Among Other Things: Music Collections of Noble Courts in the Eighteenth-Century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Abstract

In the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, numerous noble courts maintained regular musical groups, and some estates also employed opera and dance troupes. Unfortunately, the stage clothes, musical instruments, and, above all, sheet music – the items needed for artistic groups to function – have largely not survived to the present. It is certain, however, that music was a regular part of court life. This raises the question of what place music items occupied within the household. In my paper, I examine the ways in which sheet music was obtained for the use of court orchestras, who was responsible for delivering such materials, and where they were stored. Moreover, I explore the changing importance of music collections within the hierarchy of objects in eighteenth-century Polish-Lithuanian noble households. I base my findings on archival materials from selected noble households, as well as on extant inventories and purchase records for court music among the Radziwiłł, Sanguszko, Rzewuski, Ogiński, Brzostowski, and Lubomirski families.