Paul Hofhaimer’s way to fame

Though chronically short of funds, Emperor Maximilian I believed that his court should showcase the glory to which his office aspired (» I. Maximilians Monumente). Amongst those employed to create this image of glory and grandeur were musicians, including the trumpet corps, players of loud and soft instruments (» I. Instrumentalkünstler bei Hofe), the court chapel (Hofkapelle), the composer Henricus Isaac (» G. Henricus Isaac) and the organist Paul Hofhaimer (» C. Orgeln und Orgelmusik, Kap. Organisten, » C. Orgeln und Orgelmusik, Kap. Hofhaimer).

Hofhaimer was born in 1459 in modest circumstances at Radstadt, about seventy kilometres south-east of Salzburg. Although reportedly an autodidact on the organ, he soon attracted attention for his playing, and at the age of nineteen he was employed as organist in the chapel of Archduke Sigmund of Tyrol (» D. Hofmusik. Innsbruck). In the pay records of the Innsbruck court in 1478, Hofhaimer’s name appears as a late addition to the list of four chaplains (probably singers), with the additional note: “his Grace wants to keep him” (“wil jn unser g. h. behalden”).[1] In 1489, Hofhaimer was already so famous that Beatrice of Hungary tried to attract him to her court at Buda: thus she wrote a letter (Buda, 28 September 1489) to Ercole d’Este, Duke of Ferrara, asking him to send his cantor Johannes Martini to Sigmund’s court at Innsbruck to recruit Hofhaimer for her.[2] Ercole’s reply (Ferrara, 24 December 1489) explains that Martini’s mission to Innsbruck had been delayed, because it was known that Hofhaimer was present at the court of King Maximilian, but when the king was coming to the Innsbruck court, Martini, a good friend of Hofhaimer, would immediately be sent there to recruit Hofhaimer for Queen Beatrice’s service.[3] The recruitment came to nothing, however, because Hofhaimer evidently preferred to hitch his fortunes to the new rising star than to risk an uncertain future abroad.