With its flat back and wire strings, the orpharion belongs to the cittern family. Like the slightly larger and probably older bandora (or pandora), it has a distinctive shape due to its undulating, wave-like sides. The database of Musical Instruments Museum Online describes one of the few surviving original examples.

With its 7 to 9 courses, the orpharion can be tuned like a lute, and is thus capable of performing the extensive lute repertoire of the period around 1600. Nevertheless, the orpharion has a longer neck, a larger number of frets, and a range that extends higher than that of the lute. The considerable similarity between the orpharion, the lute, and the bandora regarding their repertoire and, to some extent, their playing technique is occasionally reflected on the title pages of tablature prints. The tablature book A New Booke of Tabliture printed in London in 1596 goes so far as to include separate instructions for playing the lute, the orpharion, and the bandora (RISM Online | RISM Catalog). Each set of instructions is preceded by its own title page depicting the respective instrument. Offering popular pieces by composers such as Francis Cutting, John Dowland, and Peter Philips, the orpharion repertoire of A New Booke of Tabliture was decidedly up to date.

By the late 17th century, the popularity of the orpharion was coming to an end, although it was still mentioned in music-historical treatises of the 18th and 19th centuries. In the early 20th century, interest in the orpharion was revived in the context of historical performance practice, as evidenced by several replicas surviving from that period.

In the RISM database (RISM Online | RISM Catalogue) one finds a few publications that explicitly mention the orpharion in their titles, providing an insight into its repertoire around 1600.

Image: Depiction of an “Orpheoreon” in: Michael Praetorius, Syntagma Musicum Bd. 2 (1619), no. XVII, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek 4 Mus.th. 1249-2,2 | Public Domain Mark | RISM B VI, Bd. 2, S. 666.

Dear IAMLites,

Twenty-five years ago my predecessor Klaus Keil congratulated you on your 50th anniversary on behalf of RISM as one of IAML’s “Partners and Friends.” But I must admit that, when thinking of IAML and RISM, it is not “partnership” or even “friendship” that jumps to my mind, but rather the more intimate word “family.”

Needless to say, RISM has long had at least three “siblings” in IAML’s orbit, namely the three other R projects – each of them somewhat younger than RISM, but historically connected to IAML in many ways. That said, RISM has in fact always had a most intimate relationship with IAML itself, since the two were born less than a year apart (the first meeting of RISM’s Commission mixte took place in January 1952), and the idea to set up a larger-scale successor to Robert Eitner’s seminal Quellen-Lexikon – which eventually materialized in the Répertoire International des Sources Musicales – happened to be one of the prime inspirations for the creation of IAML itself.

In that light it is certainly no coincidence that in the abovementioned anniversary issue of Fontes Artis Musicae the two major “eyewitness” contributions about IAML’s history came from Harald Heckmann and François Lesure, both of whom also belong among the “household saints” of RISM’s history – the first as secretary and later president of RISM and in particular as the moving spirit behind the 1960 establishment of the Zentralredaktion (first in Kassel, later in Frankfurt am Main), while the second as the head of the very first RISM secrétariat central in Paris (1953–1967).

Over the years, as is inevitable, both organizations have changed immensely. In the past decade or so IAML established a more effective structure better suited to the diverse needs of its international community, while RISM is just going through a major restructuring, including a Digital Center in Bern (2021–). The venerable Zentralredaktion in Frankfurt in its present form will shortly fade out, with all its duties and competencies being taken over by a collaborative network of German partner institutions, the RISM Editorial Network. Nonetheless, such ongoing adjustments have only proven the great resilience of both IAML and RISM, which have had to cope with complex challenges our common founding fathers could hardly have envisioned.

With all of that in mind I trust that in 2051 a late successor of mine will once again be asked to contribute a congratulatory letter for IAML’s centenary. And from that distance that late successor will probably decide that a difference of a mere few months hardly matters, after all, and come to the conclusion that IAML and RISM are in fact twins. Which would explain why IAMLites and RISMites can so well guess each other’s most secret thoughts, even if our paths tend literally to cross only at the annual IAML congresses.

