Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 52. (2007)
LINDQUIST, Thea: Clement von Radolt (1593–1670): A Multifarious Career in the seventeenth-century Imperial Service
Thea Lindquist importance.80 A daughter, Maria Barbara, and another son, Joseph Anton, followed.81 Franz Galeazzo took up a government position in 1671 and lost no time requesting exemption from court quarter for his newly inherited house on Annagasse.82 Four years later, records show he held an honorary office as the Emperor’s master of the table (Truchseß).83 In 1694, through his wife’s successful petition, the noble estates admitted him as baron in the Lower Austrian landholding nobility. According to one source, Franz Galeazzo went mad shortly after the petition was granted, so the title was bestowed instead upon his son Wenzel Ludwig.84 Less information is available about Radolt’s other children. Both of his daughters became sisters of the Convent of St. Jakob in Vienna, but only Benigna Constantia survived her father. The career and fate of Johann Anton, Radolt’s second son, is 80 Wenzel Ludwig was baptized in St. Michael’s Church on 18 December 1667, with Prince Lobkowitz, Count Sinzendorf (president of the aulic council), and Dorothea Elisabetha Princess of Holstein as sponsors. (Koczirz: Österreichische Lautenmusik, p. 56). He became an accomplished lutenist and composer: “In Austrian and Bohemian court circles around 1700 Radolt was [...] the most important composer of delicately balanced ensemble writing with the lute prominently featured.” (Sadie, Stanley, ed.: New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, London 1980, s.v. “Baron Wenzel Ludwig von Radolt,” by Wolfgang Boetticher). His sole publication was Die aller treueste, verschwigneste und nach so wohl fröhlichen als traurigen Humor sich richtende Freindin (Vienna 1701). For more on Wenzel Ludwig’s musical career, see: Koczirz, Anton: Klostemeuburger Lautenbücher. Musica Divina (Aug.-Sept. 1913), pp. 176- 177; Samson, Bill - Hodgson, Martyn: Von Radolt’s Instructions to Lute Players (Vienna 1701). FoMRHI Quarterly 45 (Oct. 1986), pp. 48-55; and Crawford, Tim: The Historical Importance of François Dufault and His Influence on Musicians Outside France. Paper given at the colloquium “Le luth en l’Occident” at the Musée de la Musique, Paris, May 1998, http://www.soi.city.ac.uk/~timc/ttc/DufaultWP.html (accessed 11 June 2004). Wenzel Ludwig dedicated himself to music as a young man, and he was subsequently married late in life, on 16 January 1708 to Maria Susanna Francisca, daughter of Ernst Constantin, Baron Grundeman, Hofkammer councilor and councilor of the Lower Austrian government, and Maria Eleonora, Countess Schallenberg. The marriage only lasted eight years, for on 10 March 1716, Wenzel Ludwig died of a stroke at 49 years of age. His wife outlived him by 32 years. Four of their children survived: Franz Karl, Leopold, Wenzel, and Philipp. (Koczirz: Österreichische Lautenmusik, p. 57). 81 Maria Barbara and Joseph Anton were baptized at St. Stephan's Cathedral on 19 September 1670 and 26 December 1671 respectively. Joseph Anton went on to become a Jesuit in Italy. Maria Barbara, also quite pious, never married. An additional sister and brother died early on. (Kocz i rz : Österreichische Lautenmusik, p. 56). 82 HKA, HQ QB 65 (1671), ff. 16-17; HKA, HQ Resolutionen, cart. 6, 22 Dec. 1671. Exemption from housing assignments was yet another privilege the emperor often granted to his servants and officials in the place of remuneration. Franz Galeazzo succeeded in obtaining six years’ exemption, though the house technically belonged to his son, Wenzel Ludwig, who had inherited it from Radolt in 1670. 83 Koczirz: Österreichische Lautenmusik, p. 56. 84 Siebmacher: Niederösterreichischer Adel, vol. 26, pt. 1, p. 371. Franz Galeazzo lived until the age of 68, dying on 14 December 1716 of hectic fever, or Hectica. His wife Maria Polixena followed him in 1727. (Koczirz: Österreichische Lautenmusik, p. 57). 26
