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Letters as Sources for Music Historiography: The Case of the Second Volume of Kuhač's Correspondence

Volume 2 of Franjo Ksaver Kuhač's correspondence (HR-HDA 805, folder 52/II in the Croatian State Archives – Hrvatski državni arhiv – in Zagreb) has been preserved within his literary legacy. It encompasses a relatively long period of five years (from January 1, 1864, to the end of 1869) in some 200 numerated and some ten unnumerated letters, written prevailingly in German ; there are also 27 of them in Croatian. Kuhač composed and sent them mostly from Osijek, some of them from Zagreb as well as from some other places which he visited on his journeys. They are addressed to his friends, family, business associates and others. The correspondence can be classified according to the type of relations (private, business: both contacts with publishers of his own works or other orders of musical material, information on Kuhač's work, his statements on research, other business activities), while special attention is given to: 1) Kuhač's attitudes towards himself and his family, and biographical details ; 2) Kuhač's interests and attitudes on the importance of his work and on research tasks (from pedagogical issues to research) ; 3) the organization of music life in Osijek and towns in which he sojourned ; and, 4) his understanding of the cultural politics of his time. These letters can be placed within the context of Kuhač's public activities (mostly based on his study My Work – Moj rad, published in 1904) and could be related to musical, cultural and political events in Osijek and Zagreb of his time. Kuhač thus appears as a reliable commentator of so-called objective reality, but even more valuable are his subjective attitudes and judgements on the contemporary musico-cultural life in the Croatian lands.

Franjo Ksaver Kuhač, correspondence, 19th century, musicology, ethnomusicology, Croatia

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