KLAVÍRNA KULTÚRA V BRATISLAVE V ROKOCH 1770 – 1830 (II)

This paper addresses the issues of music education in Bratislava (Pressburg, Prešporok), with reference to piano playing, in the final quarter of the 18th century. The studied period is more narrowly limited to the years 1777 – 1796, when the Normal School in Bratislava had among its staff the musician, pianist, singer, composer, theoretician and teacher Franz Paul Rigler (1747 or 1748 – 1796), an individual of all-round capability, with a reputation going beyond his local sphere. Analysing the personal, cultural, institutional and creative contexts of his life, the paper seeks answers to questions regarding Rigler’s origin, education and personal connections, and clarifies the contribution he made to shape the profile of musical culture. Presented research results are derived from processing part of the extensive source material in the Departamentum scholarum nationalium fund deposited in the Hungarian State Archive (Magyar Országos Levéltár) in Budapest. The primary aim of this study is to clarify the issues of piano education in Bratislava in the given period, its cultural, social, institutional and creative background, and the circumstances of how the music class in the Normal School functioned.