FRANZ PAUL RIGLER: ANLEITUNG ZUM GESANGE, UND DEM KLAVIERE, ODER DIE ORGEL ZU SPIELEN - PRÍBEH JEDNEJ UČEBNICE HUDBY

The author of the first textbook for learning to play the piano: Anleitung zum Klavier für musikalische Lehrstunden, published in Vienna in 1779, was the composer and music teacher Franz Paul Rigler (1747 or 1748 – 1796), one of the most important figures in Bratislava’s musical life in the last quarter of the 18th century. The needs and aims of the Music School at which he worked from 1779 to 1796, led to him creating his life’s work: Anleitung zum Gesange, und dem Klaviere, oder die Orgel zu spielen (Budapest, 1798), intended for students training to be teachers at the secondary (normal) school in Bratislava. Clarification of the process of creation and publication of this work over a number of years reveals complex circumstances involving the publication of three versions of the second edition of the first textbook (1791, 1792/1793, 1793) with title pages varying in typographic arrangement and different, partly false impresses, which supplement and correct the previously known and inaccurately copied data about the author and his work in the field of musical education. The information and connections presented in the background of the “story of music textbook” also gives a picture of the musical, educational and publishing environment of Bratislava and the emerging authors’ and publishers’ rights in the Kingdom of Hungary at the end of the 18th century.