Andrew Weaver’s lucid and perceptive study of monarchical representation at the court of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III (r. 1637–57) examines strategies of image making during the waning years of the Thirty Years’ War. Eclipsed in the seventeenth century by Ferdinand II, his predecessor, as well as of by Leopold I, his successor, Ferdinand III has been neglected by many scholars. His reign nevertheless emerges in Weaver’s monograph as pivotal in the preservation of Habsburg power through monarchical representation in the arts, particularly in the genre of sacred music, during a very troubled period.
The disastrous end to the Thirty Years’ War (from the Habsburg perspective) and the need to negotiate a less-than-favorable peace forced a revision of Ferdinand III’s image from a victorious, militant Counter-Reformation warrior during the early years of the war to that of a pious, Habsburg protector of his realm and its people in the 1640s. It was Latin-texted sacred music that was enlisted for this revision. Sacred music was an obvious and fortuitous choice with which to present the emperor as the devout protector of his people. It placed emphasis on Ferdinand’s piety, and in publications, it reached an audience throughout his realm and beyond.
The revision of the emperor’s image is clearly seen in seven publications of motets by court composer Giovanni Felice Sances issued between 1638 and 1648. Dedicated chiefly to the emperor and his family, these publications both reflected the repertory of the imperial chapel and shaped the revision of Ferdinand III’s image during this critical period. Weaver’s analysis of the dedications, title pages, prefaces, and rubrics sometimes found within illuminates the strategies that were engaged in the revision, and, as he astutely observes, along with the choice and arrangement of motet texts, led its intended audience to an image of Ferdinand III as a pious as well as powerful sovereign. In doing so, he offers a fresh examination of the musical print stimulated and inspired not by the composer, but by the patron, Ferdinand III.
Weaver’s perceptive analysis of the motets reveals compositional approaches which make clear and, at the same time, highlight the texts that conveyed a calculated and deliberate image. As evidence, a work printed in 1638 at the height of the Thirty Years’ War presents Ferdinand III as the militant but pious warrior praying for “deliverance from enemies” (160) and success on the battlefield. By 1648 a shift in that image emerges. The emperor has become the devout and wise protector of his people seeking peace. Weaver draws a comparison between a “confident David-like warrior celebrating victory over his enemies” with a “Solomon praying not for himself but for his people” (191–92).
As Weaver brilliantly articulates, monarchical representation at Ferdinand III’s court was crafted within the context of Counter-Reformation Catholicism and pragmatically revised in the face of the changed political and military circumstances. Weaver emphasizes that Ferdinand’s image was shaped not only to reflect his power and glorify his reign but also to uphold his authority during this critical period. Ferdinand III’s piety was made tangible to his subjects through his role in processions, joyous entries, pilgrimages, and liturgical celebrations. The public nature of religious ceremony and ritual, accompanied by music both eloquent and expressive, provided the most obvious opportunities to promote the emperor as a devout protector of his people.
It was the policy of Pietas Austriaca, with its emphasis on devotion to the Eucharist, faith in the Cross, Marian piety, and veneration of the saints, that preserved Habsburg power and sovereignty and was made manifest in the music which emanated from the court. Motets that expressed devotion to the Eucharist, the Cross, and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary were put forward as a mirror of Ferdinand III’s personal piety, promoted as a model for his subjects to emulate. Likewise, Weaver’s inspired scholarship stands as a valuable and exemplary model for further inquiry into the role of monarchical representation in sacred music of the seventeenth century.
