Joseph Franz von Lobkowitz

{{Short description|Austrian general and patron of music (1772–1816)}}

{{Infobox royalty

| name = Joseph Franz von Lobkowitz

| title = Prince of Lobkowitz

| image = Ölenhainz - Franz Joseph Maximilian von Lobkowitz.jpg

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1772|12|8|df=y}}

| birth_place = Vienna

| death_date = {{death date and age|1816|12|16|1772|12|8|df=y}}

| death_place = Třeboň, South Bohemia

| father = Prince Ferdinand Philipp von Lobkowicz

| mother = Princess Maria Gabriella di Savoia-Carignano

| spouse = {{marriage|Maria Karolina von Schwarzenberg
|1792|1816|reason=died}}

| issue =

| house = Lobkowicz

}}

Joseph Franz Maximilian, 7th Prince of Lobkowitz (also spelled Lobkowicz) (8 December 1772 – 16 December 1816[http://www.geni.com/people/Joseph-Franz-Maximilian-VII-F%C3%BCrst-zu-Lobkowicz/6000000012747637808 Joseph Franz Maximilian, VII. Fürst zu Lobkowicz] Geni, accessed 31 December 2014.) was an aristocrat of Bohemia, from the House of Lobkowicz. He is known particularly for his interest in music and as a patron of Ludwig van Beethoven.

Early life

He was born in Vienna, son of Ferdinand Philipp Joseph, 6th Prince Lobkowicz (1724–1784) and Princess Maria Gabriella di Savoia-Carignano (1748–1828). In 1786 Emperor Joseph II made him Duke of Roudnice (Herzog von Raudnitz in German, vévoda roudnický in Czech).[http://www.lobkowicz.com/en/collections-about/ Family History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612141714/http://www.lobkowicz.com/en/collections-about/ |date=2018-06-12 }} Lobkowicz, accessed 25 February 2017.

His paternal grandparents were Phillip Hyacinth, 4th Prince of Lobkowicz, and Countess Anna Maria von Althann. Joseph Franz's father succeeded his brother, Wenzel Ferdinand, as reigning Prince of Lobkowitz in 1739. His maternal grandparents were Louis Victor, Prince of Carignano and Princess Christine of Hesse-Rotenburg (daughter of Ernst II Leopold, Landgrave of Hesse-Rotenburg).{{cite book |last1=Steinforth |first1=Dirk H. |last2=Rozier |first2=Charles C. |title=Britain and its Neighbours: Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Medieval and Early Modern Europe |date=17 May 2021 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-000-36537-5 |page=206 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Britain_and_its_Neighbours/a_UlEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT206 |access-date=19 August 2024 |language=en}}

Patron of music

File:Palais Lobkowitz, Vienna (Canaletto).jpg, about 1760]]

The prince was an amateur musician, playing violin and cello, and sang with a bass voice. Countess Lulu Thürheim, sister-in-law of Prince Razumowsky, said of him: "This Prince was as kindhearted as a child and the most foolish music enthusiast. He played music from dusk to dawn and spent a fortune on musicians. Innumerable musicians gathered in his house, whom he treated regally."Paul Nettl. "Lobkowitz, Prince Josef Max". Beethoven Encyclopedia. Philosophical Library, New York, 1956.

He was a member of the Gesellschaft der Associierten, an important concert-sponsoring organization of his time which sponsored, among other events, the 1798 premiere of Joseph Haydn's The Creation.

In 1799, Lobkowitz commissioned a set of six string quartets from Haydn. The composer was both busy and in ill health, and he managed to complete only two of them; these were published as the composer's Opus 77 and were the last quartets he was to complete.Grave, Grave, and Margaret G. Grave (2006) The string quartets of Joseph Haydn. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 17. Excerpts viewable at

Google Books: [https://books.google.com/books?id=KS85lr30qNYC&dq=Lobkowitz+Haydn&pg=PA335].

Lobkowitz had a private orchestra at his palace in Vienna, the Palais Lobkowitz; in the hall of the palace, this orchestra performed in 1804 Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 (which was dedicated to the Prince) before the first public performance.[http://www.beethoven-haus-bonn.de/sixcms/detail.php?id=&template=dokseite_digitales_archiv_en&_dokid=bi:i3113&_seite=1 Friedrich Oelenhainz (1745–1804), Franz Joseph Maximilian Fürst von Lobkowitz (1772–1816)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303191504/http://www.beethoven-haus-bonn.de/sixcms/detail.php?id=&template=dokseite_digitales_archiv_en&_dokid=bi:i3113&_seite=1 |date=2016-03-03 }} Beethoven-Haus Bonn, accessed 30 December 2014.

