11
Prejeto / received: 20. 9. 2021. Odobreno / accepted: 19. 12. 2021.
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, DOI: 10.3986/dmd18.1-2.01
JOSEPH BENESCH
A FORGOTTEN BOHEMIAN VIOLINIST AND AN IMITATOR 
OF NICCOLÒ PAGANINI WITHIN THE CENTRAL 
EUROPEAN VIOLINISTIC TRADITION
MARUŠA ZUPANČIČ
Znanstvenoraziskovalni center SAZU, Ljubljana
Izvleček: Joseph Benesch (1795–1873) spada 
med zgodnejše potujoče violinske virtuoze in 
posnemovalce slavnega Niccolòja Paganinija, 
s katerim se je srečal v Trstu leta 1824. Šest let 
je deloval v Ljubljani in se pozneje ustalil na 
Dunaju, kjer je bil član dvorne glasbene kapele 
ter orkestrski direktor gledališča pri Hofburgu. 
Večinoma je pisal violinska dela, ki jih je izvajal 
kot del osebnega repertoarja.
Ključne besede: Joseph Benesch, Niccolò Pa-
ganini, koncertno življenje 19. stoletja, violinski 
virtuozi, violinski repertoar
Abstract: Joseph Benesch (1795–1873) was 
among the earliest violin virtuosos to become 
imitators of the famous Niccolò Paganini, whom 
he met in Trieste as early as 1824. He was active 
in Ljubljana for six years and later settled in Vi-
enna, where he was a member of the Hofkapelle 
and orchestral director of the court theatre. 
He mainly wrote works for violin, which he 
performed as part of his personal repertoire.
Keywords: Joseph Benesch, Niccolò Paganini, 
nineteenth-century concert life, violin virtuosos, 
violin repertoire
The Historical Background of Violin-Playing in Bohemia and the Rise of a Violin 
Virtuoso
When we think of the origins of the travelling “superstar” violin virtuoso, Niccolò Paganini 
immediately comes to mind. While it is true that the phenomenon of the itinerant vir-
tuoso emerged in his era, the early nineteenth century, when travel was slow, expensive 
and dangerous, he was by no means the only person developing what would become the 
“standard violin repertoire”. There were others who contributed to the concept of a public 
solo performance centred around virtuosic violin technique, the fruits of which we can 
still enjoy today. Adopting a strategy of promoting their own compositions, tailored to 
their performance style, as a means of standing out from the competition, these aspiring 
virtuosos embarked on this life of constant touring in pursuit of commercial success and 
financial prosperity. Among them was the violinist and composer Joseph Benesch, who 
worked in Ljubljana for several years and was strongly influenced by Paganini, whom he 
met in 1824. Benesch was a musician well respected during his lifetime and considered 
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“one of the foremost violinists in Germany”.1 His name was included in the most important 
music encyclopedias of his time,2 and music journals in Vienna, Leipzig, Prague, Brussels, 
Milan and Paris reported on his death.3 Today, however, like many Bohemian violinists, 
he is forgotten – as are also his compositions, which are preserved in music archives and 
libraries in the form of autograph manuscripts, manuscript copies and nineteenth-century 
prints. His works reflect the spirit of the “Paganini era”, especially in terms of their vio-
linistic idiom. He was a child of two epochs – on the one hand, the expiring period of 
musical patronage, and on the other, the new, emerging period of the newly empowered 
bourgeoisie and the phenomenon of the travelling virtuoso.
Benesch grew up in a musically stimulating environment in Moravia and in Bohemia, 
which was also referred to as the “Conservatory of Europe”, since almost half the musi-
cians born in Bohemia between 1740 and 1810 were active outside their native land.4 The 
importance of music in Bohemia from the earliest times is attested by the old Bohemian 
proverb “Co Čech, to muzikant” (Every Czech is a musician) and by historians and artists 
of the time. The English historian Charles Burney (1726–1814), who travelled through the 
Bohemian countryside in 1772, wrote in his diary that he was often told that the Bohemians 
were “the most musical people of Germany, or perhaps, of all Europe” and that he himself 
observed that “not only in every large town, but in all villages, where there is a reading 
and writing school, children of both sexes are taught music”.5 The composer Christoph 
Willibald Gluck (1714–1787), who grew up in Bohemia, said similarly that in his homeland 
everyone was musical and music was taught in schools. Even in the smallest villages peas-
ants sang and played various instruments during High Mass in their churches.6 According 
to another Bohemian tradition, fathers saw to it that their sons learned to sing and play at 
school and mastered at least one instrument before sending them out as merchants so that 
they had some talent to fall back on. When the wandering son returned, he often brought 
 This article is the result of the project “Influx of Musicians to the Slovene Lands during the 
Long Nineteenth Century – Their Impact and Integration” (J6–9386), financed by the Slovenian 
Research Agency (ARRS). I would like to thank Marko Motnik for his kind help regarding the 
Viennese sources and German transliterations.
1 Biographie universelle des musiciens, s.v. “Benesch, Joseph”.
2 Pr., “Slowník powěstných gmen”, Kwěty: národní zábawník pro Čechy, Morawany a Slowáky, 
24 September 1835; Biographie universelle des musiciens, “Benesch, Joseph”; Das musikalische 
Europa, s.v. “Benesch, Joseph”, 26–27; Slovník naučný, s.v. “Benesch, Joseph”, 613.
3 “Nécrologie”, Le Guide musical: revue hebdomadaire des nouvelles musicales de la Belgique 
et l’étranger, 27 February 1873; “Nécrologie”, Le Ménestrel: musique et théâtres, 23 March 
1873; “Unsere Todten im Jahre 1873”, Neue Zeitschrift für Musik [Leipzig], 30 January 1874; 
“Berichte. Nachrichten und Bemerkungen: Wien”, Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, 26 February 
1873; “Necrologie”, Gazzetta musicale di Milano, 9 March 1873; “Nouvelles diverses”, Revue 
et gazette musicale de Paris, 16 March 1873; “Zprávy z ciziny a Rakouska”, Hudební listy, 27 
February 1873.
4 Pilková, “Zur Frage der Musiker”; Franková, “Mýtus české hudební emigrace”, 75–77.
5 Burney, Present State of Music, 3–4.
6 Heartz, “Coming of Age in Bohemia”, 519.
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Maruša Zupančič: A Forgotten Bohemian Violinist and an Imitator of Niccolò Paganini Within the Central European Violinistic Tradition
with him an even greater musical competence and sometimes even scores acquired in the 
larger cities, with which he enriched the musical life of his homeland.7
Benesch’s father, Matthias Benesch, who was also his first music teacher, was no 
exception. In addition to his profession as a tailor he was also a talented musician. It was 
very common for these musicians to be trained by their own fathers during their formative 
years, as was the case with Benesch. Most of them were broadly trained musicians who 
mastered various instruments, including the violin, which was a kind of “trademark” of 
the Bohemians, since many of them contributed to the development of violin playing in 
Europe.
Violin playing had emerged in the Czech Lands already in the first half of the seven-
teenth century.8 The end of the Thirty Years War (1618–1648), when Roman Catholicism 
regained the upper hand in the Czech Lands, decisively influenced the fate of those lands 
and their music. Catholic choral establishments, monasteries and Latin schools became 
centres of musical education. Music and singing became effective tools in the pursuit of 
recatholization in villages and towns. The Bohemian cantor mastered playing the violin 
and other instruments. In the villages he was a choirmaster, music teacher and player at 
weddings, funerals and many other occasions.9 Bohemian violinists received training from 
cantors or other musicians; however, they could also be self-taught. A number of them 
received a thorough musical education in Latin schools, especially from the Jesuits and 
Piarists.10 Among them was also the violinist Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644–1704), 
one of the most important violin composers of all time, who may have studied at a Jesuit 
College in Bohemia.11 By using scordatura,12 which he developed up to an astounding and 
never since surpassed point, Biber greatly influenced the development of violin technique.13 
7 This tradition was explained by the composer and essayist Johann Friedrich Reinhardt (1752–1814) 
in the ninth of his letters from Šluknov (Schluknow) near the Bohemian border, published in 
1776. See Heartz, “Coming of Age in Bohemia”, 518–519; Reichardt, Briefe eines aufmerksamen 
Reisenden die Musik betreffend, 123.
8 Žídek, Čeští houslisté tří století, 15.
9 Ibid., 9, 20–21; Berkovec, Slavný ouřad učitelský, 7–10.
10 Žídek, Čeští houslisté tří století, 20, 22.
11 Biber was an Austrian violinist and composer of Bohemian origin. He was the outstanding violin 
virtuoso of the seventeenth century and a composer of the first rank; he wrote instrumental, 
vocal, sacred and secular music. His fame rests primarily on his violin sonatas, especially those 
requiring scordatura, but his polychoral church music has also aroused interest and admiration. 
See Dann, “Biber, Heinrich Ignaz Franz von”.
12 So-called scordatura (literally, ‘mistuning’; accordatura = tuning) was a tuning of the violin 
deviant from the usual one that followed similar earlier practices on the lute. It makes some 
passages easier to play, makes certain double-stops possible and changes the tone-colour by 
imparting different tensions to the strings. Among the first users of scordatura was the Italian 
violinist and composer Biagio Marini (1594–1663), who employed it in his Sonata Seconda per 
il Violino d’Inventione, Op. 8 (1626). Scordatura persisted long into the eighteenth century and 
even later. See Boyden, History of Violin Playing, 130.
13 Scordatura was introduced in two of Biber s̓ collections: the Mystery Sonatas (1676) and the 
Harmonia artificioso-ariosa (1696). See Boyden, History of Violin Playing, 226.
tten Bohemian Violinist Joseph Benesch
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Another important musical milieu for the development of violin playing and music in gen-
eral was that of ensembles serving members of the aristocracy in Bohemia and Moravia.
The main impetus behind violin playing in the Czech Lands came from Italian musical 
centres. The earliest record of an Italian violinist playing in the Czech Lands dates from 
1627, when Giovanni Battista Buonamente (c. 1595–1642) performed at the festivities in 
Prague for the coronation of the emperor’s son Ferdinand III, King of Bohemia. Almost a 
hundred years later, in 1723, Francesco Maria Veracini (1690–1768) sojourned in Prague, 
where he was reportedly in the service of Count Kinsky, returning little later to Florence. 
Veracini’s rival Giuseppe Tartini (1692–1770), born in Piran (today’s Slovenia), was invited 
to Prague a few months later by his friend and colleague Antonio Vandini (1690–1778) to 
perform at the Coronation of Emperor Charles VI as king of Bohemia.14 There he remained 
in the service of Count Philip Joseph Kinsky (1700–1749)15 for three years and enjoyed 
contact with Prince Lobkowitz’s family. Because of the inclement climate he left Prague 
in 1726 and returned to Padua,16 where he later taught four Bohemian violinists, among 
whom were Antonín Kammel (1730–1784) and his pupil Joseph Obermayer (Obermeyer; 
1749–after 1816); both were sent for further training to Padua by their master, Count Vincenz 
Waldstein. The impact of Tartini, who took lessons in counterpoint from the Bohemian 
composer Bohuslav Matěj Černohorský (Padre Boemo; 1684–1742), is also reflected in two 
other violin pupils: Pietro Nardini (1722–1793) and Johann Gottlieb Graun (1703–1771). 
The latter was the source of inspiration for Franz Benda (1709–1786), who learned from 
him some of the finer points of violin playing, especially in Adagios,17 but Benda also 
concentrated on studying Vivaldi s̓ violin concertos, which were much favoured at castles 
and choral establishments in the Czech Lands. Benda gained his reputation as a soloist 
in the Kapelle of Prince Friedrich, who wrote that he had heard the leading violinists 
from Mainz, Dresden and Mannheim, but none of them was Benda’s equal;18 later, Benda 
succeeded J. G. Graun as concertmaster in Berlin. In addition, Wenzel Pichl (1741–1805) 
studied violin with another of Tartini s̓ pupils, Pietro Nardini, to whom he dedicated his 
Cento variazioni, Op. 11. While the Czech Lands were initially strongly influenced by 
the Italian violinistic tradition, Bohemian violinists soon gained recognition throughout 
Europe. After the Italians, they formed the largest group of foreign musicians at the courts 
14 In addition to Tartini, most of the great musicians of Europe from near and far, including a 
number from the Viennese Hofkapelle, were recruited to participate in Charles’s VI coronation 
festivities. They performed Fux’s opera Costanza e Fortezza, which was performed outdoors 
with a hundred-strong choir and an orchestra of two hundred musicians. The singers included 
the thirteen-year-old F. Benda, later a distinguished violinist, and instrumentalists such as C. H. 
Graun and J. J. Quantz. See Heartz, “Coming of Age in Bohemia”, 512; Burney, Present State 
of Music, 178.
15 Count Philip Joseph Kinsky was Lord Chancellor at the court of Charles VI of Bohemia.
16 He wrote three letters from Prague (2 November 1723, 10 August 1725, and 3 November 1725) 
to his brother Domenico Tartini in Piran and a letter from Padua in which he mentions Prince 
Lobkowitz (24 February 1750). See Malagò, Giuseppe Tartini, 250–252, 319.
17 Heartz, “Coming of Age in Bohemia”, 512.
18 Lee, “Preface”.
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Maruša Zupančič: A Forgotten Bohemian Violinist and an Imitator of Niccolò Paganini Within the Central European Violinistic Tradition
of the German Lands and certain other places from the late seventeenth century onwards.19 
How respected Bohemian musicians were even in the eighteenth century is evidenced by 
Burney, who notes that an important German composer living in London told him that if 
the Bohemians enjoyed the same advantages as the Italians, they would surpass them.20
However, the Italian violin school also laid a foundation for the highly systematized 
French violin school through a pupil of Gaetano Pugnani (1731–1798), Giovanni Battista 
Viotti (1755–1824). Viotti made his debut in Paris at the Concert Spirituel in 1782, the year 
of Paganini’s birth, and ushered in a new era of violin playing and composition. It was also 
the time when the “virtuoso” became the new ideal of public musical performances, and 
Viotti was one of the first great violinists to use the newly developed Tourte bow. He did 
not enjoy immediate success, either as a composer or as a virtuoso, as there were some 
objections to a style which “astonished more than it pleased”. But he gradually brought about 
the complete renewal of French violinistic art, and by 1800 “in Vienna and St. Petersburg, 
in London and Paris, everyone was playing Viotti”.21 His concept of the violin concerto – a 
fusion of Italian, French and German elements – was eagerly taken up and developed by 
his French pupils and eventually became known as the French violin concerto. The pillars 
of the school he founded were Pierre Rode (1774–1830), Rodolphe Kreutzer (1766–1831) 
and Pierre Baillot (1771–1842), all professors at the Paris Conservatory (founded in 1795), 
who followed the stylistic example of their great Italian mentor and continued to turn the 
violin concerto into what it would become in the late Romantic period. Viotti’s French 
pupils were not only prolific composers but also great virtuosos and conscientious teach-
ers. As tireless travellers they carried the fame of the French school throughout Europe,22 
and their concertos were played by nearly every virtuoso of the day.
The French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars led to major cultural and domestic 
reforms and the dissolution of a number of small states across Europe, greatly reducing 
the number of courts that supported the arts. Instead of serving in the court of a prince or 
in the church, the best violinists now worked as itinerant virtuosos, playing many public 
concerts before large audiences. Audiences tended to be less educated than the nobil-
ity, and to please them, travelling virtuosos developed a genre of music that focused on 
impressive technical skills combined with popular melodies, such as variations on themes 
from contemporary operas and variations on regional folk songs and national anthems. 
For the nineteenth-century virtuoso this was a routine choice, largely because opera 
appealed to both a general and a highly educated audience. Often, the operatic music 
was discovered only through piano or violin transcriptions of famous operatic melodies, 
since attending an opera was still relatively rare and affordable to few people. The travel-
ling virtuoso composed “transcriptions”23 of this kind in a specifically idiomatic manner 
19 Zupančič, “At the Crossroads”, 5.
20 Burney, Present State of Music, 3.
21 Schwarz, “Beethoven and the French Violin School”, 433.
22 Ibid., 432.
23 The term “transcription” is generally used for compositions that reproduce the musical material 
of the original exactly as it was written, without elaboration or simplification. The only changes 
allowed to the original score take into account the technical limitations and possibilities of 
the new instrument. In the violin repertoire, however, the same term is often used for operatic 
tten Bohemian Violinist Joseph Benesch
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that showcased his particular technical skills and was written to form part of a personal 
repertoire. Originally, these transcriptions were intended not to be played by other violin-
ists but to serve as a “trademark” item distinguishing their author from the competition. 
Another phenomenon that emerged at this time as a result of the Napoleonic Wars was 
the concerto with a heroic-military character, which multiplied the virtuosic techniques 
and cast the virtuoso in a “heroic” mould but also shared the language of contemporary 
revolutionary operas. Such concertos essentially followed in the footsteps of the so-called 
French Concerto, which flourished between 1799 and 1815 and was characterized by an 
“idealized march character” and the “military pulse”.24
While the Italian “violin masters” Veracini, Tartini, Vivaldi, Nardini, Pugnani and, 
later, Viotti inspired violinists in the eighteenth century, the early nineteenth century gen-
eration of violinists had only one role model: Niccolò Paganini (1782–1840). Paganini was 
one of the first itinerant virtuosos and a pioneer of violin transcriptions of popular opera 
melodies; his concertos embodied a wistful sentiment of the post-Napoleonic era, also 
defined as “military heroism”.25 Under the influence of Viotti and his school, the concerto 
aspired to high musical standards, but especially under the influence of Paganini virtuosity 
became instead its main goal. Although Paganini mostly performed his own compositions, 
on rare occasions he played works by other composers, notably Viotti, Rode and Kreutzer, 
interpreting them freely with his own embellishments.26 In the early nineteenth century 
Rode’s and Kreutzer’s concertos were generally among the most frequently played and 
were therefore part of the repertoire of violinists of the time, including Joseph Benesch.
The influence of the French violin school had already reached Vienna by the end 
of the eighteenth century, where Viotti’s Violin Concerto No. 16 was performed in 1785 
or 1786. Franz Clement (1789–1842)27 gave a concert in Vienna in 1793 in competition 
with Viotti. Another important channel through which influence flowed to Vienna was 
Beethoven’s connections with the guest virtuosos and with Viotti’s pupils Kreutzer, Rode 
and Baillot, from whom he may have received some valuable information about the French 
violin school. Beethoven’s last two violin sonatas, Op. 47 in A major (also known as the 
“Kreutzer” after the dedicatee),28 and Op. 96 in G major, dedicated to Rode, show the 
interpretations (transcriptions, arrangements or paraphrases) to refer to any category of piece 
that contains opera renditions of one kind or another contained within the violin repertoire. See 
Vaughn, “Tosca”, 4–5.
24 Ibid., 433–434; Kawabata, “Virtuoso Codes of Violin Performance”.
25 Kawabata, “Virtuoso Codes of Violin Performance”.
26 Stowell, “Henryk Wieniawski”, 73; Istel and Baker, “Secret of Paganini’s Technique”, 114.
27 Clement was born in Vienna. He studied violin with Giovanni Giornovichi (Ivan Mane Jarnović; 
1747–1804) and was active as a soloist and travelling virtuoso, then became assistant to the 
Kapellmeister at the National Theatre and musical director at the newly founded Theater an der 
Wien. He wrote many compositions, mostly for violin. His Violin Concerto in D major (1805), 
probably had a considerable influence on Beethoven when the latter embarked on his own violin 
concerto a year later. Clement died in Vienna. See Moran, “Clement, Franz”.
28 Kreutzer came to Vienna in 1798, accompanying the French ambassador, General Bernadotte. 
Beethoven appreciated Kreutzer as a musician and dedicated to him the Sonata, Op. 47. However, 
this work was originally composed for the violinist George Bridgetower. See Schwarz, “Beethoven 
and the French Violin School”, 439–440.
