Tam Vocibus quam Instrumentis: Instrumentalisten und vokal-instrumentales Musizieren am Hof von Kaiser Matthias

Abstract

Musicological research on Habsburg court chapels has a long tradition, initially focusing on the composers, their works, and the singers. Increasingly, instrumentalists have also been included, and more and more attention has been paid to instrumental practice. However, in the numerous publications on music at the Habsburg court chapels of the early modern period, there is still a gap in the documentation of the instrumentalists at the court of Emperor Matthias. The present article attempts to close this gap and, with the help of archival material, to document all verifiable instrumentalists at Matthias’s court for the first time. In addition, the vocal-instrumental practice of the imperial court music of that time is detected on the basis of special key-combinations and instrumentation indications in works by composers active at the court as well as other sources. It becomes apparent that the instrumental practice at Matthias’s court experienced an appreciation typical of the time, and that the direction of musical culture at the Habsburg imperial court had already turned toward Italy before the reign of Ferdinand II.