The music collection of Paul Friedrich Damme (1864–1925) as a source of information on the musical culture of Gdańsk and Sopot in the first half of the 20th century. The state of research on the reconstruction of the music inventory signed with the older signature A

Abstract

This article is a continuation of research into the origin of the German library signature (hereafter: signature A) found in music prints held at the Library of the Stanisław Moniuszko Academy of Music in Gdańsk and an addition to the knowledge of the musical culture of Gdańsk and Sopot in the first half of the 20th century. Two previously unknown collections of Gdansk’s councilors were discovered within the sheet music resource studied. Based on the ownership marks found, this paper discusses the activities of German cultural organizations during World War II and characterizes the book collection of Paul Friedrich Damme (1864–1925). The most important result of the provenance research is the discovery that P. Damme, a doctor of law, banker, and councilor of Danzig, was also an active cellist musician giving concerts in Sopot and Milan, among other places; the sheet music collection was collected by him intentionally and served as performance material.