I went to all the parish archives: St Nikolaus, Hötting, Mühlau. Unfortunately, no one could help me in my search for Anna Pritzi's plays. They all said they had no plays in their archives. I was referred to Wilten Abbey and to the local historian Mr. Rauch from Mühlau. Then I went to the folk song archives of the Ferdinandeum and had an interesting conversation with the archivist. She said that Anna Pritzi's plays could be scattered all over Tyrol, including South Tyrol. I should definitely expand my search beyond Innsbruck, Mühlau, Hötting and St Nikolaus.
In the reading room of the Ferdinandeum I leafed through a few editions of folk plays: Hölzl, Schönwiese, Polheim. There are hardly any play texts in them, but there is some information, for example, on the significance of theatre manuscripts from the time: Schönwiese describes a find of manuscripts drenched in rubbish on the Inn river. In addition, it is pointed out again here that the plays travelled a long way, from the Lower Inn Valley to Kiefersfelden, etc. In any case, I should also contact the specialist for Ritterschauspiele and archivist of Kiefersfelden, who was pointed out to me. As a further attempt, I followed a hint from Mr. Rauch, the miller and historian from Mühlau, and searched in the Tiroler Heimatblätter for the article on theatre in the Gasthaus Koreth in Mühlau. The librarian from the Ferdinandeum was very helpful and we finally found what we were looking for. Now I know that the Tivolitheater of Mühlau next to the Badhaus, which I know from the announcements in the Innsbrucker Nachrichten, is the same as the theatre on the grounds of the Gasthaus Koreth. And then a light came to me. If it seems impossible to get to Pritzi and her work via the theatre track, then I should try it via the inn track, via the brewery Schloss Büchsenhausen and the Gasthaus! If I don't get anywhere with the Dörrer estate tomorrow in the Tiroler Landersarchiv, I'll go back to the city archives and ask there for documents on Büchsenhausen from that time.
But first I am curious to see what the estate of the historian Anton Dörrer in the Tyrolean Provincial Archives will bring tomorrow.
photo: Innsbrucker Tagblatt, 5. Juli 1851