Heinrichshof and,because the city wall and the Kärntnertor had already been torn down, shows the full facadeof the house Stadt No. 1038, (the "Wallerisches Haus") where Vivaldi had died 122 yearsearlier. The fifth floor was added in 1826 and the roof is not the old tiled original. This maywell be the last picture ever taken of this building. In the foreground we can see the earlystages of the construction of the new K.K. Hof-Oper, in the back the rebuilding of the southtower of St. Stephen's is in progress.

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The house Stadt No. 1038 (on the left), where Vivaldi died in 1741. The two houses which today mark thebeginning of the narrower part of Kärntnerstraße are not located on the exact same area as the buildings Stadt

Nos. 1038 and 1019 that appear on this photograph (A-Wn 114.145C).

The façade of Stadt 1038 towards the Kärntnerstraße with the newly added fifth floor. On the left of the entranceis the door of the inn, on the right the one of the saddler's workshop. (A-Wsa, Unterkammeramt, A33,

11811/1826)

The information in the Vivaldi literature (Talbot 1993, p. 69) that this house was destroyed in1858 together with the Kärntnertor is false. On Emil Hütter's elliptical watercolor of the

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Bürgerspitalszinshaus and its surroundings we can see the small atrium, the yellow facade andthe round-shaped verdigris copper plated roof which was added in 1826.

A clip from Hütter's 1865 watercolor (Wienmuseum). The Kärntnertortheater is in the center, on the upper leftthere is a section of the Bürgerspitalszinshaus with the Komödiengassel and on the far right the green-roofed

"Wallerisches Haus" is visible.

Augustin Markus Waller, the saddler who had given the house both its names, died on 1August 1730 of biliary fever (his funeral cost 37 gulden 32 kreuzer) and after having agreedto a settlement with her sons his widow inherited the building.

Seal and signature of Vivaldi's landlady Agatha Waller on her will, written on 14 August 1751 (A-Wsa, AZJ,A1, 10112/18. Jhdt.) Agatha Waller died on 11 December 1751.

Based on information in the Viennese topographical literature some authors have pointed tothe fact that Beethovens's lawyer Johann Zizius (1772-1824) and the legendary dancer FannyElßler lived in the Haus Stadt No. 1038. But from a musical point of view the far moreprominent residents of this particular building were the composer Conradin Kreutzer (wholived there in 1830 with his family and his sister-in-law), the dancer and theater director LouisDuport and – in my opinion more interesting – Therese von Droßdik (née Malfatti),Beethoven's never-to-be bride, who died in this house on 27 April 1851.

After the exequies at the cathedral Vivaldi's body was transported all the way down the

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Kärntnerstraße to the Kärntnertor again, then across the 85 meters long bridge which spannedthe city moat and the Kärntnertorbrücke across the Wien to the cemetery of the Bürgerspital.

The "Wallerisches Haus" beside the Kärntnertor on the right and the "Spitaller Gottesacker" beside theKarlskirche on the left on Joseph Daniel von Huber's 1778 map of Vienna.

The cemetery of the Bürgerspital with the St. Augustine Chapel (built in 1701). This is not a contemporarydrawing, but a 19th-century watercolor copy of the cemetery as it appears on Huber's map.

The "Spitaller Gottesacker" on Steinhausen's 1710 map of Vienna before the building of the Karlskirche

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The cemetery and the chapel were closed on 1 May 1783. In 1785, after the chapel had beentorn down, the houses of the priest and the gravedigger were sold to the military and used asuniform depositories. Because these premises did not meet the demands, they were sold backto the Bürgerspital in 1788. In 1791 the ground was leased to the military command whichestablished a riding area there until in 1807 the area was put up for auction and a number ofhouses were built there.

The first page of the Vienna City Council's response of 17 November 1791 to the military command concerningthe military's request to let the Bürgerspital cemetery be turned into a riding area ("Wegen Uiberlassung des

Armensündergottesackers zur Errichtung eines Reiterpikets") (A-Wsa, HReg, A17, 7/1791)

The memorial plaque for Vivaldi on the east wing of the Vienna University of Technology isslightly misplaced: the Bürgerspital cemetery was located closer to the Karlskirche, on theadjacent area between Argentinierstraße and Karlsgasse.

