Répertoire International des Sources Musicales

RISM at the 2026 IAML Congress in Thessaloniki, Greece

2026-06-11T00:00:00+00:00

This year’s annual congress of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres will take place in Thessaloniki, Greece.

Please look at the IAML Thessaloniki page on our website for the RISM events during the week: a RISM session, meetings of the Coordinating Committee, Commission Mixte, and RISM Consortium, and a two-part Muscat cataloging workshop.

On Tuesday, 30 June, we will hold an introductory workshop to Muscat, the cataloging program used by RISM. The workshop is geared toward any potential RISM contributors as well as anyone interested in gaining insight into RISM’s cataloging methods. After attending both morning sessions of the workshop, participants will be ready to start their own RISM projects and contribute directly to our database. There is no charge for Congress attendees but space is limited. Please register by sending an e-mail to contact@rism.info. Participants must bring their own laptops.

We are looking forward to seeing you all in Thessaloniki!

Commemorating the 200th Anniversary of Carl Maria von Weber’s death

2026-06-05T00:00:00+00:00

Carl Maria von Weber died on 5 June 1826, at the age of 40 in London, where he had premiered his final opera, Oberon, König der Elfen, at the Haymarket Theatre just a few months earlier. The original English title was actually Oberon, or the Elf King’s Oath, and librettist James R. Planché described it as “a romantic and Fairy opera.” The work indeed exemplified the “fairy opera,” a typically English genre in which – in addition to the music – spectacular stage machinery, magic scenes, dance, and pantomime all played an important role. As Weber himself observed in a letter to his librettist: “The cut of an english opera is certainly very different from a german one” – a fact that made it rather difficult for the work to gain popularity outside of England. To this day, Oberon unfortunately remains much less popular and is performed less frequently than the Freischütz, Weber’s best-known opera. Despite its dramaturgically clumsy libretto, however, it is considered as one of Weber’s most significant music-dramatical works, and some of its excerpts, such as the overture or Rezia’s grand scene and aria – recorded even by the famous Maria Callas – are still frequently heard today.

The RISM database contains a total of 274 sources related to Weber’s Oberon, including autograph sketches, performance materials for the entire opera, as well as numerous arrangements, variations, and potpourris based on individual numbers, for a wide variety of instrumentations. The image above shows one of the numerous autograph sketches that once belonged to the composer’s family and are now preserved in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz. The sketch of Huon’s prayer “Ruler of this awful hour” (RISM ID no. 1001192984; RISM Catalog | RISM Online) was penned by Weber on 10 April 1826.

Anyone interested in the genesis of Weber’s last opera, the circumstances of its London premiere, or accounts of its reception is welcome to run searches on the website of the Carl Maria von Weber-Gesamtausgabe, a project producing a complete edition of the composer’s works and supported, like RISM, by the Academy of Sciences and Literature | Mainz. Here you can explore Weber’s entire correspondence, his diaries, as well as his published writings. A search for the term “Oberon” yields a total of 1,297 results, including 86 diary entries alone.

Image: Carl Maria von Weber, sketch for Huon’s preghiera “Ruler of this awful hour” from Oberon, London, 10 April 1826 (excerpt), Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz, music collection, shelf mark: Mus.ms.autogr. Weber, C. M. v., WFN 2 (2). Image source

Private collections and libraries - Part 3

2026-05-28T00:00:00+00:00

In the final part of our news series on private collections and libraries, we would like to call your attention to a new feature in the search for private collections. When you search among the institutions on RISM Online, you can select the “Private collection” option in the “Type of institution” section by checking the corresponding box. Next, click the “Show search results” button in the top-left corner. This will display a list of all 651 private collections currently documented in the RISM database. The vast majority of these (precisely 635 of them) has an individual RISM siglum. The 16 entries without a siglum are provenances that are marked as previous owners in the source records.

Among the RISM sigla associated with private collections and libraries, there are many older entries that provide no contact information. Since the RISM team does not have sufficient capacity to regularly check whether the information about certain collectors and libraries might have changed, we have to rely on the active cooperation of our users. If you happen to notice changes in the information regarding this or that siglum, please let us know at your earliest convenience, so that we can keep our data as up-to-date as possible. As described in the two previous news items on this topic, private collections tend to present more complex challenges than other types of institutions. When owners move, sell an entire collection or just parts of it, or pass away, the corresponding RISM entries should be adjusted accordingly.

Part 1 of this text can be found here, while Part 2 here.

Image: Music prints from the private collection of Martin Bierwisch (with kind permission).