Balázs Mikusi
Executive Director
RISM Editorial Center

The “Euroopan kulttuuripääkaupunki” Oulu is located in the western part of Finland, and comprises the city of Oulu as well as 39 surrounding municipalities. Oulu is the northernmost major city in the European Union and the fifth-largest city in Finland. The organizers have adopted “Cultural Climate Change” as a motto for their rich program. The musical events focus primarily on the present and the recent past. The screaming men’s choir (Mieskuoro Huutajat) and the Qstock rock festival could not have been missing from the annual program, but this week the focus is on chamber music, thanks to the Oulunsalo Soi festival. The annual Air Guitar World Championships has gained quite a bit of fame; this year, it will be held on 28–29 August 2026, as part of the Delta Life Grand Finale.

The “Európske hlavné mesto kultúry” Trenčín is located in northwestern Slovakia, near the border with the Czech Republic. Its history dates back to the Stone Age. The city takes its name from the medieval castle that sits atop a hill, well visible from afar. The cultural program is centered around the idea of “Curiosity” and forges diverse connections: between past, present, and future – between people – between imagination and reality. An upcoming highlight is the concert by the Perchta Choir from Český Krumlov at the Piarist Church, but the Summer Classical Music Festival – which is celebrating its 80th anniversary this year – also offers several interesting events at the Kursalon.

Both Capitals of Culture are already represented in the RISM database, though we very much hope to see many more composers, related persons, as well as musical sources added in the future, which could shed more light on the music life of Oulu and Trenčín.

Amalie Classàn of Oulu appears as dedicatee on a copy that Charles Schwencke had prepared of his Six Divertissemens en forme de Marches pour le Piano à quatre mains, Op. 60 (RISM Catalog | RISM Online). Also worth mentioning is the composer Erik Tulindberg, who lived in Oulu for several years, although his Violin Concerto in B-flat major, Op. 1/1 (RISM Catalog | RISM Online), was likely composed before his Oulu years. The third member of the trio is the Oulu-born clergyman Frans Michael Franzén, who is known as the lyricist of a Lappish song (RISM Catalog | RISM Online).

For Trenčín, RISM lists various copies and autographs from parish churches and the Piarist monastery (RISM Catalog | RISM Online). These provide a small glimpse into the city’s musical history, although the manuscripts have since been transferred to institutions outside Trenčín. Notable examples include an offertory by the Czech composer Tobiáš František Fučik, two litanies by the Austrian composer Amandus Ivanschiz, and one mass each by the German Benedictine monk Franz Bühler, Peter von Winter, and Vicenzo Righini. Furthermore, the autograph of Anton Selecký’s Smutné oči krásne oči for voice and piano (1938) was also written in Trenčín.

Image: Frans Mikael Franzén, Poet, Bishop. Painting by Lars Svensson Sparrgren; Photo: Per-Åke Persson / Nationalmuseum, CC-Lizenz: CC BY-SA- 4.0

Since early 2026, RISM’s cataloging software Muscat has offered a new feature: the GND Editor for creating work records in the German National Authority File. The result of a collaboration between the RISM Digital Center, the German National Library, and the NFDI4Culture consortium, the editor marks an important milestone for RISM on the path to integrating external authority data. The new tool allows users to create GND (Gemeinsame Normdatei) authority records for musical works directly from Muscat. The following sections outline the technical details of the GND Editor and situate it in the context of RISM’s current activities related to the work level.

Layout and Workflow

The GND Editor is fully integrated into Muscat: the layout of the data entry form looks familiar to experienced Muscat catalogers, allowing for easy use. On the other hand, the data structure corresponds to that of a GND work authority record; therefore, detailed help texts are available for each individual field. Write access is limited to musical works: persons or other entities of the GND cannot be created using this tool. For editorial and quality reasons, the editing of already existing records is only possible to a limited extent. To ensure the required data quality, users willing to use the new tool must first complete a training session introducing them to the editor, which is offered by the NFDI4Culture/SLUB Dresden team (Desiree Mayer and Alexander Faschon).

A prerequisite for creating a work authority record via the GND Editor is that the work does not already exist as a record in the GND. Once the data have been entered, the record is saved directly to the GND. If data fields are incomplete or do not comply with the rules, saving is not possible and a warning appears. Only after the correction of the error does the system allow for the saving of the work authority record. Upon successful saving, the record immediately receives a GND ID, which the cataloger can in turn reuse as a work node in Muscat (see below).