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Maruša Zupančič: A Forgotten Bohemian Violinist and an Imitator of Niccolò Paganini Within the Central European Violinistic Tradition
composer’s respect for these artists through these publicized dedications. Beethoven’s col-
laboration with the outstanding Viennese violinists later referred to as the “vierblättriges 
Kleeblatt” (four-leaf clover) – Ignaz Schuppanzigh (1776–1830),29 Franz Clement,30 Joseph 
Böhm (1795–1876) and Joseph Mayseder (1789–1863)31 – similarly had a great influence on 
his violin compositions and string quartets. Beethoven’s Violin Concerto was composed 
for Clement, whom the composer consulted on technique, but Beethoven also studied the 
contemporary violin repertoire of Viotti, Kreutzer and Rode. Since the composer was not 
a very skilled violinist, the composition suffered from the contrast between an excellent 
musical concept and a comparatively unidiomatic violin style. And since few virtuosos 
of the time were interested in performing concertos other than their own, and, moreover, 
the performance had to be tailored to their style, there were few further outings of the 
Beethoven Concerto in the years following its premiere in 1806.32
The old Viennese violin tradition, together with its founder, the Bohemian violin-
ist Anton Wranitzky (Antonín Vranický; 1761–1820) and his pupils Schuppanzigh and 
Mayseder, both of whom were associated with Benesch,33 eventually faded and was over-
taken by the French violin school. Following the example of the Paris Conservatory, the 
music conservatories in Prague (1811) and Vienna (1817) were founded at the beginning 
of the nineteenth century. Many important violinists of the time were trained there. Since 
29 Ignaz Anton Schuppanzigh was an Austrian violinist and conductor, best known as first violinist 
of the famous Schuppanzigh Quartett and for his friendship with Beethoven. The date of his birth 
is misstated in the literature. He was born on 20 July 1776 (rather than 20 November 1776) in 
Vienna, the son of Franz Joseph Schuppanzigh and Maria Anna (née Menschl). Schuppanzigh’s 
father, Franz Joseph (c. 1734–1800), was a teacher of Italian at the Realschule and, according to 
A. W. Thayer, was a teacher of the young Beethoven at the Realschule. Schuppanzigh’s family 
was of noble origin and came from the Slovenian area, probably from Zali Breg (Schallenberg). 
See Wien / Niederösterreich (Osten), Rk. Erzdiözese Wien, St. Stephan, Taufbuch 1776–1777, sig. 
01-093, fol. 46, https://data.matricula-online.eu/en/oesterreich/wien/01-st-stephan/01-093/?pg=93. 
I would like to thank Sara Zupančič for information regarding Schuppanzigh’s origins in the 
Slovenian area.
30 One of Clement’s students was the violinist and composer Franz Knoll (1804–?) from Vienna, 
who was the orchestral director of the Estates Theater and private teacher in Ljubljana between 
1830 and 1831. Knoll dedicated his Concert Polonaise to Clement, which was performed at 
the Philharmonic Society concert in Ljubljana on 5 November 1830. See Concert programme, 
“Philharmonische Gesellschafts Akademie”, 5 November 1830, Philharmonische Gesellschaft, 
Glasbena zbirka, Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica (NUK), Ljubljana.
31 Mayseder was an Austrian violinist and composer and second violinist of the Schuppanzigh 
Quartet. He was also appointed leader of the Burgtheater orchestra in Vienna, becoming a soloist 
at the Hofkapelle and later a soloist to the emperor and musical director of the Hofkapelle. See 
Rutter, “Mayseder, Joseph”.
32 Beethoven’s Violin Concerto received only one other performance in the years immediately 
following its premiere in 1806: at Berlin in 1812. Several years later, in 1828, Baillot played the 
already forgotten piece, and six years later, in 1834, H. Vieuxtemps performed it in Vienna. See 
Schwarz, “Beethoven and the French Violin School”, 442.
33 Benesch applied for the position of Court Chamber Violinist in the spring of 1830 after the death 
of Ignaz Schuppanzigh and then played for thirty years alongside Mayseder at the Viennese 
Hofkapelle.
tten Bohemian Violinist Joseph Benesch
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Friedrich Wilhelm Pixis (1785–1842), the first violin professor of the Prague Conservatory, 
was a private pupil of Viotti and the first violin professor of the Vienna Conservatory, 
Joseph Böhm, was a pupil of Rode, it is not surprising that both institutions used the official 
violin method of the Paris Conservatory (Méthode de Violon) as basic teaching material.
The Bohemian violinists of the nineteenth century were therefore alumni of rival 
institutions. Others took lessons privately with the most eminent violinists of the day, 
as happened with Joseph Benesch, who studied privately in Vienna with his compatriot 
Martin Schlesinger. Similarly to Benesch, numerous other Bohemian violinists were 
active outside the Czech Lands as respected and accomplished musicians: composers, 
orchestral or musical directors (Kapellmeister), virtuosos and music teachers, often work-
ing in civil music institutions or as private music teachers.34 For many of them, Vienna 
was the next destination after Prague. Leaving aside Joseph Franz Gläser (František 
Glaeser),35 Leopold Jansa36 and Friedrich Wenzel Bezdek (Bedřich Václav Bezděk),37 who 
did not follow the path of the virtuoso but nevertheless made an important contribution 
to the Biedermeier Viennese musical milieu, the remaining three Bohemian violinists – 
Joseph Benesch, Joseph Slawik (Josef Slavík; 1806–1833) and Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst 
34 The most important among them were: Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda (Jan Křitel Kalivoda; 1801–
1866), Johann Taborsky (Jan Táborský; 1796–1840) and Felix Raimund Dreyschock (Raymund 
Dreyšok; 1824–1869).
35 Gläser was born in Horní Jiřetín in 1798 and studied violin with Pixis at the Prague Conservatory 
between 1813 and 1816. After his violin and composition studies he moved to Vienna, where he 
worked as a musical director in three places: from 1817 at the Leopoldstadt Theatre, from 1822 
at the Josefstadt Theatre, and from 1827 at the Theater an der Wien. When the Josefstadt Theatre 
was reopened in 1822, Ludwig van Beethoven composed the overture The Consecration of the 
House (Die Weihe des Hauses), Op. 124, for the occasion. Despite his poor hearing, Beethoven 
conducted personally, with Gläser assisting him as his assistant and helping him with the 
performance. Gläser did not merely assist Beethoven at the premiere but also conducted the 
subsequent performances. In 1830 Gläser moved to Berlin, where he became musical director at 
the Königsstadt Theatre (Königsstädtisches Theater). In 1839 he settled in Copenhagen, where 
he worked at the National Theatre and was court musical director from 1842 until his death in 
1861. See Zupančič, “At the Crossroads”, 11–12.
36 Jansa was born in Ústí nad Orlicí in 1795. In 1823 he entered the service of the Count of 
Brunswick as a chamber musician, and a year later he returned to Vienna and became a violinist 
in the Hofkapelle. In 1832 he gave concerts in Prague and Budapest (Pest), in 1834 becoming 
appointed as musical director and professor of violin at the Conservatory of the Gesellschaft 
der Musikfreunde. After the death of Ignaz Schuppanzigh Jansa became the first violinist in the 
former’s quartet. He was praised as a chamber musician and teacher; the violinists Wilma Neruda 
and Eduard Rappoldi and the composer Karl Goldmark were the most famous of his pupils. He 
wrote chamber and violin works, dying in Vienna in 1875. See Němcová, “Jansa, Leopold”.
37 Bezdek was born in 1804 in Prague and studied violin at the Prague Conservatory with Pixis 
between 1813 and 1819. In 1824 he became musical director at the City Theatre in Budapest 
(Buda), where he remained until 1832. He founded a music school and directed the Italian Opera 
in Trento. After Pixis’s death in 1842 he was appointed as provisional violin teacher at the Prague 
Conservatory and director of the Estates Theatre Orchestra in Prague. In 1846, he became a 
member of the Viennese Imperial Hofoper, and from 1861 a member of the Viennese Hofkapelle. 
He composed a violin concerto, a string quartet and some other works. See Zupančič, “At the 
Crossroads”, 10.
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Maruša Zupančič: A Forgotten Bohemian Violinist and an Imitator of Niccolò Paganini Within the Central European Violinistic Tradition
(1812–1865) – chose to follow and “imitate” their role model and the superstar of the era, 
Paganini, and attempted to adopt his style.
The Early Years of Joseph Benesch and His Italian Musical Tour
Joseph Benesch was born the third child of Matthias (Matěj Beneš)38 and Anna Benesch 
(née Herza; 1769–1832) in the Moravian town of Batelov (Battelau). According to the 
baptismal register of the local parish, Joseph was baptized on 11 January 1795 by the 
chaplain, Joseph Reich (1742–1815); his godfather was Joseph Lazar, a schoolteacher.39 
A few members of Benesch’ family were teachers; also, his grandfather Franz Benesch 
(?–1784) was a teacher in Potěhy for fifty years.40 During the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763) 
Franz lost six sons. One of his sons, born after the war, was Matthias Benesch, a tailor 
who could play the violin and other instruments. According to the story,41 he went out 
into the world and settled in Batelov.42 He first served the farmer Joseph Herza as a stable 
boy, then he worked as a tailor and musical-instrument maker. In 1790 he married the 
farmer’s daughter Anna Herza and had ten children with her, three of whom died in early 
childhood. After marriage he became a teacher and regens chori in Batelov, and later a 
teacher in Růžena. Among his pupils was his own son Joseph Benesch, who stood out 
for his exceptional musical talent at a young age.
News of the child prodigy soon spread to the Batelov estate, where its owner, Count 
Philipp Benitus Johann von Swéerts-Sporck (1753–1809), who was a great lover of music 
and art, heard the little boy play Hoffmeister’s Konzertstück in 1802.43 The count was so 
delighted with the boy’s playing that he offered to take him to Prague and provide for his 
38 Matthias Benesch was born in Potěhy in 1767, the son of Franz Benesch (František Beneš) and 
Anna Schkrabal (Anna Škrabalová; ?–1772). He married Anna Herza on 17 November, 1790, in 
Batelov. After she died of cholera on 12 November 1832 he remarried in 1834 to Veronika Kučera. 
He died on 27 March 1852 in Batelov. See Brno, Moravský zemský archiv (MZA), Batelov, 
Marriage Records 1788–1803, book 6197, II (VI), fol. 5; Brno, MZA, Batelov, Death Records 
1800–1842, book 6002, II (VI), fol. 187; Brno, MZA, Batelov, Marriage Records 1804–1840, 
book 6198, II (VI), fol. 91.
39 Brno, MZA, Batelov, Birth Records 1784–1804, book 6189, II (VI), fol. 90.
40 Franz Benesch was suceeded by his son, Franz Benesch, Jr, who was a teacher for fifty years 
until 1820. Later (1812), Franz Benesch, Jr, trained his nephew Joseph Benesch. See “Kronika 
školy 1836–1928”, vol. 2, Zakladní škola Potěhy, Státní okresní archiv Kutná Hora (SOKA), fol. 
2. I would like to thank Vojtěch Vaněk for his kind help.
41 One of the Benesch relatives, Ignác Wildmann, told Anna Knížková the story of the Benesch 
family in 1937. Antonín Mareš summarized his notes in the typescript “Hudební skladatel 
Josef Beneš” before 1982. See Mareš, “Hudební skadatel Josef Benesch”. I would like to thank 
Michaela Kopišťová for her kind help.
42 According to the story, on the road between Nová Ves and Batelov the waggon of the peasant 
Herza passed by, allowing Benesch to sit down, sing and play the violin. Benesch slept on the 
Herza farm and on the next day went to church, where he played the organ. Chaplain Jiří Bayer 
listened to his organ playing and agreed that he should become an organist, promising him a 
teaching position. See Mareš, “Hudební skadatel Josef Benesch”, fol. 11.
43 Luib, “Biographische Skizzen”.
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further musical education. Benesch’s parents were hesitant about agreeing, since they had 
lost two of their children to smallpox just two days apart a few years earlier.44 Although 
Count Swéerts-Sporck suggested that the whole family move to Prague, where he would 
buy them land and a house, Benesch’s mother could not countenance leaving their home 
town or parting from her eldest son. Benesch therefore continued his education with father 
in Batelov and the organist in Třešť (Triesch), Wenzel Horzalka (1769/1774–1835), from 
whom he learned basso continuo, piano and organ.45 Besides Joseph, his father raised 
two other sons musically: Alois Prokop,46 later, a music teacher in Batelov, and Franz 
(1806–?), a composer in Budapest.
At the age of twelve Joseph moved to Jihlava to receive a proper general education, 
graduating from the German school run by the Premonstratensians and continued at the 
Gymnasium.47 According to his parents’ wishes, Benesch was to become a priest, but feel-
ing that this profession did not suit him, he opted instead for the teacher-training course 
(Präparandenkurs) and in 1812 moved to Potěhy near Čáslav, where his uncle Franz Benesch 
(František Beneš; 1751–1829) was a schoolteacher who trained Joseph to succeed him.48 
Although the prospect of teaching offered Benesch some security, it was not enough for 
him, and he left Potěhy for Vienna in July 1814 to explore the musical world. There, up 
to 1816, he improved his violin skills with the Bohemian violinist Martin Schlesinger,49 
considered one of the leading violin virtuosos of his time. Schlesinger worked as a chamber 
44 Franziska Benesch (1793–1799) died on 21 July 1799. Her younger brother, Anton Benesch, died 
two days later at the age of six weeks on 23 July 1799. See Brno, MZA, Batelov, Death Records 
1784–1799, book 6201, II (VI), fol. 102.
45 Luib, “Biographische Skizzen”.
46 Aloisius Prokop Benesch was born on 3 July 1800 in Batelov. He was a tailor and private music 
teacher there. He inherited his father’s house (no. 29), where he lived until his death on 15 February 
1878. See Brno, MZA, Batelov, Birth Records 1784–1804, book 6189, II (VI), fol. 122; Mareš, 
“Hudební skadatel Josef Benesch”, fols. 12–13; Bořecký and Policar, Dějiny Batelova, 499–500.
47 The literature states that Benesch attended the Gymnasium and teacher-training institute of 
the Premonstratensians in Jihlava between 1807 and 1812, but the school register does not list 
him among the pupils. It is therefore possible that he studied instead at the Municipal School 
(Stadtschule) of the Premonstratensian parish. Similarly, in the Gymnasium in Havlíčkův Brod 
(then Nĕmecký Brod/Deutschbrod), which was run by the members of the Želiv Premonstratensian 
Monastery and was relatively close to Jihlava, Benesch’s name does not appear in any of the 
archival records such as the school chronicle kept since 1807, the official records (correspondence) 
between 1807 and 1812 and the transcripts of the Gymnasium reports from the same period. He 
is also not on the list of the Gymnasium pupils compiled according to the records available at 
the time and published in the 1935 publication Dvě stě let gymnasia v Německém Brodě. I would 
like to thank Miroslav Kružík from Státní okresní archiv Havlíčkův Brod for his kind help. See 
also Bořecký and Policar, Dějiny Batelova, 500.
48 Luib, “Biographische Skizzen”; “Joseph Benesch”, Moravia, 6 February 1840.
49 Martin Schlesinger was born on 13 November 1754 in Ústi nad Orlici. He was a success-
ful violinist in Hradec Králové (Königgrätz), then became musical director of Anton Prince 
Grassalkovics in Bratislava (Pressburg) and made concert tours to the Russian Empire. From 
1782 onwards Schlesinger was a member of the Tonkünstler-Societät in Vienna. After working 
as a chamber virtuoso for Ludwig Count Erdődy in Burgenland (Schloss Eberau) in the 1780s, 
he entered the service of the Hungarian court chancellor Joseph Count Erdődy and stayed with 
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Maruša Zupančič: A Forgotten Bohemian Violinist and an Imitator of Niccolò Paganini Within the Central European Violinistic Tradition
virtuoso in the chapel of Count Ludwig Erdődy. The following year Benesch began to 
teach violin privately, becoming a member of the orchestra of Franz Thaddaus Freiherr 
von Zinnicq[ue] (1760–1832), whose opera company performed alternately in Baden and 
Bratislava. During the two years that Joseph played in the orchestra he gave successful 
concerts in Bratislava and neighbouring towns, in the course of which he met, in Trnava, 
the cavalry officer Anton von Praun.
The latter’s son, Sigmund Maximilian Willibald Otto Freiherr von Praun,50 was a child 
prodigy who drew admiration early on for his mathematical knowledge,51 but even more 
for his musical talent.52 Sigmund’s father entrusted Benesch with his musical education, 
and soon the two gave concerts in Hungary and Moravia (1818 and 1819).53 At the end of 
1819 they travelled to Northern Italy, which entailed a long journey for the young artists.
Long-distance travel was at that time handled by the postal service, which held a 
monopoly over the transportation of passengers until the introduction of the railway. 
Journeying by post coach, however, was tedious, slow and (because of poorly maintained 
roads) expensive. For example, the journey from Vienna to Trieste took three days.54 
But nothing stopped the enthusiastic teacher and his student from travelling to Italy. 
On the way they gave concerts in the most important cities of the monarchy,55 including 
Ljubljana, where they performed on 12 April 1820. There Benesch played his Variations 
and Polonaise, “a truly grandiose work, original and full of youthful fantasy”.56 Two months 
him at his residences in Vienna, Bratislava and Freistadt. He died in Vienna on 12 August 1818. 
See Svoboda, “Der Geiger Martin Schlesinger”, 216, 235; Fastl, “Schlesinger, Familie”.
50 Sigmund von Praun was born in Trnava on 1 June 1811. He began playing the violin at the 
age of two. He undertook concert tours to Italy (1819–1824), Paris and the Netherlands (1825) 
and Germany (1828/1829). He died on 5 January 1830 at Cracow. See Fastl, “Praun, Sigmund 
(Sigismund) Otto Freiherr von”.
51 At the age of two years and five months Sigmund was deemed qualified to enter the second grade 
of the Principality National School of Trnava. After attending this school for about ten months, 
he was examined with the other pupils on 26 August 1811; in reading and writing the German 
language, in Hungarian spelling, in catechism and in drawing, he won the highest prize among 
his seventy youthful competitors. At the examination held on 17 March 1815, being then three 
years and nine months old, he was again declared the best among the 124 pupils of his class – in 
reading the German, Hungarian and Latin languages, in arithmetic and in the Catechism. See 
H. W. S., “The Gresham Lectures on Music”, New Monthly Magazine, 1 October 1816, 221.
52 “Korrespondenz und Notizen: aus Wien”, Zeitung für die elegante Welt, 8 May 1815.
53 They gave concerts in the following cities on the territory of today’s Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary: 
Brno, Olomouc, Znojmo, Banská Štiavnica (Schemnitz), Banská Bystrica (Neusohl), Budapest 
(Buda and Pest separately), Győr (Raab), Sopron (Ödenburg) and others. In Brno they gave a 
concert on 1 November 1818. See “Musikalische Nachricht”, Brünner Zeitung der k.k. priv. mähr. 
Lehenbank, 31 October 1818, https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=bru&datum=18181031.
54 Budna Kodrič, “Popotništvo in popotniki v Ljubljani”, 262–270; Kavrečič, “Pričevalci pretek-
losti”, 698.
