Musical playing cards

Hybrid playing cards from the British Museum collection with half-length courts with French-suited pips at the top ends paired with a bar of music and German lyrics on the lower end of each card. These are not ordinary game cards, but didactic-leisure Hausmusik cards meant to be sung as well as played with. The lyrics appear to be anonymous or lightly adapted Volkslied material drawn from the popular song tradition. Stylistic features point to the Biedermeier period (c.1815–1848).

Artistically, the cards are engraved and stencil-coloured in a manner typical of German or Austrian production of the period, with figures wearing contemporary Biedermeier costume. The music is simple and tuneful, suited to unaccompanied singing or performance on common household instruments. These pleasing and attractive cards offer a glimpse into a period when playing cards served not only for amusement, but also as vehicles for musical instruction and sociable domestic recreation.

Above: anonymous musical playing cards from the Biedermeier period, c.1830s. 32 cards, no indices, square corners, plain backs. © The Trustees of the British Museum.

References

British Museum : 1896,0501.391►

O’Donoghue, Freeman M: Catalogue of the collection of playing cards bequeathed by Lady Charlotte Schreiber, Trustees of the British Museum, London, 1901 (German 210) [digital version here]