Vivaldi's Bahrleihbuch Entry in the Literature

Somehow the problems with the publication of the pivotal primary source already began in1938 with Rodolfo Gallo, who, having never actually seen the original document at thearchive in Vienna, published the entry with a wrong name of the book ("Totenbuch"), onetranscription error ("Grabstall" instead of Grabstell), an incomplete folio number (only "Fol.177") and without the word "Pelican" at the end. Furthermore Gallo failed to include anyinformation regarding the general context of this document as well as the currency of theexpenses – mistakenly calling them "spese modeste" and noting their sum only as "19:45". Hedid not provide a usable translation of this entry and because of the words "im Satleri[schen]Haus" he erroneously assumed that Vivaldi had died "nella casa della famiglia Satler".

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Gallo's unclear documentation affected the Vivaldi literature for decades. It seems easy tocorrectly transcribe a short entry concerning an 18th-century funeral, but for scholars whoonly knew two pages of the Bahrleihbuch this proved to be a too difficult task. In his article"Biographisches um Antonio Vivaldi" (ÖMZ 2/1952) Walter Kolneder more or less copiedGallo's version, adding the mistake "Kartnerthor", because he took the "f" (of "florin") for a"t". Like Gallo Kolneder also ignored the mysterious "Pelican". In his 1965 book AntonioVivaldi Kolneder added the word "Pelican" (without explaining its meaning), but provided awrong shelfmark of the Barleihbuch, conflating it with "Tom. 63, p. 23" of the parish's regulardeath register. Equally flawed is the transcription in Karl Keller's Antonio Vivaldi (Reclam1991). A case in point is the presentation of the entry in Theophil Antonicek's and ElisabethHilscher's 1997 book Vivaldi. There is a wise rule concerning the publication of transcriptionsof historical documents: avoid publishing them alongside facsimiles of the original source,because this might backfire. Antonicek and Hilscher provide a transcription of the list ofexpenses, but not only is their text flawed, two of their numbers are wrong as well andtherefore do not add up to 19 gulden 45 kreuzer:

Antonicek/Hilscher: Vivaldi (Graz: Akademische Druck und Verlagsanstalt 1997, p. 137): The date is wrong andthe expenses do not add up to 19 gulden 45 kreuzer.

A truly amazing conglobation of errors is the presentation of the document on p. 252 ofSiegbert Rampe's Antonio Vivaldi und seine Zeit (Laaber-Verlag 2010). Rampe looked at theentries pertaining to the two funerals before and after Vivaldi's and (because he could not readthem) concluded the following: "The funeral of Lothar[sic] Englhart which preceded Vivaldi's

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only cost 12 kreuzer, Anton[sic] May's, the one after Vivaldi's on 28 July cost 1 gulden 27kreuzer." The truth is: Caspar (not Lothar) Engelhart's son Bernhard was a two-year-old child,Peter May (son of Anton May) was a fifteen-month-old child. The "Pelican" was turned into a"Delican" in Rampe's edition of the entry, a word that makes no sense and is explainednowhere in the book. Because Rampe not only copied the misspelled "Windliechter", but alsothe list of expenses from Antonicek, it is flawed (the numbers again do not add up to thecorrect sum):

A section of p. 252 of Rampe's book Antonio Vivaldi und seine Zeit. The date at the top "29. Juli" (copied fromAntonicek) is wrong. The comma after "19" is wrong and the quotation mark does not mean gulden, it meanskreuzer. Five sequins were not 19,7 ducats. Johann Joseph Fux's burial, which did not take place on 16, but on

15 February 1741, did not cost 170 gulden, but 180 gulden 52 kreuzer (Rampe knows nothing about Fux's burial,except what he extrapolated from Heller's book). The "Spitaler Friedhof" was not located "unweit der Hofburg",

the "Kuttenbuben" were not boys and they did not sing "Grablieder" (burial songs). The fact that Vivaldi wasburied in the "Armesünder-Gottesacker" had nothing to do with his status as foreigner. Note that Rampe calls the

two dead children "die Herren Englhart und May". Together with the typo "Beerdingungen" this jumble isvintage Laaber material.

Enter the "Choirboys"

The honor of having created the myth of choirboys having sung at the "pauper's burial" ofVivaldi belongs to the great Vivaldi scholar Marc Pincherle, who in his 1948 book Vivaldi:Génie du baroque translated – or rather interpreted – the entry in the Bahrleihbuch as follows:

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Le livre de caisse de Saint-Etienne (même année, folio 177) indique de façon assezvague qu'il est mort d'une inflammation interne (an inneren Brand bschaut), et fournitle décompte des frais exposés pour ses humbles funérailles: 19 florins 45 kreutzer. Iln'a eu droit qu'au "Kleingleuth" (Kleingeläut) ou sonnerie des cloches pour lespauvres[!], moyennant 2 florins 36, à six porteurs de civière, à six enfants de chœur[!];un noble homme[!] enterré la veille avait eu le glas à 4 florins 20, huit porteurs, douzeenfant de chœur, six musiciens, le reste à l'avenant, à concurrence de 102 florins!(Pincherle 1948, p. 27)