The month of May in music

2026-05-21T00:00:00+00:00

“In the beautiful month of May” – thus goes the first line of a well-known poem by Heinrich Heine, which Robert Schumann set to music to open his song cycle “Dichterliebe.” This Lied is arguably one of the best known of its kind and would certainly rank among the most popular, if someone were to compile a “top ten” list of musical references to the month of May.

But the RISM database has much more to offer in connection with the month of May. A search for compositions related to this topic can start right from the header of our homepage, for example, by entering the term “May” in any of the various languages represented in RISM (“Mai,” “Maj,” “Maggio,” etc.). By using the wildcard character * at the end, the search can also be expanded to include derivatives of this word, such as the old English “maying” (as in Thomas Morley’s famous madrigal “Now is the month of maying”), or compound words such as the German “Mainacht” (the title of a poem by L. C. H. Hölty, set to music by Johannes Brahms, among others). Depending on which button you click after entering the search terms on our website, the list of results is displayed either in RISM Online or in the RISM Catalog, each of which offers a set of further options.

In both interfaces, you can refine the list of hits through filtering. In the RISM Catalog you find various suggestions on the left-hand side, such as “Genre” (e.g., Lieder or arias), as well as composer, source type, scoring or publisher. In addition, RISM Online also offers the option to select the language of the text or specify the date of origin, among others. If you already have a more concrete idea of the composition you are looking for, you can also use the “Advanced Search” of the RISM Catalog, which offers a variety of search fields (title, composer, genre, music incipit, liturgical festival, etc.). In RISM Online you have the option to create a customized query, through which you can also combine different categories or multiple languages and, for instance, search among the titles for the German, English, and Italian equivalents – “Mai”, “May”, and “Maggio” – simultaneously.

Given that certain terms have a variety of meanings in different languages, your hit list may include titles that have no relevant connection to the month of May. For example, using the search term “maj” inevitably yields titles where “Maj” is simply an abbreviation for the French key indication “Majeur,” while “may” is also an English modal verb, and the spelling “mai” frequently appears as an Italian negation implying “never.” Thus, when reviewing the search results, one needs a bit of springtime energy and should be open to unexpected discoveries – such as the chanson “La rousé du moys de may” by the Flemish composer Johannes de Crespel (RISM Online | RISM Catalog).

Image: Johannes de Crespel, La rousé du moys de may, in: Recueil des fleurs produictes de la divine Musicque a trois parties, par Clemens Non Papa, Thomas Cricquillon, et aultres excellens Musiciens. Tiers Livre (Löwen 1569), fol. xxiii; provided by Österreichische Nationalbibliothek

The “Bußpsalmencodex” of Albrecht V exhibited in Munich on 20 and 21 May

2026-05-07T00:00:00+00:00

It is too large to be considered a typical devotional book. Too precious to be used in church services. Too sophisticated in its illustrations to serve merely as a representative work, and too unsystematic in its presentation of knowledge to meet the standards of an encyclopaedia. (Andrea Gottdang in her preface to Andacht, Repräsentation – Gelehrsamkeit: Der Bußpsalmencodex Albrechts V., Wiesbaden 2020)

Image: Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Mus.ms. A I(1, p. 183 (Detail). Public Domain Mark 1.0 Universal

The “Bußpsalmencodex” of Albrecht V, also known as the “Mielich Codex,” is a choirbook magnificently illuminated by Hans Mielich, which Albrecht V, Duke of Wittelsbach, had commissioned between 1558 and 1570. Today it is kept in the Bavarian State Library as one of its most precious treasures. The two-volume codex contains Orlando di Lasso’s musical settings of the seven penitential psalms, and as a final treat also his motet “Laudes Domini.” The first volume of this unique codex will be on display on 20 and 21 May 2026 at the Bavarian State Library in Munich.

Cataloged in RISM as part of the Choirbook Project between 2012 and 2015, the first volume has been extensively restored and digitized since 2015, and has been available online since 2018. The restoration of the second volume (RISM Catalog | RISM Online) is also nearing completion, and its digitization is scheduled to begin around the middle of this year.

Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Mus.ms. A I(1, p.183 (Detail). Public Domain Mark 1.0 Universal

As the work was classified ‘musica reservata,’ implying exclusive use by the Duke, Lasso could not publish his penitential psalms at the time; the first edition appeared only after the Duke’s death (RISM Catalog | RISM Online). As for the enormous cycle of illustrations by the Munich painter Hans Mielich (1516–1673), which comprises several thousand individual scenes, the recent digitization can be viewed as its first publication. Never before have these miniatures been made available to the public in their entirety and in colour.

