Court Culture In Dresden From Renaissance to Baroque

by Watanabe-O'Kelly, Helen

• ISBN13: 9780333984482
• ISBN10: 033398448X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-07-05
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

This is the first cultural history of Baroque Dresden, the capital of Saxony and the most important Protestant territory in the Empire from mid-sixteenth to early-eighteenth century. It shows how the art patronage of the Electors fits into the intellectual climate of the age and investigates its political and religious context. Lutheran church music and architecture, the influence of Italy, and alchemy are among the colorful subjects that come into play.

Author Biography

Helen Watanabe-O'Kelly is Professor of German Literature at Oxford and a Fellow of Exeter College.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	vii
Acknowledgements	xii
Abbreviations	xiv
Genealogical table	xv
Introduction	1	(4)
The Lutheran Legacy: The Albertine Electors and Protestant Court Culture	5	(32)
The Electoral burial chapel at Freiberg	5	(15)
Sectarian tournaments	20	(2)
Lutheran sacred music - the `historia'	22	(4)
Biblical drama	26	(4)
Johann Georg II and the `Joseph' plays	30	(4)
Dedekind and the biblical semi-opera	34	(3)
The Italian Ideal: The Sixteenth-Century Reception of Italian Culture	37	(34)
Italian artists in Dresden	37	(6)
The new stables and portrait gallery (1586)	43	(2)
Arms, armour and Italian horsemanship	45	(4)
The tournament and Italian influence	49	(5)
Princely education and `civil conversation'	54	(5)
Johann Georg I's Italian journey (1601) and its Dresden legacy	59	(12)
The Management of Knowledge: The Dresden Collections - Their Origin and Development	71	(29)
Early modern collecting	71	(2)
The original Dresden Kunstkammer	73	(11)
Elector August's Library	84	(4)
The Electoral Library in the seventeenth century	88	(2)
The Kunstkammer under Christian I and Christian II	90	(1)
Johann Georg I's Kunstkammer	91	(5)
Storage and inventorisation of the collections	96	(4)
The Secrets of the Heavens and the Earth: Alchemy, Mining and Astrology at the Dresden Court	100	(30)
Early modern alchemy in the Empire	101	(3)
Princely patrons of alchemy in the Empire	104	(2)
Alchemy in Dresden - the theory	106	(9)
Alchemical practice at the Dresden court	115	(5)
Mining and astrology in court festivals	120	(10)
The Fabrication of an Image: Johann Georg II's Self-presentation	130	(36)
Johann Georg II's emergence as Jason (1650)	130	(2)
The Riesensaal and the ballet of 1653	132	(8)
Johann Georg II as Knight of St George	140	(11)
Johann Georg II as Nimrod	151	(3)
Publishing the image	154	(12)
The `Recreation of the Spirit': Theatre at the Dresden Court during the Seventeenth Century	166	(27)
`Pleasant inventions and entertaining histories' foreign drama at the Dresden court	166	(8)
Heroes changed to flowers' - ballet at the Dresden court	174	(15)
Gods among the Saxons' - opera in Dresden	189	(4)
The Saxon Hercules: August the Strong, Elector A of Saxony, King of Poland	193	(45)
From Lutheran Elector to Catholic King	195	(9)
The cultural impact of France	204	(8)
From Kunstkammer to museum	212	(8)
From occult science to early manufacturing	220	(9)
From Mercury to Apollo - August's festivals	229	(9)
Conclusion	238	(4)
Notes	242	(31)
Bibliography	273	(24)
Index	297