This chapter presents an overview of instrumental music performances within the rarified environs of the royal court and associated social and political circles. It draws on the holdings of the Conservatory of Naples Library (San Pietro a Majella), the present-day custodian of the original possessions from the royal archive – which reveal a much broader, extensive collection of instrumental music from the late eighteenth century. This body of material includes a thorough representation of the composers who visited Naples and were promoted by Norbert Hadrava – namely Ignaz Pleyel, Adalbert Gyrowetz, and Johann Sterkel. The music under examination represents different instrumental genres – including sonatas (solo and duo), string quartets, string quintets, concertos, and sinfonie – revealing a broad cultivation of these forms. Through the coordination of contextual sources with extant works, as well as their careful examination and analysis, a detailed snapshot may be established of Maria Carolina’s tastes in instrumental music.

The last twenty-five years of the eighteenth century in Naples witnessed a profound transformation. At the center of this process of innovation, change, and upheaval was Queen Maria Carolina, the consort to King Ferdinand IV. Thanks to the influence of her mother, Empress Maria Theresa, Maria Carolina was not to be a mere spouse or observer; rather, she was destined to be the driving force for sweeping change within the Kingdom of Naples. Despite her well-documented limitations and even ineptitude, Maria Carolina established a formidable presence within contemporary artistic life. Unlike her husband, she possessed cultural sensibilities that were astute, and she was an engaged patron of art, music, and dance. This chapter focuses on Maria Carolina within the artistic sphere of her reign, namely as a cultural icon, with a specific emphasis on her role as a musical patron. Working from diverse sources – including historical research, surviving diaries, and personal correspondence, as well as related documents – this chapter establishes a portrait of Maria Carolina’s musical interests, with a specific focus on the cultivation of instrumental music at court, thereby shedding light on a largely unknown, yet important, sector of Neapolitan artistic life at the end of the eighteenth century.