55 On the way to Trieste they gave concerts in Bruck an der Mur (Bruck), Leoben, Graz, Maribor 
(Marburg), Klagenfurt and Ljubljana. “Angekommene Aus- und Inländer”, Klagenfurter Zeitung, 
5 April 1820.
56 Concert programme, “Große musikalische akademie”, 12 April 1820, Philharmonische Gesellschaft, 
tten Bohemian Violinist Joseph Benesch
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later they gave four successful concerts in Venice,57 which earned Benesch an honorary 
certificate from the Philharmonic Society (Istituto filarmonico) in Venice.58 After their 
success there Benesch decided to extend the tour for one-and-a-half years and continued 
to Padua, Vicenza, Verona, Mantua,59 Cremona, Brescia, Milan, Pavia, Piacenza, Parma, 
Modena and finally Bologna. During this time he perfected his violin skills and musical 
knowledge in general, making useful connections and acquaintances with famous Italian 
masters such as Alessandro Rolla (1757–1841), the latter’s son Giuseppe Antonio Rolla 
(1798–1837) and Luigi Aliani.60
Although some sources state that he became acquainted with Paganini during the 
tour,61 it seems unlikely that Benesch met him, since Paganini was on tour at the time in 
Southern Italy. The claim was probably false, as Benesch met Paganini four years later 
in Trieste, when Benesch was living in Ljubljana. However, we can safely assume that 
Benesch was acquainted with Paganini’s most important didactic works: the Caprices, Op. 
1, published just two months before his arrival in Milan. These caprices, which Paganini 
most likely never performed in public, were composed over a long period of time before 
November 1817 and published by Giovanni Ricordi in Milan in June 1820.62 They were 
dedicated “alli Artisti” (to professional musicians) and were immediately judged unplayable 
by most contemporary violinists, while some others saw in them new musical horizons to 
be explored. They were the most significant of Paganini’s various violin didactic works, 
since he never completed a long-planned violin treatise that was to use a secret technical 
“system”.63 For Benesch, this was a unique opportunity to study Paganini’s technique 
using actual sheet music, since no one was in a position to see a copy of Paganini’s violin 
parts during his lifetime.64 Even the few compositions that Paganini published did not 
Glasbena zbirka, NUK, Ljubljana; “Inland: Laibach”, Vereinigte Laibacher Zeitung, 11 April 
1820, http://www.dlib.si/?URN=URN:NBN:SI:DOC-MWRS733B.
57 They gave concerts on 8, 9, 10 and 11 June 1820.
58 Luib, “Biographische Skizzen”; “Joseph Benesch”, Moravia, 6 February 1840.
59 “R. Teatro”, Supplimento alla Gazzetta di Mantova, 12 August 1820.
60 Luigi Aliani was born in Piacenza in 1789. He studied violin with his father Francesco and later 
in Milan with A. Rolla. He attracted attention with concerts he gave in Vicenza and Venice. 
Afterwards he was first violinist and conductor of the theatre orchestra in Vicenza. In 1827 he 
ran unsuccessfully for the office of director at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa. He won the 
admiration of Rossini, who asked him in Paris in 1829 to conduct William Tell, a request that 
he was unable to accept because of the obligations that bound him to Vicenza. The author of 
unpublished sonatas and concertos for violin, he published with Ricordi a Grand’aria di bravura 
with a prelude and variations for violin and quintet dedicated to the famous Paganini. He died 
in 1841 in Vicenza. See Gervasoni, Nuova teoria di musica, 81.
61 Luib, “Biographische Skizzen”; “Joseph Benesch”, Moravia, 6 February 1840.
62 Borer, “Twenty-Four Caprices”, 8–12.
63 Stowell, “Henryk Wieniawski”, 75–76; Borer, “Twenty-Four Caprices”, 12–13; Istel and Baker, 
“Secret of Paganini’s Technique”, 107.
64 Because Paganini depended on his exclusive advocacy, he played his own compositions from 
memory, and even the orchestral parts were strictly controlled and collected immediately after 
the performance. By making his works inaccessible, he created the crucial mystery that attracted 
the many contemporary virtuosos who followed him on his tours. See Istel and Baker, “Secret 
of Paganini’s Technique”, 115.
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Maruša Zupančič: A Forgotten Bohemian Violinist and an Imitator of Niccolò Paganini Within the Central European Violinistic Tradition
correspond to his playing technique, and contemporaries demanded editions with precise 
playing instructions for performance à la Paganini. Benesch therefore probably focused 
on the caprices, because as stated later in periodicals, he studied the “Paganini School” 
for years.65
Benesch and Praun arrived in Milan at the end of August,66 gave concerts to great 
acclaim and remained there until the end of October 1820. During their stay Benesch met 
Alessandro Rolla, the principal professor of violin and viola at the Milan Conservatory, 
the orchestral director at the Teatro La Scala and Paganini’s teacher never to be.67 Rolla 
invited Benesch and Praun to give a concert at La Scala, where eminent violinists such 
as Paganini, Louis Spohr (1784–1859) and Charles Philippe Lafont (1781–1839) had per-
formed only a few years earlier. On 8 October 1820 Benesch performed his Polonaise and 
Variations under Rolla’s direction.68 They gave their next concert on 20 October 1820 at 
Milan’s Canobiana Theatre. Benesch played his second Polonaise and Concert by Rode 
under the direction of Pietro Bertuzzi.69 During his stay in Milan Benesch published Sei 
valzer per la chitarra with Ricordi, which he dedicated to Giovanni Pichel.70 The tour was 
also to continue to southern Italy, as they were allowed to perform before the Pope,71 but 
since Benesch received further offers incompatible with his contract with the von Praun 
family, he parted company with them in Bologna. The Italian tour, where he gave more 
than seventeen concerts, was a success, as testified almost two years later by the Wiener 
Zeitschrift, which reported that most Northern Italian newspapers wrote with great praise 
about Benesch and ranked him alongside the most distinguished violin-players.72 The 
success of an unknown musician was seen to be of great significance, especially since 
immensely famous virtuosos were musically “spoiling” audiences there.
After separating from the von Praun family Benesch returned to Trieste via Venice 
in early January 1821 and then travelled on to Ljubljana, where he had already given a 
concert nine months earlier. If Ljubljana was still relatively quiet and “boring” in 1820, 
as Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart (W. A. Mozart, Jr.; 1791–1844), the youngest son of the 
famous composer, wrote before his visit to Ljubljana,73 this was certainly no longer the 
65 “Neuigkeiten: Wien; Concert des Hrn. J. Benesch”, Allgemeine Theaterzeitung und Originalblatt 
für Kunst, Literatur und geselliges Leben, 14 April 1829, 178, https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/
anno?aid=thz&datum=18290414.
66 “Avviso”, Gazzetta di Milano, 30 August 1820.
67 He was to become Paganini’s teacher in 1795, but instead told him he could teach him nothing, 
and later gave concerts with him and remained a close friend. See Neill, “Paganini, Nicolò”.
68 Chiappori, Continuazione della seria cronologica, 30–31.
69 Ibid., 36–37.
70 Joseph Benesch, Sei valzer per la chitarra (Milan: Ricordi, 1820).
71 “Joseph Benesch”, Moravia, 6 February 1840; Mareš, “Hudební skadatel Josef Benesch”, fol. 
20.
72 “Concert-Ankündigung”, Wiener Zeitschrift für Kunst, Literatur, Theater und Mode, 11 April 
1822, https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=wzz&datum=18220411.
73 Mozart arrived in Ljubljana from Vienna on 12 July 1820 and continued his journey to Trieste 
on 21 July 1820. He performed before several Ljubljana noble families and at a Philharmonic 
Society concert. See “Fremden-Anzeige: Angekommene und Abgegangene”, Vereinigte Laibacher 
Zeitung, 18 July 1820; “Fremden-Anzeige: Abgereiset”, Vereinigte Laibacher Zeitung, 25 July 
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case half a year later, when the city became the site of the Congress of Laibach (Ljubljana) 
attended by allied rulers or their representatives to discuss international problems after 
the Napoleonic Wars. This Congress, which took place from 26 January to 12 May 1821, 
made the capital of Carniola the centre of European politics for several months. The lively 
accompanying events (balls, theatrical performances, concerts) attracted important and 
celebrated artists, including Benesch, who gave four74 out of about fifteen concerts during 
this congress.75 The concerts were organized by the Philharmonic Society (Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft), which had an orchestra of a hundred musicians. On 17 February 1821, the 
Society presented Benesch with a certificate of honour, and he decided to move to Ljubljana 
after the tour. Among the performers during the congress were several other Bohemian 
musicians who were living in Ljubljana at that time: Amalie Maschek,76 Wenceslaus 
Wenzel (Wenzel Wenzel; 1784–1835) and Joseph Miksch (Josip Mikš; 1778–1866). 
Besides his own compositions and compositions by some contemporaries,77 Benesch 
played the Concerto for two violins by R. Kreutzer together with the local violinist Johann 
Georg Altenburger (Janez Jurij Altenburger; 1796–1844)78 during the congress. Another 
acquaintance he made in Ljubljana was Caspar Maschek,79 an important musical figure 
1820; Kuret, “Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart v Ljubljani”; Kuret, Ljubljanska filharmonična 
družba, 57–60.
74 Concert programmes, 16 February 1821, 23 February 1821, 9 March 1821, 16 March 1821, 
Philharmonische Gesellschaft, Glasbena zbirka, NUK, Ljubljana; “Fremden-Anzeige”, Laibacher 
Zeitung, 16 March 1821, http://www.dlib.si/?URN=URN:NBN:SI:DOC-JAAM4SX3.
75 See Concert programmes, Philharmonische Gesellschaft, Glasbena zbirka, NUK, Ljubljana.
76 Amalie Maschek was born Maria Amalia Victoria Horný on 19 January 1792 in Valtice, the 
daughter of Franz Heinrich Horný and Antonia Petrowa. It seems that she made her debut at the 
Leopoldstadt Theatre in Vienna around 1812 and remained there until 1815. She then appeared at 
the theatre in Klagenfurt (1816–1818), and in 1819 she came from Bratislava to Graz to become 
an opera singer at the Estates Theatre. There she met Caspar Maschek, whom she married on 6 
May 1820. After moving to Ljubljana she performed as an opera singer at the Estates Theatre 
and was also active as a teacher and performer on the stage of the Philharmonic Society. See 
Zupančič, “Impact of Foreign-Born Musicians”.
77 See Concert programmes, 16 February 1821 (“Vocal und Instrumental Concert”), 23 February 
1821 (“Vocal und Instrumental Concert”), 9 March 1821 (“Instrumental und Vocal Concert”), 
Philharmonische Gesellschaft, Glasbena zbirka, NUK, Ljubljana; P., “Kunst-Notizen”, Illyrisches 
Blatt zum Nutzen und Vergnügen, 9 March 1821, http://www.dlib.si/?URN=URN:NBN:SI:DOC-
P4MQUHUS; “Wirksamkeit der Laibacher philharmonischen Gesellschaft”, Illyrisches Blatt zum 
Nutzen und Vergnügen, 16 March 1821, http://www.dlib.si/?URN=URN:NBN:SI:DOC-G05E2NSW.
78 Johann Georg Altenburger was born in 1796 in Hainburg an der Donau. From January to December 
1822 he was orchestral director of the Philharmonic Society. We know that as a soloist he performed 
the Variations for Violin and Orchestra by Pierre Rode (21 June 1816) and the Double Concerto 
for two Violins and Orchestra by Rodolphe Kreutzer with Wenzel Wenzel (26 October 1821). 
See Concert programmes, 21 June 1816 (“Gewöhnliche Gesellschaft Academie”), 26 October 
1821 (“Gewöhnliche Gesellschaft Academie”), Philharmonische Gesellschaft, Glasbena zbirka, 
NUK, Ljubljana; Census Survey of Ljubljana 1830, 4/5542, Zgodovinski arhiv Ljubljana (ZAL); 
Keesbacher, Die Philharmonische Gesellschaft in Laibach, 123.
79 Caspar Maschek (Gašpar Mašek) was born on 6 December 1794 in Prague. His father Vinzenz 
Maschek, who was a piano virtuoso and a pedagogue, taught him music. Maschek studied 
violoncello at the Prague Conservatory between 1811 and 1815. From 1812 until 1815 he was 
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Maruša Zupančič: A Forgotten Bohemian Violinist and an Imitator of Niccolò Paganini Within the Central European Violinistic Tradition
who would later be closely associated with Benesch both professionally and familially. 
He was an uncle of Benesch’s later wife Friederika, and during the Congress he directed 
both the Italian and German opera groups and even organized special musical evenings 
with one of Austria’s most important politicians and diplomats, the Prince of Metternich-
Winneburg (1773–1859).80 It is possible that it was Maschek who influenced Benesch’s 
decision to move to Ljubljana. Benesch did not live in Ljubljana during the congress but 
travelled between Ljubljana and Trieste,81 where he then spent several months teaching 
Amalie de Pepeu,82 to whom he dedicated his Variations, Op. 5.
In June 1821 he left Trieste and returned to Vienna via Rijeka, Karlovac and Zagreb, 
and at the end of the year he also gave concerts in Budapest and Graz.83 During the long 
journey he made some influential acquaintances, who encouraged him to consider a trip to 
St Petersburg, which was to be around April 1822.84 But when he passed through Wiener-
Neustadt and gave a concert there, he was introduced to the lawyer Ernst Proch and his 
wife Vinzenzia. Benesch was so surprised by the musical talent of their son Heinrich 
that he asked them for permission to give him violin lessons for a short time. Ernst Proch 
came from Česká Lípa and was a great lover of music.85 In his house he often organized 
concerts attended by eminent musicians, including the young Franz Liszt.86 Proch’s wife, 
a military musical director and his father’s assistant at the Church of St Nicolas in Prague. In 
1819, he was the musical director of the Estates Theatre in Bratislava, then Graz, and one year 
later he moved to Ljubljana, where he became musical director of the Estates Theatre. As a 
music teacher, he was active in the Public Music School and the Philharmonic Society Music 
School in Ljubljana. He wrote numerous compositions (also for violin), which are preserved in 
the National and University Library in Ljubljana. He died on 13 May 1873 in Ljubljana. See 
“Haupt [...] der Schüler des Conservatorium in Prag von 1811 bis 1880”, sig. D81, AHMP, fol. 3; 
Mantuani, “Mašek, Gašpar”; AHMP, Praha I, Staré Město, Kostel sv. Františka, Birth Record 
1790–1795, sig. FR N5, fol. 135.
80 Weiss, Češki glasbeniki, 102–104.
81 “Fremden-Anzeige: Abgereiset den 22. Februar”, Laibacher Zeitung, 27 February 1821; “Fremden-
Anzeige: Angekommen den 11. März”, Laibacher Zeitung, 16 March 1821.
82 She could have been a daughter of Joseph Pepeu, “Doctor der Rechte” (doctor of Law) from Trieste, 
who was an honorary member of the Philharmonic Society in Ljubljana. See Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft in Laibach, Verzeichnis sämmtlicher wirklichen, [7].
83 “Correspondenz-Nachricht: Theater in Graz”, Allgemeine Theaterzeitung und Unterhaltungsblatt 
für Fremde der Kunst, Literatur und des geselligen Lebens, 1 January 1822, https://anno.onb.
ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=thz&datum=18220101.
84 “Concert-Ankündigung”, Wiener Zeitschrift für Kunst, Literatur, Theater und Mode, 11 April 
1822.
85 Ernst Proch was born on 11 November 1778 in Česká Lípa to Bernardus Broche and Anna Theresia 
Großmann. He is listed in the baptismal register as Ernestus Nicolaus Martinus Broche. He 
married Vinzenzia Maschek on 6 June 1803 in Prague (Sv. Mikuláš). He died on 29 December 
1856 in Wiener Neustadt. See Litoměřice, Státní oblastní arhiv v Litoměricah, Česká Lípa, Birth 
Records 1774–1795, book L 18/3, fol. 127; Wien / Niederösterreich (Osten), Rk. Erzdiözese Wien, 
Wiener Neustadt-Neukloster, Sterbebuch 1856–1867, sig. 03-03, fol. 20; AHMP, Praha III, Malá 
strana, Farní kostel sv. Mikuláše, Marriage Records 1784–1811, book MIK 08, fol. 287.
86 Rychnovsky, “Heinrich Proch”, 763.
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Vinzenzia Anna Theresia Maschek (1782–1849),87 was the eldest daughter of the famous 
Prague composer Vincenz Wenzl Maschek (1755–1831). It is therefore not surprising 
that two of the Prochs’s children became musicians. Leaving aside their successful son 
Heinrich, who was a violinist, their daughter Friederika (1805–1872) was a pianist who 
became Benesch’s wife a year later and influenced his further career choices.88 Benesch’s 
lessons given to young Heinrich produced such extraordinary results that after only a few 
weeks they performed on the stage of the Estates Theatre Spohr’s Double Concerto (14 
July 1822). After the concert a critic reported that “the originality of Benesch’s playing, 
his excellent bowing, and his melting tone, surprise the connoisseur of art, and win over 
every listener; young Proch is his worthy pupil, and is entitled to great expectations if he 
continues to study with the same zeal”.89 Proch fulfilled expectations and later became a 
prominent musician in Vienna.90 Benesch moved to Ljubljana the same year, which also 
meant the end of plans for a tour of the Russian Empire.91
87 Vinzenzia Anna Theresia Maschek was born on 8 February 1782 in Prague to a well-known 
composer, Vinzenz Wenzel Maschek, and a music-lover, Johanna Prauß (1761–1808) as the first 
of seventeen children. Vinzenzia died on 8 January 1849 in Wiener Neustadt. See AHMP, Praha 
I, Staré Město, Kostel sv. Martina ve zdi, Birth Records 1772–1784, book MAR N6, fol. 65; 
Wien / Niederösterreich (Osten), Rk. Erzdiözese Wien, Wiener Neustadt-Neukloster, Sterbebuch 
1856–1867, sig. 03-03, fol. 195.
88 Friederika Ernestina Theresia Proch was born on 4 March 1805 in Vienna. She received her 
first music lessons from her mother, then from the regens chori and headmaster Anton Herzog. 
She continued her piano and composition studies privately in Vienna with Simon Sechter. See 
Wien / Niederösterreich (Osten), Rk. Erzdiözese Wien, Maria Treu, Taufbuch 1803–1809, sig. 
01-008, fol. 102; Luib, “Biographische Skizzen”.
89 “Wienerisch Neustadt im Juli 1822”, Allgemeine Theaterzeitung, 8 August 1822, 379.
90 Proch was born in Vienna on 22 July 1809. He received his first violin lessons at the age of seven 
from Tomasini, the principal violinist of the Esterházy Kapelle. After moving with the family to 
Wiener Neustadt, where his father was a jurist from 1819 onwards, Proch received violin lessons 
from the municipal violinist Smolleck and from Benesch, and basso continuo and composition 
lessons from the regens chori, Anton Herzog. Proch also sang soprano at the church for sev-
eral years. Between 1828 and 1832 he studied law in Vienna and then worked at the Viennese 
Magistrate. In 1826 and 1833/34 he performed successfully as a violin virtuoso, mostly with 
his own compositions. From 1834 to 1867 he was a member of the Viennese Hofkapelle. From 
1837 to 1840 he was also Kapellmeister at the Theater in der Josefstadt, after which he became 
Erster Kapellmeister at the Theater am Kärntnertor. In addition to his duties, he worked as a 
singing teacher. He died on 28 December 1878 in Vienna. See Rychnovsky, “Heinrich Proch”, 
763; Boisits, “Proch, Heinrich”.
91 Grochovskij considered Benesch to be one of the Czech musicians who were active in Russia: as 
a violinist in Orenburg and Samara, and also as an army musical director. However, this seems 
to be a mistake, probably resulting from confusion with a different Benesch. See Grochovskij, 
Čeští hudebníci na Rusi, 303.