For more illustration and detailed information (in German) about the exhibition as well as the “Bußpsalmencodex,” see the website of the Bavarian State Library.

Two born-digital thematic catalogs

2026-04-30T00:00:00+00:00

Two work catalogs, for composers Francesco Pollini and Luigi Cherubini, have recently been completed as born-digital publications. They supplement the growing number of digital versions of traditional thematic catalogs that can be accessed through RISM Online. These catalogs are directly linked to the RISM database that includes descriptions of musical sources, thereby establishing direct connections between works and their sources. This allows users to explore the contents or the performance locations, and to interact with the musical heritage cataloged internationally. The two born-digital thematic catalogs were created by using Muscat, RISM’s cataloging software. The essential data contained in the database is supplemented by its historical and musicological context as presented on a separate website.

The first catalog is dedicated to Francesco Pollini (1762–1846), an amateur composer, tenor, pianist, and fortepiano teacher. Pollini was a prominent figure in the Milanese music scene from the late 18th century through the early decades of the 19th century. Born in Ljubljana, and after pursuing his early studies in Italy, in the 1780s he completed his training in Vienna, where he also met Mozart. In 1793, he settled in Milan, establishing himself as an outstandingly active teacher and composer. Pollini’s oeuvre comprises 262 catalog numbers across all genres, with a predominance of piano compositions. His reputation as pianist and composer was international, as testified by the praise of Glinka, Liszt, and Schumann.

The other catalog now published is a partial catalog encompassing the theoretical and pedagogical oeuvre of Luigi Cherubini (1760–1842). This includes works such as solfège and basso continuo exercises, which are not generally considered as “compositions” but are of great importance for fully understanding Cherubini’s views on the art of composition and the teaching of music theory. There is still no comprehensive thematic catalog of Cherubini’s works. The standard reference remains the catalog of Cherubini’s estate compiled by Auguste Bottée de Toulmon (1797–1850) in 1843. It is hoped that our partial catalog will provide a stimulus for the compilation of the long-awaited general catalog of Cherubini’s works.

The new catalogs presented here are the outcome of two research projects conducted at the Bern Academy of the Arts: Francesco Pollini and the Early Italian Piano Tradition and Luigi Cherubini and Composition Teaching at the Paris Conservatoire.

The catalogs created with Muscat rely on a large-scale, long-term international research infrastructure. The series Work catalogs in RISM Online was developed in accordance with FAIR principles and with an eye to long-term sustainability. In this sense, these first two publications serve both as tools for studying the works of these composers and as models for exploring the future of thematic catalogs in a digital environment.

The music collection of Anton Ulrich, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Meiningen, at the Meiningen Museums

2026-04-23T00:00:00+00:00

The Max Reger Archive (RISM siglum: D-MEIr) forms part of the Music History Collection of the Meiningen Museums and includes musical collections of various provenances. One of these formerly belonged to Anton Ulrich, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Meiningen (1687–1763). During his sojourns in Vienna (ca. 1720–1740), Anton Ulrich had more than 100 lavish volumes compiled which nowadays constitute one of the most comprehensive collections of Baroque vocal music and preserve the musical repertoire of Viennese court music – including opera, oratorio, cantata, and serenade – through compositions by Antonio Caldara, Johann Joseph Fux, and Francesco Conti, among others. This collection was cataloged for RISM by Carmen Rosenthal between 2011 and 2013. In the meantime the manuscripts became available in digital form, therefore – thanks to the RISM Editorial Center – the RISM records could be updated with links to these digitized copies (cf. RISM Catalogue | RISM online).

Image: Johann Adolf Hasse, Alfonso. Drama per musica […], excerpts, 1738, Meininger Museen, Sammlung Musikgeschichte, Max-Reger-Archiv, Sign. F 529, p. 7. (Licensed under: Deed Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International).

Mozart Treasures from Salzburg on Exhibition in New York

2026-04-16T00:00:00+00:00

The International Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg owns one of the world’s most significant Mozart collections, which originated from gifts and bequests from the Mozart family. For a remarkable exhibition, a significant part of this collection has traveled to the United States for the first time. They are on display at the Morgan Library & Museum in the exhibition “Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Treasures from the Mozarteum Foundation of Salzburg.” The Salzburg originals are complemented by valuable paintings, manuscripts, and prints from the Morgan Library and a major private collection.

The diversity of the artefacts paints a particularly vivid picture of Mozart’s life and work: the exhibition brings together the most significant Mozart portraits, musical instruments that belonged to him, original letters, autograph scores, and other documents. Also included are original memorabilia such as Mozart’s wallet, valuable first editions, as well as portraits of contemporaries and family members.

