Djela Jana Křtitela Vaňhala / Johanna Baptista Waňhala u hrvatskim glazbenim zbirkama
Works by Jan Křtitel Vaňhal / Johann Baptist Waňhal in Croatian musical collections

Summary/Abstract: The composer, violinist and musical teacher Johann Baptist Wanhal/Jan Křtitel Vaňhal (1739-1813) was a Czech master active within the Central-European musico-cultural circle, whose works are kept – as far as it is known at present – in eleven musical collections in seven cities in Croatia. These are: Franciscan monastery in Cres (1 item); Benedictine nunnery in Cres (2); Franciscan monastery in Osijek (2); the Politeo collection in Stari Grad on the island of Hvar (2); Parish church of St Nicholas in Varaždin (2); Franciscan monastery in Košljun (island of Krk)(3); Croatian Music Institute in Zagreb (4); Croatian State Archives (the Kuhač collection)(4); Franciscan monastery in Dubrovnik (6); Ursuline nunnery in Varaždin (9); the Udina-Algarotti collection (Krk/ Zagreb)(16, respectively 18). Thus Vaňhal ‘s works are kept in four Franciscan monasteries, one Benedictine and one Ursuline nunnery, one parish church and four secular collections, in 53 items containing at least 78 compositions in the form of 45 manuscripts and eight printed editions. Their provenance and context of reception, except for Varaždin where Vaňhal was active at the Erdödy estates, remain largely a topic for future research. Among Vaňhal’s preserved works in Croatia there are 44 items belonging to secular music (sonatas, sonatinas, duets, capricios, concerts and variations for keyboards, marches, symphonies and quartets) and nine belonging to church music (offertories, motets, Salve Regina, Tantum ergo, Pangue lingua). Among manuscripts the most valuable seem to be 2-6 supposed autographs from the Ursuline nunnery in Varaždin, and among printed matter three rare editions kept in the Franciscan monastery in Dubrovnik (one world unique copy and one third and one fourth preserved copy in the world of their respective editions). All manuscripts and all printed editions belong to the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries, only some of them being precisely dated (in Varaždin and Cres). All printed items were published by the Viennese publishers Sauer, Artaria and Hoffmeister, and one item (the world unique copy) by the less-known Kunstverlag der Sieben Schwestern. Although preserved in a smaller number than works by other Central-European masters of the Classicism, such as W.A. Mozart, F.J. Haydn or I. Pleyel, Vaňhal’s legacy in Croatia makes both an important part of it and a certain value for European musical culture in itself. It also supplies evidence on the dissemination of Viennese musical Classicism in the south-east of Europe and another proof of purchasing and performing the then contemporary Classicist music repertoire in Croatian areas along the Adriatic coast and in the interior parts of the country.

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