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Maruša Zupančič: A Forgotten Bohemian Violinist and an Imitator of Niccolò Paganini Within the Central European Violinistic Tradition
Figure 1
Portrait of Joseph Benesch (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Bildarchiv und 
Grafiksammlung, POR0015501, https://digital.onb.ac.at/rep/osd/?BAG_3820720; reproduced by 
permission)
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Figure 2
Benesch’s pupil Sigismund von Praun (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Bildarchiv und 
Grafiksammlung, POR0013328, https://digital.onb.ac.at/rep/osd/?10E95871; reproduced by 
permission)
Figure 3
Benesch’s pupil and brother-in-law Heinrich Proch (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, 
Bildarchiv und Grafiksammlung, POR0013551, https://digital.onb.ac.at/rep/osd/?10D23CD7; 
reproduced by permission)
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Maruša Zupančič: A Forgotten Bohemian Violinist and an Imitator of Niccolò Paganini Within the Central European Violinistic Tradition
Figure 4
Concert programme of Benesch’s concert at La Scala, Milan 1820 (Chiappori, Continuazione 
della seria cronologica, 30)
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Figure 5
6 Ländler pour la Guitarre, Op. 2, title page (Wienbibliothek im Rathaus [A-Wst], MH 11689C; 
reproduced by permission)
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31
Maruša Zupančič: A Forgotten Bohemian Violinist and an Imitator of Niccolò Paganini Within the Central European Violinistic Tradition
Figure 6
6 Ländler pour la Guitarre, Op. 2, first page (Wienbibliothek im Rathaus [A-Wst], MH 11689C; 
reproduced by permission)
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Joseph Benesch in Ljubljana (1822–1828) and the Meeting with Paganini in 
Trieste
At the turn of the nineteenth century Ljubljana was a small, provincial town. Nevertheless, 
its cultural life, consisting of theatrical performances and musical concerts, was com-
parable with that of other towns belonging to the Austrian monarchy. The Philharmonic 
Society of Ljubljana, founded in 1794 as the first institution of its kind in the Habsburg 
Empire, was the leading music institution in that town. It organized academies (concerts) 
and contributed to various musical events and, from the 1820s, also to musical educa-
tion. Foreign-born musicians (“immigrants”) played a dominant role in the promotion of 
musical life in Ljubljana. They brought their knowledge, skills, ideas and personal con-
nections with the major musicians and contemporary repertoire to Ljubljana and took a 
leading role in the development of instrumental virtuoso performance, chamber, choral 
and symphonic music. Ljubljana attracted from outside mainly young, unknown musicians 
who were still at the beginning of their careers. One of them was also the then completely 
unknown nineteen-year-old Franz Schubert (1797–1828), who unsuccessfully applied for 
the vacant position at the newly founded Public Music School (Öffentliche Musikschule) 
in 1816.92 In addition to foreign-born resident musicians, a number of musicians stopped 
off to give concerts in Ljubljana on their way to Italy, so Benesch was certainly not the 
first violin virtuoso heard by audiences in Ljubljana.
The first real violin virtuosos to perform in Ljubljana in 1817 and 1818 were Karol Józef 
Lipiński (1790–1861) and Joseph Böhm. To hear Paganini, Lipiński travelled to northern 
Italy in 1817 and performed in several cities on the way, including Ljubljana.93 During 
his fourteen-day stay in Ljubljana, Lipiński gave one private and one public concert and 
“magically attracted” the audience at his concert on 29 December 1817. Six months after 
Lipiński, in June 1818, Joseph Böhm played together with Johann Peter Pixis (1788–1874) 
in Ljubljana with “feeling and grace” and a tone of “pleasant acoustic melodiousness”.94 
Lipiński and Böhm set the bar for violin virtuosity for both violinists and audiences in 
Ljubljana, where Benesch performed for the first time almost two years later, in April 
1820, and then again in four concerts during the 1821 Congress.
At that time violin lessons were given in Ljubljana only at the Public Music School 
and privately. Private violin lessons were announced sporadically in the newspapers from 
1814 onwards.95 Recognizing the lack of a permanent violin school, Benesch applied in 
92 Zupančič, “Impact of Foreign-Born Musicians”.
93 Missing the virtuoso in Venice, the “Polish Paganini”, as he was later called by Paganini, finally 
caught up with the latter in Padua in April 1818 and played with him twice in Piacenza (17 April 
and 24 May 1818). Later, when rivalry had destroyed their friendship, Paganini wittily replied 
to the question of which violinist he considered the best in the world: “I do not know the first, 
but second is certainly Karol Lipiński”. See Halski, “Paganini and Lipiński”, 277.
94 MM, “Kunst-Notiz”, Laibacher Wochenblatt zum Nutzen und Vergnügen, 19 June 1818; Concert 
programme, “Ein großes Doppel Conzert”, 10 June 1818, Philharmonische Gesellschaft, NUK, 
Ljubljana.
95 One of the first advertisements for private violin lessons was that of Michael Fackler, who was 
a singer, actor and composer in the travelling German operatic troupe of Franz Xsaver Deutsch, 
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Maruša Zupančič: A Forgotten Bohemian Violinist and an Imitator of Niccolò Paganini Within the Central European Violinistic Tradition
August 1822 to the Governorate of Ljubljana for permission to open a private establishment 
with separate violin lessons for beginners and advanced pupils using the best instruction 
manuals and works, asking for exclusivity.
Most Esteemed Imperial and Royal State Government! Since the most obedient signatory 
has decided to choose Ljubljana as his permanent place of residence, he has conceived 
the idea of establishing a public violin school to meet the wishes of several music lovers 
here. Both complete beginners and those who already play the violin are to be taught in 
separate lessons on the violin according to the best instruction manuals and works. He 
therefore most obediently begs the Most Esteemed Imperial and Royal State Government 
not only to grant him its most gracious permission but also graciously to offer protec-
tion to his enterprise in such a way that he cannot be harmed by anyone else through 
the establishment of a similar institution alongside his own.96
He was admitted on the recommendation of the Philharmonic Society, with the 
Society’s leadership confirming the need for such a private music school in a letter dated 
14 October 1822:
[…] moreover considering the praiseworthy musical virtues displayed by Benesch during 
his stay here, it can only be desirable that so able a musician should be in a position 
to found such a music teaching institution in Ljubljana, where the lack of teachers of 
practical music is in any case prevalent, and which the petitioner, given his recognized 
theoretical and practical musical abilities, is able to direct. The advantages that arise from 
the establishment and existence of such an institution are too manifold not to deserve 
great approval. The lack of employable violinists is so palpable that even a moderately 
sized orchestra is hardly conceivable without the participation of amateurs, whether in 
church music, the theatre or other settings. On account of the adverse present circum-
stances, the core assets of the local cathedral church have become so depleted that now 
practically nothing can be spent on music (whereas in the previous decade there was 
enough for an increase in the number of capable salaried persons), so that this church’s 
music staff, uncertain of its income, has had to relocate or seek a livelihood in a different 
active in Ljubljana between 1813 and 1815. Fackler offered one hour of piano, violin and sing-
ing lessons daily, beginning on 1 April 1814. See “Nachricht”, Intelligenzblatt zur Laibacher 
Zeitung, 22 March 1814.
96 “Hochlöbliches K. K. Landes-Gubernium! Da der gehorsamst Gefertigte sich entschlossen hat, 
Laibach zu seinem bleibenden Aufenthaltsort zu wählen: so ist er gesonnen, um den Wünschen 
mehrerer hiesigen Musikfreunde zu entsprechen, eine öffentliche Violinschule zu errichten, 
worin sowohl gänzlich Anfangsgrunde, als auch bereits Spielende, in abgesonderten Stunden 
Unterricht auf der Violine nach den besten Schulen und Werken erhalten. Er bittet daher 
gehorsamst: Ein Hochlöbl. K. K. Landes-Gubernium wolle gerufen, ihm nicht nur hierzu die 
gnädigste Erlaubniß zu ertheilen, sondern sein Unternehmen auch dergestalt gnädigst in Schutz 
zu nehmen, daß er darin von niemand anderen durch Errichtung einer ähnlichen Anstalt neben 
der seinigen, beeinträchtigt werden könne”. See “Einreichungs-Protokoll des k.k. Guberniums 
zu Laibach”, Delovodnik 1822 (10812–16760), AS 14, Arhiv Republike Slovenije (AS), Ljubljana, 
fol. 583; “Einreichungs-Protokoll des k.k. Guberniums zu Laibach”, registratura VIII, fasc. 55 
(1821–1822), no. 159, AS 14, AS, Ljubljana.
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occupation. By establishing a violin school, it is to be hoped that this shortage will over 
time be remedied by local pupils.97
In October Benesch announced in the newspaper the opening of the new Violin 
School, where he offered lessons for violin, fortepiano and guitar.98 By the end of the 
year he had also given five concerts where he mainly performed his own compositions 
and attracted an audience in Ljubljana.99 After one of the concerts a critic wrote that 
Benesch already enjoyed a good reputation in the city and described his violin playing as 
“brilliant, with correct bowing and gentle execution of the whole, overcoming not small 
difficulties with great assurance and pleasing grace”. All these qualities made him an 
important contemporary musician, and he proved also to be a skilful composer.100 His 
violin technique displayed “great assurance and purity of intonation, power and fullness 
of tone and truly brilliant double stops, octaves, trills and staccato”.101
In April 1823 he married the pianist Friederike Proch in Wiener Neustadt.102 Only a 
month later she introduced herself to the audience in Ljubljana with a performance of her 
97 “[…] wenn ferner die lobenswürdigen musikalischen Vorzüge, die Benesch während seines 
dermahligen Hierseyns an den Tag gelegt hat, erwogen werden; so muß es nur wünschenswerth 
seyn, daß durch einen so tauglichen Tonkünstler zu Laibach, wo ohnehin der Mangel an prackti-
schen Musickmeistern vorherrschend ist, eine solche Musickunterrichts-Anstalt errichtet werden 
möchte, welcher Bittsteller nach seinen anerkannten theoretisch- und praktischen musikalischen 
Fähigkeiten vorzustehen vermag. Die Vortheile, die durch die Gründung und das Bestehen einer 
solchen Anstalt entstehen, sind zu mannigfaltig, als daß sie sich nicht der hohen Genehmigung 
erfreuen sollten. Der Mangel an brauchbaren Violinspielern ist so fühlbar, daß ein nur mittelmäßig 
besetztes Orchester weder bey Kirchenmusicken, noch im Theater oder anderen Gelegenheiten 
ohne Mitwirkung der Dilletanten kaum denckbar ist. Durch widrige Zeitverhältnisse ist das 
Stammvermögen der hiesigen Dommkirche so erschüttet worden, daß auf Musick, (so durch den 
sich in früherem Jahrzehnt mehrere besoldete fähige Individuen vermährten), itzt kaum etwas 
verwendet werden kann, und dieses Kirchenmusickpersonale daher aus Mangel eines gewissen 
Verdienstes sich von hier entfernet, oder sein Fortkommen in einer anderen Beschäftigung suchen 
mußte; – durch Errichtung einer Violinschule ist es zu hoffen, daß durch einheimische Zöglinge 
diesen Mangel nach und nach abgeholfen werde.” “Einreichungs-Protokoll des k.k. Guberniums 
zu Laibach”, registratura VIII, fasc. 55 (1821–1822), no. 159, AS 14, AS, Ljubljana.
98 Joseph Benesch, “Neu errichtete Violinschule”, Intelligenzblatt zur Laibacher Zeitung, 29 October 
1822.
99 Concert programmes, 11 September 1822 (“Ein Großes Vocal und Instrumental Concert”), 20 
September 1822 (“Gewöhnliche Gesellschafts-Akademie”), 4 October 1822 (“Gesellschafts-
Akademie”), 8 November 1822 (“Eine Große musikalische Akademie”), 30 December 1822 
(“Zum Besten der öffentlichen Musik-Schule”), Philharmonische Gesellschaft, Glasbena zbirka, 
NUK, Ljubljana.
100 P., “Kunst-Notizen”, Illyrisches Blatt zum Nutzen und Vergnügen, 9 March 1821.
101 “Correspondenz-Nachricht: Laibach, im December 1823”, Allgemeine Theaterzeitung und 
Unterhaltungsblatt für Freunde der Kunst, Literatur und des geselligen Lebens, 17 February 
1824, https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=thz&datum=18240217.
102 Joseph Benesch and Friederika Proch were married on 8 April 1823 in Wiener Neustadt. See Wien 
/ Niederösterreich (Osten), Rk. Erzdiözese Wien, Wiener Neustadt-Hauptpfarre, Trauungsbuch 
1815–1843, sig. 02-13, fol. 108.
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Maruša Zupančič: A Forgotten Bohemian Violinist and an Imitator of Niccolò Paganini Within the Central European Violinistic Tradition
own Variations for piano with orchestra.103 In Ljubljana, where her uncle Caspar Maschek 
was one of the leading musicians, she also gave private music lessons from November 
1823 onwards.104 Between 1823 and 1826 she appeared seven times on the stage of the 
Philharmonic Society as a soloist and accompanist to her husband.105 She performed in 
Ljubljana only until May 1826, as she gave birth to her first son, Friedrich Joseph Ernst, 
in Wiener Neustadt five months later.106
In addition to his work as a private teacher and concert performer (soloist) in Ljubljana, 
Benesch was also the musical and orchestral director107 of the Philharmonic Society 
(“Musik- und Orchester Direktor der Philharmonischer Gesellschaft”) and temporarily 
of the Estates Theatre Orchestra between 1823 and 1828. It was common that musical 
and orchestral directors of the Philharmonic Society also worked at the Estates Theatre, 
where they earned extra money, as was the case with Maschek and Benesch. At that time 
the distinction between the two functions was still very loose, as they complemented each 
other. Nevertheless, the Kapellmeister’s role was comparable to that of today’s conduc-
tor, whereas the orchestral director’s role was occupied by the first violinist, who was the 
equivalent of a leader (concertmaster) today. The Kapellmeister also had to attend to the 
singing school, while the orchestral director often rehearsed and conducted overtures 
and symphonies and supervised the tuning-up of the orchestra. These overlapping roles, 
where the two men shared the work and the credit, can also be observed in the reviews 
of Maschek as Kapellmeister and Benesch as orchestral director, where it is actually 
stated that Maschek “celebrated the most beautiful triumph with the orchestra”, while 
Benesch impressed the critic with “the precision of the choir’s entries and the accuracy 
of the orchestra”.108
One of the most important highlights of Benesch’s life was certainly the appear-
ance of Niccolò Paganini in Trieste in 1824. It was Paganini’s second visit to the city 
after 1816 and one of the most important events for musicians and music-lovers in the 
wider region. Paganini was known in Ljubljana at this time only by name from local 
journals that reported on him from 1815 onwards as “the greatest living violinist”109 and 
103 Concert programme, “Gewöhnliche Gesellschafts Akademie”, 30 May 1823, Philharmonische 
Gesellchaft, Glasbena zbirka, NUK, Ljubljana.
104 Joseph Benesch, “Unterricht im Violinspielen”, Intelligenzblatt zur Laibacher Zeitung, 14 October 
1823; Friederike Benesch, “Unterricht im Clavierspielen”, Intelligenzblatt zur Laibacher Zeitung, 
14 October 1823.
105 She performed on the Philharmonic Society Concerts on 30 May 1823, 3 December 1823, 2 
September 1825, 21 October 1825, 2 December 1825, 7 April 1826 and 26 May 1826.
106 Wien / Niederösterreich (Osten), Rk. Erzdiözese Wien, Wiener Neustadt-Neukloster, Taufbuch 
1824–1841, sig. 01-04, fol. 49.
107 The musical leadership of the Philharmonic Society Orchestra was in the hands of the Kapellmeister 
and the orchestral director. The leaders of the orchestra were either amateurs or paid professionals, 
and until the 1830s they usually changed from concert to concert. Initially, most of them were 
foreign-born local musicians such as Eissler, Höller and Schwerdt. Frequently, military musical 
directors such as Paul Micheli and Carl Handschuh helped with the performances in Ljubljana.
108 Cvetko, Zgodovina glasbene umetnosti na Slovenskem, 2:168–169.
109 The local periodical mentioned Paganini first in 1815, when it reported on his concert in Genoa, 
and then in 1819 on his appearance in Rome. In 1824, a few months before his concerts in 
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possibly from personal recollections by visiting musicians such as Lipiński and Böhm. 
Since Benesch had probably missed Paganini during his own Italian music tour, he now 
got another opportunity to hear the great master, who gave three concerts at the Teatro 
Grande in Trieste in the late autumn.110
Benesch and the eminent violinist Eduard Franz Jaell travelled to Trieste to hear 
the master and present him with an honorary diploma from the Philharmonic Society. 
Jaell, originally from Graz, was already known to audiences in Ljubljana, where he was 
a regular guest.111
Paganini was invited to Trieste both times by the Samengo family,112 merchants from 
Genoa. On the second occasion, in 1824, Samengo gave a soirée to which Jaell and Benesch 
were also invited. Before hearing Paganini play, Jaell was skeptical of Paganini’s musi-
cal abilities and thought he was just showing off. He therefore brought along volumes of 
Classical music and invited Paganini to play “concertos” (probably quartets) by Mozart, 
Haydn and Beethoven with him and other amateurs.113 Paganini accepted the proposal and 
took up the violin, stood in front of the lectern and turned the music books upside down, 
Trieste, the Illyrisches Blatt published a detailed article on his life and musical achievements. 
See W. Z., “Oesterreichische Staaten: Italien”, Vereinigte Laibacher Zeitung, 27 October 1815, 
http://www.dlib.si/?URN=URN:NBN:SI:DOC-CJJL00MT; “Paganini der großte lebende 
Violinspieler”, Illyrisches Blatt zum Nutzen und Vergnügen, 20 August 1824, http://www.dlib.
si/?URN=URN:NBN:SI:DOC-AR1DGQA2.
110 He gave concerts in Trieste on 3 November, 15 November and 10 December 1824.
111 Eduard Jaell was born in Graz in 1793. As early as 1815 he may have appeared in Ljubljana as 
orchestral director of the Estates Theatre. In 1817 he made his debut in Vienna, where he lived 
between 1818 and 1830 as a respected violinist and member of the orchestra at the Theater an der 
Wien and as leader of Hatwig’s private orchestra, where Franz Schubert played the viola. Jaell 
also gave a first performance of Schubert Ouverture im italienischen Stile on 1 March, 1818. He 
also performed in Klagenfurt, Florence and Graz. From 1821 to 1841 he played eight times in 
Ljubljana as a violin virtuoso and conducted concerts as orchestral director of the Philharmonic 
Orchestra. In 1823 he became an honorary member of the Philharmonic Society in Ljubljana and 
the Musikverein in Graz. In 1830 he moved to Trieste, where he taught violin, cello and piano. 
Around 1844 he returned to Vienna with his family and settled in Brussels at the end of 1847. He 
died there in 1849. See Concert programmes, 30 November 1821 (“Gewöhnliche Gesellschafts 
Academie”), 4 December 1821 (“Eine grosse musikalische Accademie”), 21 November 1823 
(“Eine Große musikalische Akademie”), 21 February 1825 (“Ein grosses Vocal und Instrumental 
Concert”), 11 October 1830 (“Vocal und Instrumental Concert”), 12 August 1840 (“Vocal und 
Instrumental Concert”), 12 November 1841 (“Vocal und Instrumental Concert”), 19 November 
1841 (“Vocal und Instrumental Concert”), Philharmonische Gesellschaft, Glasbena zbirka, NUK, 
Ljubljana; Harrandt and Kornberger, “Jaëll, Familie”; Lindmayr-Brandl, “Music and Culture”, 
21.
112 Paganini enjoyed playing chamber music with the “celebre professore dilettante” (famous ama-
teur musician) Agostino Samengo in Trieste, about which Paganini comments: “Sometimes we 
play duets; but we find no satisfactory music except an occasional duet by Spohr or Meyerbeer; 
all other composers are stale – but less so those by Ghebart, which are not available here”. See 
Vyborny, “Paganini as Music Critic”, 472.
113 It is known that Paganini enjoyed the quartets of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven while playing 
music privately with friends. Paganini recognized the pre-eminence of Beethoven’s quartets, while 
many of his contemporaries, including Spohr, did not. See Stowell, “Henryk Wieniawski”, 74.
