Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
ANHALT-ZERBST, a principality situated about 90 km north-west of Leipzig, is best known as the childhood home of Catherine the Great of Russia (1729–1796) and the workplace of its long-time Hofkapellmeister Johann Friedrich Fasch (1688–1758). This chapter presents a systematic re-evaluation of the expansion of the Anhalt-Zerbst Kapelle between 1715 and 1760. It will draw heavily from extant account books (‘Kammerrechnungen’), intact for the period 1662 to 1790, and numerous other hitherto unknown primary sources held at Dessau and Zerbst/Anhalt. First to acknowledge publicly the importance of Hofmusik was Prince Carl Wilhelm (b. 1652, r. 1676–1718) in 1699. His son, Johann August (b. 1677, r. 1718–42), possessed an even greater interest in the arts and during his reign provided the long-term financial support for a well-appointed Hofkapelle and an entrepreneurial Kapellmeister to flourish. Catherine's father, Prince Christian August (1690–1747), and his cousin Johann Ludwig (1688–1746) followed in Johann August's footsteps in this respect, especially after Catherine (formerly Princess Sophie Auguste Friedericke of Anhalt-Zerbst) married the future tsar of Russia in 1745. A clear shift in priorities occurred after their deaths, when Catherine the Great's mother, Dowager Princess Johanna Elisabeth (1712–1760) began to rule in 1747 on behalf of her younger child, Friedrich August (b. 1734, r. 1752–93). But it was the Seven Years' War (1756–63) that marked the beginning of the end in terms of a musical Blütezeit at the court.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.