Johann Heinrich Böhm

There are hardly any records of the early years of Böhm, who obviously grew up and trained in the Viennese theatre tradition. He is first mentioned in 1770 as a performer in the theatre company of theatre manager Kajetan von Schaumburg in Brno, whose troupe he took over in September of the same year. Böhm went on the road with this travelling theatre over the next few years, trying to raise the standard by performing less burlesque performances. In 1776, Böhm first gave guest performances at the Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna, where he worked with Jean Georges Noverre, among others, and two years later at Vienna's Burgtheater at Michaelerplatz, where he himself also appeared as an actor, singer and director.[1]

From 1778, Böhm went on tour again with his theatre company, which also had its own orchestra attached, first to Salzburg, where he met Leopold Mozart, who paid him high tribute for his performance practice. During this time, he also developed a lifelong friendship with Leopold's son Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who composed the fragmentary Singspiel Zaide (KV 344/366b) for him in 1779. A year later, Böhm made a guest appearance in Augsburg, where in May he performed Mozart's opera La finta giardiniera in the German translation by Franz Xaver Stierle under the title Die verstellte Gärtnerin.[2]

• Walter Kunze (1955), "Böhm, Johann Heinrich", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 2, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 383–383; (full text online)
• H. G. Fellmann: Die B.'sche Theatertruppe und ihre Zeit. 1928, Theatergesch. F, vol. 38 (L).
• E. L. Stahl: Shakespeare u. d. Dt. Theater. 1947, pp. 128 ff.
• Heinz Friedrich Deininger: Die deutsche Schauspielergesellschaft unter der Direktion von Johann Heinrich Böhm, einem Freunde der Familie Mozart, in Augsburg in den Jahren 1779 und 1780. Schlosser, 1943.

• Literature by and about Johann Heinrich Böhm in the German National Library catalogue
• Johann Heinrich Böhm Kurzinfo bei Uni Köln
• Böhm, Johann on BMLO