This statement proves that at some point Pincherle must have seen (the by then unpublished)folio 177r of the original 1741 Bahrleihbuch. It also proves that he had only a small notion ofwhat the words in this book really mean. Robbins Landon's misunderstanding, whichconsequently was to appear all over the Haydn literature, originates from this passage inPincherle's book. A "Kleingleuth" was not a "pauper's peal of bells". 2 florins 36 kreuzer wasa week's salary of a well-paid manservant. The commissioning of a holy mass cost 30 kreuzerin Vienna, a price that did not change for at least two centuries. The six "Kuttenbuben" werenot even boys, but men in cowls and they surely did not sing. The "nobleman", who accordingto Pincherle was buried the day before Vivaldi, was actually a noblewoman: the widow MariaAgnes von Feichtenberg, who had died of dropsy on 26 July 1741 at the "Goldener Hirsch" onthe Fleischmarkt:

The entry concerning the burial of Maria Agnes von Feichtenberg on 27 July 1741 inside St. Stephen's Cathedral(A-Wd, BLB 1741, fol. 177)

Von Feichtenberg received a "Fürstengleuth" for 4 gulden 20 kreuzer, twelve Kuttenbubenfolded their hands at her bier and she had musicians (for six gulden) performing in the churchand singing "[Der] grimige todt" which at the Cathedral at that time was the "ordinari"(standard) funeral song whose a capella performance always cost six gulden. That there wereexactly six musicians was Pincherle's assumption. As can be seen, the item that made

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Feichtenberg's burial so expensive was not the "Gleuth", but the tomb in the crypt of thecathedral which cost 50 gulden.

In his book Vivaldi (London: Chappell & Co., 1978) Alan Kendall took the mistaken"choirboys scenario" to an even more suggestive level. Basically echoing Pincherle, Kendallwrote:

Only nineteen florins and forty-five kreutzer were spent on the funeral, and he wasonly entitled to the Kleingeläut or pauper's[sic!] peal of bells, which only cost twoflorins and thirty-six kreutzer. He has six pall-bearers and six choirboys[sic!], too, butone sees how mean all of this was when the same records reveal that anobleman's[sic!] funeral might cost at least one hundred florins. (Kendall 1978, p. 93)

The idea of Vivaldi having died a pauper now really took hold. In the 1993 edition of hisbook on Vivaldi in the Dent Master Musicians series Michael Talbot writes:

The expenses, which totalled 19 florins and 45 kreutzers, were kept to the minimum. IfMozart's burial 50 years later was that of a pauper, Vivaldi's deserves that sad epithetequally. (Talbot 1993, p. 69)

In his book Vivaldi: Voice of the Baroque (London: Thames & Hudson, 1993) RobbinsLandon expresses a similar judgement: "He was entitled, only to the Kleingeläut, or thepauper's peal of bells, costing two florins and thirty-six kreuzer." In his Vivaldi article in TheNew Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians Talbot states: "[...] he was given a pauper'sburial on the latter day at the Hospital Burial Ground (Spittaler Gottesacker)." (New Grove,Vol. 26, p. 820). In the other prominent music encyclopedia Musik in Geschichte undGegenwart Karl Keller tells us that Vivaldi was buried "mit einfachster Zeremonie" ("with thesimplest ceremony") (MGG, Vol. 17, col. 89). None of the authors who wrote books aboutVivaldi ever scrutinized the Viennese sources to actually figure out how obsequies at the timeof Vivaldi's death were performed in Vienna.

Obsequies at St. Stephen's Cathedral Around 1740

For someone, who for about fifteen years has been studying the Bahrleihbücher of St.Stephen's (which survive from 1662 into the 1830s, with lots of gaps in the late years),Vivaldi's entry leaves no room for ambiguity or misunderstandings. It refers to a regularfuneral ceremony with a "Kleingleuth", i.e. the peal of the small bell on the west section ofthe Cathedral's roof. At the time of Vivaldi's death there were four kinds of peals of bells atSt. Stephen's (fl stands for florins, x for kreuzer):

1. "Großgleuth" at 9 fl 41 x (or "ordinari" at 19 fl 22 x)2. "Fürstengleuth" at 4 fl 20 x3. "Bürgergleuth" at 3 fl 45 x4. "Kleingleuth" at 2 fl 36 x

