Based on a vast, virtually unstudied archive of Indian writings alongside visual sources, this book presents the first history of music and musicians in late Mughal India c.1748–1858 and takes the lives of nine musicians as entry points into six prominent types of writing on music in Persian, Brajbhasha, Urdu and English, moving from Delhi to Lucknow, Hyderabad, Jaipur and among the British. It shows how a key Mughal cultural field responded to the political, economic and social upheaval of the transition to British rule, while addressing a central philosophical question: can we ever recapture the ephemeral experience of music once the performance is over? These rich, diverse sources shine new light on the wider historical processes of this pivotal transitional period, and provide a new history of music, musicians and their audiences during the precise period in which North Indian classical music coalesced in its modern form.

‘Katherine Schofield's path-breaking account of music and musicians from the late Mughal period is a lesson in music history and historiography for musicians, music scholars and students in India. Her detailed analysis of texts written in multiple languages as well as pictorial sources will enlighten students and performers like myself about trajectories that moulded Hindustani music to the shape we experience today. This book will also go a long way in breaking myths and stereotypes about Muslim practitioners of this music that have for so long coloured our understanding of the past.'

Aneesh Pradhan - Tabla player, composer and author