Nobility: Letter Augsburg 1796 After Schwyz An Mozart-Freund the Corner After

Money to return to Munich after the bride was kidnapped!

You are bidding on one letter from 1796 from Augsburg.

Written by a nobleman (probably Counts), who lives in Munich.

Unfortunately the signature is illegible. Through the concise coat of arms on the seal maybe he can be identified.

Addressed "to Mr. Sir Friedrich Eck, Churfstl. Pfaltzbayschen Musique Director and Concertmaster pp. dermal at the post office living in Switzerland pp. on Switzerland In Canton Switzerland.

So directed at the violinist of the Mannheim School, composer, music director (later: court music director) and concertmaster Friedrich Eck (1767-1838) inSchwyz (Canton Schwyz, Switzerland). He was concertmaster of the electoral instrumental court music and music director at the small court theater in Munich friends with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and also gave concerts with him.

Dated Augsburg, the 7th October 1796.

Eck was with his Beloved Countess Philippina of Tautphaeus (1777-1797), the only daughter of the chambermaid Josepha von Bessel, fled to Schwyzafter he was still a minor on the 28th. Abducted from her mother's grasp in April 1796 who was strictly against the inappropriate union and hid her daughter from Eck with relatives in Dillingen, as he already had the Elector's permission to marry. On the 8th They both married in Schwyz on May 17, 1796 and returned on the 14th. October 1796 returned to Munich (i.e. a week after this letter was written), while investigations were already underway against Eck for kidnapping. Eck was ultimately sentenced to eight days of house arrest in February 1797, but the marriage was formally recognized. The happiness was short-lived, however, as Philippina died on the 18th. May 1797 with the birth of a child. --- Source: Bärbel Pelker: Friedrich Eck (1767-1838). From the life of a court musician. in: Music in Baden-Württemberg. Yearbook 2017/18: Volume 24, pp. 55-68.

Also his second wife, Marie Josefa Maxim. Countess of Tauffkirchen, b. Countess von der Wahl, he was supposed to kidnap, for which he was dismissed from civil service in 1800. In 1801 he married her in Switzerland.

The letter concerns a change to enable Eck, "as soon as possible. to receive the money and start your journey with your beloved wife. [...] I'm leaving long ago on the 10th-11th. back to Munich, and I hope you will follow me soon [...]. I wish you good reception and good luck with your current letter and bill of exchange. Trip, along with everything else. Pleasant to her dearest wife. If you return via Sc. because of the roads and your car. Gallen and Lindau could take, it would be safer: since the armies are still against Constantz and Schaffhausen [...]. [...] I hope that this is my last letter to you and that we will soon have the pleasure of speaking to you. to assure, as I do Grf. J.{?} are your true most devoted friends."

I understand the closing formula to mean that he and Countess J.(?) together are Eck's true friends.

The signature (starting with J. or Z.?) illegible.

Scope: two text pages, a blank page and an address page (23 x 18.7 cm).

Format (folded): 8x11cm.

Condition: Paper slightly stained, with small missing parts. Please note also the pictures!

Internal note: Ostbhf Vorphila 23-10-08 (5)

About the recipient (Source: NDB):

Eck, Friedrich Johannes Gerhard, Court music director, * May 25, 1767 Schwetzingen, † February 22, 1838 Paris.

genealogy:B →Franz s. (1);

⚭ 1) Philippine Baroness v. Tautphoeus (1777–97), 2) 1801 Marie Jos. Maxim. Gfn. v. of the election, divorced wife of the Bavarian WGR Matthias Gf. v. Tauffkirchen.

biography: At the age of 7, E. received music from the chamber musician Ch. Danner took lessons in violin playing in Mannheim, which began after the E flat moved with der Hofkapelle in Munich (1778) is expanded by composition lessons with P. Winter. In the same year E. is recorded as a violinist in the court orchestra. In 1780 he became court musician, in 1788 concertmaster and soon afterwards director of the opera at the court and national theater. On July 1, 1799, he received a salary of 1,500 guilders as court music director. In 1780 he met Mozart on friendly terms, who conveyed the recommendations of “Eck vatter and son” in his letters to Salzburg; it adds Mozart's Violin Concerto KV 365b to the version available today. In 1785 E. is said to have received an offer to go to Salzburg, but rejected it and showed interest in Berlin, where the National Theater opened in 1786. In March of this year, E. is on a concert tour in Vienna, where he appears in a Madame Shower concert with the “famous winger” Mozart. In 1800 he gave concerts in Berlin both at court and in public, which cemented his reputation as an outstanding virtuoso and caused Johann Friedrich Reichardt to speak with admiration in his reviews about his excellent qualities as a violinist. Among the European violinists he is only ranked alongside Johann Peter Salomon, while Ludwig Spohr describes him as the most famous violinist alongside GB Viotti. On May 21, 1800, E. was dismissed from Bavarian service because of the kidnapping of his second, very wealthy wife. After the wedding in Switzerland, the couple is said to have turned to France and lived alternately in Paris and on an estate near Nancy. – E. wrote 6 violin concertos and the Concertante op. 8 (no year), with which J. Joachim opened his career in 1839.