In 1808, Beethoven was offered the post of Kapellmeister at Cassel, where Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia, had his court. Prince Lobkowitz, together with Archduke Rudolph and Prince Kinsky, successfully persuaded Beethoven to stay in Vienna by offering a yearly pension of 4,000 florins. In 1811 Prince Lobkowitz, in financial difficulty, discontinued paying his share. However, he eventually resumed payment, which continued past his death in 1816 until Beethoven's own death in 1827.

Beethoven dedicated several works to the Prince: his third, fifth and sixth symphonies; his String Quartets Op. 18 and String Quartet Op. 74; the Triple Concerto and the song cycle An die ferne Geliebte.

Beethoven composed a Birthday Cantata for Prince Lobkowitz (WoO 106); it was written for the composer's friend Karl Peters, tutor for the Lobkowitz family. It was intended to be sung by the young Princes on their father's birthday in 1816. However, the prince was seriously ill at that time, and died a few days later.

Personal life

File:Kněžna Marie Gabriela von Auersperg, roz. z Lobkowicz.jpg, 1843]]

In 1792 he married Maria Karolina von Schwarzenberg (1775–1816), daughter of {{ill|Johann I, Prince of Schwarzenberg|de|Johann I. (Schwarzenberg)}} and Countess Maria Eleonore zu Oettingen-Wallerstein (a daughter of Count Philipp Karl von Oettingen-Wallerstein).{{cite book |last1=Hofstaat |first1=Österreich-Ungarn |title=Handbuch des Allerhöchsten Hofes und des Hofstaates seiner K. u. K. Apostolischen Majestät: für das Jahr ... |date=1898 |publisher=Verlag d. K. K. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei |page=107 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Handbuch_des_Allerh%C3%B6chsten_Hofes_und_de/uKLNm3Vrs3EC&pg=PA107 |access-date=19 August 2024 |language=de}} They had twelve children, including:[http://www.lobkowitz.de/weitere_Infos_ueber_Lobkowitz/Beethoven/Ludwig_van_beethoven.htm Franz Joseph Maximilian von Lobkowitz] Kulturfreunde Lobkowitz Neustadt a.d. Waldnaab, accessed 30 December 2014.