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Maruša Zupančič: A Forgotten Bohemian Violinist and an Imitator of Niccolò Paganini Within the Central European Violinistic Tradition
reading his part so completely in the reverse direction without pausing that Jaell was 
amazed and convinced of Paganini’s miraculous abilities.114 Benesch and Jaell presented 
Paganini with an honorary diploma from the Philharmonic Society with an accompany-
ing letter (dated on 11 and 14 October 1824) in which the Philharmonic Society invited 
Paganini to give a concert in Ljubljana.115 Paganini accepted the diploma but declined the 
proposal to perform in Ljubljana. The reason for this was probably a promise he had made 
in 1819 to Prince Metternich that if he were to make his debut beyond the Alps, he would 
first play in Vienna. He kept his promise when he made his debut outside Italy in Vienna 
in 1828.116 Paganini described the occasion of receiving the diploma and meeting with 
Jaell and Benesch in a letter to his friend, the lawyer Luigi Germi, in the following words:
So I will tell you, also as a friend, that even before hearing me play the Philharmonic 
Society of Ljubljana sent me here a delegation to make me a member of the said society, 
and brought me its diploma. For the concert, then, there came especially to hear me play 
the violin the main members of the said society, among whom was the well-respected 
professional violinist Mr. Benesch, the teacher of that little baron [Praun] who was 
the organizer of this concert; they, together with other members of the Philharmonic 
Society who had come from neighbouring centres, occupied a portion of the theatre. I 
should also mention, to make you laugh, a witty reply given that evening at the theatre 
by another very able professional violinist, a certain Mr. Jähl, a German living here, 
to the above-mentioned Benesch. The latter had told him after hearing me: We can all 
make our wills. No, replied Jähl, because I am already dead.117
It is possible that Germi knew von Praun, since Paganini referred to him only as 
“Baroncino”. Maybe Paganini had heard Praun at the concert on 30 May 1824 at the Teatro 
Sant’Agostino in Genoa, where he himself had given two concerts during the same month 
(14 and 21 May),118 and probably called Benesch a “well-respected teacher” for this reason.
In the following year, 1825, Benesch began planning a tour and wished to give a 
114 This anecdote was told to Giovanni Tagliapietra by an old amateur player who was among the 
gathering that evening, and played the viola part with Paganini in the quartet. See “Memorie 
d’un Contemporaneo di Niccolò Paganini per G. Dr. Tagliapietra”, L’Arte rassegna di musica, 
drammatica e coreografia, 31 May 1878.
115 Tonazzi, Paganini a Trieste, 30; Kuret, Ljubljanska filharmonična družba, 55.
116 Borer, “Twenty-Four Caprices”, 11.
117 “Ti racconterò poi, anche in amicizia, che prima ancora di farmi sentire, una Società filarmonica 
di Lubiana mandò qui una deputazione per aggregarmi a detta Società, e me ne portò il diploma. 
Per l’accademia poi, sono qui appositamente venuti, per sentire il mio violino, i principali membri 
di detta Società, e tra gli altri il classico professore di violino signor Benesch, maestro di quel 
Baroncino [Praun] che ha dato costà accademia; i quali, con altri filarmonici venuti da altri paesi 
del vicinato, occuparono un sito nel teatro. Ti aggiungerò pure, per farti ridere, un’arguta risposta 
data in quella sera al teatro da altro abilissimo professor di violino, certo signor Jähl, tedesco, 
che qui dimora, al sudetto Benesch. Gli diceva questi, dopo avermi sentito: Possiamo far tutti 
testamento.– No, gli rispose il Jähl, perchè io sono già morto.” See Belgrano, Imbreviature di 
Giovanni Scriba, 402.
118 Tonazzi, Paganini a Trieste, 32.
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concert in Leipzig. To this end he wrote a letter to C. F. Peters,119 a well-known Leipzig 
publisher, offering his violin compositions for publication and announcing plans for a 
concert tour with his wife. It seems that he did not go on the afore-mentioned concert 
tour the following year but instead began teaching at the newly founded Philharmonic 
Society School (Gesellschafts-Lehranstalt) for stringed instruments (Streichinstrumente), 
performing in at least nine concerts organized by the society that year.120
As was customary at the time, he probably held group lessons and taught a total of 
sixteen pupils on the violin and cello, which was undoubtedly very different from his 
earlier private lessons with musically gifted aristocratic children. Nevertheless, unlike 
his predecessors Caspar Maschek and Franz Sokol, he was the first real violin teacher in 
Ljubljana. Sokol was originally a clarinetist and taught violin at the Public Music School 
until 1822, when Maschek, who was a cellist, succeeded him. Although they were all 
broadly trained musicians, there was a great difference between them regarding their 
pedagogical competence in respect of the violin. We know from the school report that 
Maschek was not a diligent violin teacher, for the school supervisors complained that his 
violin pupils were “not being able to hold the instrument properly, playing scales out of 
tune and performing with too little musicality”.121 In contrast, Benesch, who was him-
self a virtuoso, had already trained two well-known violin virtuosos, Praun and Proch. 
Unfortunately, no further details on his violin lessons and curriculum are known up to 
date, but we can infer the repertoire studied in the violin lessons from the programme of 
the final examination (concert) in 1827. Benesch’s violin students played mainly works 
by his contemporaries, as well as their teacher’s compositions and various violin duets.122 
Duets of this kind were popular violin pieces at the time and belonged to the teaching 
material used at the Prague Conservatory and elsewhere. In addition to the activity of 
his private “Violinschule” (Violin School), Benesch taught the forte-piano privately in 
bourgeois households; one of his pupils was Josephine (Jožefina) Terpinc (née Češko, 
Zeschko; 1805–1885).123
119 On 20 August 1825 he sent a letter to the well-known publisher C. F. Peters in Leipzig, offering 
his violin compositions for publication. In this letter he mentioned that the newspapers in Vienna 
and Milan were already publishing advertisements and publicity about him, and since he was 
planning a concert tour the following year with his wife, who was an excellent pianist, he would 
like to become better known in that area and to give a concert there. Among the pieces offered 
were violin compositions that he had played and probably composed in Ljubljana. See Joseph 
Benesch to C. F. Peters, 20 August 1825, Mus. Autogr. J. Benesch A 001, Universitätsbibliothek 
Johann Christian Senckenberg, Frankfurt am Main (D-F).
120 He performed in the Philharmonic Society Concerts on 7 January 1825, 10 February 1825, 20 
May 1825, 2 June 1825, 2 September 1825, 23 September 1825, 21 October 1825, 2 December 
1825, 26 December 1825.
121 Budkovič, Razvoj glasbenega šolstva na Slovenskem, 1:31.
122 His students played violin duets by Bierlingen, L. Jansa and G. B. Viotti and violin pieces by J. 
Haydn, L. Jansa and J. Mayseder. See Concert programme, “Einladung zur öffentlichen Prüfung 
welche mit den Zöglingen des philharmonischen Gesellschafts-Streich-und Blas-Instrumental 
Institutes”, 28 August 1827, Philharmonische Gesellschaft, Glasbena zbirka, NUK, Ljubljana.
123 From the correspondence of the siblings Jožefina and Valentin Zeschko we learn that she was the 
student of Benesch. See Correspondence of Josephine Terpinz and Valentin Zeschko 1828–1858, 
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Maruša Zupančič: A Forgotten Bohemian Violinist and an Imitator of Niccolò Paganini Within the Central European Violinistic Tradition
Besides teaching and performing with the Philharmonic Society, Benesch still gave 
occasional concerts abroad. In October 1827 he undertook two concerts with his wife in 
Prague, where the local newspaper Prager Zeitung billed him as “brilliant even in com-
parison with the great master Paganini”.124 After the concert the critic of the Allgemeine 
musikalische Zeitung conceded that Benesch is a “valiant violinist of great ability and 
popularity” but that he would probably have pleased them even more if the Prager Zeitung 
had not raised expectations too high by comparing him to Paganini, about whose art 
they heard many wondrous words.125 Since Paganini did not perform outside Italy until 
several months later (Vienna, March 1828), critics and musicians could only judge the 
quality of his playing from hearsay. A little over a year later Paganini gave six concerts 
in Prague;126 ironically, Prague proved for him an even more bitter experience, as audi-
ences were sparse and reviews were negative, making him out to be the most “vicious, 
stingy and greedy man”.127
Around the same time, when the Philharmonic Society closed its music school for 
lack of funds, Benesch left Ljubljana. He gave his last benefit concert there on 7 November 
1828128 and then returned to Vienna. His departure was a great loss for Ljubljana. During 
his six-year stay he had performed in over forty concerts as a soloist and chamber musician 
and in more than eighty concerts as an orchestral director. He had conducted Beethoven’s 
symphonies with “energy and circumspection” and appeared as a soloist mainly with his 
own virtuosic works, though occasionally with compositions by his contemporaries.129 
Although he mostly performed together with his wife, he also played a few times with 
local pianists such as Elenoroe Hauck, Amalie Oblack, Karl Ullepitsch and Julie Kogl, the 
daughter of one of the founders of the Philharmonic Society in Ljubljana; to Julie Kogl 
the Benesch couple dedicated the Concert Variations for violin and piano.130
[December] 1827, letter 8, sig. LJU/0296, no. 35, ZAL, Ljubljana, http://www.zal-lj.si/project/
si_zal_lju-0296_s-35_ovoj-ii_pismo-8/.
124 “Nichtpolitische-Nachrichten”, Prager Zeitung, 14 October 1827.
125 “Nacrichten: Prag”, Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, 26 December 1827, https://anno.onb.ac.at/
cgi-content/anno?aid=aml&datum=18271226.
126 Branberger, “Paganini v Praze”, 22–24; Neill, Nicolò Paganini, 209–211.
127 Paganini gave concerts in Prague in December 1828 and wrote a letter from Prague to Germi 
on 10 January 1829, describing the experience: “If you only knew how many enemies they have 
stirred up against me! You would not believe it! I do no harm to anyone, but those who do not 
know me consider me the most vicious, stingy and greedy man”. See Belgrano, Imbreviature di 
Giovanni Scriba, 420.
128 The proceeds of the benefit concerts, which were frequently organized by Philharmonic Society, 
went to a charity, often also to the soloist to reward them with vital income during the music 
tour, shortly before retirement or when artists left Ljubljana and moved elsewhere.
129 Benesch performed compositions by P. Rode, R. Kreutzer, L. Spohr, C. Czerny, L. Maurer, P. 
Pixis, J. Mayseder, L. Jansa, L. de Saint-Lubin and H. Proch.
130 “Variations Concertantes pour Pianoforte et Violon composes et dediées A Mademoiselle Julie 
de Kogl par Frederique et Joseph Benesch”.
tten Bohemian Violinist Joseph Benesch
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In Ljubljana Benesch wrote several compositions, three of which are preserved in the 
National and University Library (Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica).131 They were donated 
to the Philharmonic Society by the clerk Anton Schmidt from Ljubljana,132 whose signature 
is on the cover of the score (“der löbl. Philharm. Gesellschaft verehret Ant. Schmidt”).
Closely connected with the Philharmonic Society was Benesch’s former pupil and 
brother-in-law Heinrich Proch. He became an honorary member in 1828, and several of his 
compositions were performed at the Society’s concerts in the following years, including 
Nebo v dolini in Slovenian (“in krainischer Sprache”) for voice and piano.133 In 1830 he 
dedicated three of his Polonaises for Orchestra to the Philharmonic Society.134 Benesch 
visited Ljubljana twelve years after his departure and gave a concert there in 1840,135 this 
being his last visit to the city.
131 Grandes Variations sur un thême original (D), Op. 11; Variations brillantes de l’Opera: “Il 
Crociato” de Meyerbeer, Op. 12; Prémier Concertino pour le Violon avec accompagnement 
d’Orchestre ou de Quartour ou de Pianoforte, Op. 14.
132 Schmidt has been often confused with the Vienna-based physician and violinist Anton Schmith 
(1762–?) and even with Wolfgang Schmith.
133 Concert programme, “Zweites Concert der philharmonischen Gesellschaft in Laibach”, 6 
November 1846, Philharmonische Gesellschaft, Glasbena zbirka, NUK, Ljubljana.
134 Concert programmes, 27 August 1830 (“Philharmonische Gesellschafts Akademie”), 3 September 
1830 (“Große Vocal und Instrumental Concert”), 1 October 1830 (“Philharmonische Gesellschaft 
Akademie”), Philharmonische Gesellschaft, Glasbena zbirka, NUK, Ljubljana.
135 At the concert he performed his own Concertino and Variations and Elegie by H. Ernst. Benesch 
was also the first performer of Ernst’s works in Ljubljana. See Concert programme, “Vocal 
Instrumental Concert”, 25 September 1840, Philharmonische Gesellschaft, Glasbena zbirka, 
NUK, Ljubljana.
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Maruša Zupančič: A Forgotten Bohemian Violinist and an Imitator of Niccolò Paganini Within the Central European Violinistic Tradition
Figure 7
Advertisement for Benesch’s private Violin school (Joseph Benesch, “Neu errichtete 
Violinschule”, Intelligenzblatt zur Laibacher Zeitung, 29 October 1822)
Figure 8
Letter of Joseph Benesch to the publisher C. F. Peters, 20 August 1825 (Frankfurt am Main 
[D-F], Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg, Mus. Autogr. J. Benesch A 001; 
reproduced by permission)
tten Bohemian Violinist Joseph Benesch
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Figure 9
Concert programme for Joseph Benesch’s Concert, 2 December 1826, Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft, Glasbena zbirka, NUK, Ljubljana, http://www.dlib.si/?URN=URN:NBN:SI:DOC-
-Q12G8YPK (Digitalna knjižnica Slovenije – dLib.si)
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43
Maruša Zupančič: A Forgotten Bohemian Violinist and an Imitator of Niccolò Paganini Within the Central European Violinistic Tradition
Figure 10
Request to open a private violin school (Ljubljana, Arhiv Republike Slovenije [AS], AS 14, 
registratura VIII, fasc. 55, no. 159; reproduced by permission)
tten Bohemian Violinist Joseph Benesch
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Joseph Benesch in Vienna (1828–1873) and the Influence of Niccolò Paganini
In the Biedermeier era Vienna was the third-largest city in Europe after London and Paris 
and, as Louis Spohr describes in his Memoirs (1812), “indisputably the capital of the musical 
world”.136 Concert performances by virtuosos were the main attraction for the Viennese 
audience. In addition to local artists, many visiting virtuosos shaped Viennese musical 
life, and the influx of “immigrants”, especially from Bohemia, increased. Viennese concert 
life was comparable to that of London or Paris.137 In the period 1826–1827 the number of 
concerts in Vienna was two to three times higher than in Ljubljana.138 Generally speak-
ing, concert programmes did not differ much between one European city and the next. 
They consisted of a predetermined sequence of musical genres, and the soloist featured 
in a concert appeared only two or three times during that concert.139
Since a travelling virtuoso needed in the first instance to conquer the Viennese public, 
the city attracted ambitious young musical talents from Bohemia, Hungary, Germany, 
Moravia, Silesia, Italy and Poland, with a particularly high proportion of musicians from 
Bohemia. However, staging a public concert in Vienna was expensive and difficult, as 
musicians were forced to find their own concert halls, assemble competent musicians and 
attract audiences large enough to cover concert costs. Only a few theatres were available 
as concert venues, since they were either fully booked or prohibitively expensive. Since 
there was no official concert hall in Vienna before 1830, musicians turned to churches, the 
university auditorium, the chambers of the regional government (Niederösterreichisches 
Landhaus), restaurants, dance halls or private homes to perform their music. The Society 
of the Friends of Music (Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, also known as the Musikverein)140 
was an important organization for concert life in Vienna. It held one major music fes-
tival (Musikfest) each season, four Society Concerts and about sixteen smaller evening 
entertainments (Abendunterhaltungen). The concerts were performed and attended by 
its members, a mixture of amateur and professional musicians. Benesch was a member 
from the end of 1828.141 He performed in various Viennese halls, mostly with his wife, 
136 Brown, Louis Spohr, 72.
137 In the period from 1826 to 1827 111 concerts were given in Vienna, 125 in London and 78 in 
Paris. See Hanson, Musical Life in Biedermeier Vienna, 83.
138 In Ljubljana there were more than twenty-seven major concerts in 1826 alone (all organized by 
its Philharmonic Society), the concert programmes for 1827 being lost.
139 After the overture the soloist usually played a movement from a concerto. The three movements 
of a concerto were rarely played consecutively as an uninterrupted unit. The second piece, 
separated from the first by a vocal ensemble or solo, usually consisted of a series of variations 
on a popular melody. Most of the brilliant or popular pieces were performed again at the end. 
Hanson, Musical Life in Biedermeier Vienna, 99.
140 Originally, concerts had taken place mostly in private circles. The first large-scale concerts took 
place from 1815 onwards at the Großer Redoutensaal at the Hofburg and in the Riding School 
(Winterreitschule). Smaller concerts were initially held at the society’s office in Singerstrasse, from 
1819 onwards in the Rotenturmstrasse and from 1820 onwards at the Gundlhof in the Tuchlauben. 
The society had its headquarters in the Tuchlauben, where there was a hall for a maximum of 
700 people. It was not until 1870 that the present Musikverein building was completed.
141 “Stand der Mitglieder der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde mit Ende 1828”, Monatsbericht der 
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Maruša Zupančič: A Forgotten Bohemian Violinist and an Imitator of Niccolò Paganini Within the Central European Violinistic Tradition
and a few times with his brother-in-law Heinrich Proch. This kind of teaming up of family 
members was a common practice aimed at keeping costs low, and is seen also among some 
of his violinist contemporaries such as Spohr, who performed with his wife, a harpist, and 
even Paganini, who often shared his concerts with his mistress Antonia Bianchi, an opera 
singer. Social gatherings were also often organized privately by officials and merchants, 
and so there were even more house concerts for families and friends than ones held in 
public halls during the 1820s.142
Another obstacle was the distrust of unknown local or foreign musicians and the 
suspicion that they would cheat their audiences or not pay their bills. As a result, they had 
difficulty with engaging orchestras and had to resort to hiring individual musicians. As 
a rule, only established musicians could hire orchestras such as the ones of the theatres 
or the Friends of Music. Consequently, newly arrived artists first had to make a name for 
themselves by seeking out the city’s amateur music societies and performing and com-
posing for them gratis or for a reduced fee. It could take six months before a musician 
managed to give a public concert in Vienna. The competition was fierce, costs high, and 
music critics particularly harsh.143
Benesch had to surmount all these barriers soon after his new move, at the end of 
1828, to Vienna, where “gaining recognition meant proving oneself a master”.144 The 
competition among violinists in Vienna was one of the toughest in Europe, for in addi-
tion to local violinists such as Böhm, Clement, E. Jaell, Mayseder, Léon de Saint-Lubin 
(1805–1850), Schuppanzigh, Slawik, Spohr, Ernst among many others, there were visiting 
violinists of international fame. The outstanding names among them came from Paris. 
P. F. de Sales Baillot, Rodolpho Kreutzer, C. P. Lafont, Jacques Mazas (1782–1849), and 
Pierre Rode increased the quality even further and set new standards in violin playing.
As if this competition among violinists was not tough enough, there was also the 
greatest of them all: the “Wizard of the South”, Paganini, whom a Viennese audience 
heard for the first time in March 1828 and who drove up expectations. His fame spread 
throughout Europe with an extended concert tour between 1828 and 1831, which was 
Paganini’s first one outside Italy. His name and reputation, however, had been known to 
the Viennese for a decade through travellers from Italy, including the violinists Joseph 
Böhm and Joseph Maysedeer (1789–1863), who had heard him play there during their 
concert tours.145 With his first concert in Vienna on 29 March 1828, at the age of forty-six, 
Paganini immediately achieved a triumph and caused a furore never seen before.146 He gave 
fourteen concerts in Vienna, accompanied by an orchestra (conducted by Hildenbrand, 
Schuppanzigh and Fradl) that “fevered with the audience and overwhelmed the artist 
with enthusiastic demonstrations of all kinds”.147 The opening concert brought together 
Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde der Oesterreichischen Kaiserstaates, 1829, 93.
