A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Willmann

by Alexander Wheelock Thayer

WILLMANN.^[1] A musical family, interesting partly in themselves, but chiefly from their connection with Bonn and Beethoven. Maximilian, of Forchtenberg, near Würzburg, one of the distinguished violoncellists of his time, removed with his family to Vienna about 1780. There they became known to Max Franz, son of;he Empress Maria Theresa, who in 1784 became Elector of Cologne, with Bonn as his capital. When he, in 1788, reorganised the court music, he called Willmann and his family thither, the father as solo violoncellist; thus he was a colleague of the young Beethoven. Of the concert tours made by the Willmanns during the succeeding years, some notice is given in the two following sections of the article. On the dispersion of the Bonn musicians (1794) in consequence of the French invasion, Willmann appears to have been for a short time in the service of the Prince of Thurn and Taxis at Ratisbon, but was soon called to the position of solo cellist in the Theater-and-er-Wien at Vienna. He died in the autumn of 1812.

Willmann, —, baptismal name and date of birth unknown, elder daughter of the preceding, studied the pianoforte with Mozart, and became one of his most distinguished pupils. She came to Bonn with her father in 1788, where she played at court and gave lessons. She took part in his private Sunday concerts, and was one of the few musicians selected by the Elector to accompany him to Munster in December 1792. At Bonn she occasionally sang in the opera. In later years, as Madame Hüber-Willmann, she made successful concert tours. Flattering notices of her performances, especially in Leipzig in 1801, 1802 and 1804, appear in the contemporary journals. Of her later life we find no information.

Magdelena, born at Forchtenberg, date unknown, younger sister of the preceding, studied singing with Righini at Vienna, and made her first appearance on the stage, Dec. 3, 1786, in Umlauf's 'Ring der Liebe.' She came to Bonn (1788) as prima donna. In the summer of 1790, Madame Todi sang in Bonn. Magdelena's quick apprehension caught her style, and a few months later she surprised her audience with a grand aria perfectly in the great Italian manner. The ever ready Neefe sent her a poem, the point of which was, that if, like 'Herr Paris,' he had to decide between Mara, Todi, and Magdelena, he would give the apple to the 'blooming rose.'

In the summer of 1791 she made a concert tour with her father and sister, visiting Mainz, Frankfort, Darmstadt, Mannheim, Munich, etc. At Dischingen, the summer residence of Prince Thurn and Taxis, she took the part of Belmonte in Mozart's Entführung, other parts being taken by the Princess, the Duchess of Hildburghausen and others of the aristocracy. On the 13th of July, 1793, the Willmann family left Bonn for Italy, and Peter Winter engaged her for the opera which he composed for the carnival at Venice in 1794. Returning thence the next summer, they gave a concert (July 30) at Gratz, on their way to Vienna. Meantime the Electorate of Cologne had disappeared, and its musicians were scattered. In 1795 Magdelena made a tour through Germany. In Berlin, in Vincent Martin's 'Lilla,' she sang a passage as it was written, which the Berliners had only heard sung an octave higher. Instead of applauding her deep, rich tones, they hissed her.

Returning to Vienna, she was engaged in the imperial opera, both for Italian and German. She married (1799) a certain Galvani, and except a 'star' tour or two she remained in the Vienna opera until her premature death near the end of the year 1801.^[2]

She was very beautiful in person, and upon her return to Vienna, Beethoven renewed his acquaintance with her and (on the testimony of her niece^[3]) offered her his hand. Her voice was of phenomenal extent, ranging from high soprano to contralto. E. L. Gerber writes, 'She belongs to the most celebrated German singers, renowned for her wonderfully deep and at the same time remarkably pleasing voice, for her execution and fine taste in delivery, and for her exquisite acting; so that nothing remains to be desired.'

Willmann, Carl, was a younger brother of the preceding, and of him it is only known that, before the dispersion of the court at Bonn, he was accessist to the violins, that is, played as candidate for a place, when one should become vacant.

