(b Vienna, 1 Oct 1685; d Vienna, 20 Oct 1740). Austrian patron, Holy Roman Emperor. The younger son of the Habsburg Emperor Leopold I, he was declared King of Spain in 1703 in opposition to Philip V. Charles had his residence in Barcelona, where he also maintained a musical establishment. Several operas with texts by Pariati and Zeno and music by Caldara, Albinoni, Gasparini and others were performed there, beginning in 1708. He became emperor in 1711 and soon adopted the rich operatic life of his predecessors in Vienna. He engaged Caldara and Gottlieb Muffat, who joined Fux and F.B. Conti whom he had taken over from his brother. From the 1720s they were supported by Giuseppe Porsile, Georg Reutter (ii) and Giuseppe Bonno. Charles was a composer as well as a patron, but none of his works survives. He directed several performances from the harpsichord, including Caldara’s Euristeo in 1724. After his death the tradition of Italian court opera ceased and the Hofkapelle declined.
F. Hadamowsky: ‘Barocktheater am Wiener Kaiserhof, mit einem Spielplan (1625–1740)’, Jb der Gesellschaft für Wiener Theaterforschung 1951–2, 7–117; pubd separately (Vienna, 1955)
F.W. Riedel: Kirchenmusik am Hofe Karls VI. (1711–1740) (Munich, 1977)
H. Seifert: ‘Die Aufführungen der Opern und Serenate mit Musik von Johann Joseph Fux’, SMw, xxix (1978), 14–27
T. Antonicek: ‘Die Vollendung des Barock im Zeitalter der höfischen Repräsentation’, Musikgeschichte Österreichs, ii (Vienna, 1995), 15–33, 49–65
G. Gronda: La carriera di un librettista: Pietro Pariati di Reggio di Lombardia, da Venezia a Vienna (Bologna, 1990)
A. Sommer-Mathis: ‘Von Barcelona nach Wien: die Einrichtung des Theater-betriebes am Wiener Hof durch Kaiser Karl VI’, Musica Conservata: Günther Brosche zum 60. Geburtstag, ed. J. Gmeiner and others (Tutzing, 1999), 355–80
HERBERT SEIFERT