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Maximilian in Innsbruck

Helen Coffey

After two months awaiting Maximilian’s departure from Vienna, on 9 March 1494, Bianca Maria travelled with Sigmund and Katharina by boat on the River Inn to the nearby town of Hall, where, that same evening, she met Maximilian for the first time. Maximilian and his wife remained in Hall for a number of days, participating in games and dances. On 12 March, the wedding party, including a number of German and Italian nobleman, arrived in Innsbruck for what would be the culmination of the wedding festivities: a Mass performed in Innsbruck’s church on 16 March. It is the Ferrarese ambassador who again provides important information about the church service. In his letter dated 18 March 1494, the Ferrarese envoy Pandolfo Collenuccio wrote to Duke Ercole d’Este of the events of the previous days, noting:

“Per Poi la Copulatione de la Mta. Del Ré: Fatta Domenica. 9. del p[resen]te: la nocte seguente […] con la Regina In Halla: [… ] Giugó el di qualche poco a charte con la Regina. E similmente la sera se ballò a la domestica. […] Mercord. 12. Sua Mta. con la Regina se ne Vennero qui in Inspruch.” [42]
(For the wedding of his Majesty the King on Sunday 9 of this month: the following night [after arriving] in Hall he played cards for a while with the Queen. Likewise, in the evening they danced in the native fashion […] Wednesday 12 his Majesty with the Queen came here to Innsbruck.)

Collenuccio then goes on to describe the procession to St Jacob’s of lords and barons, as well as envoys from Montferrat, Ferrara and Venice. The Queen, wearing a crown, was led by Duke Albrecht of Saxony and Margrave Christoph of Baden while Archduke Sigmund was carried in a sedan chair. His wife Katharina was described as being covered in pearls “from head to toe” (“da capo a piede”). Yet, it is the second page of Collenuccio’s letter that provides important information about the music performed in the church (see » Abb. Letter from Pandolfo Collenuccio)­­

At the top of this page Collenuccio writes:

Da Mano sinistra, Riccardo de Inghilterra figliolo che fù del Ré Heduardo Giovene de 18 anni honorato dal Ré: Li oratori Venetiani: Noi de V. S. Poi q[ue]lli de Monferrato:
In mezzo: La Regina Coronata, con la Duchessa in paio:
Cantó la Messa El Cardinal Gurzense Servito da quatro Vescovi: e dui de loro mitrati: Diede la pace al Ré e alla Regina soli El Vescovo de Brixna Consigliero e de li primarij de qui:
Uno organo bono e ben sonato: Optimi Cantori e con epsi insieme sonuano hora Tromboni. Et hora Cornetti: è certo bona harmonia:

(On the left-hand side, Richard of England, son of King Edward,[43] a youth of 18 years old honoured by the King; the Venetian envoys; we of Your Lordship, then those of Montferrat. In the middle, the queen, wearing a crown, paired with the duchess.
The Cardinal of Gurk sang the Mass served by four Bishops and two of their prelates. The Bishop of Brixen, principal councillor here, gave the sign of peace to the King and Queen. A fine organ was played well. Excellent singers, and with them, the trombones now played. And then the cornetti. There was certainly a fine harmony.)

Here we therefore find an example of the practice of trombone and cornett performing together with the choir. This would become a feature of liturgical services at Maximilian’s court, albeit reserved for ceremonies of particular importance. In fact, this combination of wind instruments with the Hofkantorei was represented years later in the woodcuts for Maximilian’s Triumphzug (» I. Instrumentalkünstler). Performances of Maximilian’s choir with trombone and cornett also occurred in the churches of cities that the king visited on his travels, such as Augsburg.[44]

[42] Pandolfo Collenuccio, Innsbruck, to Ercole d’Este, 18 March 1494: Archivio di Stato di Modena dis amb germ, busta 1, recto. Summary of the letter in: Regesta Imperii Online, RI XIV,1 n. 478: http://www.regesta-imperii.de/id/1494-03-16_1_0_14_1_0_482_478. See also Wiesflecker Bd. I, 368.

