Gesellschaft der Associierten Cavaliere

The Gesellschaft der Associierten was an association of music-loving noblemen centered in Vienna and founded by Baron Gottfried van Swieten in 1786. The society sponsored concerts, often reviving music from the past, and also commissioned new works.

The founder, Gottfried van Swieten, had an extremely strong interest in music, particularly in the revival of music by great composers of the past such as J. S. Bach and Handel. However, van Swieten was himself only a baron, and was originally a commoner (his father, Gerhard van Swieten, had been the personal physician of Empress Maria Theresa and had been elevated to the nobility during Gottfried's own lifetime). Thus van Swieten lacked the vast wealth held by the older nobility, who possessed great landed estates in the hinterlands of the Empire. By recruiting a group of fellow music-lovers from the upper nobility, van Swieten was able to fund concert productions that would have been beyond his personal means.

There were, according to Antonicek, actually two organizations that bore this name. The original, founded in 1786, was called the "Gesellschaft der associierten Cavaliers", "Society of Associated Noblemen". This was dissolved in 1792, perhaps in conjunction with Baron van Swieten's fall from political power (he lost his principal positions on December 5, 1791, the day his protégé Mozart died). In 1799, the society was refounded with the curious name "Gesellschaft der Associierten" ("Society of the Associated"). For both the earlier and the later incarnations of the group, van Swieten served as "Secretär", secretary.

The organization's concerts were first given in one of the palaces of the members or in the large hall of the Imperial Library, then in a public performance in the Burgtheater or Jahn's Hall.

The Gesellschaft der Associierten endured until 1808, five years after van Swieten's death. The task of sponsoring concerts was soon taken up again by the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, founded 1812.

The name of the organization is translated in various ways into English, usually without distinguishing the two original versions. Timothy Bell renders it as "Society of Associated Cavaliers"; the translators of Deutsch (1965, 330) render it as "Society of Noblemen".

...
Wikipedia