Court Culture in Dresden. From Renaissance to Baroque (original) (raw)
2003, German Studies Review
Elector of Saxony, put on a series of plays lasting for three evenings on the theme of the biblical Joseph. These "comedies," which reprised how the virtuous Joseph had triumphed over the wicked wiles of his jealous brothers, centered on the theme of fraternal hatred. From 1672, they were followed by a ballet of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. On each of these evenings of entertainment, Johann Georg II required his three younger brothers, their wives and their families to attend. Johann Georg II seems to have resented his father's decision to provide his (Johann Georg Us) younger brothers with territories in the west of Saxony, with the result that the size of his patrimony had decreased. Admonishing his siblings (and perhaps also himself),Johann Georg II put on these plays to drive home to his brothers his own virtuous position. Just in case they did not fully comprehend the message of the play, they were given a printed plot summary and interpretative text to take away with them. With great skill, Helen Watanabe-O'Kelly reveals in this book the sometimes unlikely combination of Lutheranism and Italianate court culture that pervaded one of the wealthiest and most important courts in the Holy Roman Empire. Relying upon a rich array of primary documents, many of them illustrated and most of them unexamined by previous researchers, she shows the way in which the Saxon electors employed art in the service of governing their territory from 1553 to 1733. This excellent overview will be useful to scholars beginning research in the Saxon libraries and archives and it will be enlightening to the informed traveler visiting Dresden. Many important points emerge from the wealth of detail in this book, among them the slow course of evolution of Saxon court culture from the founding of Dresden as his capital by Moritz (1521-1553) and the expansion of the court in Dresden under his brother August's thirty-three-year reign (r. 1553-1586) to that of August the Strong (1670-1733), who converted to the Catholic faith in order to be elected King of Poland (as August II). This cumulative development of Saxon culture, especially in the fabrication and dissemination of the persona of the elector, moved into high gear under Johann Georg II (1613-1680) and
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