“Z”-Clues

Clue #1
In 1711, 32-year old Jan Dismas Zelenka, who grew up in a little village outside Prague, landed a job as a bass player at the court of Dresden. His starting salary was 300 thaler per year. What’s a thaler, and what did it buy?

The Scoop
While there is no modern currency still called “thaler,” our dollar gets its name from it. (Thaler is pronounced “TAH-ler” in German.) Thal means “valley” in German, so a Thaler is something from a valley. In the word’s use as a kind of currency, “thaler” is short for “Joachimsthaler,” a type of coin from the Bavarian city of Joachimsthal where coins of that name were minted in the sixteenth century.

Zelenka’s starting salary of 300 thaler would be worth about $14,200 today if you just measure what it can buy. But since people in 1711 bought much less stuff than we do now, it’s more useful to compare Zelenka’s starting salary to the average earnings of other people in his own time. By that measure, he was doing really well: those 300 thaler would have bought him the lifestyle of a modern person earning about $103,160.¹

There. Mystery solved!

As a reward for your sleuthing, take $5 off each General Admission or Preferred Seating ticket for our performances of Zelenka’s Lamentations of Jeremiah, six cantatas for Holy Week.² Use the online form below or call us at 215-755-8776 to pay by credit card. You can save yourself a credit card processing fee by mailing in this downloadable order form with your check. Please mention code “HOLMES-1” when ordering by phone or mail-in.

For more information on the Zelenka’s Lamentations of Jeremiah, click here.