Manuscripts from the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Liepāja (Latvia)

Frauke Heinze

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Within the framework of a project sponsored by the Baltic-German Academic Consortium in the Latvian port city of Liepāja, valuable music manuscripts from the second half of the 18th century were cataloged for RISM by a team of researchers from Germany and Latvia. The project involved a unique collection of music manuscripts, mostly from the Saxon region of Germany, that were stored at the Holy Trinity Cathedral (LV-Lstk). The collection was begun by Gottlieb Heinrich Traugott Perle (1755-1831) and expanded by his successors. Perle had studied in Leipzig and was subsequently cantor at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Liepāja from 1779 to 1831. The collection consists of about 150 compositions and includes copies of numerous cantatas by Gottfried August Homilius (1714-1785) as well as several autograph sources for electoral cantatas by Johann Friedrich Doles (1715-1797) and works by Georg Michael Telemann (1748-1831). Through the collaboration of the Bach Archive in Leipzig (Dr. Uwe Wolf), the University of Leipzig (Institute for Musicology, Dr. Helmut Loos) and the Latvian Academy of Music in Riga (Prof. Lolita Fūrmane), the collection has now been able to undergo conservation treatment and be made available to the public. Upon completion of the cataloging, the results were presented to the public in Riga.

Transcription of the title page in the image: Große Solenne | Raths Wahl=Cantate. | Die Chöre der Stadt | Die Vorsicht | Die Weißheit | Die Tugend in einem Duett. | Die Religion. | Die Anmuth. | a | Clarino primo. | Clarino secondo. | Oboe I. Oboe IIdo | Bassono 1.mo Bassono IIdo | Violino 1mo Violino IIdo | Viola | Violone, fundamento | Soprano, Alto, Tenore, Basso e Capell | voo [sic] 4. con Organo. Nebst noch 4. Texten dazu, in Singstimmen beiliegend. und Vielfach brauchbar. von Johann Friedrich | Doles. (LV-Lstk Libauer Cantorat No: 40.b., RISM ID no. 515000108)

Category: Library collections