O muzyce w kręgu Aleksandra Józefa Sułkowskiego (1695–1762)
Music in the Milieu of Aleksander Józef Sułkowski (1695–1762)

Summary/Abstract: This article represents the first attempt in musicology to discuss the foundations of the musical patronage of Aleksander Józef Sułkowski (1695–1762). Sułkowski was a cabinet minister to King Augustus III until 1738, when he left the Dresden court to become lord of Rydzyna castle and owner of the town of Leszno and of a huge estate taken over from Stanisław Leszczyński; from 1752, he was also a prince of the Holy Roman Empire. The article discusses the following topics: Sułkowski’s negative role in the process of engaging Giovanni Bindi (known as Porporino, a singer in the ensemble maintained by King Augustus II) for George Frideric Handel’s London orchestra in 1731; the work of the Dresden-based composer Tobias Butz, Sułkowski’s secretary when the latter was a minister in the Secret Cabinet of Saxony (1733–38); Sułkowski’s contribution to organising musical life at the Dresden and Warsaw courts; music in Sułkowski’s milieu after he left Dresden for Rydzyna. The author has also attempted to reconstruct the make-up of the music ensemble maintained by Sułkowski at Rydzyna Castle and the oboe ensembles that existed in army regiments commanded by Sułkowski in Saxony and Poland.

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