Telemann digital

Ann Kersting-Meuleman

Monday, August 27, 2018

We have received the following from Ann Kersting-Meuleman (Universitätsbibliothek Frankfurt am Main):

Almost 800 music manuscripts by the eminent composer Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) housed at the University Library Johann Christian Senckenberg are being digitized with funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG). The project will last 1.5 years and will encompass the digitization and cataloguing of around 48,000 pages from the Frankfurt Cantata Collection from the 18th century.

Telemann was the city music director and church Kapellmeister in Frankfurt from 1712 to 1721. Among the materials to be digitized are manuscripts in Telemann’s own hand as well as copies of his works. In addition, about 150 manuscripts by subsequent music directors until the end of the 18th century will be digitized: Johann Christoph Bodinus (1690-1727), Johann Balthasar König (1691-1758), Johann Christoph Fischer (1717-1769), and Johann Conrad Seibert (1711-1792), as well as some anonymous works. The entries in the RISM database will form the basis for cataloging. The RISM entries will link to the digital images of the cantatas. The texts of many of the cantatas will be offered in a modern transcription. Recording the watermarks will be particularly helpful for copyist and provenance research.

The aim of the project is to make the autograph and other manuscripts of the church cantatas, as well as some secular works from this unique collection, available for scholarly research, scholarly editions, and church and concert performances. It complements similar music digitization projects in other academic libraries.

The cantata manuscripts will be accessible through the Digital Collections of the University Library.

Catégorie: Collections de bibliothèques