142 Devaux, “Joseph Mayseder”, 13.
143 Hanson, Musical Life in Biedermeier Vienna, 87–89.
144 Brown, Louis Spohr, 72.
145 Rowe, Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst, 28–29.
146 “Erstes Concert des Hrn. Nicolo Paganini”, Wiener-Theater Zeitung, 5 April 1828, https://anno.
onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=thz&datum=18280405.
147 Prod’homme, Nicolo Paganini, 26.
tten Bohemian Violinist Joseph Benesch
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the most famous musicians in Vienna, including also Benesch.148 The best Viennese vio-
linists – Mayseder, Jansa, de Saint-Lubin, Matthias Strebinger (1807–1874) and Böhm 
– agreed that Paganini was incomparable and that it was madness to compete with him. 
After Paganini’s appearance in Vienna Mayseder withdrew from concert life and gave 
only private concerts, but he later dedicated his Airs variés, Op. 40, to the great master. 
Nevertheless, there were some intrepid “imitators” who did not give up and whose play-
ing style was compared to Paganini’s. Besides Joseph Treichlinger (1808–?),149 who gave 
a much-acclaimed concert à la Paganini on 26 December 1828,150 Joseph Panny,151 Joseph 
Slawik, Joseph Benesch, the latter’s former pupil Sigmund von Praun and Heinrich Ernst 
followed this style of playing.
The enthusiasm for Paganini spread like wildfire, so that Viennese fashion became 
entirely à la Paganini, a phenomenon not limited to music.152 His fame echoed beyond 
Vienna and also reached the circles of the aristocracy in Ljubljana,153 where Benesch 
was still living at that time. Many violinists wanted to meet the famous artist, and one of 
those lucky ones was Jakob Lorber (1800–1864) from Kaniža (in today’s Slovenia). He 
attended the concert, took a single lesson from Paganini and used this to market himself 
still many years afterward, when he was introduced in a newspaper as a “violin profes-
sor using the famous Paganini method”.154 This tremendous euphoria caused by Paganini 
also meant that the reputations of the other violinists became considerably diminished, 
since it transformed the criteria for evaluation. Some of the best violinists, if they were 
lucky, were given such sobriquets as “Bohemian Paganini”, “Polish Paganini”,155 “Second 
148 Borer, “Twenty-Four Caprices”, 14.
149 Treichlinger was a violinist of the Imperial Court Opera Orchestra in Vienna.
150 “Concert-Anzeigen”, Der Sammler, 23 December 1828; “Concert des Hrn. Jos. Treichlinger”, 
Allgemeine Theaterzeitung und Originalblatt für Kunst, Literatur und geselliges Leben, 13 
January 1829; Prod’homme, Nicolo Paganini, 26.
151 Panny was born on 23 October 1794 in Kohlmitzberg. He studied under his father and later 
in Vienna, where he formed a friendship with Paganini, making several joint tours with him. 
Later they separated and he made a successful tour of German cities, founding a music school 
in Mainz, where he died on 7 September 1838. See Bachmann, Encyclopedia of the Violin, 387.
152 Prod’homme, Nicolo Paganini, 27.
153 Valentin Zeschko wrote on 2 April 1828 from Vienna to his sister, Benesch’s pupil Josephine 
Terpinz, the following about Paganini: “Now a new star has risen for the music world in 
Vienna. The violinist Mr. N. Paganini Virtuoso arrived here last week and gave a concert three 
days ago in the large Redoutensaal, which brought him great general applause. The entrance 
fee was 5 f. downstairs and 10 f. w/w [Wiener Währung] in the gallery, and his total receipts 
were 20,000 f. w/w. The man says that he will give one more concert for himself but will have 
to play twelve times for free in the Kärnerthortheater; but if the prices remain so high, I will 
not hear him.” See Correspondence of Josephine Terpinz and Valentin Zeschko 1828–1858, 
2 April 1828, letter 13, sig. LJU/0296, no. 35, ZAL, Ljubljana, http://www.zal-lj.si/project/
si_zal_lju-0296_s-35_ovoj-ii_pismo-13/.
154 In 1858 Lorber gave a concert in Trieste, where he performed Paganini’s piece Le Streghe. See 
“Teatro Mauroner”, Il diavoletto: giornale Triestino, 10 September 1858.
155 “Polish Paganini” was used to describe the Polish violinists Karl Lipiński and later Henryk 
Wieniawski.
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Maruša Zupančič: A Forgotten Bohemian Violinist and an Imitator of Niccolò Paganini Within the Central European Violinistic Tradition
Paganini” or “another Paganini”,156 but a less fortunate player could be dubbed an “unsuc-
cessful copy of Paganini”.157 When Benesch gave a concert in Vienna less than one year 
after Paganini’s opening concert there, a critic reported that he was a courageous virtuoso 
who had overcome enormous difficulties with great certainty and precision and who had 
been a practitioner of the “Paganini School” for years, because some of the idiosyncra-
sies of his role model were appearing in bright daylight. The critic goes on to say that 
some things might have been less conspicuous if the audience had heard Benesch before 
Paganini performed in Vienna.158
Franz Schubert was also afflicted with Paganini-fever and could barely afford the expen-
sive tickets to Paganini’s concert. In a now-lost letter to his friend Anselm Hüttenbrenner 
(1794–1868),159 he wrote that he heard angels singing in Paganini’s Adagio.160 Schubert, 
himself an accomplished violinist, entrusted the premiere of his two violin compositions, 
Rondo Brillant and Fantasie in C, to an aspiring Bohemian violinist and his composition 
student Joseph Slawik or, as he was called, the “Bohemian Paganini”. Slawik was a great 
sensation in Vienna in 1826 and was regarded there as a second Paganini, according to 
the Bohemian piano virtuoso Ignaz Moscheles (1794–1870), who heard him play. When 
Paganini heard Slawik in Vienna, he is said to have singled him out from the very start, 
exclaiming, “Everyone trembles when you play”. He wrote in Slawik’s album: “‘To the 
very able Mr. Slavík – the Gentle One’ (Al valente Signor Slavík – il Dolce)”.161 Slawik 
spent the next two years studying the “Paganini method”. When he reappeared in Vienna, 
he was called not an insignificant imitator of the great master, but a second original.162 
Although Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849) was a great admirer of Slawik, confessing in his 
letters to not having heard anyone like him since Paganini,163 he still considered him 
to rank behind the Italian.164 Even though Slawik was supposed to be the successor of 
Paganini, he could not fulfil that expectation, since his promising career ended with his 
death at the tender age of twenty-seven in 1833, opening up a career path to Benesch, who 
replaced him at the Hofkapelle.
Therefore, it had to be Slawik’s compatriot, Böhm’s and Mayseder’s pupil Heinrich 
Wilhelm Ernst, who carried on the torch as Paganini’s successor, leaving a precious legacy 
for violinists at the highest technical level, since his violin compositions attain the pinnacle 
156 “Ein zweiter Paganini” (another Paganini) was how Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst was described. See 
“Korrespondenz”, Didaskalia: Blätter für Geist, Gemüth und Publizität, 1 February 1840.
157 “Letzterer [Joseph Treichlinger] gab eine verunglückte Kopie der Paganinischen Spielweise”. 
See “Die Josefstädter Bühne”, Berliner Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, 23 May 1829.
158 “Neuigkeiten: Wien; Concert des Hrn. J. Benesch”, Allgemeine Theaterzeitung und Originalblatt 
für Kunst, Literatur und geselliges Leben, 14 April 1829, 178, https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/
anno?aid=thz&datum=18290414.
159 Motnik, “Anselm Hüttenbrenner”.
160 Deutsch, “Anselm Hüttenbrenners Erinnerungen an Schubert”, 132, 140.
161 Vyborny, “Paganini as Music Critic”, 470.
162 Stratton, Nicolo Paganini, 110.
163 “I am just back from Slawik’s. A famous violinist whom I befriended. Since Paganini I have 
heard nothing like him; he can take 96 notes staccato on one bow, and so on; incredible.” See 
Opieński, Chopin’s Letters, 130.
164 Stratton, Nicolo Paganini, 142.
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of violin technique and present a challenge to even the best violinists of today. Paganini 
heard Ernst while in Vienna and predicted a great future for him. Because Paganini’s 
performance in Vienna had made such a deep impression on the sixteen-year-old Ernst, 
he followed him on a tour a year later, playing some of Paganini’s unpublished works 
by ear and astonishing the composer. He later performed with him in Marseilles, where 
Ernst played with more feeling, while Paganini was able to overcome more difficulties.165 
Ernst’s Grande Caprice sur ‘Le Roi des Aulnes’, Op. 26, for violin solo, the transcription 
based on Schubert’s Erlkönig, D 328, remains one of the most demanding violin pieces 
up to the present day. Among the early interpreters of Ernst’s compositions was Benesch, 
who played his Élegié, Op. 10, in Ljubljana and probably also in Brno in the same year 
that it was published in Vienna (1840).
The musical milieu in Vienna was obviously very demanding, and the competition 
among violinists was among the fiercest in Europe. As aristocratic patronage declined, 
the income of professional musicians came to rely mainly on four areas: employment in 
state or private institutions such as the theatre, the church or military bands; public and 
private performances; composition; and teaching. Since musicians could not depend solely 
on income from concerts, they sought a regular income and other benefits associated with 
employment in state institutions, which was also the best possible option for Benesch.166 
The main advantages of employment with state institutions were a moderate but steady 
income, court protection and a state pension at the end of service. Musicians were able 
to supplement their income regularly by attending special public or private concerts. All 
these advantages attracted also Benesch, who at the end of 1828, at the age of thirty-three, 
returned to Vienna,167 where he became a member of the Society of the Friends of Music 
(Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde).168 He had to establish himself in an environment where 
audiences and critics were far more demanding than in his former city Ljubljana. He gave 
first two concerts in Vienna in April 1829 at the Kärntnertortheater and Landständischer 
Saal,169 where he came across as “in every respect an excellent artist, with strong, full 
and beautiful tone and brilliant bravura”. After the concerts and some positive reviews a 
public discourse about Benesch’s artistic quality took place in the newspaper Allgemeine 
Theaterzeitung for two months.170
165 Schwarz, “Ernst, Heinrich Wilhelm”.
166 A musician seeking employment in one of the court ensembles, state theatres or larger Viennese 
churches usually turned directly to the Office of the Chief Chamberlain (Oberstkämmeramt) 
responsible for the affairs of the court or asked influential persons to send letters to this office. 
Hanson, Musical Life in Biedermeier Vienna, 23.
167 It seems that he first lived in the Wiener Neustadt, where three of his children were born, and 
later moved to Vienna (Wieden).
168 “Stand der Mitglieder der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde mit Ende 1828”, Monatsbericht der 
Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde der Oesterreichischen Kaiserstaates, 1829, 93.
169 The concerts took place on 2 April 1829 and 26 April 1829. See M. E., “Musikalische Wegweiser”, 
Allgemeine Theaterzeitung und Originalblatt für Kunst, Literatur und geselliges Leben, 28 March 
1829; “Aus der musikalischen Welt”, Allgemeine Theaterzeitung und Originalblatt für Kunst, 
Literatur und geselliges Leben, 23 April 1829, 196.
170 “Neuigkeiten: Wien; Concert des Hrn. J. Benesch”, Allgemeine Theaterzeitung und Originalblatt 
für Kunst, Literatur und geselliges Leben, 14 April 1829, https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/
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Maruša Zupančič: A Forgotten Bohemian Violinist and an Imitator of Niccolò Paganini Within the Central European Violinistic Tradition
Despite some bad publicity, Benesch did not give up on Vienna and tried to make 
a living by teaching, working for two summers as an orchestral director at the theatre 
in Baden, where he gave three concerts during the summers of 1829 and 1830.171 In the 
spring of 1830 he applied for the position of court chamber violinist, together with six 
other distinguished Austrian violinists, following the death of Ignaz Schuppanzigh.172 The 
applicants were judged according to “moral and religious beliefs” and political opinions as 
well as their musical abilities. Particular note was taken of the fact that Benesch originally 
came from Bratislava, which was a false statement, and that because he had previously 
been the orchestral director in Ljubljana, he might have strong nationalist and anti-Austrian 
feelings. The reasons for his failure could therefore have been more political than related 
to any musical shortcomings, especially since the government examined its musical 
applicants carefully if they came from abroad and especially from the Eastern-Austrian 
provinces, as was the case with Benesch. The position was given to a younger violinist born 
in Vienna, Georg Hellmesberger, Sr (1800–1873), a teacher at the Vienna Conservatory. 
Benesch was not admitted to the Hofkapelle until two years later, in November 1832, 
as a supernumerary without salary, and then after the death of his compatriot Slawik as 
a full member (1 July 1833), remaining there for the rest of his life. In August 1834, in 
return for his “outstanding musical abilities and proven knowledge”, he was received the 
title and position of deputy orchestral director at the Burgtheater, where he later became 
orchestral director and where the famous author of violin tutors Jakob Dont (1815–1888) 
was his deputy until 1871, when they both retired.173
In addition to his many years as a private teacher, Benesch was also a professor at the 
Academy of Music (Akademie der Tonkunst) in Vienna,174 in existence in the 1850s, where 
between 1852 and 1853175 he taught the young Amalie Bido (1844–?), who became one of 
anno?aid=thz&datum=18290414; C. F., “Noch etwas über das Concert des Hrn. Joseph Benesch, 
Ehren mitgliedes der philharmonischen Geſellschaften zu Venedig und Laibach, im k. k. Hoftheater 
nächst dem Kärnthnerthore”, Allgemeine Theaterzeitung und Originalblatt für Kunst, Literatur 
und geselliges Leben, 23 April 1829; “Beleuchtung eines, in der 47. Nummer des ‘Sammlers’ 
von diesem Jahr erschienenen Aufsatzes über die am 2. Aprill d. J., im k. k. Hoftheater nächst 
dem Kärnthnerthore, von Hrn. Joseph Benesch gegebene musikalische Akademie”, Allgemeine 
Theaterzeitung und Originalblatt für Kunst, Literatur und geselliges Leben, 25 April 1829; 
“Concert des Hrn. Benesch”, Allgemeine Theaterzeitung und Originalblatt für Kunst, Literatur 
und geselliges Leben, 14 May 1829; “Erwiederung eines, in der 55. Nummer des Sammlers 
von diesem Jahre erschienenen, Aufsatzes über das zweyte Concert des Hrn. Joseph Benesch”, 
Allgemeine Theaterzeitung und Originalblatt für Kunst, Literatur und geselliges Leben, 26 May 
1829, https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=thz&datum=18290526; Manuel, “Erklärung”, 
Allgemeine Theaterzeitung und Originalblatt für Kunst, Literatur und geselliges Leben, 4 June 1829.
171 He gave concerts in Baden on 25 July 1829, 5 August 1829 and 12 August 1830.
172 Besides Benesch, the following violinists applied for the position: Josef Stadler, Karl Rechsetz, 
Anton Khayl, Franz Grütsch, Johann Hellmesberger and Franz Rabel. See Hanson, Musical Life 
in Biedermeier Vienna, 24.
173 “Im Orchester des Hofburgtheaters”, Signale für die Musikalische Welt, 14 March 1871.
174 “Musikschulen und Musiklehrer”, Handels- und Gewerbe-Adressenbuch der österreichischen 
Monarchie 11, no. 2 (1854): 517–518.
175 “Matinée Musicale”, Neue Wiener Musik-Zeitung, 12 February 1852; “2. Conzert der Akademie 
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the most successful female violinists of her time. As a violin pedagogue Benesch gained 
public recognition towards the end of his career: “We can only give Professor Benesch 
unqualified praise for his hard work and diligence in training young talents to become 
violinists. For some years he escaped the full attention of the higher intelligentsia in the 
field of music, in spite of the many artists on these beautiful instruments, and it is his work 
as a master of this instrument that everywhere receives the recognition it deserves.”176 
Besides Amalie Bido, his most successful pupils were Sigismund von Praun and Heinrich 
Proch. While von Praun’s death at the tender age of eighteen prevented him from realizing 
his full potential, Proch surpassed his teacher. He became a well-known violinist and 
musician in Vienna, a member of the Hofkapelle plus other orchestras and a composer.
In Benesch’s nearly forty-year career as a violinist of the Imperial Hofkapelle and 
orchestral director of the Burgtheater, he played alongside the violinistic elite of his day: 
Joseph Maysedeer, Joseph Böhm, Leopold Jansa, Mathias Strebinger, Jakob Dont, Georg 
Hellmesberger, Sr, Heinrich Proch, Wenzel Bezdek and Joseph Hellmesberger.177 All this is 
undoubtedly a testament to his outstanding achievements in Vienna. During all these years 
he remained active as a concert violinist, giving about a hundred public concerts in more 
than thirty different cities178 and proving himself “in every respect an excellent violinist”.179 
He died in Vienna on 11 February 1873 and was considered “a quiet, kindly, and undemand-
ing as well as dignified man”.180 His wife Friederika had died a year earlier, on 23 February 
1872.181 They had at least three children: Friedrich Joseph Ernst Benesch (1826–?),182 Henrietta 
Vinzenzia Adelheid Benesch (1828–?),183 Elisabeth Josepha Karolina Benesch (1830–?).184
der Tonkunst”, Neue Wiener Musik-Zeitung, 15 April 1852; Robert, “2. Conzert der Akademie 
der Tonkunst für Ihre Gründer und Unterstützer”, Neue Wiener Musik-Zeitung, 22 April 1852.
176 “Kunstnachrichten”, Neue Wiener Musik-Zeitung, 21 August 1856.
177 Köchel, Die Kaiserliche Hof-Musikkapelle, 97, 100; Antonicek, “Die Stände der Wiener 
Hofmusik-Kapelle”, 188; Kaiserlich-Königliches Hof-Burgtheater, Jahrbuch des Kaiserl. Königl. 
Hofburg-Theaters, 10.
178 We have attempted to reconstruct his concerts given between 1818 and 1841 from concert pro-
grammes and newspaper reports and have arrived at the figure of eighty-seven, although the 
number was certainly higher.
179 “Notizenblatt: zum Concertwesen”, Feierstünden für Fremde der Kunst, Wissenschaft und 
Literatur, 14 January 1835.
180 Luib, “Biographische Skizzen”.
181 Wien / Niederösterreich (Osten), Rk. Erzdiözese Wien, Wieden, Sterbebuch 1870–1872, sig. 
03-21, fol. 14.
182 Friedrich Joseph Ernst Benesch was baptized on 15 October 1826 in Wiener Neustadt, when 
Benesch was still living in Ljubljana. Later, Friedrich Ernst worked in the office of Baron H. 
Puthau. See Wien / Niederösterreich (Osten), Rk. Erzdiözese Wien, Wiener Neustadt-Neukloster, 
Taufbuch 1824–1841, sig. 01-04, fol. 49; Joseph Benesch to August Schmidt, 18 January 1848, 
sig. AC15825052, Wienbibliothek im Rathaus (A–Wst).
183 Henrietta Vinzenzia Adelheid Benesch was baptized on 20 February 1828 in Wiener Neustadt. 
Her godfather was Heinrich Proch. See Wien / Niederösterreich (Osten), Rk. Erzdiözese Wien, 
Wiener Neustadt-Neukloster, Taufbuch 1824–1841, sig. 01-04, fol. 73.
184 Elisabeth Josepha Karolina Benesch was baptized on 28 January 1830 in Wiener Neustadt. See 
Wien / Niederösterreich (Osten), Rk. Erzdiözese Wien, Wiener Neustadt-Neukloster, Taufbuch 
1824–1841, sig. 01-04, fol. 117.
