English: Active knowledge of music played an important role among the nobility, from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. Well-rounded eduction included playing a musical instrument (lute, harp, later mainly piano) and singing, and many aristocrates were also decent composers. In the 19th century, the estete-based society gradually transformed into a civil one. The nobles retained their chateaux, but their musical activities were now limited to their private parlors, with their families or guests as the audience. Popular were piaon arrangements of dance music, published after each ball season.