Such direct access to the GND is a unique feature and is of great relevance for the German-speaking musicological community. At the same time, the GND Editor is an important contribution to the newly created work level in RISM, which includes work nodes, works, and the potential to create catalogs of works via Muscat.

Work nodes

A work node is a record for a musical work in Muscat that serves as a hub for the sources associated with that work. A prerequisite for creating a work node is a corresponding work authority record in an external authority system (for all of the currently existing work nodes: in the GND), whose ID the work node carries as an external reference. Each work node represents the GND authority record for the musical composition in question in its basic form: work title (including subtitle or movement titles, if applicable), and the composer’s name accompanied by the dates of birth and death. This data is automatically retrieved from the GND when a work node is generated using a search function implemented in Muscat.

The function of a work node is to group under a single identifier all the RISM sources that represent the same work. Sources belonging to a work can be linked directly to the work node in Muscat using field 913. Sources linked to the work level can be queried via RISM Online by entering the GND ID through the “create a query” feature. The search results list all related sources.

Works

The other type of representation for works is based on work catalog entries in RISM’s source records. Just like work nodes, work records serve to group sources related to a particular work. However, they contain more information than work nodes. For example, they include music incipits for disambiguation, as well as comprehensive work information, and reflect the scholarly principles used for the structuring of the oeuvre in the respective catalog of works. A significant amount of the work records has been generated automatically from the corresponding source records before being checked and edited by hand.

While work records represent the canonical repertoire as reflected in existing thematic catalogs, work nodes offer the possibility to create nodes also for compositions that are neither widely known nor listed in a catalog of works. Work records are made available to users with RISM reference IDs for external use as well; work nodes, on the other hand, can only be referenced externally via the GND ID they include.

The implementation of the work level offers significant new opportunities for the analysis of RISM data, while also improving its interoperability: thanks to the inclusion of GND IDs, RISM becomes interoperable with other data hubs, such as the musiconn.performance repository, which also makes use of GND work authority IDs. An authority data ID is also essential for searching in higher-level systems – for example, the NFDI4Culture Knowledge Graph or other international LOD initiatives – as it allows information about works to be aggregated.

Overall, the work level significantly increases the data set’s potential for musicological research, among others in the fields of network, transfer, or reception studies. RISM thus keeps evolving: from a library reference system for sources toward a data hub.

Few musicians occupied as many roles in the musical life of 19th-century Mexico as José Antonio Gómez y Olguín (1805–1876). As composer, performer, pedagogue, editor, publisher, and cultural entrepreneur he belongs among the most influential figures of his time. The rediscovery and cataloging of Gómez’s surviving original sources have substantially expanded our understanding of an important period of Mexican musical culture, and have brought to light a repertoire that was largely unknown just a generation ago.

We begin with a portrait published in 1840, showing a well-dressed musician. It appeared as an illustration to a comprehensive biography – written in the third person and meant to introduce Gómez to the musical public of the Mexican capital. The metal engraving (rather uncommon in the region around that time) reflects his high social standing. The portrait presumably offers a close likeness of the young musician, and the emphasis on the details of his face and his clothing reinforces his socioeconomic status. Gómez was only 35 at the time.

Portrait of José Antonio Gómez published in Mariano Galván’s Calendario de las señoritas megicanas para el año bisiesto de 1840 (Megico: Librería del Editor, 1840), exemplar at the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León with shelfmark AY19 .C3 1840 available online.

Born in Mexico City in 1805, Gómez began studying music with his father at an early age. Known as el niño Gómez (“Gómez the boy”), he gained recognition with both his keyboard skills and his voice; in particular as a singer he was called for in various churches. By the age of 10 he was already composing music and attracting the attention of diverse contemporary observers, who praised his precocious musical talent.

A notable experience was Gómez’s encounter with the celebrated Spanish tenor Manuel García, who had inspired the role of Almaviva in Rossini’s opera Il Barbiere di Siviglia. García’s visit to Mexico City exposed the young Gómez, then in his early 20s, to professional musical networks and performance practices that would influence his later career.

By the 1830s and especially the 1840s, Gómez had established himself as one of the most visible figures in Mexico City. His pioneering activities ranged from private instruction and concert performance to publishing projects designed for the educated circles of Mexico. Among the most notable are the following:

1832 Gramática Razonada Musical
Although largely adapted from Federico Moretti’s earlier treatise, Gómez’s work remains significant as one of the earliest Mexican music-theoretical publications to incorporate printed music examples, illustrating the growing role of print culture in the dissemination of musical knowledge. A copy of Gómez’s treatise is preserved in the Rare Book Collection of the University of Toronto.

