Jakob Haibel
Encyclopedia
Jakob Haibel was an Austrian
composer
, operatic tenor
and choirmaster.
’s company of performers at the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden. While there, he acted in plays and sang in operas and other musical productions. In the mid-1790s he started composing incidental music for company's plays and writing singspiele. His first score for the company was the ballet
Le nozze disturbate, which premiered in 1795 to great success. The company performed the work 39 times that year alone. Beethoven based his 12 variations on a Menuett à la Vìganò WoO 68 (1795) on an air from the ballet. In 1796, his opera Der Tiroler Wastel premiered at the theater to rave reviews. The work was Haibel's greatest success and was given 66 times that year and 118 times in all at the Freihaus-Theater. The work was staged in a multitude of other theatres throughout the Austro-German part of Europe and no other original score by Haibel ever equalled its success.
Haibel continued to compose music for the theater until the death of his first wife Katharina (ca. 1768-Vienna, 14 February 1806). In the fall of 1806 he left Vienna for Ðakovo
, Slavonia
and spent there the rest of his life as the cathedral choirmaster. Recent research has brought to light 16 Masses by Haibel written during this time, preserved in the Kuhač collection at the Nacionalna i Sveučilišna Knjižnica in Zagreb. He became Mozart’s posthumous brother-in-law when he married Sophie Weber
, Constanze
's sister, on 7 January 1807. After Haibel’s death in 1826, Sophie moved to Salzburg to live with her sister.
Austrians
Austrians are a nation and ethnic group, consisting of the population of the Republic of Austria and its historical predecessor states who share a common Austrian culture and Austrian descent....
composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, operatic tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
and choirmaster.
Biography
Around 1789, Haibel joined Emanuel SchikanederEmanuel Schikaneder
Emanuel Schikaneder , born Johann Joseph Schickeneder, was a German impresario, dramatist, actor, singer and composer. He was the librettist of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera The Magic Flute and the builder of the Theater an der Wien...
’s company of performers at the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden. While there, he acted in plays and sang in operas and other musical productions. In the mid-1790s he started composing incidental music for company's plays and writing singspiele. His first score for the company was the ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
Le nozze disturbate, which premiered in 1795 to great success. The company performed the work 39 times that year alone. Beethoven based his 12 variations on a Menuett à la Vìganò WoO 68 (1795) on an air from the ballet. In 1796, his opera Der Tiroler Wastel premiered at the theater to rave reviews. The work was Haibel's greatest success and was given 66 times that year and 118 times in all at the Freihaus-Theater. The work was staged in a multitude of other theatres throughout the Austro-German part of Europe and no other original score by Haibel ever equalled its success.
Haibel continued to compose music for the theater until the death of his first wife Katharina (ca. 1768-Vienna, 14 February 1806). In the fall of 1806 he left Vienna for Ðakovo
Ðakovo
Đakovo is a town in the region of Slavonia, Croatia.Đakovo is the centre of the fertile and rich Đakovo region .-Geography:Đakovo is located to the southwest of Osijek and southeast of Našice; elevation 111 m....
, Slavonia
Slavonia
Slavonia is a geographical and historical region in eastern Croatia...
and spent there the rest of his life as the cathedral choirmaster. Recent research has brought to light 16 Masses by Haibel written during this time, preserved in the Kuhač collection at the Nacionalna i Sveučilišna Knjižnica in Zagreb. He became Mozart’s posthumous brother-in-law when he married Sophie Weber
Sophie Weber
Maria Sophie Weber was a singer of the 18th and 19th centuries. She was the younger sister of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's wife Constanze, and is remembered primarily for the testimony she left concerning the life and death of her brother-in-law....
, Constanze
Constanze Mozart
Constanze Mozart was the wife of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.-Early years:Constanze Weber was born in Zell im Wiesental. Her mother was Cäcilia Weber, née Stamm. Her father Fridolin Weber worked as a "double bass player, prompter and music copyist." Fridolin's half-brother was the father of composer...
's sister, on 7 January 1807. After Haibel’s death in 1826, Sophie moved to Salzburg to live with her sister.
Sources
- Peter Branscombe. The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, edited by Stanley Sadie (1992), ISBN 0-333-73432-7 and ISBN 1-56159-228-5
- Zdravko Blažeković & Ennio Stipčević. "Johann Petrus Jakob Haibel (1762-1826) and His Sixteen Newly Discovered Masses from Djakvo (Croatia)", in: Off-Mozart: Glazbena kultura i "mali majstori" srednje Europe, 1750.-1820./Musical Culture and the "Kleinmeister" of Central Europe, 1850-1826. Muzikološki zbornici 3 (Zagreb: Hrvatsko muzikološko društvo, 1995), 67-75. ISBN 953-6090-02-3
- Zdravko Blažeković, "Due musicisti nella Pannonia del primo Ottocento: Ðuro Arnod e Petrus Jakob Haibel", Danubio: Una civiltà musicale. IV: Croazia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, ed. by Carlo de Incontrera and Alba Zanini (Monfalcone: Teatro Comunale di Monfalcone, 1994), 47-64.