‘This rare and precious music’: Preliminary findings on the catalogue of the music collection of the dresden catholic court church (1765)

Abstract

This study provides an overview of composers and works listed in the earliest known thematic inventory of the music library of the Dresden Catholic court church, the ‘Catalogo (Thematico) [sic] della Musica di Chiesa (catholica [sic] in Dresda) composta Da diversi Autori-secondo l ‘Alfabetto 1765.’ The ‘Catalogo’ is the only complete, currently accessible inventory of what is arguably the most important library ofCatholic liturgical music assembled in Saxony between c. 170865. Surviving items of the collection reveal the development of Saxon Catholic musical taste during the first half of the eighteenth century. Contributors to the collection are identified, the general purpose of musical it..