These four classes of "Gleuth" actually referred to four different bells on the cathedral. Onrare occasions at a price of 50 gulden the "große Glocke" (the old Pummerin) was pealed, butthis was not a separate class, it was an additional luxury which was only available formembers of the Landstände (i.e. the nobility). Of course combinations were also possible:after a "Großgleuth" at the beginning of the ceremony there could be an additional

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"Fürstengleuth" right before the Requiem prayer ("zum Requiem vorgeleuth"). There werebells of many other churches that could be pealed on demand on the occasion of funerals atSt. Stephen's: the Magdalene Chapel beside the Cathedral, St. Peter's Church, theMinoritenkirche, the Bürgerspitalskirche, the Ruprechtskirche, "Unser Lieben FrauenStiegen", St. Nicola, St. Salvator and the "Deutsches Hauß". Furthermore there were bells ofchapels in privately owned houses all over the city that could be pealed for funerals, such asthe ones in the Freisingerhof, the Gundelhof, the Seitzerhof and the Johanneshof. Manyfunerals, like those of small children and really poor people, had no peal of bells at all.

A funeral without a peal of bells: Georg Planckh, being buried on 5 May 1740 in the "Spitaller Gottsacker" (A-Wd, BLB 1740, fol. 119r)

There were a number of general rules and customs concerning funerals at the Cathedral thatcan be figured out by studying the 18th-century Bahrleihbücher of St. Stephen's. The"Kleingleuth" was not part of a pauper's burial. Real pauper's burials were "gratis".

The "gratis" burial of Giulio Cesare Birravri on 30 May 1741 in the cemetery of St. Stephen's (A-Wd, BLB1741, fol. 131r). This entry proves that poor adult foreigners were also buried in the "St. Ste[phans] Freind Hof",

i.e. the cemetery around the Cathedral.

The "Kleingleuth" was the standard procedure for the funeral ceremony of adult citizens.Court officials, civil servants, civil craftsmen and secular priests all received this kind of pealof bells. Karl Heller's claim that "the sum of nineteen florins and forty-five kreutzers wouldhave been sufficient for only the simplest of ceremonies" (Heller 1997, p. 265) is simply false.

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The entry concerning the funeral of the "Königlicher Laufer" (Royal footman) Lucrezio Bonno on 8 April 1742which proceeded exactly like Vivaldi's (A-Wd, BLB 1742, fol. 95r). Bonno (b. 1683 in Pralboino) was the father

of the Hofkapellmeister Joseph Bonno (1711-1788). Bonno's first name was not Giuseppe (as given onWikipedia and in the recent Mozart literature), but expressedly Joseph, because his godfather was Emperor

Joseph I. Contrary to the date given in the literature Joseph Bonno was born on 30 January 1711 (A-Wd, Tom.54, fol. 397r).

The entry concerning the funeral of the secular priest Joseph Russignol on 1 February 1741 in the "SchwarzSpanier" cemetery on the Alsergrund (A-Wd, BLB 1741, fol. 24r). Except for the Kelch (chalice), which was put

on the bier, this funeral resembled Vivaldi's.

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The entry concerning the funeral of the renowned composer Carlo Agostino Badia on 24 September 1738 (A-Wd, BLB 1738, fol. 254r). Note that owing to the lack of lanterns the funeral of the "Kaÿs: Hof- und Cammer-

Musicus" was two gulden cheaper than Vivaldi's, making it seem likely that the lanterns at Vivaldi's funeral werea dispensible luxury. Badia died a wealthy man and his funeral only was so modest, because he had requested

this in his will.

The entry concerning the funeral of the court musician (bass singer) Marco Antonio Berti on 9 December 1741(A-Wd, BLB 1741, fol. 269v). Because Berti was buried in the cemetery around the cathedral, his expenses

included the ringing of the cemetery bell and the fee for the gravedigger which added 66 kreuzer to the costs ofVivaldi's ceremony.