1839 Prospecto y Reglamento de la Gran Sociedad Filarmónica y Conservatorio Mexicano de las Ciencias y Bellas Artes
This publication promoted Gómez’s ambitious conservatory project, reflecting his belief that music education was essential for the cultural advancement of the nation. Unfortunately, his own conservatory was short-lived.

1840 Gómez’s above-mentioned biography

1841 Variaciones sobre el tema del Jarabe Mejicano
A set of variations based on one of Mexico’s most popular traditional dances, the jarabe, which was subject to censorship by the Spanish Inquisition in the late 18th century. Its lyrics often conveyed explicit criticism of the authority of the church, making it a powerful symbol of resistance during the Mexican War of Independence. The world premiere recording of this virtuosic work can be accessed online.

1843 Instructor Filarmónico. Nuevo Método para piano
Just as with his previous pedagogical publication, the theoretical section of this treatise is not entirely original: Gómez drew upon the work of Josef Joaquín de Virués y Spínola (1770–1840), a Spanish music theorist. Nevertheless, the work reflects Gómez’s efforts to foster access to musical education through print culture. A digital copy is available in the Internet Archive.

1843 Instructor Filarmónico. Periódico Semanario Musical
While editing and publishing works by other composers was common practice in Europe, in Mexico Gómez’s efforts had a special significance. The first volume presents a colorful musical repertoire to a society that showed an increasing interest in domestic music-making after the war. With this publication in particular, Gómez contributed to the emergence of a cultivated musical environment extending beyond the traditional ecclesiastical and professional settings. In the Internet Archive one can also study this publication.

1844 Instructor Filarmónico continued
The second volume further expands the musical repertoire. Of the 35 works included in total, 13 are derived from operas, while the rest comprises 9 waltzes, 4 cuadrillas (a traditional Spanish dance), 3 songs, 2 sets of variations, 1 jota, 1 rondo, 1 overture, and 1 barcarole. The selection exemplifies Gómez’s efforts to strike a balance between European repertories, especially Italian opera, and works by Mexican composers.

1844 El Inspirador Permanente. Gran método de música vocal
Drawing on methods by Nicola Vaccai and Marco Bordogni, this treatise demonstrates Gómez’s continuing interest in vocal pedagogy and the spread of European teaching techniques across Mexico. A copy of this treatise can once again be found in the Internet Archive.

Collectively, these publications reveal how printed publications became an important instrument for shaping musical performance, education, and cultural identity in the decades following the successful War of Independence. Through pedagogical treatises, repertory collections, and educational initiatives, Gómez sought to broaden access to musical knowledge and strengthen musical culture in 19th-century Mexico.

And that is not all. Out of Gómez’s numerous sacred and secular compositions, we mention only two:

Pieza Histórica sobre la Independencia de La Nación Mexicana
A programmatic work offering valuable insight into the role of music in the construction of national identity. Gómez transforms a political narrative into a series of 52 brief movements and a concluding hymn that represent Mexico’s struggles to become an independent nation. The only complete printed copy currently known survives as a set of four bound parts at the Real Biblioteca in Madrid, Spain. Particularly striking is the opening movement, which omits bar lines and employs a free piano texture to reflect the uncertainty and anticipation of its military protagonist. One open question is presented by the printing plate marked “C. H. ♮” – an abbreviation yet to be identified.

Title page and the first page with music from the piano part of Pieza Histórica by Gómez y Olguín. Courtesy Real Biblioteca del Palacio (E-Mp), shelfmark MUS/978.

Partitura Originál | del Te Deum Laudamus | à 4, Voces, 2, Violines, 2, Violas, | oboé, 2, Flautas, 2, Clarinetes, | 2 Trompas, Fagot, Timbales, | Órgano obligado, Bajo | órgano y Bajo | continuo | Compuesto por | J. Ant.o Gómez. | En Mej.co Año de 1835.
The Te Deum illustrates Gomez’s ability to work under pressure on a large-scale ceremonial composition. He said that it had taken him “only two and a half days” to write this work to honor the President, who had been invited to the Mexico City Cathedral after winning a battle. The success of this work helped secure Gómez’s appointment to one of the principal musical positions at Mexico City’s Metropolitan Cathedral. It was performed again in a grand manner in 1840 for the ordination of the first Mexican archbishop – a solemn event described in detail in a 1842 letter by Calderon de la Barca, Frances Erskine Inglis Marchioness. This work has recently been revived also in a concert, providing modern audiences with a unique opportunity to listen to a major composition from Mexico’s early independent period.

