After breakfast, I went straight to the folk song archive to see the curator, Mrs Ortner. I was able to study the copy of the play "Die Grafen von Hohenstein" (The Counts of Hohenstein) from the Höttinger Au from 1849. Castelli wrote in his travelogue that he had seen a play by Anna Pritzi in the Höttinger Au in 1956. Therefore, in addition to the Büchsenhausen trace, I am also following the Höttinger Au trace. The play was properly copied by Joseph Weber in 1910, a composer and collector. He found the original manuscript in the Bauerntheater at Bruck in the Zillertal. I was able to photograph the entire copy. Perfect, now I can read the play carefully and get an impression of how these knight plays sounded. I then talked to Mrs Ortner about her current exhibition in the Folk Art Museum on The Role of Folk Music for Tourism, especially in Tyrol. Many parallels to theatre. The "Natursänger" (nature singers) travelled far in the 19th century, as far as Russia and America, and were enthusiastically applauded. They staged and costumed themselves wonderfully and designed their programmes well. The Natursänger also performed during the breaks of the theatre performances in Hötting and Mühlau. I will go and see the exhibition tomorrow morning.
Later, in the city archives I met Mr Hofinger. He searched with me for documents on Büchsenhausen Castle brewery, inn, theatre ... and ... we found a playbill from 1833 from the united Büchsenhausen theatre company! What a breakthrough! You can see it below. Unfortunately Anna Pritzi's name is not on it, there are no names on it at all, but it is proof that theatre was played in Büchsenhausen at that time! I am very happy. Mr. Hofinger also found the inn concession and the cancellation of the same in the 1950s. I photographed all of them. Then I went through a few publications on inns in the reading room of the city archive and pulled an Innsbruck chronicle (by Unterkirchner) from the shelf. And lo and behold, when I searched under Büchsenhausen, I found an entry for 1832 that the imperial couple Franz und Karoline visited the Bauerntheater in Büchsenhausen on 8 July and donated 50 Taler. I found the whole matter confirmed again in the Fischnaler and Pusch Innsbruck chronicle. Very good.
In the afternoon, in the reading room in the Ferdinandeum, I searched for newspaper articles on the visit of the emperor and empress to Innsbruck in July 1832. I found what I was looking for and was able to read in detail about the visits of the Majesties to the lunatic asylum, tables for the poor, military parades etc., but unfortunately only a very short section on the visit to the theatre in Büchsenhausen. It would have been too nice if Pritzi's name had finally been mentioned.
The afternoon ended with the library staff searching the card catalogue for references to theatre, playbills etc. in Büchsenhausen. So great! One finding was that the playbills of the k.k. Nationaltheater Innsbruck have exactly the same design as the playbill from Büchsenhausen. Time flew and I had to pack my things and leave the reading room for the time being until probably November.
p.s. In the morning I went by the marketing department of Büchsenhausen Castle and spoke to an employee there. I heard about an archive of Büchsenhausen owned by the Nissl family. Maybe I can find more traces of Pritzi's theatre in this archive ...
References:
Konrad Fischnaler, Innsbrucker Chronik, 1929
G. Puschs Chronik von Innsbruck IV, 1817 - 1839, Eintrag vom 8. Juli 1832
Carl Unterkirchner, Chronik von Innsbruck 1897, Eintrag vom 8. Juli 1832
Bote für Tirol und Vorarlberg, 9. Juli 1832
Bote für Tirol und Vorarlberg, 12. Juli 1832
photo: Stadtarchiv/Stadtmuseum Innsbruck, Signatur: Div-5468
