Mark Kinsler wrote in 060113 MMDigest:

> My music teacher told me yesterday that the only reason we have the
> Brandenburg Concertos was that someone noticed that there were
> musical notes on the paper they were wrapping around some meat.

Randolph Herr replied in 060117 MMDigest:

> I never heard the story about the Brandenburg Concertos almost being
> used to wrap meat, but I was really astonished to read that after the
> Margrave of Brandenburg died, and his estate was being examined, the
> Brandenburg Concertos were first discovered -- they had never been
> opened since Bach sent them.
>
> I like stories such as these, and if Mark Kinsler's music teacher can
> tell me where the meat story is written, I would appreciate it.

I, too, would like to know more about the meat story.  The facts:

The six concertos were bound in one volume.  This volume was offered to
Christian Ludwig, the Margrave of Brandenburg, in 1714.  It's commonly
accepted that these concertos were not played by the musicians of the
Margrave, simply because the music was too difficult for these
musicians.  So the volume landed in the library of the Margrave.

Thirteen years later Christian Ludwig died and an inventory of the
library was made.  The Brandenburg Concertos were valued at four
Groschen each -- just a few cents.  The concertos were preserved by
a pupil of the great master, Johann Philipp Kirnberger, who was a good
musical theorist and teacher.

One of Kirnberger's students was Princess Amalia of Prussia, and she
inherited the concertos.  She left them to the library of the Gymnasium
at Joachimstal, and from there they went to the Royal Library at
Berlin.

Bach was almost forgotten in the 19th century but Mendelsohn and others
achieved a revival of Bach's music.  Thanks to this new interest the
Brandenburg Concertos also were published in print in 1850.

Jan Kijlstra

 [ Margrave: the English equivalent of Margraf, the German hereditary
 [ title of nobility that originally meant a military lord or keeper
 [ of the borders.  -- Robbie