One hundred and fifty years after his death, José Antonio Gómez y Olguín continues to emerge as a pivotal figure in 19th-century Mexican musical culture. His activities as composer, performer, pedagogue, editor, publisher, and institution leader contributed to the expansion of musical life in independent Mexico. Ongoing cataloguing, digitization, and dissemination of Gómez’s surviving works promise not only to shed light on the career of a remarkable musician, but also to enrich our understanding of Mexico’s musical past and its place within the broader history of 19th-century music.

Image on the top: Cover of the manuscript copy of Gómez’s Te Deum (1835), RISM ID 120000586 (RISM Catalog | RISM Online). Courtesy Archivo del Cabildo Catedral Metropolitano de México (MEX-Mc), shelfmark AM0843 [A-C]; A0825, available online.

Approaching the end of the intensive editing phase of the A/I volumes, the Zentralredaktion (nowadays mostly mentioned as RISM Editorial Center) could start focusing on the next major challenge: setting up the cataloging rules and the technical framework for the A/II series, meant to include “Music Manuscripts after 1600.” However, just as it had happened two decades earlier, a new effort of such dimensions required a more secure background which was eventually ensured by the admittance of the Kassel RISM office in the so-called Akademienprogramm of the Union of the German Academies of Sciences and Humanities. This program provides support from German state and federal funds specifically to long-term projects, and the Zentralredaktion (which in 1987 actually moved to Frankfurt am Main) was placed under the auspices of the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz.

While the A/II project has kept RISM busy ever since, the past decades saw many important changes in the technical realm: the first microfiche edition of the A/II series (1984), the introduction of the program PIKaDo for the cataloging of sources (1990), the publication of the source descriptions on CD-ROM (1995), the launch of a first internet database as a joint project of the Editorial Center and the U.S. RISM Office at Harvard University (1997), or the switch from PIKaDo to Kallisto (2006). And crowning all these developments, in 2010 the RISM database became available – entirely free of charge – to the widest international community, when the RISM OPAC went online in cooperation with the Bavarian State Library of Munich and the Berlin State Library – a change that also allowed RISM to offer its data as linked open data a few years later.

Nonetheless, the last decade proved no less busy with the introduction of the Muscat cataloging software for the international RISM community (2016), the development of new cataloging templates specifically for printed music in cooperation with the SLUB Dresden (2018), the restructuring of the Swiss RISM working group (the core developers of Muscat) as a new RISM Digital Center (2021), which also resulted in the development of RISM Online as an alternative gateway to the international database.

Needless to say, all of the above is but a very rudimentary outline of RISM’s history to date – which among others ignores the dozens of publications in the B series (for the most part prepared by external experts rather than the staff of the Editorial Center). That said, even this brief survey demonstrates two points of central importance:

(1) Major changes in both structure and workflow have been inevitable throughout RISM’s history – exactly so that the original goals could best be pursued under the ever-changing circumstances.

(2) Cooperations – whether between musicologists and music librarians at RISM’s very foundation, or between the RISM Editorial Center and other like-minded partners in later years – have long helped RISM in crucial moments to reach goals that no institutional actor could have achieved alone.

It is these two lessons that one has to keep in mind as RISM now yet again arrives at a point of substantial change. While the support under the auspices of the Akademienprogramm could be prolonged several times, with the approaching end of the last extension, the Zentralredaktion – which has been the very heart of RISM for over half a century – closes its doors for good at the end of June 2026. Since the services of the outgoing Editorial Center (in the fields of data and authority curation, training, communication, and so forth) remain essential for RISM as a whole, but could not be taken over by any single institution, a few long-standing partners of the Zentralredaktion across Germany have decided to join forces and establish a RISM Editorial Network. The members of this new Network are (in alphabetical order):

• Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur | Mainz
• Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, München
• Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
• Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek (SLUB) Dresden
• Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz

By dividing up the diverse duties of the Editorial Center, these partners agreed to secure all editorial services needed by those cataloging musical sources in the RISM database also in the future. The exact details of which partner takes responsibility for which task, should be of little relevance for the greater public, but over the past months we did our best to prepare all co-workers for their new duties, and we certainly hope that the transition will present RISM’s old and new cataloging contributors with but minimal inconvenience.

