Joseph Franz von Lobkowitz

Joseph Franz Maximilian, 7th Prince Lobkowitz (also spelled Lobkowicz) (8 December 1772 – 16 December 1816) was an aristocrat of Bohemia, from the House of Lobkowicz. He is known particularly for his interest in music and as a patron of Ludwig van Beethoven.

He was born in Vienna, son of Ferdinand Philipp Joseph, 6th Prince Lobkowicz (1724–1784) and Maria Gabriella di Savoia-Carignano (1748–1828). In 1786 Emperor Joseph II made him Duke of Roudnice (Herzog von Raudnitz in German, vévoda roudnický in Czech).

In 1792 he married Maria Karolina von Schwarzenberg; they had twelve children.

The prince was an amateur musician, playing violin and cello, and sang with a bass voice. Countess Lulu Thürheim, sister-in-law of Prince Razumowsky, said of him: "This Prince was as kindhearted as a child and the most foolish music enthusiast. He played music from dusk to dawn and spent a fortune on musicians. Innumerable musicians gathered in his house, whom he treated regally."

He was a member of the Gesellschaft der Associierten, an important concert-sponsoring organization of his time which sponsored, among other events, the 1798 premiere of Joseph Haydn's The Creation.

In 1799, Lobkowitz commissioned a set of six string quartets from Haydn. The composer was both busy and in ill health, and he managed to complete only two of them; these were published as the composer's Opus 77 and were the last quartets he was to complete.

Lobkowitz had a private orchestra at his palace in Vienna, the Palais Lobkowitz; in the hall of the palace, this orchestra performed in 1804 Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 (which was dedicated to the Prince) before the first public performance.

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