P. Mauritius Pöhm – a Musical Migrant? A Contribution to the Life and Work of a Franciscan Friar in Slovenia in the Second Half of the Eighteenth Century

Abstract

The paper offers significant new information that supplements what has been known to date about the life and work of Mauritius Pöhm (1745–1803), a Franciscan friar and musician, after his entry into the order in Kamnik in August 1763. These new findings reveal the accurate date of his birth and the name of his birthplace in Bohemia, his Christian name, and the fact that he spent most of his life in monasteries in Slovenian territory (in Kamnik, Ljubljana, and Novo mesto). Only two brief periods in Pöhm’s life remain unexplained, both following his arrival in Kamnik (1764–1767 and 1771–1774). For this reason, the prior glorification of Pöhm as a musician who decisively influenced the arrival of Central European music of that era in Slovenia from abroad (due to his ties with his native Bohemia and the migrant character of his life as a Franciscan monk), has become questionable. This is also shown by the (already published) findings of a study of the origins of the Pöhm music collection in Novo mesto, which reveals that most of its manuscripts are of domestic (Carniolian) provenance.