Die Singphoniker
Christoph Hammer
The Longing of a King
Ludwig I of Bavaria (1786 –1868)
and Runkelstein Castle
The decision to create a temporary exhibition
about the Bavarian king Ludwig I (1786–1868)
at Runkelstein Castle near Bolzano (South
Tyrol, Italy) was based on the existence of a
guest book from the years 1833 to 1862 which
was long thought to be lost. The first entry in
this book is the king’s visit on June 3, 1833.
This guest book with a total of 2000 entries is
one of the most important documents of the
castle’s history during the 19th century. In
addition, it is proof of the intellectual exchange
between North and South during the age of
Romanticism. What moved King Ludwig I of
Bavaria to visit the massive castle, located
high up on a porphyry rock and decorated with
the world’s greatest remaining medieval cycle
of profane frescoes (wall paintings)? The
answer is found in one of the king’s diary
entries: “…when I returned from Runkelstein
where I went to see the wall paintings. Görres
was of the opinion, so I was told, that they
depicted the Song of the Nibelung; the names
of Tristan etc. prove the contrary…” Thus, it
should be noted that Ludwig I’s hurried visit
was due to a misunderstanding, because he
expected to see the Ring of the Nibelung
which, however, turned out to be the Tristan
cycle. Nevertheless, this visit in 1833, followed
by a second one in 1841, indicated the end of
the long sleep of Runkelstein Castle, built in
1237 and equipped with wall paintings during
the 14th century. The romanticists’ enthusiasm
for castles, especially for Runkelstein, drew its
motivation from a new reception of previous
centuries. In the search for a new “German”
identity, the Middle Ages were regarded as the
Occident’s golden age, as the cradle of Europe’s
art and culture.
Despite the fact that for King Ludwig I of
Bavaria, Tyrol between 1804 and 1867 was only
a gateway to his destinations in Venice, Florence
and Rome; the ensuing wave of visitors
during the 19th century filled the castle with
new life and because of its newly acquired
fame eventually led to its restoration, executed
by Friedrich von Schmidt between 1884–1888
commissioned by the Emperor Franz Joseph
of Austria. He donated Runkelstein Castle to
the city of Bolzano in 1893, who still owns the
castle up to our days.
Although there is evidence that Ludwig I’s
visits to Runkelstein were brief, the shortness
of time certainly did not diminish the intensity
of his experience. In fact, the king even decided
to go to Runkelstein on foot during his second
visit on May 24, 1841. In the following years,
many artists studied and copied the enchanting
pictures and unique witness of the great
medieval culture on our continent, as the draft
for a new bedroom on Neuschwanstein Castle
for King Ludwig II of Bavaria done in 1880 by
Georg Dehn proves in its use of many fresco
themes from Runkelstein.
The “traces” left by Ludwig I of Bavaria are
not only found in the memories of him as a
brave opponent of Napoleon Bonaparte and
sympathiser with the Tyrolean and the Greek
freedom fighters, as a supporter and patron of
the arts, as a builder who influenced the cityshape
of Munich and turned it into a European
centre of arts and science, but also in his
reputation as a fervent admirer of beautiful
women. Furthermore, these traces lead to Ludwig
I as a custodian of historical documents, as
Prof. Dr. Hubert Glaser explains in his article
for the book accompanying the exhibition.
Even though the world view on King
Ludwig I of Bavaria was revised in the course
of time, his statement of “What is built on
consciousness will stand firm…” is also the
key to a secure future of today’s generation.
We would like to express our deepest
gratitude for the success in creating this CD
within the framework of the temporary special
exhibition about Ludwig I of Bavaria at Runkelstein
Castle to the faithful sponsors of the projects
at Runkelstein Castle, the “Bayrischer
Rundfunk” and the Music Production Dieter
Oehms Ltd. for the production of the CD. We
especially wish to thank the artists, the
ensemble “Die Singphoniker” and Christoph
Hammer, furthermore Helmut Balk and
Margret Madelung, the private donators of the
origianl fortepiano by Gregor Deiss (which
was probaly built for the Munich residence in
1815), and we would like to express our special
gratitude to Dr. Gunter Joppig, director of the
collection of musical instruments of the Munich
City museum for the co-operative and successful
collaboration. And finally, our warmest
thanks to Katja Luterotti and Hannelore
Schettler for their organisation work.
