Music in Naples at the end of the XVIII century as described in the letters of Norbert Hadrava

Abstract

The Musiksammlung of the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek of Vienna houses, under the reference S. M. 8979, the letters of Norbert Hadrava, secretary of the Austrian Ambassador to the court of Naples, to Johann Paul Schulthesius, theologian and pastor of the German and Dutch Protestant community of Leghorn. The letters were written from Naples, Caserta and Capri during the years 1783 and 1799 and, taken as whole, give a vivid picture of musical and theatrical life during the reign of the Bourbon king Ferdinand IV and his Austrian queen Maria Carolina, often providing detailed accounts of interesting musical events (opera performances, public and private concerts) as well as reporting the names of the protagonists, whether composers, performers or persons well-known in the musical and cultural world of that time.
Among the musical events described with a greater wealth of detail are the performance given at the Teatro dei Fiorentini on December 11, 1783 dedicated exclusively to works by German authors (a symphony by Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf; Der Schatz, a juvenile comedy by Lessing; Benda's melodrama Ariadne auf Naxos) and the performance of Gluck's Alceste at the Teatro del Fondo (1785). The letters reveal Hadrava's firm intention of encouraging the affirmation in Naples of German culture, music and musicians. Other interesting points in his letters are the frequent mentions and descriptions of ordinary and unusual musical instruments such as, for example, the lira organizzata which appealed so much to Ferdinand IV, the chalumeau, the vis-à-vis piano-harpsicord built by Stein.