Antonín Buchtel, sběratel s laskavou duší, a jeho kolekce hudebních nástrojů / Antonín Buchtel, A Collector with a Kind Soul, and His Collection of Musical Instruments

This monograph about Antonín Buchtel’s collection of musical instruments is a loose continuation of the series Editio Monographica Musei Nationalis Pragae, which has already presented two interesting private collections of musical instruments and their original owners, namely Ondřej Horník and Josef Šediva. Although these collections and their originators share certain features, and all three collections were acquired for the museum within the period of not quite half a century, they also exhibit considerable differences given not only by when they were created, but also by the personalities of their owners and the environments that shaped them. Along with his theological education, Buchtel acquired broad cultural horizons, adding to his lifelong interest in music. Antonín Buchtel’s library and music archive are a worthy counterpart to his collection of musical instruments. Buchtel’s collection in its current extent and the fates of the instruments in it are a very interesting chapter not only in the context of the museum’s collections, but also in the history of Czech musical culture. This study of the collection and of the man who owned it has revealed to the authors the authentic world of the latter half of the 19th century from the perspective of culture, which can be referred to as “regional” only from a geographical perspective.

The e-book can be purchased in the online store Palmknihy.