Sonnleithner, Christoph
Sonnleithner, Sonnleitner Joseph, *3 March 1766 Vienna, †25 December 1835 Vienna, Austrian librettist, archivist and translator, son of Christoph. From 1787, he worked at the court of Emperor Joseph II. In 1794–96, he published the “Wiener Theater-Almanach.” From February to August 1804, he was artistic director of the Theater an der Wien. From 1804 to 1814, he served as secretary of court theatres. During these years, he wrote several librettos with music composed by, among others, V. Jírovec (Agnes Sorel), J. Weigl (Kaiser Hadrian and Die Weihe der Zukunft) and L. Cherubini (Faniska). Many of them were adaptations of French works; his most famous librettos, which are an adaptation of the play by J.N. Bouilly entitled Léonore ou l’amour conjugal, was used by Beethoven for the first version of the opera Fidelio (1805). In 1814, J. Sonnleithner founded the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, and was also a co-founder of the local conservatory; in both of these institutions, he served as secretary for life. In his will, he bequeathed a large collection of instruments to the society, along with his articles for a planned music history textbook.
Literature: C.F. Pohl Die Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde des österreichischen Kaiserstaats und ihr Conservatorium, Vienna 1871; R. v. Perger Geschichte der k.k. Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, vol. 1, Vienna 1912; A. Sandberger Léonore von Bouilly und ihre Bearbeitung für Beethoven durch Joseph Sonnleithner, in: Ausgewählte Aufsätze zur Musikgeschichte, vol. 2, Munich 1924; M. Runke Die Librettisten des Fidelio, in: Opernstudien. Anna Amalie Abert zum 65. Geburtstag, Tutzing 1975.