Univ.-Doz. Dr. Dr. Helmut Rizzolli
Councillor of the municipality of Bolzano
for Economy, Tourism and the
castles Runkelstein and Maretsch
André Bechtold
Project manager of the
castles Runkelstein and Maretsch
Ludwig I – the musical poet
In his earliest youth, Ludwig began to put his
thoughts and observations into verse,
perhaps – as some biographers assume – to
compensate for his stammer. His father Max
Joseph, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-
Birkenfeld and commander of a French regiment
at the time of Ludwig’s birth on 25 August
1786, succeeded Karl Theodor as the Elector
of Bavaria in 1799 and took over power in
Munich, however not without his advisor from
his time as Count Palatine, the Baron of Montgelas.
Although the affable Max Joseph was
said to be intellectually rather simple, he
granted his son a solid education at the universities
of Landshut and Göttingen, which he
attended from 1803 onwards.Along with
national law and history, he made a particular
study of modern languages, translated German
“plays into French, French comedies into Spanish,
and moreover [did] language exercises
in Russian, English and Italian. However, the
classical languages of antiquity, Latin and
Greek, took second place to this industrious
and successful study of the modern languages,
and he acquired these later on his own initiative
and with astonishing perseverance during his
time as Crown Prince. He also practised
music and drawing, and by no means neglected
his military training. (…) And so Ludwig, the
Elector’s heir, received a careful, scientific
education of an extent and variety which no
other Bavarian monarch had yet enjoyed.“ 1
The subsequent repeated journeys to Italy
strengthened and deepened his impressions
and caused Ludwig, now Crown Prince since
Bavaria had in 1806 been elevated by Napoleon
to the status of a kingdom, to become an
important art collector. While the Crown
Prince wrote the three plays “Otto“, „Germany’s
Deliverance“ and “Conradin“ from
1808 to 1820 in opposition to the kingdom and
politics of his father Max Joseph I – admittedly
he never allowed them to be published
2 –
King Ludwig I, who succeeded his father in
1825, published the first volume of his poetry
after lengthy preparation at the beginning of
March 1829 in an edition of 1500 copies. On 8
April 1829, Johann Peter Eckermann (1792–1854)
visited Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
(1749–1832), who had just received a letter
from Ludwig I in Rome. Eckermann noted:
“I
only wanted the King’s poems to be here,“
continued Goethe,
“so that I could say something
about them in my reply. Judging by the
few of his works which I have read, the poems
will be good. In form and treatment, he owes
much to Schiller, and if he can pour the contents
of a noble soul into such a magnificent
vessel, we may be justified in expecting much
excellence.“ 3 In his answer dated 13 April
1829, Goethe expressed himself quite humbly
with regard to his patron’s poems:
“The gift of
poesy is unique inasmuch as it needs the possessor
in order to be able to unfold itself. Poetic
statements are involuntary avowals in which
our innermost selves are revealed and our
connections to the outside world are at the
same time created.“ 4 Heinrich Heine
(1797–1856), on the other hand, who made no
secret of his political opposition, poked fun at
Ludwig in the following four-line satire:
“King Ludwig is a great poet,
And when he sings, Apollo
Falls on his knees and cries and pleads:
’No more! Or I’ll go mad, o!’“ 5
However, even in the twentieth century,
literature still honours Ludwig I’s enthusiasm
for antiquity:
“The following must be honoured
as the principal representatives of philhellenism
in German poetry: King Ludwig I of Bavaria
(1786–1868), the two Swabians Wilhelm Waiblinger
in his own ’Songs of the Greeks’ (1823)
and Gustav Pfizer, Heimich Stieglitz, and
above all the grammar school teacher from
Dessau, who died in 1827 aged only thirtythree,
Wilhelm Müller.“ 6
In that same year of 1829, the considerable
public interest which Ludwig I’s first volume
of poetry created caused the Munich court
music trader Sebastian Pacher, who took over
the music publisher Falter & Son in 1827, to
publish poems by His Majesty King Ludwig of
Bavaria in musical settings by composers in
the King’s and publisher’s circle. Joseph Hartmann
Stuntz (1793–1859) was master of the
king’s music from 1825–1837. Franz Lachner
(1803–1890) was the general director of the
king’s music from 1836 to 1867. Both were also
renowned composers. Leopold Lenz (1803–1862)
trained as a baritone in Berlin, and worked for
the king in Munich from his earlier years, initially
as a court and theatre singer and from 1841 as
the director of the royal opera. In 1846, he was
appointed Professor of Singing at the conservatory
in Munich; in 1848 he retired from the
stage and spent the rest of his life in obscurity
as a private singing teacher.
