Thematischer Katalog Karlmann Pachschmidt

The Austrian composer Karlmann Pachschmidt was born in Eisenstadt in 1700 and entered the Benedictine Abbey Schottenstift in Vienna in 1721. There he was ordained as a priest in 1723 and gained the position of the choirmaster and conductor in 1725. He died in 1734 in Vienna. From 1721 onwards he composed more than 40 works, including masses, two Stabat Mater, three introitus, six motets, one Dixit Dominus, several psalms, and some arias. Among his instrumental works is a remarkable sinfonia . As well as the liturgical compositions ten further, uncompleted works exist: interestingly, in the institutional context of the Schottenstift, there are four Lateinschule plays with arias, recitatives and choirs. Like many other noteworthy composers of the 18th century, Pachschmidt is almost unknown today (apart from entries in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart and in The New Grove Dictionary). Efforts to resurrect the memory of Pachschmidt began in 2007 with the first modern edition of the so-called "Missa Sancti Carolomanni" and the above-mentioned "Sinfonia" (edited by the present author in the series Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich, vol. 154). This Thematic Catalogue increases our knowledge of Pachschmidt in several respects: it contains a biography, examines his personal method for preparing his compositions, helps to identify characteristics of his style and presents methods of dating his works. Questions are raised about the number of compositions attributed to Pachschmidt, rather than to his contemporaries,, which leads to an enumeration of all his compositions known today. Each work is catalogued including musical incipits of the main sections. In the appendix there is a discussion of twelve works which used to be considered original compositions by Pachschmidt, but which the present study regards as doubtful.