The Music Manuscripts of the Music Collection of the Austrian National Library in RISM

Christa Traunsteiner

Thursday, September 5, 2024

We have received the following from Christa Traunsteiner, deputy head of the Music Collection of the Austrian National Library.

Since last year, RISM users have had access to a large part of the descriptions of the manuscripts kept in the Department of Music of the Austrian National Library. Specifically, the records with the shelfmarks Mus.Hs., KT, OA, and HK were imported into the RISM database. The group Mus.Hs. (RISM Catalog | RISM Online) contains about 45,000 music manuscripts, among them the music collection’s historically most important holdings, such as autographs by Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Anton Bruckner, Hugo Wolf, and Richard Strauss. Of equally outstanding significance are the choir books from the 15th century, the manuscript scores from the private library of Emperor Leopold I (bound in white parchment) and from the reign of Emperor Charles VI (uniformly bound in brown leather), as well as the extensive private music archive of Emperor Franz II (I), which also includes the collections of Archduchess Maria Elisabeth of Austria (1743–1808) and his second wife Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily.

The archive of the Imperial Chapel (Wiener Hofmusikkapelle), which is kept under the shelfmarks HK.1-3086 (RISM Catalog | RISM Online), primarily contains the performance materials (full scores and parts) of the church music in use at the Viennese imperial court during the 18th and 19th centuries. These constitute important sources for the history of Viennese church music and historical performance practice.

The sources under the shelfmarks KT and OA include manuscript performance material from the Kärtnertortheater (KT shelfmarks - RISM Catalog | RISM Online), as well as the Vienna Court Opera and the later Vienna State Opera (OA shelfmarks - RISM Catalog | RISM Online). The Kärtnertortheater was one of the court theaters in 18th and 19th-century Vienna, performing operas, ballets, and plays alike. Together with the ‘old’ Burgtheater on the Michaelerplatz, it is considered as a forerunner of the Wiener Staatsoper. The holdings of the Kärtnertortheater comprise around 500 scores, mainly for operas and some ballets performed from ca. 1750 to ca. 1870, once again offering precious source material to students of the operas and ballets from this period and researchers of historical performance practice. This group of sources finds its continuation in the so-called “Opera Archive” (OA) stemming from the Vienna Court Opera and Vienna State Opera, featuring performance materials (full scores, parts, vocal scores and librettos) from ca. 1770 to ca. 1950.

Image: Calligraphic dedication in a manuscript copy of Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 5 from the Department of Music of the Austrian National Library, A-Wn Mus.Hs.6064 (RISM ID no.600100612 - RISM Catalog | RISM Online). Available online.

Category: New at RISM