[43] This was Perkin Warbeck, pretender to the English throne, who claimed to be Richard, Duke of York, the missing second son of Edward IV.

[44] See Green 2012; Grassl 2019.

[1] Maximilian was elected King of the Romans in 1486. He succeeded his father, Friedrich III, as head of the House of Habsburg in 1493, but only received the title of Emperor in 1508. For clarity, he will be referred to here as king. At this time, Upper Austria (“Oberösterreich”) comprised Tyrol, parts of the Upper Rhine, East Swabia, Alsace and the Vorlande at the east end of Lake Constance: see Benecke 1982, 35; Wiesflecker-Friedhuber 1996, 131f.

[3]  „…ihn herrlich empfienge, und unter andern Kurzweilen, zu den Tyrolischen Fundgruben führte“. Birken 1668, 1012.

[4] See, for example, Drexel 2001, 603; Höpfel 1989, 20.

[5] “Deren Gewerkleute, an der zahl 7400, unter fliegendem Fahn in schöner ordnung, ihnen entgegen kamen, und nach des Erzherzogen befehl, vor dem Röm. König sich auf die kniehe warfen.” Birken 1668, 1012f.

[6] “Sie brachten ihm auch Geschenke, etliche güldene Schüsseln voll Rheinischer Goldgulden, und ungearbeitetes Silber bey 100 Pfunde. Es kamen auch Venedische Gesandten, die ihn, mit Widergabe etlicher dem Erzhaus vordessen abgenommenen Plätze, zu versöhnen begehrten: weil sie vernommen hatten, daß sie ihn forthin zum Nachbarn haben würden.“ Birken 1668, 1012f.

[7] “Rhætica dum tellus vult se summittere Summo Æmilio, fossor prævius ecce venit. Aurea, se talem tali probat, illa, ministro: hinc auro plenas obtulit iste manûs.” Birken 1668, 1013. I would like to thank Alison Samuels for the translation of this epigram and James Robson for further advice about its meaning.

[8] “Tyrol sein Bergleut-Heer dem Helden schickt entgegen, itzt da es selbst sich will zu dessen füssen legen. Es heiset ihn willkomm durch Gold in ihrer Hand: Weil es, durch ihren Fleis, sich weist ein güldnes Land.” Birken 1668, 1012.

[9] “Aber Erzh. Sigmund, der nun ein hohes Alter auf sich, und keinen Leibs Erben mehr zuhoffen hatte, auch zu den Regirungssorgen verdrossen war, beschickte seine Landstände nach Insbruck, sprache sie ledig von ihrer Eidspflicht, und hiesse sie dem Röm. König, als ihrem angehenden Landsfürsten, schwören, den er, in ihrer gegenwart, an Sohns stat aufnahme, ihm alle von Vatter ererbte Länder abtratte und übergabe…” Birken 1668, 1013.

[11] Drexel 2001, 602-3; Senn 1954, 1-2.

[12] For the Mitterhof, see » Leitbild F. with commentary. Further details of Maximilian’s relationship with Innsbruck are in Senn 1954, 19; Fritz 1968; Cuyler 1973; Benecke 1982; Wiesflecker-Friedhuber 1996 and 2005.

[13] Felix Faber (1923, 33): “In dieselbe [Innsbruck] eingetreten, fanden wir sie voll von Adeligen und Bewaffneten. Fürsten, Grafen und Barone waren zum Erzherzog gekommen, denn gerade feierte der Landesfürst mit der Tochter des Sachsenherzogs Hochzeit; zu dieser Feier war der Adel aus ganz Deutschland zusammengeströmt.”

[15] Senn 1954, 30.

[16] Senn 1954, 12.

[17] A tun of wine was awarded to the organist in January 1498: see Wiesflecker 1993, 269 (no. 5756).

[18] Wiesflecker 1993, p. 222 (no. 5364).

[19] Busch-Salmen 1992, pp. 64f.; Schuler 1995, 13.

[21] Polk 2001, 633.

[22] The Triumphzug was never completed, and its woodcut images therefore include a number of empty banners, which were to contain phrases introducing many of the personnel presented. However, the intended content of the plaques can be reconstructed from the initial manuscript programme for the images, which was dictated by Maximilian himself and refers to several musicians by name.