The class of peal of bells was not the decisive factor concerning the costs of funeralceremonies at the cathedral. The most expensive items – apart from the very high costs oftombs in the cathedral's crypt which sometimes came with the additional wage of a masterbuilder – were always the services of qualified people, such as the presence of a high numberof additional clergymen (Curaten and Canonici). One Canonicus cost three gulden, a curatetwo, an accolidus (acolyte) 50 kreuzer. The Kuttenbuben only cost nine kreuzer apiece, thebetter Minestranten each cost one gulden. High fees had to be paid for musicians (in variablenumbers) who actually sang a Miserere and one or several "Motteten" (an exception being theobsequies of prominent musicians such as Antonio Caldara for whom on 29 December 1736

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his colleagues played "gratis"). Even more expensive was the participation of instrumentalists(for 15 gulden) who accompanied the singing "mit Sartin" (also spelled "mit Sardin") or"Sartindl" (with muted trumpets or trombones). The most expensive musical service availablewas the performance of an actual Requiem which required additional musicians for at least18, or up to 24 gulden. Sometimes the conduct was followed by a group of poor people fromvarious poorhouses, such as the "Nepomuceni Spitall" on the Landstraße or the poorhouse inthe Alstergasse, who received alms from the attendants and the clergy. This was an importantadditional income for the poor and this custom was observed in Vienna into the 19th century(Beethoven's coffin on its way from the Alsergrund to Währing was followed by inmates ofthe "Versorgungshaus am Alserbach", who got paid for this service). Sometimes the bier wasalso accompanied by regular people, who are listed as Steuerdiener (tax payers) in theBahrleihbuch.

A group of poor people, following the bier of Georg Gaber, a law student, who was buried on 23 December 1741on the "Spitaller Gottsacker": "Mitgang. 12. paar arme Leüth auß Nep:[omuceni] Spitall 12. paar auß d[er]

alstergass[en] [Gleuth] Paulaner und Francis:[caner]. Pelican" (A-Wd, BLB 1741, fol. 280r).

What follows are several examples of expensive 18th-century funerals at St. Stephen'sCathedral:

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The entry concerning the exequies of the architect Joseph Emanuel Johann Fischer von Erlach on the evening of29 June 1742 (A-Wd, BLB 1742, fol. 173v and 174r). Prominent people often received a Nachtbegräbnüß (night

funeral). Note the five altars which were put up on the following day and the additional "gleuth" at "[St.]Magdalena, Bürger Spitall" and the "Johannes Hof".

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The entry concerning the funeral on 10 January 1726 of Carlo Agostino Badia's first wife, the singer Anna MariaBadia, née Lisi, whom Badia had married on 18 October 1700 (A-Wd, BLB 1726, fol. 7r). Again the grave in thecrypt was the most expensive item. The last item are "12 stiell" (12 chairs). Note that the song "[Der] grimmigeTodt" could also be accompanied by muted trumpets or trombones ("mit Sartindln"). When Johann Steinecker

transcribed this entry for his 1993 dissertation Die Opern und Serenate von Carlo Agostino Badia (supervised byTheophil Antonicek) he could not figure out the meaning of "grimmiger Todt mit Sartindln" and transcribed thisas "gereinigte Tote mit Sartinol", as if "Sartinol" was some kind of strong disinfectant for corpses (this is one of

the all-time funniest transcription mishaps in Viennese historical musicology).

The obsequies for Princess Maria Theresia von Auersperg, née von Rappach on 21 January 1741 with"VorLeithen" (a preceding peal), two peals of the Pummerin ("gar grosse glocken") on two separate days and a

double ("ordinari") "grossgleüth". This was not a a funeral, but only the consecration of the Princess whose bodyon 23 January was transferred to Garsten where it was buried in the crypt of the monastery (A-Wd, BLB 1741,

fol. 16r).

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The entry concerning the exequies of the merchant Joseph Jenamy on 12 November 1740 (A-Wd, BLB 1740,fol. 259). The list of expenses includes a "Fürstengleuth" and the already known expensive grave in the crypt.Here we see that the song "Der grimmige Todt" was also performed without trombones and (in addition to the

Miserere for six gulden) had to be paid extra. The outside bells included the Magdalenenkapelle, St. Peter'sChurch and St. George's Chapel in the Freisingerhof. Joseph Jenamy (b. 1686 in Saint Nicolas de Véroce) was a

great-uncle of Nikolaus Joseph Jenamy (1747-1819), who in 1768 married Louise Victoire Noverre (1749-1812),the dedicatee of Mozart's piano concerto K. 271.

The most expensive funeral in the Bahrleihbuch of 1741 is Johann Caspar Kolb vonKollenburg's, "Weÿl[and] der K.K. M[ajestät] Unter Stabelmaister"(deputy staff holder of thelate I. & R. majesty Charles VI), which cost 195 gulden and 16 kreuzer (A-Wd, BLB 1741,fol. 10v and 11r). It included a Großgleuth, a tomb in the crypt, a Requiem withFürstengleuth, 30 Kuttenbuben and five altars.