After Mozart’s death, several important originals were separated; some of them could now be reunited and displayed together again after a very long time. For example, the Morgan Library owns two pages containing the earliest compositions by the five-year-old Wolfgang Amadé Mozart (K. 1a–d). In the early 19th century, these were cut out of the so-called “Nannerl Music Book,” which came into the possession of the Mozarteum Foundation in 1864. These very special works by Mozart can now be admired together with the entire music book for the first time in 200 years. The volume was compiled in 1759 by Leopold Mozart for the piano lessons of Mozart’s sister Maria Anna (“Nannerl”). Little Wolfgang also learned to play the piano using this book, and soon his first compositions were jotted down in it as well.

The exhibition can be viewed at the Morgan Library & Museum in New York through the end of May.

Link to the website of The Morgan Library & Museum: https://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/mozart

Image: Leopold Mozart (1719–1787), Music book for Maria Anna (“Nannerl”) Mozart. Manuscript, begun in 1759. Source: International Mozarteum Foundation, Bibliotheca Mozartiana (RISM Catalog | RISM Online).

Marking Music: The Use of Music Books in Early Modern Europe

2026-04-09T00:00:00+00:00

The acronym DORMEME stands for “Dissemination, Ownership, and Reading of Music in Early Modern Europe.” This interdisciplinary project – led by Dr. Elisabeth Giselbrecht at King’s College London – focuses on surviving copies of polyphony printed across Europe between 1500 and 1545, and poses diverse questions regarding their users. Who owned and read music books in early modern Europe? Who had access to printed musical material, how did they interact with it, and to what end? Keeping in mind that the period in question saw a decisive rise in musical literacy, DORMEME seeks to shift the scholarly discourse from the production of music books to their consumption, offering insights into diverse fields of music-making ranging from self-taught instrumental playing to participation in larger groups. At the same time, a database is also in the making to describe marks of ownership and annotations in surviving copies of printed editions from the period in question. For more information, see the project’s website.

DORMEME’s first conference will be held on 11 and 12 May 2026 with the title “Marking Music: The Use of Music Books in Early Modern Europe,” and registration is still possible through this link until 12 April. Furthermore, while the event is essentially an in-person one, taking place at the Strand Campus of King’s College London, interested parties can opt for auditing the papers remotely by contacting Louisa Hunter-Bradley at louisa.hunter-bradley@kcl.ac.uk before 13 April. The provisional program (available through the registration link above) promises nuanced insights into 16th-century musical life all over Europe, and will end with a panel also featuring Claudio Bacciagaluppi and Laurent Pugin from the RISM Digital Center.

Collaboration between the WEAVE project “Tartinians” and RISM supports the long-term preservation of project data

2026-04-02T00:00:00+00:00

The WEAVE research project Tartinians – The School of Nations and its networks, based at the Universities of Graz and Augsburg, as well as the Schola Cantorum in Basel, was launched in April 2025. It examines the pedagogical work of Giuseppe Tartini (1692–1770) and his students primarily on three levels: (1) professional biographies and networks of the students, (2) musical output, and (3) pedagogical writings. All the information about Tartini’s students is summarized in a database developed specifically for the project, their musical output is also cataloged, and Tartini’s pedagogical writings – as a rule preserved in the form of notes taken by his students which sometimes differ from one another – are also edited.

The Augsburg subproject focuses primarily on the musical output of the Scuola delle nazioni, the activities of Tartini’s students at the courts of the Holy Roman Empire, and 18th-century violin pedagogy in the light of Tartini’s teachings. Most of the musical sources collected during the project will be cataloged in RISM for the first time, while existing RISM entries will also be elaborated on.

As an example, here is a description created by the project group about a manuscript copy preserved in Vienna, featuring a duo sonata by Domenico Ferrari (1722–1780): RISM-Catalog | RISM Online.

Of particular importance for the project is the documentation of incipits, which allow for the comparison of concordances and variants, as well as the examination of melodic relationships. The collaboration with RISM ensures the long-term preservation of project data and provides an ideal starting point for in-depth data analysis in relation to the project’s key research questions. Upon completion of the project, the data collected in RISM will also be linked to the Tartinians project database.

To document the current status of our work, a project blog has been set up.

Image: First page of the Basso part from an undated manuscript of Giuseppe Tartini’s Sonata in C, No. 3, for Violino Solo e Basso, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (A-Wn), Mus.Hs.12722 MUS MAG. Source: ÖNB Digital/Österreichische Nationalbibliothek