Ferdinand Zellbells tyska hautboister

Abstract

The German musicians discussed in this essay resided less than a decade in Stockholm, but it might be of interest to shed some light on a group of oboists (or ‘hoboists’, which was the contemporary term) who were employed in Sweden’s capital city during the 1730s. Two letters in the Hülpher Collection contain references to the ten ‘hautbois’ players from Hessen-Kassel, and other archive material substantiates their activities here. Court music in Kassel disappeared almost entirely after the hereditary Prince of Hessen-Kassel, Fredrik (I), became King of Sweden. During the king’s tour of his dominions in 1731, it is likely that Kapellmeister Chelleri and the ‘hautbois’ players in Kassel were invited to join the royal court in Stockholm. According to extant records the ten oboists in question had all arrived in Stockholm by 10 July 1732, and became diligently engaged in a variety of court ceremonies, royal hunts, excursions and banquets. One of them, Johan Hindric Vogler, was not only employed as a musician in the royal household, but was also occupied as a music copyist for the court. Valentin Eüler was adept in playing both wind and string instruments, which was not uncommon for musicians during the 18th century, and was offered the post of court trumpet player. Johan Andreas Wehrman and Johan Ludwig Wehrman probably arrived in Stockholm earlier than the others, judging from the fact that Andreas Wehrman was asked by Johan Helmich Roman to be godfather to his first-born son in June 1732. Such a flattering request probably indicates that he was already well known. The oboists from Kassel were presumably young men when they travelled to Sweden, as six of them got married during their stay. Little is known about three of them; they are only mentioned in sources. But archive documents also reveal how tragedy struck one of them: Johan Friedrich Schunck was married in 1734 to Margareta Struense. Their son was baptised on 30 November 1736 in the German Church in Stockholm where, in the same church, the funeral ceremonies for the boy were held one day later, and then for the mother one week after. Johan Friedrich died in June of the following year. That he also had financial difficulties is witnessed by the deceased’s estate, which showed that his debts exceeded his assets. Only one of these German musicians, Johan Gotthard Sander (who, at the inauguration of the new organ in Maria Magdalena Church in Stockholm in May 1738, regaled with “walthorn et viol”) remained in Sweden when the others returned in May 1739 “nachher Hessen zurück”. Exactly why they returned has not been ascertained, but their departure in all likelihood involved stipulations from the monarchal situation in Kassel.