The mysterious "Pelican" that appears at the end of the expenses for Vivaldi's funeral andwhich in the Vivaldi literature has hitherto either been ignored, or left uncommented, was apicture of a pelican as a Christian symbol that was put on the bier.

A pelican reviving her young with blood from her own breast (NL-DHmw, 10 B 25, fol. 32r)

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Because in the Middle Ages it was assumed that the pelican provides its own blood to itsyoung by wounding its own breast when no other food is available, this bird became a symbolof the Passion of Christ and the Eucharist. There were several pictures that could be put on thebier at St. Stephen's: pictures of St. Sebastian, St. John of Nepomuk, the Good Sheperd,Todtangst (Agony of Christ), the Holy Rosary, the Holy Trinity, one of a Bruderschaft(confraternity), a Dominicaner, a Carmeliter and two (unspecified) "Franciscaner Bilter". Butthe pelican was by far the most frequently used. Sometimes a devotional scapular was also puton the bier. The custom of displaying these pictures may go back far into the 17th century, butit is documented in a Bahrleihbuch for the first time only in 1682:

The final passage of the entry in the Bahrleihbuch concerning the funeral of Catharina Regina Thenig on 30December 1682: "Seint mitgangen Kaÿ:[serliche] Spitall:[er] und Franscis: Gleüth beÿ St: Maria Magd: Bildter:Todtangst und Francisc." ("on the bier the pictures of the Agony of Christ and the Franciscans") (A-Wd, BLB

1682, fol. 171v).

The final passage of the entry concerning the funeral of the mason Adam Häringsleben on 12 Januar 1683:"Haben tragen 8 Steür diener seint mitgang Kaÿ:[serliche] Spitäller Francisc: Dominic: und Minorit[en] Gleüth

S:[ancta] Maria M[a]gd: S. Georgj S: Petri auf d[er] Pahr Pelican und St. Sebastiani Bildt." ("on the bier thepictures of the pelican and St. Sebastian") (A-Wd, BLB 1683, fol. 3v).

The final note of the entry concerning the funeral of Mathias Napert on 5 May 1740: "Mitgang 12. paar armeLeüth auß Nep[omuceni] Spitall 12. paar auß d[er] Alstergass[en] Franciscaner, Domin:[icaner] gleüth.

Magdalena, Bilder Pelican, Rosen Cr:[antz] guten Hürten." ("pictures: pelican, rosary and Good Sheperd") (A-Wd, BLB 1740, fol. 118v).

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The four categories of "Gleuth" existed until March 1751, when an Imperial edict replacedthem with four "Classen". The prices of the peals in these classes were reduced to (from 1st to4th class) seven, four, three and one gulden. These classes could be subdivided into rubrics –mostly for the burials of children – but to delve deeper into the intricacies of this new systemwould lead too far. The first funeral ceremony at the Cathedral which was accountedaccording to the new regulation, took place on 3 March 1751:

A clip from the entry concerning the funeral of the baby girl Magdalena Krumbschnabel on 3 March 1751: "DieErste Begräbnuß nach de[m] Neüe[n] Patent. 2te Class Rubrica Tertia" ("The first burial according to the new

edict. Second class third rubric [a child between one and seven years]") (A-Wd, BLB 1751, fol. 38v)

It has been suggested in the literature that Vivaldi may already have died on 26 or 27 July.But after closely comparing the official death records of the Vienna Magistracy (theTotenbeschauprotokoll) with the 1741 Bahrleihbuch of St. Stephen's I have come to theconclusion that during the summer people in Vienna were always buried the very same daythey died. Especially interesting – although not particularly surprising – is the fact that thereare a number of deaths recorded in the Bahrleihbuch that are missing in theTotenbeschauprotokoll. The fact that Vivaldi was buried in a cemetery which wastraditionally called "Armesünder-Gottesacker" (i.e. cemetery of the executed) has sometimesbeen explained with the composer's status as poor foreigner who had no civil rights, becausehe was not a citizen of the Austrian monarchy. This hypothesis is not tenable. It was a totalcoincidence that Vivaldi was buried on the Wieden, because the records show that in the 18thcentury the dead were buried in whatever cemetery at the moment could provide space. Apartfrom the Cathedral's crypt (where the graves were expensive) the following burial sites wereused for people who were consecrated at St. Stephen's at that time – regardless of their age,wealth or nationality: the cemetery of St. Stephen's (surrounding the Cathedral), the "SpitallerGottesacker" on the Wieden, the cemetery of St. Nikolai ("auf die Landstraß"), the crypt ofthe convent church of the Trinitarian Order and the "Montserrater Gottesacker"on theAlsergrund ("zu den Schwarzspaniern"), the crypts of St. Michael's Church, the MinoritesChurch and the Augustinian Church and the monastery church of St. Nikola in theSingerstraße. The fact that Vivaldi was buried in an own grave at a relatively high cost of twogulden makes the fact that his funeral has repeatedly been described as that "of a pauper" evenmore bizarre.

