Thomas Steavens (c.1718–1759). Charles Firmian (1718–1782) V...

Thomas Steavens (c.1718–1759). Charles Firmian (1718–1782) Vienna and the Habsburg court: Grand Tour correspondence, 1749–1752. Thirty one autograph letters signed to Thomas Steavens, in French, principally from Vienna; brown ink on laid paper, principally bifolia, several retaining integral address panels and contemporary dockets identifying the writer as "Baron Firmian". Comprising letters of 16 April, 23 April, 29 May (docketed 31 May), 31 May, 7 June, 14 June, 20 June, 26 July, 13 September, 20 September, 4 October, 25 October, 1 November, 8 November, 19 November and 27 November 1749, with a further November letter docketed 24 November and another docketed 26 July 1749; 10 January, 17 January, 29 January, 31 January, 7 February, 19 February, 28 February, 7 March, 28 March, 11 April and 12 July 1750, with one undated letter probably of that year; and 28 June 1752, docketed "July ye 5th". Together with nine further autograph bifolia comprising letters or portions of letters, including dated openings and signed conclusions, presently out of sequence and not fully collated. Original folds throughout; occasional light toning, spotting, ink marks and minor marginal wear. (40) A substantial correspondence between Firmian at the Habsburg court in Vienna and Thomas Steavens during the latter's travels through Italy. Political intelligence and court news mingle with discussions of opera, books, maps, prints and medals; introductions, travel arrangements, money and health; and affectionate exchanges between close friends. Firmian repeatedly addresses Steavens as "Mon très cher Steavens", elsewhere calling him "le meilleur de mes amis" and "l'ami que je chéris le plus au monde". The political correspondence ranges across the Habsburg territories and wider Europe; the death of Count Harrach and redistribution of his responsibilities; diplomatic appointments and movements between Vienna, Naples, Berlin, Sweden and Paris; the Mainz–Würzburg dispute; Russian court affairs and marriages; and enquiries after "le Pretendant", Prince Charles Edward Stuart. Firmian reports the birth of Archduchess Maria Johanna Gabriela in February 1750, naming George II among her godparents, and Maria Theresa's grant of 30,000 florins annually to the Theresian College. Further passages discuss Saxony's debts, stated to amount to twenty-seven million écus, and the imprisonment at Königstein of those making representations for the public good; a dispute over precedence between the British ambassador and Cardinal de Tencin at Versailles; Count Bentinck's reception and negotiations at Vienna; Dutch troops in the barrier towns; and the competing interests of France, Genoa and the House of Savoy in Corsica and Sardinia, with particular attention to British commerce. Musical and theatrical news includes opera, Carnival, concerts and works by Georg Christoph Wagenseil. Firmian describes Caffariello and Raaf singing at Schönbrunn for the Empress's birthday, and an opera expected to last six hours, including ballets. Elsewhere he recounts a lightning strike on the Imperial palace and the narrow escape of a soldier whose hat and musket were damaged. Books and collecting recur throughout; the circulation of literary and scholarly works; memoirs of the Berlin Academy; an Italian version of Montesquieu's L'esprit des lois, praised as an "ouvrage digne d'être lu et médité"; maps of Bohemia, Moravia, Austria, Styria and Silesia; prints, portraits and medals from Dresden; and Firmian's own work on an abridged history of the House of Habsburg. He offers introductions for Rome and Milan, discusses forwarding Steavens's possessions to Venice, and undertakes to assist his valet with employment or recommendations for Parma. Mutual acquaintances include Robert Keith, Walter Harte, Lord Chesterfield, members of the Harrach, Liechtenstein, Salm, Fürstenberg and Lobkowitz families, and numerous diplomats, soldiers and scholars. Firmian's concern over unanswered letters, anxiety for Steavens's health and repeated offers of assistance give the correspondence a notably personal character. Charles Firmian [Carlo Gottardo di Firmian] (1718–1782) was a Habsburg diplomat, statesman and collector. Appointed minister at Naples in 1753 and subsequently minister plenipotentiary in Austrian Lombardy, he became an influential patron of scholarship, literature and the arts, assembling a library of some 40,000 volumes. His protégés included Winckelmann, Beccaria and the young Mozart, whose early operatic career he helped advance in Milan. In the present correspondence he signs familiarly as "Charles", reflecting the close friendship expressed throughout his letters to Steavens. (Elisabeth Garms-Cornides, "Firmian, Carlo Gottardo, conte di", Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, vol. 48 (1997); Dexter Edge, "Mozart and Count Firmian", Mozart: New Documents, commentary to 4 April 1770) Related correspondence between Firmian and Steavens is preserved in the British Library, West Papers, Add. MSS 34731–34732.

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