Paul Fürst

Paul Fürst (born 12 August 1856 in Sierning, Austria, died 14 February 1941 in Salzburg) was an Austrian confectioner and producer of "Mozart-Bonbons".^[1]

Paul Fürst was the son of Johann Fürst (1827–1868), a native of Dinkelsbühl, Germany, and Josefine Rehle (1822–1876), a native of Salzburg, Austria, daughter of a court glazier.

His father came to Salzburg in 1849 and obtained his license to practice as an obstetrician at the "Medicinal Collegium" in 1854. He practiced medicine beginning in 1853 in Sierning, Upper Austria where Paul Fürst was born.

After the death of his father, who died of typhoid fever and is buried in St. Peter's Cemetery and his mother, Paul Fürst grew up with his uncle Paul Weibhauser as his legal guardian, who live in Salzburg and owned a pastry shop at Brodgasse 13. Vinzenz Rehle, Paul's father-in-law, had acquired the traditional house, which served for a time as a "court baker's house", in 1830. Paul Fürst learned the profession of confectioner from Weibhauser and then continued his education in the leading confectioneries in the cities of Vienna, Budapest, Paris and Nice.^[2]

He married Emilie Baumgartner on 2 August 1887^[3] and had a son, Johann Hermann Vinzenz, born on 27 March 1891.^[4]

On March 13, 1934, Gustav Fürst filed for bankruptcy protection.^[5] The main location of the Fürst confectionery at Brodgasse 13 was lost and subsequently run by other confectioners for about a generation. On June 8, 1935, Hans Zinober, who had already worked in several confectioneries both in Austria and abroad, announced the takeover of the business: he had acquired the long-established and renowned Paul Fürst confectionery.^[6] Shortly thereafter, the Blieberger café-confectionery, with confectioner Josef Blieberger as the new owner, moved into the premises at Brodgasse 13. Josef Blieberger became known, among other things, for his own recipe and the production of Salzburg Mozartkugeln (Mozart balls) using the "Steckerl" method, which he introduced at his confectionery shop at Brodgasse 13 in Salzburg. His version of the Mozartkugel was distinguished by a unique composition of pistachio marzipan, nougat, and chocolate, which differed from other recipes and defined the artisanal character of his establishment.^[7][8][9] It was only in 1965 that a new generation, with Herbert Fürst (3rd generation), moved back into the so-called main building at Brodgasse 13 and took over the ongoing bakery of the confectioner Josef Blieberger, who soon afterwards emigrated to Canada.

Since the opening of the new factory in Elsbethen in 2024, the now 3.8 million pieces of the “Original Salzburger Mozartkugeln” produced annually by the Fürst company according to its own recipe are semi-automated and machine-made on the assembly line.^[10] The recipe variant known today as the "Original Salzburg Mozartkugel," produced by the Fürst family according to their own recipe, likely originated only after the Second World War. Before the war years, Salzburg Mozartkugeln did not contain pistachios to enhance the marzipan. The layered structure (high marzipan content as the outer layer) of Rudolf Baumann's original version of the Salzburg Mozartkugel also differed from the current version, marketed as a fresh product by the Fürst family, for reasons of shelf life.^[11]

It was originally known as Salzburg specialty Mozartkugel, created in 1880 by Salzburg confectioner Rudolf Baumann (1839–1905) and named after Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.^[12] Today, Baumann's successor company, Confectionery Josef Holzermayr, still produces the genuine Salzburg Mozartkugel at Alter Markt 7 in Salzburg - according to the layering principle developed in 1880: A delicate nougat core is encased in pistachio-almond marzipan and coated with dark chocolate. This method enabled Rudolf Baumann to ensure a natural shelf life of his specialty, developed for Salzburg tourism, for several months as early as 1880.

In 1868 he opened his own pastry shop, at Alter Markt 7. In 1880, confectioner Rudolf Baumann created a praline there, consisting of marzipan coated with nougat and dark couverture chocolate, and named it "Mozartkugel" after the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Soon, due to the great success, numerous knock-off products from other confectioners came onto the market.

The launch of Baumann's major advertising campaign was marked by a large advertisement in the same daily newspaper on January 31, 1881, which answered the question of what kind of confectionery it was. In it, Baumann remarked on these "exquisite chocolate-bonbons," noting that they had enjoyed great popularity for many years, especially among tourists. He further emphasized their shelf life: "This specialty I created, in addition to its renowned quality, has the particular advantage of being able to be stored for months without losing any of its quality."^[13]

In contrast, the neighboring confectioner Paul Fürst only began advertising and reproducing Baumanns product as "Mozart-bonbons" in his advertisements from 1888 onwards, as an advertisement in the Salzburger Fremden-Zeitung illustrates.^[14]

• Peter Grotter (30 May 1997). "Sieger im Prozeß um Mozartkugel" (in German). Neue Kronen Zeitung. p. 23.

• Official website of Confiserie Josef Holzermayr Salzburg, with pictures of Rudolf Baumann