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Maruša Zupančič: A Forgotten Bohemian Violinist and an Imitator of Niccolò Paganini Within the Central European Violinistic Tradition
Figure 11
Advertisement for Benesch’s composition Rondoletto (Wiener Zeitung, 5 november 1834, 1026)
tten Bohemian Violinist Joseph Benesch
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Figure 12
Portrait of Joseph Benesch (© Belvedere, Vienna; reproduced by permission)
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Maruša Zupančič: A Forgotten Bohemian Violinist and an Imitator of Niccolò Paganini Within the Central European Violinistic Tradition
Figure 13
Portrait of Friederike Benesch (© Belvedere, Vienna; reproduced by permission)
tten Bohemian Violinist Joseph Benesch
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Figure 14
Joseph Benesch’s request for a dedication (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, sig. 22, 
FKBA22088; reproduced by permission)
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Maruša Zupančič: A Forgotten Bohemian Violinist and an Imitator of Niccolò Paganini Within the Central European Violinistic Tradition
Figure 15
Concert programme printed on silk, cover for the dedication request (Österreichische 
Nationalbibliothek, sig. 22, FKBA22088; reproduced by permission)
tten Bohemian Violinist Joseph Benesch
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Benesch’s Concert Performances and His Violin Repertoire
Benesch was a typical violin virtuoso of his time in terms of the repertoire that he played. 
When virtuosos did not perform their own compositions, they played the repertoire of their 
contemporaries, for it was only after the middle of the nineteenth century that concert 
programmes began to favour older works by deceased composers, and what we know 
today as the standard repertoire developed. This was also the case in Benesch’s repertoire, 
in which we find not only his own compositions, but also works by his contemporaries 
such as Rode, Kreutzer, Mayseder, Jansa, Saint-Lubin, Proch, Spohr and Ernst, which he 
mainly performed at the beginning of his career.
In the following table the content of sixty-four concerts has been reconstructed to 
the extent that is possible, corresponding to about half of all Benesch’s public perfor-
mances. For this purpose concert announcements, reports and reviews published in the 
newspapers of the time, as well as concert programmes, were studied. In many cases the 
newspapers only reported place and time without detailing the programme. Since the 
reports and concert programmes were not written as accurately in the past as they are 
today, we cannot always determine exactly which compositions were played. The generic 
term “variations” leaves us uncertain, for example, about what theme the variations were 
based on (or exactly what opus number was performed), hence how varied the repertoire 
actually was. Therefore, it may appear that in many instances Benesch played the same 
pieces over and over again, whereas his repertoire was in reality much more varied.
Table 1
A list of Benesch’s solo performances between 1818 and 1841
Date City Organiser / Location Performed repertoire
1 Nov 1818 Brno Ständisches Theater P. Rode: Violin Concerto
Apr 1820 Klagenfurt [?] [?]
12 Apr 1820 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
J. Benesch: Variations, 
J. Benesch: Polonaise
8 Jun 1820 Venice [?] [?]
9 Jun 1820 Venice [?] [?]
10 Jun 1820 Venice [?] [?]
11 Jun 1820 Venice [?] [?]
10 Aug 1820 Mantua Regio Teatro [?]
Aug 1820 Mantua Regio Teatro [?]
8 Oct 1820 Milan Teatro alla Scala J. Benesch: Polonaise,
J. Benesch: Variations
20 Oct 1820 Milan Teatro della Canobbiana J. Benesch: Second 
Polonaise,
P. Rode: Violin Concerto
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Maruša Zupančič: A Forgotten Bohemian Violinist and an Imitator of Niccolò Paganini Within the Central European Violinistic Tradition
16 Feb 1821 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
P. Rode: Adagio and 
Rondo,
J. Benesch: Polonaise
23 Feb 1821 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
P. Rode: First Violin 
Concerto,
Belledro / Polledzo: 
Variations,
J. Benesch: Third Grand 
Polonaise
9 Mar 1821 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
J. Mayseder: Polonaise
16 Mar 1821 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
R. Kreutzer: Concerto for 
two Violins (with Johann 
Georg Altenburger)
17 Dec 1821 Graz Ständisches Theater J. Benesch: Ouverture from 
the Violin Concerto,
J. Benesch: Grande 
Polonaise
14 Jul 1822 Wiener 
Neustadt
Ständisches Theater L. Spohr: Double Violin 
Concerto (with Heinrich 
Proch),
J. Benesch: Variations in D
11 Sep 1822 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
J. Benesch: Violin 
Concerto,
J. Benesch: Variations 
on popular theme “Die 
Schildwache”,
J. Benesch: Polonaise
20 Sep 1822 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
Moscheles / Mayseder: 
Variations for Forte-Piano 
and Violin,
J. Benesch: Polonaise
4 Oct 1822 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
J. Benesch: Polonaise
8 Nov 1822 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
J. Benesch: First Polonaise
4 Dec 1822 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
J. Benesch: Polonaise
30 Dec 1822 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
R. Kreutzer: Second 
Potpourri
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5 Mar 1823 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
J. Benesch: Violin 
Concerto,
J. Benesch: Variations,
J. Benesch: Rondo
23 May 1823 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
J. Benesch: Polonaise
30 May 1823 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
J. Benesch: Variations
22 Jul 1823 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
J. Benesch: Violin Concerto
3 Dec 1823 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
J. Mayseder: Violin 
Concerto in E minor,
J. Benesch: Variations 
on the theme of “La 
Sentinelle”
7 Jan 1825 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
L. Spohr: Eighth Violin 
Concerto
10 Feb 1825 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
J. Benesch: Rondo alla 
Pollaca
20 May 1825 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
J. Benesch: Brilliant 
Variations
23 Sep 1825 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
L. Jansa: Marche de 
Cherubini
21 Oct 1825 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
J. N. Hummel: Grand 
Septet
2 Dec 1825 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
J. Benesch: Grand Violin 
Concerto,
J. Benesch: Grand 
Variations
13 Jan 1826 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
J. Mayseder: Variations,
E. v. Lannoy: Grand 
Concerto Variations for 
Piano-forte and Violin and 
Quartett Accompaniment 
(with Julie Kogl)
10 Feb 1826 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
L. Spohr: Violin Concerto
14 Apr 1826 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
J. Benesch: Rondo
Table 1
(continued)
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Maruša Zupančič: A Forgotten Bohemian Violinist and an Imitator of Niccolò Paganini Within the Central European Violinistic Tradition
2 Jun 1826 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
J. Benesch: Variations 
on the theme of “La 
Sentinelle”
16 Jun 1826 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
C. Czerny: Concert 
Variations for Piano and 
Violin (with Eleonore 
Hauck)
3 Nov 1826 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
J. Benesch: Polonaise
20 Nov 1826 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
H. Proch: Violin Concerto
24 Nov 1826 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
J. N. Hummel: Concerto 
for Piano-forte and Violin 
with Orchestra (with 
Amalie Oblack),
L. W. Maurer: Three 
Russian Concert Arias
2 Dec 1826 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
L. Spohr:  Eighth Violin 
Concerto,
P. Pixis: Concert Variations 
for Piano-forte and Violin,
L. W. Maurer: Three 
Russian Concert Arias
9 Dec 1826 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
L. Blahetka / L. de Saint-
Lubin: Variations for 
Pianoforte and Violin (with 
Karl Ullepitsch)
13 Dec 1826 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
J. Benesch: Grand Rondo
15 Oct 1827 Prague Ständisches Theater [?]
Oct 1827 Prague Saal “Beim Dauscha” [?]
7 Nov 1828 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
J. Benesch: Violin Concerto 
in E major,
J. Benesch: Rondo Brillant 
in E minor
2 Apr 1829 Vienna Kärntnertortheater J. Benesch: Violin 
Concerto,
J. Benesch: Grand 
Polonaise,
J. Benesch: Variations on a 
theme of Rossini
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26 Apr 1829 Vienna Landständischer Saal J. Benesch: Violin Concerto 
in D major,
J. Benesch: Variations on 
a Theme from Rossini’s 
opera Eduardo and 
Christina,
J. Benesch: Grand Rondo
25 Jul 1829 Baden bei 
Wien
[?] [?]
5 Aug 1829 Baden bei 
Wien
[?] [?]
12 Aug 1830 Baden bei 
Wien
[?] [?]
5 Dec 1830 Vienna Redoutensaal J. Benesch: Concertino,  
J. Benesch: Variations
26 Dec 1832 Vienna Großer Universitätsaal J. Benesch: Concertino, 
J. Benesch / H. Proch: 
Concerto for two Violins 
on the Barcarole from the 
opera La Muette de Portici 
by D. Auber (with H. 
Proch)
14 Apr 1833 Vienna Großer Universitätsaal J. Benesch: Variations
7 Dec 1834 Vienna Großer Universitätsaal J. Benesch / H. Proch: 
Concerto for two Violins 
on the Barcarole from the 
opera La Muette de Portici 
by  D. Auber (with H. 
Proch)
6 Jan 1835 Vienna Gesellschaft der 
Musikfreunde
J. Benesch: Concertino 
in E minor, J. Benesch: 
Variations on an original 
theme
Jun 1835 Vienna Private Concert J. Benesch: Concertino in 
E minor
28 Jan 1838 Vienna Gesellschaft der 
Musikfreunde
J. Benesch: Concertino,
J. Benesch: Variations
Table 1
(continued)
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29 Dec 1839 Vienna Gesellschaft der 
Musikfreunde
J. Benesch: Concertino,
J. Benesch: Variations 
on Motives from the 
opera Robert le diable by 
Meyerbeer
25 Jan 1840 Brno Ständisches Theater [?]
25 Sep 1840 Ljubljana Philharmonische 
Gesellschaft
J. Benesch: Concertino,
H. Ernst: Elegie,
J. Benesch: Variations
26 Dec 1841 Vienna Gesellschaft der 
Musikfreunde
J. Benesch: Second 
Concertino,
J. Benesch: Fantasy on 
Motives from the opera La 
Cenerentola by Rossini
Benesch’s Oeuvre
Benesch’s compositional oeuvre, which includes more than fifty compositions, consists 
mainly of violin works, at least twenty-two pieces for guitar and two string quartets. His 
violin compositions were mainly performed by himself, as was the custom at the time, 
since virtuosos usually composed particularly idiomatic compositions for their personal 
repertoire, which were originally intended not to be played by other violinists but instead 
to distinguish themselves from the competition. Other performers of his compositions 
were predominantly his pupils, to whom he actually dedicated some. A few are relatively 
simple, so it can be safely assumed that these early works served primarily pedagogical 
purposes.185
Almost all his compositions have survived through nineteenth-century prints; only 
three are autograph manuscripts, and a few are manuscript copies. They are preserved in 
Vienna, Ljubljana, Prague, Munich and Coburg. We know of a few further compositions 
from music catalogues, concert programmes, newspaper reports and advertisements, as 
well as from letters that Benesch wrote to music publishers.
The Italian music tour, during which he came into contact with the repertoire of 
the greatest Italian opera masters and violinists of his time, undoubtedly had a great 
185 Benesch published Sei valzer per la chitarra (Six valses for the guitar) with Ricordi in October 
1820 and dedicated it to Giovanni Pichel, who may have been his pupil. Interestingly, Paganini, 
who had mastered the guitar, also published a few months earlier with the same publisher 
Ricordi two sets of sonatas for violin and guitar (Opp. 2 and 3) and six guitar quartets in addi-
tion to the caprices. Benesch’s other composition from this period, Variations pour le violon 
avec accompagnement de deux Violons, Alto et Violoncelle, was published by Artaria around 
1821 and dedicated to his pupil in Trieste Amalie de Peppeu. See Joseph Benesch, Sei Valzer per 
Chitarra, Cat. Nr. 888, Archivio Storico Ricordi, Milano, https://www.digitalarchivioricordi.
com/en/people/display/10876/Joseph_Benesch?mode=catalogo.
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influence on his composing. His compositional style, with its emphasis on violin virtuosity, 
reflects the period of the flourishing style brillant. Benesch was probably familiar with 
Paganini’s works from the time of his trip to Italy, as the latter published some of them in 
Milan, where Benesch published his own works around the same time and also became 
acquainted with Paganini’s friends. It is therefore not surprising that Benesch followed 
the latest fashion of composing violin variations on popular operatic melodies, especially 
those by Gioachino Rossini, which also served as inspiration for Paganini, who published 
with Ricordi in 1819 the variations Non più mesta, Op. 12, on Rossini’s La Cenerentola.
Following the example of Paganini and some other contemporaries, Benesch composed 
seven violin works (with piano or orchestral accompaniment), one of them together with 
Heinrich Proch. These are virtuosic transcriptions of themes from operas that were popular 
in his time, especially ones from Rossini’s works: Eduardo e Cristina, La Cenerentola 
and Elisabetta. Since Rossini’s operas were already very popular in major cities and were 
frequently performed during his Italian tour, Benesch’s violin transcriptions also served 
as a “shortcut” to achieve increased name-recognition, since famous operatic themes and 
their composers were well known. It is likely that Benesch heard the first performance 
of Rossini’s opera Eduardo e Cristina, which premiered in Venice in the spring of 1819 
(Teatro San Benedetto) and was performed twenty-four times that season, while Benesch 
was also living in the city.
Leaving aside Rossini’s operas, Benesch also wrote variations on operatic themes 
by Daniel-François-Esprit Auber (La Muette de Portici), Giacomo Meyerbeer (Il crociato 
in Egitto and Robert le Diable), and Ferdinando Orlandi (La dama soldato), who was a 
singing teacher during Benesch’s stay in Milan. It seems that Benesch composed varia-
tions on popular operatic melodies either while still in Italy or relatively soon after his trip 
to Italy, probably in Ljubljana, where some of them were performed and from where he 
offered them in a letter to the music publishers Peters in Leipzig and Artaria in Vienna. 
Although the variations on Rossini’s Eduardo e Cristina are based on a theme that had 
already been used several times, they were considered original at the time and a “high 
point” in Benesch’s oeuvre.186 In addition to popular operatic melodies, other popular, 
well-known melodies also served as the basis for these kind of transcriptions (musical 
adaptations), which had an almost irresistible public appeal. For example, Benesch also 
composed violin variations on the popular theme “Die Schildwache”, which had been 
popular since the end of the eighteenth century.
Alongside the variations for violin on popular operatic themes, the Variations, Op. 
11, were another of Benesch’s frequently performed works. After one of the many perfor-
mances, they were described in 1833 as “beautiful and effective, but infinitely difficult”. 
Two years later, the writer criticized the compositional practice of the Variations at the 
time, calling them, rather, “études on a selected theme” because of their specifically 
186 C. F., “Noch etwas über das Concert des Hrn. Joseph Benesch, Ehren mitgliedes der philharmon-
ischen Geſellschaften zu Venedig und Laibach, im k. k. Hoftheater nächst dem Kärnthnerthore”, 
Allgemeine Theaterzeitung und Originalblatt für Kunst, Literatur und geselliges Leben, 23 April 
1829.
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idiomatic style, which could no longer be called music. Nevertheless, they were received 
by the audience with “thunderous applause”.187
Besides the variations for violin on popular operatic themes plus those on original 
themes, Benesch also composed two violin concertinos, a number of other virtuosic pieces 
(Polonaises, Rondeau Brillant, Rondo alla Polacca, Fantasie Brillante, etc.) and several 
salon pieces for violin. He composed his Concert Variations for violin and piano together 
with his wife Friederika Benesch and the already mentioned Double Variations for two 
violins (on a popular melody from the opera La Muette de Portici) and orchestra together 
with his former pupil, later brother-in-law and friend Heinrich Proch.
Apart from his early editions in Milan, Benesch only published with a handful of pub-
lishers in Vienna. For purely practical reasons, and because of the frequent unavailability 
of either orchestra or performance venue, he brought out most of his violin compositions 
in multiple variants, such as with orchestral, string quartet or piano accompaniment, so 
they would suit a variety of occasions and performance formats. It was common at the time 
for musicians to dedicate their works to influential figures – other musicians, publishers, 
fellow citizens, students, or family members – and Benesch was no exception. Dedications 
were an important stimulus to buyers, who often became aware of them through music 
advertisements in periodicals.188 Even after the decline of the patronage system, dedications 
were retained for practical reasons: to return a gift, to solicit performances, to advertise 
works, to enhance the status of the composer, to communicate the composer’s lineage 
and taste, to claim a personal relationship with the dedicatee, to suggest the musical style 
of a work or to contribute to the composer’s fame or brand name.189
Many composers used dedications to convey their private relationships with fellow 
composers or non-composers, as well as with friends and family members who were not 
composers. This type of dedication was indicated by the name of the dedicatee and the 
relationship to the dedicator (“composée et dediée à son ami”), as in the case of Benesch, 
who dedicated pieces to two of his friends, Henri Proch190 and Jean Hlawa.191 Reciprocal 
dedications between composers were also very common, often exchanged between those 
who lived in the same city or at least between friendly acquaintances.192 The practice of 
mutual dedication can be observed between Benesch and Proch,193 who dedicated original 
compositions to each other. Dedications to pupils were also common, strengthening the 
bond between teacher and student (and enhancing their respective reputations). Moreover, 
187 “Notizen: Concert”, Der Sammler, 27 April 1833.
188 In most music periodicals of the time all advertisements for new publications were grouped 
together on the last pages of the issue, where a list of pieces, arranged by publisher, appeared. 
See Green, Dedicating Music, 97, 104.
189 Ibid., 35.
190 Benesch dedicated to Proch his Variations, Op. 8 (Variations brillantes [in E] sur un theme favori 
de l’Opera: Elisabetta, de Rossini pour le violon avec accompagnement de Pianoforte).
191 Benesch dedicated to Hlawa his Op. 26 (Conzert-Rondeau pour le Violon avec accompagnement 
de Piano).
192 Green, Dedicating Music, 45.
193 Proch dedicated to Benesch his first String quartet, Op. 12 (Premier Quatuor concertant pour 
deux Violons, Alto et Violoncelle).
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the public recommendation of a dedicatee (the pupil) sent a message to society that the 
compositions were also suitable for learners. Benesch dedicated pieces to two of his pupils: 
Wilhelm Mayerhofer194 and Adolphe Schrittwiesser.195
Dedications to other eminent personalities, even other composers, served a promo-
tional purpose and were more economically profitable. For example, Benesch dedicated 
his first string quartet (published in 1865) to the prominent violinist Ferdinand Laub 
(1832–1875), who was appointed as a chamber virtuoso to the Prussian king in 1856. From 
1866 onwards Laub was a violin professor at the Moscow Conservatory and performed 
regularly as primarius of the String Quartet of the Russian Music Society (the “Moscow 
Quartet”), also premiering the first and second string quartets of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.196 
It is not clear whether Laub ever performed the string quartet Benesch dedicated to him.
Since dedications to famous personalities were overall the most effective, musicians 
used this type of dedication to link their reputations to individuals who possessed greater 
fame, prestige and wealth, hoping to promote themselves and achieve financial success.197 
In December 1839 Benesch asked the Emperor of Austria, Ferdinand I (1793–1875), for 
prior permission to dedicate his second concertino to him, as was customary and necessary 
when dedicating compositions to important personages. The respected Viennese composer 
Joseph Weigl (1766–1846) advised against it, since Benesch was not famous enough and 
this composition was, in his opinion, of insufficient quality. In the event, Ferdinand I 
refused Benesch’s request for a dedication, but he gifted him fifty florins.198 The piece 
was performed the same month in the hall of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde and was 
described by a critic as a piece of music that “must also be praised for its composition”, 
but had been better received by the audience a few years earlier.199
Benesch’s virtuosic violin pieces are idiomatically written in the style brillant, which 
is characterized by liveliness, radiance and grandeur, coupled with virtuosity and bravura, 
as well as contrasting dynamics, articulation and tempi. As for violin virtuosity, Benesch’s 
compositions feature double stops, artificial harmonics, huge stretches of the left hand 
(tenths and broken tenths), complex double stops and trills, fast chromatic passages in the 
highest registers of the instrument, and a juxtaposition of fast passages with melodic and 
ornamental passages, down-bow, up-bow, thrown and flying staccatos (even in double 
stops), passages with broken chords, rapid successions of octaves as a means of displaying 
virtuoso bravura. Unlike Paganini and some other contemporaries, Benesch did not use 
scordatura, left hand pizzicati and their combination with bowed notes, harmonics with 
double stops, ricochet spiccato, quick leaps or other group-breaking techniques, and the 
so-called military heroism was not so obviously expressed in his works.