Willmann, Madame Tribolet, was the daughter of Tribolet, Professor of French in the new University founded at Bonn by Max Franz. She did not belong to the 'Court music,' but sang in the opera, her first recorded appearance being in Nov. 1790. She soon after became the second wife of Max Willmann, and accompanied him and Magdelena to Venice in 1793. She sang in the concert at Gratz the next year, and in 1795 made her first appearance in Vienna, in Umlauf's 'Schöne Schusterin,' and 'greatly pleased.' How long she remained on that stage does not appear. In Hamburg (Sept. 20 to Oct. 4, 1801) she sang to crowded houses, departing thence, says the correspondent of the Allg. Mus. Zeitung, 'delighted with her extraordinary reception and emoluments.' In 1803 she sang at the Theater an-der-Wien, at Vienna; in July 1804 at Munich. She was next engaged for the Opera in Cassel. Upon the organisation of Jerome Bonaparte's French Theatre there, she retired for a time, and sang only in concerts, e.g. for Ries, on Jan. 25, 1811. In October and November of that year she was again in Munich, where she was a favourite. On the 24th of March, 1812, she was again in Munich, and gave a concert in which the PF. Fantasia, op. 80, of her old Bonn friend, Beethoven, was performed. It was her last. On her way thence to her dying husband in Vienna, she herself passed away. The Leipzig correspondent sums up her qualities thus: 'A splendid execution, an imposing voice, practised skill and science in singing, distinguish her most favourably above many celebrities.'

Willmann, Caroline, daughter of the preceding, was both singer and pianist. The earliest notice of her is her appearance with her mother in Ries's concert in Cassel, Feb. 23, 1811. 'As a pianist,' says the A.M.Z. correspondent, 'she has several times received well-earned applause. On this occasion she appeared for the first time as a singer in a grand and effective scena; the execution and fine intonation already acquired, under the instruction of her mother, justify the expectation that, if she so continues, we shall have in her a very fine singer. She deserves all encouragement, and received it in loud applause.' On the reorganisation of the Cassel Opera, in 1811, she was engaged. On Feb. 8, 1812, she sang and played a PF. concerto by Dussek. After the death of her mother, she sang for a time in Pesth, and in March 1814 sang a few times in the Court Opera, Vienna. Her voice—she was but eighteen years old—was not powerful, but very pure and sweet, except in the middle tones, and of remarkable extent in the upper register. Before the close of the year she was engaged in Breslau as prima donna. There the great beauty of her voice, its excellent cultivation by her mother and Blangini, her fine taste, her charming acting and her beauty, made her a general favourite. In July 1816 she was again in Vienna, and sang in the Theater-an-der-Wien, but from some unknown cause, on her first appearance, subjected herself to criticism of great severity. She remained upon that stage with varying success, astonishing her audiences by magnificent performances of the Queen of Night, and Elvira (Opferfest) until the end of 1818. In 1819 she sang in Munich and Stuttgart, and in 1821 in Dresden, with varied success. (See A.M.Z. xxiv. 497.) In 1823 she returned to Cassel. In 1825 she sang in Berlin, and thenceforward disappears.

A Miss Willmann sang successfully in Breslau in May 1815, a few months after Caroline had left that stage, and was said to be the daughter of J. Willmann, formerly (1804–8) Theatre and Music Director in Cassel.

[ A. W. T. ]

1. The notices of the various Wlllmanns in the old musical periodicals and calendars are so confused and contradictory, as to render it exceedingly difficult, perhaps impossible, to fully disentangle them. Baptismal names, dates of birth and death, and direct means of identification are largely wanting; and the German musical lexicons, copying each other, only add to the confusion. Most of the latter make of Max Willmann and his daughters, a brother, and sisters! Neefe, their music director in Bonn, writes in 1792, 'Herr Willmann with his two demoiselle daughters.' This is conclusive.
2. Not January 12. 1802, as the German lexicons state.
3. See Thayer's Beethoven, vol. ii. 58.