Back to Haydn

The spark of wishful thinking concerning Vivaldi's funeral jumped to Haydn scholarshipwhen H. C. Robbins Landon published his five-volume standard work Haydn: Chronicle andWorks. Robbins Landon of course immediately fell in love with the idea of choirboys in 1741

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which were nothing but Kendall's mistranslation of Pincherle's mistranslation of the originalword "Kuttenbuben". In the first volume (p. 58) of his Haydn chronicle Robbins Landon wentso far as to even quote from Kendall's Vivaldi book:

"It seems almost certain." Does it? In his 1993 book Vivaldi: Voice of the Baroque RobbinsLandon (providing a wrong folio number for the Bahrleihbuch entry) again rhapsodized onone of his most beloved bit of trivia:

There were six pall-bearers and six choirboys from the parish church where Vivaldidied, which happened to be St. Stephen's Cathedral. The six members of the Cantoreiof St. Stephen's included the young Joseph Haydn, who was thus probably one of thefew to witness the demise of this great composer, now a pauper and already forgotten,placed, like Mozart half a century later, in an ignominious and anonymous gravesomewhere under the great capital city of the Austrian Monarchy. (Robbins Landon,Vivaldi, p. 166)

From the countless books about Haydn that present Robbins Landon's idea as proven fact Iwant to point out Hans-Josef Irmen's Joseph Haydn Leben und Werk (Vienna: Böhlau, 2007),where the information that Haydn sang at Vivaldi's funeral is even attributed to Pohl ("andothers"[sic]): "Pohl u.a. berichten, daß der junge Haydn bei den Exequien für Vivaldimitgewirkt habe." (Irmen, p. 335). Of course Carl Ferdinand Pohl (1819-1887) reports nosuch thing in his biography of Haydn. He did not know that Vivaldi had died in Vienna.

It is amazing how the probability of this romantic scenario is suddenly destroyed by havingseen all the above entries from the 18th-century Bahrleihbücher. From 1715 on the Cantoreiof St. Stephen's employed six Capellknaben (choirboys). The documents presented aboveshow that it was a mere coincidence that exactly six Kuttenbuben attended Vivaldi's funeral.And yet this exact number – the number of Capellknaben at the Cantorei – played a major rolein the misunderstanding that lead to the metamorphosis of these Kuttenbuben into choirboys.

Capellknaben and Kuttenbuben

Haydn was accepted into the Cantorei of St. Stephen's Cathedral in 1740. Since KapellmeisterReutter was in a position to only pick the most talented choirboys, Haydn's recruitment was a

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big privilege and a stroke of luck for the country boy. Haydn lived together with the otherchoirboys in the building of the Cantorei which was administered by the Kirchenmeisteramt(i.e. the City of Vienna). The administration of the Cathedral and its music was traditionallysubordinate to the Vienna City Council, which is the reason that Mozart, when in 1791 heapplied for an adjunct postion at the cathedral, submitted his application to the municipalauthorities. The so-called Kirchenmeisteramtsrechungen (ledgers of the church administratorof the Vienna City Council) provide detailed information about the organisation of theCathedral and its employees. They show that the records of expenses for the regular staff("Außgaab auf ordinarÿ Besoldung", i.e. expenses for ordinary salaries) were strictlyseparated from the expenses for the musicians of the Cantorei.

The beginning of the list of expenses ("Außgaab. Auf die Cantoreÿ beÿ St. Stephann") for nine months for theCantorei of St. Stephen's in the 1742 Kirchenmeisteramtsrechnung (A-Wsa, Handschriften, A 41.24, fol. 79r). In

1741 the Kirchenmeister (church administrator) was Claudius Jenamy (1702-1776), a nephew of the merchantJoseph Jenamy who appeared above. Today the 18th-century Kirchenmeisteramtsrechnungen are held by three

different archives: the Vienna City Archive, the Vienna Diözesanarchiv and the Domarchiv.

