CSMC
CSMCCentre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures
There has been increasing talk of a ‘retreat into the private sphere’ since the pandemic-related restrictions, which went hand in hand with a far-reaching shutdown of public life. The music sector – like the whole cultural sector – has been hit hard by the measures to contain the pandemic: due to closed concert halls and opera houses as well as cancelled festivals, public performances were hardly possible. As a consequence, musicians were limited to the domestic sphere and were restricted to making music in private or (very) small ensembles. Already in March 2020, some began to play concerts at home and to stream them for the public. By now, this new type of performance, often called ‘living room concert’ or ‘house concert’, can be considered an established format. Not only have individual performers such as Igor Levit and Daniel Hope regularly brought music from their own living rooms into the living rooms of listeners, but also have institutions such as the Vienna Symphony Orchestra or radioeins created a podium for small ensembles and bands with their living room concert series. The Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival even has organised musical ‘home visits’.
A large part of musical life taking place in the private sphere is not a new phenomenon, however. For the nineteenth century it can be assumed that the musical horizon of the bourgeoisie was decisively shaped by this musical practice in private, despite the numerous public concerts and opera performances that took place as well. Professional musicians, composers and amateurs met in town houses to make music together. The range of private music-making practices is wide, including, for example, performances of entire operas by enthusiasts as well as evenings of four-hands piano playing. At the same time, private circles of connoisseurs offered composers and performers a protected space in which more sophisticated compositions could be tested and discussed.
Private music-making in the 19th century
Music albums are linked closely to the practice of private music-making. These are manuscripts that were created by their owners to collect musical entries from relatives and friends, teachers, role models and other acquaintances. A close personal relationship to the inscribers was not a prerequisite. Music-related conviviality and Kränzchen offered the best opportunities to make contacts and collect entries. At the same time, it can be assumed that looking through the host’s or hostess’s album together was a popular activity at gatherings in bourgeois houses and, furthermore, there is evidence of making music together from albums. Entries in such albums – as personal as they may seem in individual cases – are therefore not to be seen as a purely private matter between the person making the entry and the owner of the album. The function of the album as a medium bridging the private and public spheres becomes even more apparent where album keepers transfer entries dedicated to them to other albums, or where album entries are printed afterwards.
Presented here is an album that is kept in the Stadtgeschichtliches Museum Leipzig and could be digitised at the CSMC as part of the project ‘Creating Music Albums as Originals Made of Originals’. The relatively large-format but thin book – it measures 25.5x34.5 cm (landscape) and contains only 15 leaves – belonged to Marie Pohlenz from Leipzig, daughter of the Gewandhauskapellmeister Christian August Pohlenz. Little is known about the album owner: in 1848 she was accepted as a student at the Leipzig conservatory, and in September 1850 and May 1851 there is evidence of her taking part in the conservatory’s public examinations in choral singing and piano playing. In later years she is said to have worked as a teacher in Leipzig.
