Dicta Domini Rectoris: The Earliest Expenses of Ragusan Rector’s Palace as a Source for Music History (1543-1589)

Abstract

Croatian State Archive in Dubrovnik keeps a series of account books of the Rector’s Palace (HR-DADU-29, Dicta Domini Rectoris – Detta) that contain expenses of the Palace from 1543 to 1808. The books track all ongoing costs of the Palace, including soldier payments, foodstuff, and salt, but also alms for monasteries, Masses, and extraordinary payments to musicians. The plethora of latter makes the account books a valuable source for the history of Croatian music, but we lack their detailed and systematic analysis. Based on the entries from the earliest account books, through a deep reading and a quantitative analysis supported by the methodology of auditory history, this article contains an analysis of Ragusan auditory environment and performance practice. The analysis is based on the earliest records found in four account books that cover the period from 1543 to 1589, and uses other archival and secondary sources in the contextualisation of sound events. The detailed analysis uncovered the densest layer that includes sung Masses, followed by a smaller layer of instrumental music. The costs of sung Masses reveal a clear weekly pulse with Friday and Saturday Masses, a monthly and annual rhythm with temporal and sanctoral sung Masses, and temporary with votive ad hoc Masses. Although rarer, payments to the civic ensemble (piffari, musici di Pallazzo) map a ceremonially charged layer. The musicians performed before the Rector’s loggia on state holidays, accompanied processions, and include a single appearance by three Ottoman players. The 927 entries document how music and sound were woven into Ragusan political and devotional practice, forming an audible counterpart to the Republic’s visual representation. The regular entries confirm a stable corpus of clerics able to sing, and a carefully maintained civic band, both underwritten directly from the Rector’s account. Finally, the study demonstrates that account books can be read as sonic artefacts: interrogated through the lens of auditory history, the expenses uncover urban auditory experiences and open new directions for Croatian and Adriatic music and sound historiography.