Overall, while throughout the past decades it was the prime responsibility of the Editorial Center to provide the intellectual background, as well as the technical infrastructure, for the international cataloging community, at this point we need to take a big step from a more centralized structure toward a network of cooperating institutions – a move which is in fact very much in keeping with RISM’s long history outlined above. As of July 2026, in a sense as a culmination of the gradual changes that already occurred over the past few years, the support of the global RISM community falls to two relatively new actors: the RISM Editorial Network (as the successor of the RISM Editorial Center) involving a handful of major institutions in Germany, and the RISM Digital Center (as a substantially redesigned successor of the former Swiss RISM working group) based in Bern. This is by all means a significant change regarding the overall structure of RISM, which requires us to come to terms with somewhat more complex workflows – while at the same time we dare hope that the increased internal diversity could in fact also prove a source of inspiration for RISM in the longer run.

With all of that in mind, please welcome the new RISM Editorial Network, and feel free to pose any further questions at contact@rism.info – our old contact address, which remains the same also after the change, just as in fact most of the things about RISM that should really matter.

José Bernardo Alzedo (1788–1878) was a musician born in Lima, Peru. He began his musical education at a young age at the convent of San Agustín. Later, he studied with Fray Pascual Nieves at the Dominican convent, where he became acquainted with the works of classical composers such as Mozart and Haydn. He composed several sacred works in Lima before moving to Chile, where he developed most of his professional career as a cathedral musician, choirmaster, and composer. He also wrote music theory treatises, several patriotic songs and hymns, including the National Anthem of Peru (RISM ID no. 1001368991; RISM Catalog | RISM Online) in 1821. The José Bernardo Alzedo Collection is currently held by the Biblioteca Nacional del Perú.

Since late 2025, nearly 30 Peruvian sources have been added to RISM from two institutions: the Library of the Universidad Nacional de Música (Library siglum: PE-Lcnm; RISM Online | RISM Catalog) and the Biblioteca Nacional del Perú (Library siglum: PE-Lbnp; RISM Online | RISM Catalog). Highlights from the Library of the Universidad Nacional de Música include the Ñaupajñejen Mass (RISM ID no. 1001369897; RISM Catalog | RISM Online) by Ulises Lanao de la Haza (1913–1980), and two anonymous twentieth-century transcriptions of Hanacpachap cussicuinin (RISM ID no. 1001365628; RISM Catalog | RISM Online), the first printed polyphonic work published in the Americas in the seventeenth century by Juan Pérez Bocanegra. Both works include lyrics in the Andean Quechua language.

These sources are not only an important part of Peruvian cultural heritage, but also illustrate the cultural and musical syncretism that emerged as a result of the Spanish colonization of the Americas.

The process of incorporating Peruvian sources into RISM is still ongoing, and the current records are available to researchers around the world through RISM Online and the RISM Catalog. Digital copies of the Ñaupajñejen Mass and many other Peruvian manuscripts are accessible directly through the RISM records.

Images: The Biblioteca Nacional del Perú, and the main entrance of the Universidad Nacional de Música in Lima, Peru. Photos by Giancarlo Carreño, c2026.

La colección de José Bernardo Alzedo y otras fuentes peruanas ya están disponibles en el RISM

José Bernardo Alzedo (1788–1878) fue un músico nacido en Lima, Perú. Comenzó su educación musical a temprana edad en el convento de San Agustín. Posteriormente estudió con fray Pascual Nieves en el convento dominico, donde conoció las obras de compositores clásicos como Mozart y Haydn. Compuso varias obras sacras en Lima antes de trasladarse a Chile, donde desarrolló la mayor parte de su carrera profesional como músico de catedral, maestro de capilla y compositor. También escribió tratados de teoría musical, así como diversas canciones patrióticas e himnos, entre ellos el Himno Nacional del Perú (RISM ID No. 1001368991; RISM Catalog | RISM Online) en 1821. La colección José Bernardo Alzedo se conserva actualmente en la Biblioteca Nacional del Perú.