In 1742 the choir at St. Stephen's Cathedral consisted of the following musicians:

Kapellmeister Georg von ReutterSix CapellknabenNine VocalistenExtra-Vocalisten (whose number varied according to requirements)Subcantor Adam Gegenbauer

The organist at that time was Anton Neckh, who in 1736 had succeeded Reutter's son Karl onthis post. Georg von Reutter's annual salary consisted of 300 gulden Gebühr (salary), plus 24gulden Kleÿdergeld (clothing allowance). For the boarding of the six Capellknaben (amongthem Joseph Haydn) Reutter received an additional sum of 1,200 gulden plus 75 guldenInstructionsgeld (teaching fee). Each of the nine Vocalisten received an annual salary of 130

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gulden plus an annual Choraladjutum (choral subsidy) of 26 gulden 60 kreuzer per capita. Inaddition to that they were also paid one gulden "Rorate Geld" plus (at least in 1742) onegulden forty kreuzer for substituting for dismissed choirboys.

Only two Kuttenbuben were permanently employed at the Cathedral. In 1742 they wereassisted by an "Extra Jung" (extra boy). The other Kuttenbuben worked freelance for a fee ofnine kreuzer for every funeral which added up to a nice income of about five gulden a month.This relatively high income (and the income of the permanently employed Kuttenbuben) areproof that those "Buben" were not boys at all, but adult men who were majors (above 24 yearsof age). The term "Kuttenbuben" had originated in the middle ages and was still applied tomen dressed in cowls centuries later. The two regular Kuttenbuben were members of theordinary staff and their salary was filed under the "ordinarÿ Besoldung". Among theemployees that are listed together with the Kuttenbuben were the Bahrleiher Johann Leydl,the Capelldiener at the cemetery "vor dem Schottenthor" Bartholome Kießling and the twochurch servants and "Preinglöckler" (the ringers of the prime bell). In addition to theirindividual annual salary of sixty gulden each of the two regular Kuttenbuben also receivedfive gulden for their service during the litany for the Court. The "Extra Jung" Geusgruber waspaid 50 gulden a year. The two items in the 1742 Kirchenmeisteramtsrechnung pertaining tothe salaries of the three Kuttenbuben read as follows:

147:/ Denen 2. Kutten Jungen Dobraletnig und Vogl ihr gebühr von 1. April bis leztenXber 742. auf 3/4. Jahr lauth N° 147. vergüthet . . . . 90 .––148:/ Dem Extra Jung Michael Geusgruber sein gebühr von 1. April bis lezten Xbr742. auf 3/4. Jahr inhalt N:° 148. entrichtet mit . . . . . . . . 37 " 30.

The entries concerning the salaries of the Cathedral's three "Kutten Jungen" Dobraletnig, Vogl and Geusgruberbetween 1 April and 31 December 1742 (A-Wsa, Handschriften, A 41.24, fol. 77v and 78r)

The overall expenses of the Kirchenmeisteramt in 1742 amounted to 20,255 gulden and half akreuzer. The surplus in that year was 2,722 gulden and 29 kreuzer.

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Claudius Jenamy's seal and signature in the 1742 Kirchenmeisteramtsrechnung of St. Stephen's

Conclusions

Vivaldi's funeral ceremony on 28 July 1741 at St. Stephen's corresponded to that ofordinary Viennese citizens. Because the performance of music was not ordered andpaid, no music was performed at that ceremony.

To have musicians sing at a funeral at St. Stephen's in 1741 one had to pay at least sixgulden for the performance of the song "Der grimmig Tod". A perfomance of a motetwas even more expensive, especially if it was accompanied "mit Sardin" ("with mute",i.e. with muted trumpets or trombones).

The Kuttenbuben who were present at Vivaldi's exequies did not sing. They just stoodat the altar and folded their hands in silence. They were not choirboys of the Cantorei,but members of the ordinary staff of the Cathedral. There was a strict organizationalseparation between the ordinary employees and the musicians of the Cathedral.

Joseph Haydn had nothing to do with Vivaldi's funeral. The mistaken assumption thatchoirboys were present at this ceremony originated with Marc Pincherle, who in 1948translated the entry "6 Kuttenbuben" in the original source with "six enfants dechœur". After Alan Kendall in 1978 had turned these "enfants de chœur" into"choirboys", Robbins Landon could not resist the appeal of this scenario and presentedHaydn's singing at Vivaldi's exequies as a fact. It is a myth.

Despite repeated statements in the literature that the chances are slim of finding unknownsources concerning Vivaldi's final stay in Vienna, research on this topic is far from finished. Ithas only just begun.

Published online on 9 June 2014.

© Dr. Michael Lorenz 2014. All rights reserved.