Franciscus Josephus Thallmainer 1698–1768

Abstract

Franciscus Josephus Thallmainer (1698–1768) was born in Ljubljana. He was a priest at the cathedral and spent a great part of his life as a librarian of the first public library – the bishop's library in Ljubljana (1742–1768). In this library (now the Seminary library) he made a great collection of books containing texts or synopses of operas, oratorios and school dramas. These are documents of great importance for the history of music life of Ljubljana during the baroque era, especially for the history of the Academy of Philharmonics. Thallmainer made a note on a small piece of paper which served as an envelope for the other books. This note gives us the single certification that he was also a composer. It is possible that further investigations of archives and libraries will discover other Thallmainer compositions, but the fact that his composition was a Litany means that he must not be a composer of great importance.