Karl Kohaut

Karl Ignaz Augustin Kohaut (baptised August 26, 1726 – August 6, 1784) was an Austrian diplomat, lutenist and composer of Czech descent. He is considered (along with Bernhard Joachim Hagen) to be one of the last important composers of music for Baroque lute.

Career

He was born in Vienna to Jakob Kohaut, musician to Prince Adam von Schwarzenberg. He entered civil service in 1756 or 1757. He accompanied Joseph II to his coronation in Frankfurt in 1764. In the same year he also accompanied Count Kaunitz to Paris.[1] By 1778, he had become court secretary.[2]

In 1761, he published his first work, a divertimento for lute, two violins and basso continuo, in Leipzig.[3] It is his only published work.[4] He dedicated two cantatas to celebrate Emperor Joseph's (at that time an Archduke of Austria) visit to the Melk Abbey.[5] He played the violin in Gottfried van Swieten's Sunday concerts, in which Haydn's and Mozart's works were played.[1]

He died in Vienna on August 6, 1784, unmarried.[6] The manuscripts of his first concerto and some of his trio sonatas came to the possession of the Belgian musicologist François-Joseph Fétis.[7]

His lute divertimento and five lute concertos have been recorded by John Schneiderman.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b Klima, Josef (1 December 1971). "Karl Kohaut, der letzte Wiener Lautenist". Österreichische Musikzeitschrift. 26 (JG): 141–144. doi:10.7767/omz.1971.26.jg.141. S2CID 163906118.
  2. ^ Young, David (20 January 2001). "Kohaut, Karl (Ignaz Augustin)". Grove Music Online (8th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0.
  3. ^ Gerber, Ernst Ludwig (1790). Historisch-biographisches lexicon der tonkünkstler. Leipzig: Breitkopf. p. 392.
  4. ^ Wurzbach, Constantin von, ed. (1864). "Kohaut, Joseph" . Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich [Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire] (in German). Vol. 12. p. 286 – via Wikisource.
  5. ^ Schoenbaum, Camillo (1962). "Die Böhmischen Musiker in Der Musikgeschichte Wiens Vom Barock Zur Romantik". Studien zur Musikwissenschaft. 25: 475–495. ISSN 0930-9578. JSTOR 41465251.
  6. ^ Zuth, Josef (1926). Handbuch der Laute und Gitarre. Vienna: Zeitschrift für die Gitarre. p. 159.
  7. ^ Meyer, Christian (1996). "Les manuscrits de luth du fonds Fétis (Bruxelles, Bibliothèque Royale Albert Ier, Mss II 4086-4089)". Revue belge de Musicologie / Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Muziekwetenschap. 50: 197–216. doi:10.2307/3687046. ISSN 0771-6788. JSTOR 3687046.
  8. ^ Kohaut, Karl encyclopedia.com


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