The Music Library of John IV of Portugal: Reconstructing Lost Music Collections and Resurrecting Portuguese Cultural Heritage

The former music library of King John IV of Portugal, which was destroyed in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, is identified as probably the most important single collection of musical sources to have existed in the early modern period. A catalogue (Index) of part of the library’s printed books and manuscripts dating from c.1500 onwards was published in 1649, enabling a partial reconstruction of the library’s holdings. This catalogue thus exists as a testimony to music collecting and scholarly activity in Portuguese court circles, and a large proportion of its contents is recognised for its international significance. This project aims for the first time to produce a comprehensive study and fully referenced catalogue of John IV’s music library, which also identifies additional material not published in the 1649 Index. Moreover, as far as possible, it Will also be considered from a chronological perspective, which aims to detect historical layers of acquisition of material from the first half of the 16^th century onwards. Whilst focusing on patronage and collecting, and comparing the library with other lost early music collections in the Iberian Peninsula, the project also aims to present the findings in an informed pan-European interdisciplinary historical context, contextualising the concept of the royal library as an architectural space (with its dimensions), complete with commissioned iconographical programme, and to reconstruct and situate it as one of the most important monuments of lost Portuguese cultural heritage.