Princess Gabriella von Lobkovicz (1793–1893), who married Prince Vincenz Nepomuk von Auersperg, youngest son of Prince Wilhelm I of Auersperg.{{cite book |title=Deutsche Adelsproben aus dem Deutschen Ordens-Central-Archive |date=1888 |publisher=W. Braumüller |page=148 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Deutsche_Adelsproben_aus_dem_Deutschen_O/FK0TAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA148 |access-date=19 August 2024 |language=de}}
Princess Maria Eleonora Carolina von Lobkovicz (1795–1876), who married Weriand, Prince of Windisch-Grätz, a son of Count Joseph Nicholas of Windisch-Graetz.{{cite book |last1=Neu |first1=Peter |title=Die Arenberger und das Arenberger Land: Das 19. Jahrhundert: Adelsleben, Besitz, Verwaltung |date=1989 |publisher=Verlag der Landesarchivverwaltung Rheinland-Pfalz |isbn=978-3-922018-70-4 |page=51 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lmsTAQAAMAAJ |access-date=19 August 2024 |language=de}}
Ferdinand Joseph, 8th Prince of Lobkovicz (1797–1868), who married Princess Maria of Liechtenstein, a daughter of Prince Moritz Joseph of Liechtenstein (a son of Prince Karl Borromäus of Liechtenstein) and Princess Maria Leopoldine Josepha Aloysia Esterházy de Galántha.{{cite book |last1=Pisano |first1=Sandra |last2=Collections |first2=Lobkowicz |title=The Lobkowicz Collections |date=2007 |publisher=Scala Publishers Limited |isbn=978-1-85759-520-8 |pages=4, 55 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VvYwAQAAIAAJ |access-date=19 August 2024 |language=en}}
Prince Johann Nepomuk Karl Philipp von Lobkovicz (1799–1878), who married Karolina von Wrbna und Freudenthal, a daughter of Eugen von Wrbna und Freudenthal.{{cite book |title=Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels |date=1997 |publisher=C.A. Starke |page=381 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mkdmAAAAMAAJ |access-date=19 August 2024 |language=de}}{{cite book |last1=Pálmány |first1=Béla |title=A reformkori országgyűlés történeti almanachja (1825-1848) |date=2011 |publisher=Argumentum |isbn=978-963-446-613-0 |page=562 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hMe3kHZZrGMC |access-date=19 August 2024 |language=hu}}
Prince Joseph Franz Karl von Lobkowicz (1803–1875), who married Countess Antonie Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau.{{cite book |last1=Monarchy |first1=Austro-Hungarian |title=Handbuch des allerhöchsten Hofes und des Hofstaates seiner K. und K. Apostolischen Majestät ... |date=1912 |publisher=K. K. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei. |page=405 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Handbuch_des_allerh%C3%B6chsten_Hofes_und_de/AoCz8L66frYC&pg=PA405 |access-date=19 August 2024 |language=de}} After her death in 1835, he married Maria "Sidonia" von Lobkowicz, a daughter of August, Prince von Lobkowicz and Bertha, Princess of Schwarzenberg.{{cite book |last1=Wurzbach |first1=Constant von |title=Biographisches lexikon des kaiserthums Oesterreich, enthaltend die lebensskizzen der denkwürdigen personen, welche seit 1750 in den österreichischen kronländern geboren wurden oder darin gelebt und gewirkt haben |date=1866 |publisher=K. K. Hof- und staatsdruckerei |page=325 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Biographisches_lexikon_des_kaiserthums_O/Us0HAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA325 |access-date=19 August 2024 |language=de}}
Prince Ludwig Johann Karl Alois Carl von Lobkowicz (1807–1882), who married Léopoldine von Liechtenstein, also a daughter of Moritz Joseph von Liechtenstein.{{cite book |last1=Gates-Coon |first1=Rebecca |title=The Charmed Circle: Joseph II and the 'Five Princesses,' 1765-1790 |date=15 January 2015 |publisher=Purdue University Press |isbn=978-1-61249-370-1 |page=9 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Charmed_Circle/dF7yDwAAQBAJ&pg=PR9 |access-date=19 August 2024 |language=en}}
Princess Anna von Lobkowicz (1809–1881), who married Count Franz Ernst von Harrach zu Rohrau und Thannhausen.{{cite book |last1=Konegen |first1=Carl |title=High Life Almanach {{!}} Adreßbuch der Gesellschaft Wiens und der österreichischen Kronländer |date=1913 |location=Vienna |page=269 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/High_life_almanach/Gws5AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA2-PA269 |access-date=19 August 2024 |language=de}}
Princess Sidonia Karolina von Lobkowicz (1812–1880), who married Count Ferdinánd III Lipót Pálffy-Daun von Erdöd.{{cite book |title=Almanach de Gotha: annuaire généalogique, diplomatique et statistique. 1893 |date=1893 |publisher=Dieterich |page=427 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Almanach_de_Gotha/tDlXBDOy71wC&pg=PA427 |access-date=19 August 2024 |language=fr}}
Prince Karl Johann von Lobkowicz (1814–1879), who married Julie von Redwitz.{{cite book |title=Österreichisch-kaiserlicher Hofkalender: für das Jahr ... |date=1879 |publisher=Ghelen |page=72 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/%C3%96sterreichisch_kaiserlicher_Hofkalender/vDyD7LN73CIC&pg=RA1-PA72 |access-date=19 August 2024 |language=de}}

He died 1816 in Třeboň in South Bohemia, and was buried in Roudnice nad Labem.

=Descendants=

Through his daughter, Princess Gabriella, he is a direct ancestor of Princess Michael of Kent ({{nee}} Baroness Marie-Christine von Reibnitz), the wife of Prince Michael of Kent, who is a grandson of King George V.{{cite book |last1=Kent |first1=Princess Michael of |title=The Serpent and the Moon: Two Rivals for the Love of a Renaissance King |date=13 September 2005 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-0-7432-5106-8 |page=18 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Serpent_and_the_Moon/MonPlTwbW0EC&pg=PR18 |access-date=23 August 2024 |language=en}}