Desde finales de 2025, cerca de 30 fuentes peruanas han sido incorporadas a RISM desde dos instituciones: la Biblioteca de la Universidad Nacional de Música (Sigla de la Bibliotheca: PE-Lcnm; (RISM Catalog | RISM Online) y la Biblioteca Nacional del Perú (Sigla de la Bibliotheca: PE-Lbnp) (RISM Catalog | RISM Online). Entre los registros destacados de la Biblioteca de la Universidad Nacional de Música se encuentran la Misa Ñaupajñejen (RISM ID No. 1001369897; RISM Catalog | RISM Online) de Ulises Lanao de la Haza (1913–1980) y dos transcripciones anónimas del siglo XX de Hanacpachap cussicuinin (RISM ID No. 1001365628; RISM Catalog | RISM Online), la primera obra polifónica impresa publicada en América en el siglo XVII por Juan Pérez Bocanegra. Ambas obras incluyen letras en lengua quechua andina.

El proceso de incorporación de fuentes peruanas a RISM continúa en desarrollo, y los registros actuales se encuentran disponibles para investigadores de todo el mundo a través de RISM Online y el Catálogo RISM. Las copias digitales de la Misa Ñaupajñejen y de varios otros manuscritos peruanos pueden consultarse directamente a través de los registros de RISM (RISM Online | RISM Catalog).

Imágenes: Biblioteca nacional del Perú y Universidad Nacional de Música in Lima, Perú. Fotos de Giancarlo Carreño, c2026.

In October 1843, after extensive concert tours in Switzerland, Italy, and especially France, the celebrated – though at times also demonized and caricatured – piano virtuoso and composer Franz Liszt embarked on a tour of southern Germany. His concerts were sold out, and the press effusively praised both his pianistic skills and the repertoire he played – mostly works by Liszt himself, although compositions by other composers, such as Ludwig van Beethoven or Carl Maria von Weber, were also performed.

On 23 November 1843, Liszt arrived in Donaueschingen, a residential city located on the edge of the Black Forest. The same day he hurried to pay a visit to the court and gave a short concert there “after tea.” A diary entry by the lady of the house, Amalie Christine zu Fürstenberg, records the works that Liszt performed on the evening of his arrival:

• Carl Maria von Weber, Aufforderung zum Tanze. Rondo Brillant in Des-Dur, op. 65
• Liszt, Fantaisie des motifs favoris de l’opéra La sonnambula (LW A56)
• Liszt, Ständchen (“Leise flehen meine Lieder”), Nr. 7 from “Schwanengesang” (LW A49)
• Liszt, Erlkönig, Nr. 4 of “Lieder von Schubert” (LW A42)
• “pleasant waltz from Ems” (which cannot be identified with any certainty)

On the side, the tenor Luigi Pantaleoni, who joined Liszt in his concerts several times, sang two Italian songs.

The following morning Liszt was busy rehearsing for a concert to be held in the evening at the palace. As was characteristic of the time, the program included a rather mixed repertoire of both original compositions and arrangements (virtuoso pieces, songs, as well as orchestral works), and was performed not only by the evening’s main attraction but also by several other musicians – such as the aforementioned tenor Pantaleoni, the Donaueschingen Court Orchestra, and individual members of the orchestra who played both solo and chamber music.

On November 25, Princess Amalie noted that Liszt had once again played “during tea time,” to which “a few people” had been invited. Furthermore, she made mention of a “Ländler” that Liszt had composed especially for her. In fact, the piece in question is only a few bars long. The princess kept the manuscript – a single sheet written on both sides – and through the Donaueschingen Fürstlich Fürstenbergische Hofbibliothek, this source eventually found its way to the Badische Landesbibliothek in Karlsruhe (RISM online | RISM Catalog). The Badische Landesbibliothek is making this precious trace of Liszt’s brief Donaueschingen sojourn available to the public in digital form. Incidentally, Liszt left the city early in the morning on November 26, headed for Karlsruhe, in pursuit of even more success.

Image: Franz Liszt, Ländler - Don Mus. Autogr. 39 : pf; A|b; RaaL 34 / Franz Liszt. (S.l.), 1843 (1843); source: Badische Landesbibliothek Karlsruhe, Don. Mus. Autogr. 39 https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bsz:31-20486 | Public Domain Mark 1.0

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!

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