[24] For example, the Augsburg civic accounts of 1490 include payment of: “4 fl. des kunigs zwayen luttenschlager, Artus vnd Lenhart”. D-Asa (Stadtarchiv Augsburg), Baumeisterbücher Nr. 84 (1490), fol. 17r.

[25] Polk 1992, 91f. and 102.  

[26] Senn 1954, 31.

[27] Senn 1954, 45.

[28] Wiesflecker 1971-1986, vol. 5, 401-2.

[31] Archivio di Stato di Modena est disp amb germ, busta 1, undated letter, recto. A summary of the letter is presented in Regesta Imperii Online XIV,1 n. 2877: http://www.regesta-imperii.de/id/1493-12-24_1_0_14_1_0_2882_2877 (accessed 01.11.2019).

[32] Archivio di Stato di Modena est disp amb germ, busta 1, undated letter, verso. A summary of the letter is presented in Regesta Imperii Online XIV,1 n. 2877: http://www.regesta-imperii.de/id/1493-12-24_1_0_14_1_0_2882_2877 (accessed 01.11.2019). Dances at Maximilian’s court will be discussed further in » I. Civic and courtly dancing.

[33] “parte in ballare e parte in videre zugare la prefata Domina Archiducesa con alchuni altri Signori et cavaleri de li suoi et de li nostri. E queste feste qualchi volta sono facte in publico, et qualchi volta privatamente ne la camera nostra.” Calvi 1888, 48.

[34] Tiroler Landesarchiv Innsbruck (A-Ila), Maximiliana XIV/1493, fol. 103. Summary in Regesta Imperii Online, 
RI XIV,1 n. 2878: http://www.regesta-imperii.de/id/1493-12-24_2_0_14_1_0_2883_2878 (accessed 01.11.2019).

[35] Quoted in: Köfler and Caramelle 1982, 208.

[37] Regesta Imperii XIV Nr. 25967: Archivio di Stato di Mantova, Agonz, E/II/2, busta 429, Nr 6.

[40] Senn 1954, 27.

[42] Pandolfo Collenuccio, Innsbruck, to Ercole d’Este, 18 March 1494: Archivio di Stato di Modena dis amb germ, busta 1, recto. Summary of the letter in: Regesta Imperii Online, RI XIV,1 n. 478: http://www.regesta-imperii.de/id/1494-03-16_1_0_14_1_0_482_478. See also Wiesflecker Bd. I, 368.

[43] This was Perkin Warbeck, pretender to the English throne, who claimed to be Richard, Duke of York, the missing second son of Edward IV.

[45] Polk 1992, 90.

[46] Quoted in Meconi 2003, 27.

[47] Further on Maximilian’s chapel singers, see » I. The court chapel of Maximilian I.

[49] Senn 1954, 39–44; See also Waldner 1897/98, 33–34.

[52] See Polk 1989; » G. Augustin Schubinger.

[55] Indeed, from 1516 until 1521, the two young princesses Anna of Hungary and Maria of Austria were resident at the Innsbruck palace and had several musicians in their employ. See Waldner 1897/98, 59 and Senn 1954, 46–47.

[58] Senn 1954, 39-40, also regarding the subsequent repair of the organ by Balthasar Streng in 1502.

[59] Quoted in Senn 1954, 43.

[65] Gachard 1876, 316–317.

[68] Meconi 2003, 35. See » I. Instrumentalkünstler; » G. Augustin Schubinger.

[71] Sanuto’s diaries are published in Barozzi 1880.

[72] Barozzi 1880, column 217.

[73] Barozzi 1880, column 216.

[74] Barozzi 1880, column 215.

[75] According to Benecke 1982, 94, Maximilian visited Innsbruck 22 times between 1498 and 1518.


Empfohlene Zitierweise:
Helen Coffey: “Music and ceremony in Maximilian’s Innsbruck”, in: Musikleben des Spätmittelalters in der Region Österreich <https://musical-life.net/essays/music-and-ceremony-maximilians-innsbruck> (2019).