Hosanna Music

A well-regarded composer in his own right, Leopold I transformed the Viennese court into a centre of European culture. The beautiful settings he wrote for the burials of his first two wives, as well as his music for the Feast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary, are testament to the Emperors musical talent. Born in 1641 in Vienna as the second son of Emperor Ferdinand II, Leopold I was initially destined for a theological career and hence received a suitable education to this end. He was nominated as successor to his father, who had died the previous year, as Holy Roman Emperor in 1658 in Frankfurt only after the death of his elder brother, Ferdinand.