From 1818, the tenor Franz Xaver Löhle
(1792–1837) appeared in the court opera, led
the Münchner Liederkreis (Munich Song
Circle) from 1828 to 1834, and after retiring,
devoted himself to up-and-coming singers.
Georg Mittermayr (1783–?) enjoyed a similarly
legendary reputation as a bass and actor.
Appointed court singer in 1805, from the following
year he was employed at the royal court
theatre in Munich. Joseph Xaver Brauchle is
described by lexicographers merely as
“a
musician born in Bavaria, who lived in Vienna
in around 1820 and in Munich around 1830,
where he apparently also died. His wife had
the reputation of an excellent harpist.“ 7 Elise
Brauchle née Dressler appeared in Munich in
1828. Georg Schinn (1768–1833) studied composition
under Michael Haydn in Salzburg,
and on 2 September 1808 „was appointed
court musician for the tenor viol in the royal
orchestra in Munich“ after auditioning three
times on the violin, flute and viola.
Moreover, it is remarkable that two female
composers took part in the musical homage.
Nanette Huber’s Variations pour Pianoforte,
opus 1, were published by Falter & Son in
Munch in 1822, which leads one to suppose
that she was a talented pianist. Josephine
Lang (1815–1880) was born in Munich and
was considered a child prodigy on the piano.
She received lessons in composing from
Mendelssohn-Bartholdy and published over
30 lied collections. In 1807, she was appointed
court actress in Munich. Donat Müller
(1804–?) worked in Augsburg as the musical
director of various churches.
Without a doubt, the most interesting musical
personality was Franz Count of Pocci
(1807–1876) who was an equally talented poet,
artist, puppeteer and musician. In 1830,
Ludwig I appointed the “clown count“ master
of ceremonies, and in 1847 as his court music
intendant. Robert Schumann made the following
remark about two of his piano sonatas:
“the Count has a great deal of talent but has
studied little“ 9, and in his review of 1838, said
the following about the twelve etudes by
Adolphe Henselt (1814–1889).
“We are now
one excellent work the richer and it is seldom
that opinions about the value of a publication
will be so undivided.“ 10
1) Hans Reidelbach: King Ludwig I of Bavaria and his
artistic creations, depicted in celebration of his one
hundredth birthday, Munich 1888, p.17
2) First publication: Plays by King Ludwig I transcribed
from his handwriting and edited by Ursula Huber,
published by Johannes Erichson in: “Vorwärts, vorwärts
sollst du schauen“, History, Politics and Art
under Ludwig I, vol 3, Munich 1986 (= publications on
Bavarian history and culture no. 10/86 edited by Claus
Grimm)
3) Ludwig Trost: King Ludwig I of Bavaria in his letters to
his son, King Otto of Greece. Bamberg 1891, p. 101
4) Egon Caesar Conte Corti: Ludwig I of Bavaria, Munich
1937, p. 342
5) Ibid. p. 341
6) Friedrich Vogt and Max Koch: History of German Literature
from earliest times to the present day. Volume
three. Leipzig and Vienna 1920, p. 91
7) Mendel-Reissmann: Lexicon of Musicians, vol. 2, p.
173
8) Felix Joseph Lipowsky: Bavarian Music Lexicon, p.
308
9) Robert Schumann: Collected writings on music and
musicians, edited by Dr. Heinrich Simon, volume one,
Leipzig 1888, p. 113
10) op.cit., volume II, p. 145
Gunther Joppig