Authors

Discussion

Musicians travel in their youth to learn and perfect their métier; later, they do so to gain fame and recognition while securing artistic and financial satisfaction. Circulating music prints reach various recipients at home and abroad, while the production and distribution of these publications depend mainly on the needs and tastes of consumers. Musical culture emerges ‘in movement’—that is, through people’s encounters and exchange of compositions, ideas and physical goods. It has its own dynamics and channels of expansion, and it relies on extensive and ever-changing networks at the personal, professional, institutional and commercial levels.

In the 19^th century, when Poland became a part of the Russian Empire, musical exchange was extremely intense; it was stimulated not only by artistic factors but also by the workings of the music industry and the mechanisms of the market economy. Polish virtuosos eagerly travelled to St. Petersburg and Moscow and even went on concert tours to distant provinces. Some of these musicians were employed in important positions by the Directorate of the Imperial Theatres (e.g. Apolinary Kątski, Henryk Wieniawski and Adelajda Bolska). Many Polish students studied in Russian conservatories; some of them eventually became professors at these institutions (e.g. Piotr Szostakowski and Henryk Pachulski), while others returned to their homeland and developed the education system in Poland (e.g. Stanisław Barcewicz, Witold Maliszewski and Emil Młynarski). Publishers and booksellers competed and collaborated to meet the needs of music consumers (e.g. Leon Idzikowski in Kiev, Petr Jurgenson in Moscow and Gebethner & Wolff in Warsaw).

How do we perceive this imperial past today? How has the war in Ukraine changed our perception of the history of music and musical culture? What narratives do we need today to tell the story of this imperial legacy? Will the current musical map of the 19^th-century Central and Eastern Europe now gain additional clarity given the new boundaries emerging in it? Will researchers ever return to cross these borders again? These questions will be raised during this presentation.