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Schure, Steffen: Die Geschichte des Stadtmusikantentums in Ulm (1388-1840). Eine monografische Studie. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2007 (Forschungen zur Geschichte der Stadt Ulm, Band 31). 316 S., 111., ISBN 3-17-019503-4.
With this volume Steffen Schure has provided an impressively thorough overview of the music under civic patronage in Ulm. His accomplishment is in fact stunning considering the enormous handicaps he faced in that for certain periods of Ulm's history no secure documents have survived.
After a brief introduction, Schure divided his narrative into three parts. Part I treats civic patronage up to the Reformation; Part II the city musicians in the service of Ulm from the 16th century to the end of the city's independence as an imperial city (i.e. from roughly 1520 to 1802); Part III the final decline and dissolution of the civic ensemble in the first half of the 19th century. He provided a substantial Appendix of documents, a highly selective bibliography, and a section of illustrations. A major flaw in this volume (actually the only such flaw, in my opinion) is that Schure did not include an index. This seems to me a substantial miscalculation. Many users will want to consult the book for specific information, for example to track down composers, instrumentalists or, perhaps, usage of particular instruments. Without an index they are out of luck.
In the introduction, Schure reviews the available literature on civic patronage in Germany. His treatment is excellent, and note that many of the more obscure items are referred to only here, and are not included in the more selective bibliography at the end of the volume. He also outlines the available source material in the Ulm archives. I would have preferred a less concise discussion. Schure mentions only in a footnote, for example, that just three city account books (STADTRECHNUNGSBÜCHER) survive for the entire time span he discusses. This is extraordinarily few. For Augsburg in the same span, an almost complete run of accounts is available (i.e. hundreds of documents). These are by far the most convenient (often the only) source of information concerning names of players, the instruments they played, and details concerning such matters as special services (such as dances for visiting dignitaries), payment for livery and civic medallions. It seems to me...