Dominik Josef Peterlini (4 April 1875 – 8 April 1944) was an Austrian musician and

choral conductor Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or Choir, choral concert. It has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The primary d ...

Life

Born in Vienna, Peterlini came from a family of South Tyrolean manufacturers and was born in the 7th district of Vienna,

Mariahilfer Straße Mariahilfer Straße is the largest and one of the most famous shopping streets in Vienna, Austria. It connects the Innere Stadt with the 15th Districts of Vienna, district, Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus, and the Wien Westbahnhof railway station, Westbahn ...

6. He grew up in a wealthy family home, his father Andreas Peterlini was a cane and straw chair manufacturer, his mother Katharina (married Brandstetter) traded as a field and straw chair manufacturer. Peterlini received music lessons at an early age, initially violin lessons from his father, later completing his studies with

Franz Xaver Haberl Franz Xaver Haberl (12 April 1840, in Oberellenbach (today Mallersdorf-Pfaffenberg), Lower Bavaria – 5 September 1910, in Ratisbon) was a German musicologist, friend of Liszt, Perosi, and Singenberger, cleric, and student of Proske. Biog ...

and Michael Haller in

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

as well as Albanus Schachleiter in Prague. Around 1890, Peterlini founded and conducted a small orchestra with students of the Vienna Conservatory. The ''Peterlini Boys' Choir'', which he founded in 1895, was a boys' choir that later developed into the

Vienna Boys' Choir The Vienna Boys' Choir () is a choir of boy sopranos and altos based in Vienna, Austria. It is one of the best known boys' choirs in the world. The boys are selected mainly from Austria, but also from many other countries. The choir is a privat ...

. In 1919, Peterlini built a "rest home" for the Boys' Choir at his country estate in

Mauer, Vienna Mauer (German for ''"wall"''; Central Bavarian: ''Maua'') is a former village of Lower Austria that has been part of Vienna since 1938. Today's cadastral community belongs to the 23rd District of Vienna, called Liesing. In the west, Mauer borde ...

. From 1925 to 1932, Peterlini was a professor at the

Vienna Music Academy The University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (, abbreviated MDW) is an Austrian university established in 1817 located in Vienna. With a student body of over three thousand, it is the largest institution of its kind in Austria, and one of t ...

, during which time he also founded a children's singing school in Mauer. From the 1890s, he worked in Viennese churches as choir director, initially in the Capuchin Church and , later in the Jesuit Church and and finally until 1939 in the . Peterlini died in Vienna at the age of 69 and was buried on 14 April 1944 at the . In 1954, in his honour in the

Liesing Liesing () is the 23rd district of Vienna. It is on the southwest edge of Vienna, Austria. It was formed after Austria's ''Anschluss'' with Germany, when Vienna expanded from 21 districts to 26. Fifteen Lower Austrian districts, especially the o ...

Mauer district, the ''Peterlinigasse'' was named after him; before that, the street was called ''Draschegasse'', which is why it had to be renamed in the course of the redefinition and renumbering of the Liesing municipal district to avoid street name redundancies, as a ''Draschestraße'' already existed in the Inzersdorf district. At Westbahnstraße 40 in the district of Neubau, a memorial plaque commemorates Peterlini's work as "director of the choir singing and music school in the Catholic Boys' Association "Maria-Hilf" and founder of the "Peterlini Boys' Choir". There is also a commemorative plaque at Lange Gasse 96 in Mauer, where Peterlini last lived.Dominik Peterlini Kurzbiografie
in the ''

Wiener Zeitung ''Wiener Zeitung'' () is an Austrian newspaper. First published as the ''Wiennerisches Diarium'' in 1703, it is one of the oldest newspapers in the world. Until April 2023, it was the official gazette of the government of the Republic of Austria ...

'' from 4 April 2000 His estate is in the music collection of the

Austrian National Library The Austrian National Library (, ) is the largest library in Austria, with more than 12 million items in its various collections. The library is located in the Hofburg#Neue Burg, Neue Burg Wing of the Hofburg in Innere Stadt, center of Vienna. Sin ...

Awards

* Große Goldene Salvatormedaille der Stadt Wien

Life

Awards

References

Further reading