194 Benesch dedicated to Mayerhofer his Op. 16 (Rondoletto für die Violine mit begleitung des 
Quartetts oder Pianoforte für angehende Violinspieler).
195 Benesch dedicated to Schrittwiesser his Op. 25 (Air varié pour le Violon avec accompagnement 
de Piano).
196 Zupančič, “At the Crossroads”, 9.
197 Green, Dedicating Music, 78–79.
198 “Dedikationbitte des Joseph Benesch für sein Concertino für Violine”, sig. 22, FKBA22088, 
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek.
199 “Konzert”, Der Adler, 31 December 1839.
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Nevertheless, his compositions were regarded by the Viennese critics of his time as 
solid, tasteful and effective, proving that Benesch was no stranger to the musical Zeitgeist 
even though he shunned the newest tastes and trends,200 and they were much applauded 
in concerts and warmly received by audiences.
Figure 16
Joseph Benesch, Concertino, Op. 14 (Glasbena zbirka, NUK, Ljubljana; reproduced by 
permission)
200 “Concert des Hrn. Benesch”, Allgemeine Theaterzeitung und Originalblatt für Kunst, Literatur 
und geselliges Leben, 14 May 1829.
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Conclusion
Benesch grew up in the Bohemian musical milieu at a time when patronage to support 
musicians was diminishing and a more affluent bourgeois society was emerging – and 
with it the model of the public concert. Consequently, it was also the time when the phe-
nomenon of the virtuoso emerged and became the new ideal of public music performance, 
and when a standard violin repertoire began to develop. Benesch aspired to become 
such a virtuoso and therefore, like many prominent violinists of his time such as Böhm, 
Lipinski, Mayseder and Spohr, embarked on a concert tour to Italy early in his career, 
where he gave more than seventeen public concerts. On these occasions he mainly played 
his own compositions, tailored to his performance style, in order to stand out from the 
competition, as was the custom at the time. During his travels in his formative years he 
thereby came into contact with various violinistic traditions that were already beginning 
to merge: the Bohemian one of his homeland, the Viennese one during his private violin 
studies in Vienna, the French one through the repertoire he performed, and of course the 
Italian one during his musical tour, when he perfected his violin skills with Italian violin 
masters, and especially via years of studying the so-called Paganini method.
Soon after the tour he remained in Ljubljana for six years, where he enjoyed the highest 
recognition as a soloist, composer, teacher and orchestral director. Achieving this status 
in Vienna became unattainable, for there he had to prove himself against the toughest 
competition imaginable, both as a violin virtuoso on the one hand and as a composer of 
an appealing virtuoso repertoire on the other. Although he played alongside members of 
the Viennese violin elite such as Mayseder, Slawik, Böhm, Jansa and Hellmesberger in 
the most renowned orchestras in Vienna and made several successful solo appearances, 
we must nevertheless classify him as an excellent orchestral player and also orchestral 
leader rather than as a virtuoso or musical genius of the calibre of Paganini or Ernst.
Benesch wrote more than fifty compositions, most of them for violin. Since the reper-
toire he composed was not intended to be played by other violinists, with the exception of 
his students, the market was limited and distribution depended on his own performances. 
To be successful as a virtuoso, one certainly had to be something of a keen marketer in 
order to promote one’s concerts and compositions and offer something enigmatic to the 
audience, as exemplified by Paganini. For Benesch, whose personality is described as 
“a quiet, friendly and undemanding as well as dignified man”, perhaps this simply was 
not a good fit.
In terms of difficulty and the exploitation of a demanding violin idiom, which Benesch’s 
compositional style undoubtedly exhibits, we can conclude that he stands between Rode, 
Kreutzer and Mayseder on the one hand and Paganini on the other. But since Paganini’s 
compositions were closely guarded as “trade secrets” and therefore not readily available 
to his competitors, and since Paganini’s overall violin technique was unattainable by most 
of his contemporaries, this is also one of the reasons why Benesch was not able fully to 
integrate Paganini’s violin idiom into his own work.
Benesch was undoubtedly an able violinist and composer, but probably he lacked the 
spark of genius to create something original: something we would call “catchy” in terms 
of today’s popular musical landscape. In the idiom of the time, this would probably have 
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Maruša Zupančič: A Forgotten Bohemian Violinist and an Imitator of Niccolò Paganini Within the Central European Violinistic Tradition
required more bel canto lyricism and playfulness to enliven the dry technique of the pure 
virtuoso style itself. Significantly, not many of Benesch’s then-famous contemporaries, 
such as Jansa, Lipinski and Mayseder, have withstood the test of time and found a place 
in today’s violin repertoire, although their works were repertoire staples at the time and 
frequently performed. Only the works of Paganini and Ernst seem to hold their own on 
concert stages to this day, while those of Viotti, Rode and Kreutzer are considered more in 
the nature of practice material played by aspiring violin virtuosos in their formative years.
Although he did not reach the highest ranks like Paganini and a handful of others, 
Benesch was an important member of the violin generation that made a decisive contribu-
tion to violin playing and composition at a time when the standard violin repertoire was 
beginning to emerge, paving the way for the phenomenon of the travelling violin virtuoso 
that we still witness today.
Appendix: List of the Works of Joseph Benesch
As can be seen from the following list, the opus numbers of Benesch’s works are incom-
plete and muddled. No works corresponding to Opp. 1, 3–4, 9, 13, 17, 24, 27 have been 
found, but these may correspond to works without opus numbers.
At the end of each entry I indicate a library where a copy (not necessarily the earli-
est edition) can be found. The approximate year of a composition was determined from 
newspaper reports and advertisements, letters and the earliest known performances. Most 
of Benesch’s surviving music is in the Gesellchaft der Musikfreunde (Musikverein) in 
Vienna (A-Wgm). The locations of the remaining works are given as follows:
A-Wn (Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek)
A-Wst (Vienna, Wienbibliothek im Rathaus)
CZ-Pnm (Prague, Národní muzeum české hudby)
CZ-Pu (Prague, Národní knihovna České Republiky)
D-Clb (Coburg, Landesbibliothek)
D-Mbs (Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Musikabteilung)
SI-Lng (Ljubljana, Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica, Glasbena zbirka)
WOrks WIth Opus NumBer
Op. 2: 6 Ländler pour la Guitarre, for Guitar. Date of composition: before 1821. Dedicated 
to Baronesse Marie de Wetzlar. Autograph. A-Wst.
Op. 5: Variations pour le violon avec accompagnement de deux Violons, Alto et Violoncelle, 
for violin and string quartet. Date of composition: before 1821. Dedicated to Amalie de 
Pepeu. Earliest known edition: Milan: Ferd. Artaria. A-Wgm.
Op. 6: 1ère Polonaise pour violon principal avec accompagnement de deux violons, alto 
et basse, for violin and string quartet. Date of composition: before 1821. First recorded 
performance: 8 October 1820. Earliest known edition: Vienna: Haslinger & Leidesdorf. 
A-Wgm.
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Op. 7: 2de Polonoise pour le Violon avec accompagnement de 2 Violons, Alto et Violoncelle, 
for violin and string quartet. Date of composition: before 1821. Dedicated to Baron Jean 
Victoir de Schmidburg. Earliest known edition: Vienna: Sauret & Leidesdorf. A-Wgm.
Op. 8: Variations brillantes (in E) sur un theme favori de l’Opera: Elisabetta, de Rossini 
pour le violon avec accompagnement de Pianoforte. Dedicated to his friend Henri Proch. 
Earliest known edition: Vienna: Joseph Czerný. A-Wgm.
Op. 10 (with Frederike Benesch): Variations Concertantes pour Piano-forte et Violon, 
for violin and piano. Dedicated to Julie de Kogl. Earliest known edition: Vienna: Sauer 
& Leidesdorf. A-Wgm, A-Wn.
Op. 11: Grandes Variations sur un thême original (D), for violin and orchestra/string 
quartet. Date of composition: before July 1822. First recorded performance: probably 
14 July 1822. Dedicated to Ferdinand le Froyer. Earliest known edition: Vienna: Jos. 
Trestensky, 1831. SI-Lng, A-Wgm.
Op. 12: Variations brillantes de l’Opera: “Il Crociato” de Meyerbeer, for violin and 
orchestra/string quartet/piano. Dedicated to François Reim. Earliest known edition: 
Vienna: Artaria, 1832. SI-Lng, A-Wgm, A-Wn, A-Wst.
Op. 14: Prémier Concertino pour le Violon avec accompagnement d’Orchestre ou de 
Quartour ou de Pianoforte, for violin and orchestra/string quartet/piano. Date of composi-
tion: before 1823. First recorded performance: 5 March 1823. Dedicated to Joseph Bénoit. 
Earliest known edition: Vienna: A. Berka, [1835]. SI-Lng, A-Wgm, D-Mbs.
Op. 15: Variazionen für die Violine mit Begleitung des Pianoforte für angehende 
Violinspieler, for violin and piano. Dedicated to Gottfried Carl, Baron von Eichelburg. 
Earliest known edition: Vienna: A. Berka. A-Wgm, A-Wn.
Op. 16: Rondoletto für die Violine mit begleitung des Quartetts oder Pianoforte für 
angehende Violinspieler, for violin and string quartet/pianoforte. Dedicated to his pupil 
Wilhelm Mayerhofer. Earliest known edition: Vienna: A. Berka, 1834. A-Wgm, A-Wst.
Op. 18: Variations pour le violon avec accompagnement de Quatuor ou Pianoforte, for 
violin and string quartet/pianoforte. Dedicated to Jacques noble de Mikuli. Earliest known 
edition: Vienna: Ant. Diabelli, 1836. A-Wgm, A-Wn, CZ-Pnm.
Op. 19: Variations sur un theme original pour le violon avec accompag. de Quatuor ou 
de Pianoforte, for violin and string quartet/pianoforte. Dedicated to J. G. Beer. Earliest 
known edition: Vienna: A. Diabelli, 1836. A-Wgm.
Op. 20: Deuxième Concertino avec Pianoforte in D, for violin and piano. Earliest known 
edition: Vienna: Diabelli, 1841. CZ-Pu, CZ-Pnm, D-Mbs.
Op. 21: Fantasie brillante pour le Violon avec accompagnement de pianoforte, for violin 
and piano. Earliest known edition: Vienna: Witzendorf, 1842. CZ-Pnm.
Op. 22: Le Désir: Andantino pour Violon avec accompagnement de Pianoforte, for violin 
and piano. Earliest known edition: Vienna: Mechetti, 1852.
Op. 23: Morceaux de Salon: introduction et Air varié pour le violon avec accompagne-
ment de pianoforte, for violin and piano. Earliest known edition: Vienna: Glöggl. D-Clb.
Op. 25: Air varié pour le Violon avec accompagnement de Piano, for violin and piano. 
Dedicated to his pupil Adolphe Schrittwiesser. Earliest known edition: Vienna: H. F. 
Müller Veuve. A-Wgm, A-Wn.
Op. 26: Conzert-Rondeau pour le Violon avec accompagnement de Piano, for violin and 
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Maruša Zupančič: A Forgotten Bohemian Violinist and an Imitator of Niccolò Paganini Within the Central European Violinistic Tradition
piano. Dedicated to his friend Jean Hlawa. Earliest edition: Vienna: A. O. Witzendorf, 
1858. A-Wn, CZ-Pu.
Op. 28: Quatuor (G) pour deux Violons, Alto et Violoncello, for string quartet. Dedicated 
to Ferdinand Laub. Earliest known edition: Vienna: F. B. Geitler, 1865. D-Mbs.
Op. 29: Morceaux de Salon: pour le violon avec accompagnement de Piano, for violin 
and piano. Dedicated to Leopoldine Gerstle. Earliest known edition: Vienna: F. Glöggl, 
1870. A-Wn, A-Wst.
Op. 30: 2tes Quartett für 2 Violinen, Viola und Violoncell, for string quartet. Date of 
composition: 20 July 1871. Dedicated to Franz Meirner. Earliest known edition: Vienna: 
Carl Haslinger. A-Wgm.
WOrks WIthOut Opus NumBer
1) Sei valzer per la chitarra, for guitar. Date of composition: before 17 October 1820. 
Dedicated to Giovanni Pichel. Milan: Ricordi, 1820.
2) Dritte Große Polonaise, for violin and [string quartet?]. Date of composition: before 
1821. First recorded performance: 23 February 1821.
3) Rondeau Brillant in A dur mit Quartett Begleitung, for violin and quartet. Date of 
composition: before 29 September 1823. First recorded performance: 5 March 1823.
4) Rondeau alla Polacca in D moll mit Quartett Begleitung, for violin and quartet. Date 
of composition: before 10 February 1825. First recorded performance: 10 February 1825.
5) Variationen in D-dur über ein Thema von Rossini aus der Oper Eduardo et Christina mit 
Orchesterbegleitung, for violin and orchestra. Date of composition: before 20 August 1825.
6) Variationen in A dur über ein Thema aus der Oper Cenerentola von Rossini mit 
Orchesterbegleitung, for violin and orchestra. Date of composition: before 20 August 1825.
7) Variationen für die Violine über das beliebte Thema “Die Schildwache”. First recorded 
performance: 11 September 1822.
8) Concert-Variationen für die Violine über die “Sentinelle” für die Violin mit Orchester 
Begleitung, for violin and orchestra. First recorded performance: 3 December 1823.
9) Rondo Brillant in E minor, for violin and [?]. Date of compositions: before November 1828.
10) 10 österreichiche Ländler, for guitar solo. Date of composition: before 1828. Earliest 
known edition: Mainz: Franz Zimmermann.
11) (with Heinrich Proch) Doppel Variationen über das beliebte Fischerlied O seht! Wie 
golden strahlt die Sonne! Aus der Oper Die Stumme von Portici für zwey Violinen mit 
Begleitung des Orchesters, des Quartetts und Pianoforte oder des Pianoforte allein, for 
two violins and orchestra/string quartet/piano. Date of composition: before December 1832. 
First recorded performance: 26 December 1832. Dedicated to Anton Victor, Erherzog von 
Oesterreich. Earliest known edition: Vienna: A. Berka, 1835.
12) Quatre chansons allemandes. Date of composition: before 1837. Earliest known edi-
tion: Mainz: Franz Zimmermann.
13) Le même pour le Violon avec acc. de Pianoforte, for violin and piano. Date of com-
position: before 1837. Earliest known edition: Vienna: A. Diabelli.
14) Variationen über Motive aus der Oper “Robert der Teufel”, for violin and piano. Date 
of compositions: before December 1839. First recorded performance: 29 December 1839.
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Bibliography
Sources
Brno, Moravský zemský archiv (MZA), Batelov, Birth Records 1784–1804, book 6189, 
II (VI), https://www.mza.cz/actapublica/matrika.
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JOSEPH BENESCH: POZABLJENI VIOLINIST S ČEŠKEGA IN POSNEMOVALEC 
NICCOLÒJA PAGANINIJA V OKVIRU SREDNJEEVROPSKE VIOLINSKE 
TRADICIJE
Povzetek
Violinist in skladatelj Joseph Benesch (1795–1873) je bil v svojem času cenjen glasbenik, 
a je danes, podobno kot številni njegovi violinski sodobniki, povsem pozabljen. Odraščal 
je v glasbeno stimulativnem okolju na Češkem na prelomu dveh obdobij – v iztekajočem 
se obdobju glasbenega mecenstva na eni ter v obdobju vzpenjajočega se meščanstva, 
pojava fenomena potujočega virtuoza in enigmatičnega Niccolòja Paganinija (1782–1840) 
na drugi strani. Njegova izredna violinska nadarjenost je že v rani mladosti pritegnila 
grofa Philippa Benitusa Johanna von Swéerts-Sporcka (1753–1809), ki je želel poskrbeti 
za njegovo nadaljnjo glasbeno izobrazbo v Pragi. Ker se žalujoči starši po smrti dveh otrok 
niso bili pripravljeni ločiti od najstarejšega sina Josepha, je z glasbenim šolanjem nada-
ljeval pri očetu Matthiasu Beneschu (1767–1852) ter vaškem organistu iz Třešťa Wenzlu 
Horzalki (1769/1774–1835). Med letoma 1812 in 1814 je bil učiteljski pripravnik v mestecu 
Potěhy, kjer bi moral naslediti svojega strica Franza Benescha (1751–1829). Ker učiteljskega 
poklica ni čutil za svoje poslanstvo, se je leta 1814 odpravil v središče glasbenega živjenja, 
na Dunaj, kjer se je violinsko izpopolnjeval pri rojaku Martinu Schlesingerju (1754–1818) 
ter igral v zasebni kapeli Franza Thaddausa Freiherra von Zinnicq[ue]a.
Leta 1819 se je Benesch s svojim učencem, osemletnim čudežnim dečkom Sigmundom 
von Praunom (1811–1830), odpravil na glasbeno turnejo po Italiji in leta 1820 prvič 
nastopil v Ljubljani, nato pa še štirikrat med ljubljanskim kongresom. Glasbena turneja 
po Italiji, kjer je prišel v stik z najnovejšimi operami in najboljšimi violinisti, je močno 
zaznamovala njegov nadaljnji violinski in skladateljski razvoj. Kmalu po turneji se je 
mudil v Dunajskem Novem mestu in tam spoznal družino Proch ter začel poučevati 
njihovega sina Heinricha. Vezi z družino Proch in njihovo sorodstvo s pomembnim 
ljubljanskim glasbenikom, Gašparjem Maškom, so zagotovo pripomogle k Beneschevi 
selitvi v Ljubljano. Avgusta 1822 je ljubljanski gubernij zaprosil za dovoljenje za odprtje 
zasebne violinske šole in se še istega leta poročil s pianistko Friederiko Proch (1805–1872). 
Med letoma 1823 in 1828 je bil v Ljubljani orkestrski direktor Filharmonične družbe 
(Philharmonische Gesellschaft), od leta 1826 tudi violinski učitelj njene šole. Občasno je 
deloval kot orkestrski direktor Stanovskega gledališča (Ständisches Theater) in sodeloval 
kot solist ali orkestrski direktor pri več kot devetdesetih koncertih v Ljubljani. Leta 1824 
je v Trstu spoznal Niccolòja Paganinija in mu skupaj z Eduardom Jaellom (1793–1849) 
izročil častno diplomo Filharmonične družbe.
Ko je Filharmonična družba v Ljubljani leta 1828 zaprla svojo glasbeno šolo, se je 
Benesch vrnil na Dunaj, kjer je po Paganinijevem gostovanju, še posebej med glasbeniki, 
vladala nepopisna evforija. Zaradi močno zvišanih izvajalskih kriterijev, neizogibne 
primerjave s Paganinijem in neizprosnih kritikov se je Benesch na dunajskih odrih 
le stežka uveljavil kot virtuoz. Finančno varnost je našel kot član orkestra prestižne 
Dunajske dvorne kapele in dvornega gledališča (Hofburgtheater), ki ga je pozneje kot 
orkestrski direktor tudi vodil. V svoji dolgoletni orkestrski karieri je igral ob boku takratne 
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violinske dunajske elite: Josepha Maysederja (1789–1863), Josepha Böhma (1795–1876), 
Georga Helmesbergerja starejšega (1800–1873), Josepha Slawika (1806–1833) in Jakoba 
Donta (1815–1888). Poučeval je na Akademiji za glasbeno umetnost, delujoči v 50. letih 
19. stoletja, in napisal več kot 50 del, večinoma za violino, pa tudi za kitaro in godalni 
kvartet. Med violinskimi deli, ki jih je izvajal kot del osebnega repertoarja na več kot sto 
koncertih, izstopajo variacije oz. »transkripcije« znanih opernih del, poloneze in druge 
izrazito virtuozne skladbe, ki so napisane v značilnem style brillant in odražajo duh 
Paganinijevega časa.
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