Private collections and libraries
Thursday, May 15, 2025
The following contribution presents the first part of a two-part news item meant as a first introduction to private collections and libraries. RISM currently (as of 13 May 2025) lists 9,122 library sigla. Of these, 637 refer to private collections or libraries, i.e. just over 7 % of all our sigla. Two to three dozen libraries of aristocratic families can also be added to this figure, resulting in an approximate number of 670. As a rule, the owner’s family name is part of the siglum alongside abbreviations for the country and the place, whereby the terms “collection” and “library” are often used synonymously. The biggest challenge private collections present RISM with is that, as a rule, their existence is limited in time.
Part 1: Building and dissolving private collections
In the following, we would like to present two cases that demonstrate how private collections are gradually built up as long as their owners actively maintain and expand their holdings. However, if they have to be sold at a later date – e.g. for economic reasons, as a compulsory state measure, or due to the death of their owners – their coherence can no longer be maintained. Parts of these collections then find their way into other private collections which happen to be in the phase of expansion, but may themselves be sold again later if the heirs or new owners prove unable or unwilling to preserve the entire collection. This rise and fall – the phases of building up and those of subsequent dissolution – belong to the very nature of private collections and libraries.
In our first example, the owner Martin Bierwisch describes in his own words how his still young collection is growing, what purpose it serves, and what his goals are when making further purchases. It is clear that the further development of the collection is as yet quite open.
D-Hbierwisch (private collection of Martin Bierwisch, RISM Catalog | RISM Online):
“The collection focuses on printed music editions from the 19th century, but there are also some prints from the 18th century, the oldest one dating from 1751 (RISM ID no. 990002906 - RISM Catalog | RISM Online). As a rule, manuscripts are not collected, although they are occasionally included in composite volumes. Currently, about 200 sources are searchable in the RISM database, although the collection is larger. In the future, even more of the extant prints should be cataloged in Muscat. Occasional new acquisitions are guided less by predilections for individual composers than by an interest in regions and publishers. This goes hand in hand with my research interests as a musicologist. So far, the focus has been on prints from the Middle Rhine region (André, Schott, etc.) and London. The collection has recently moved to Hamburg and is open to interested researchers.”
Our second example D-ESrheinfurth (RISM Catalog | RISM Online) proves instructive by shedding light on the current situation of a collection built by our colleague Dr. Hans Rheinfurth who sadly passed away in 2023. The collection is now partially up for sale at the music antiquarian Wolfgang Stöger with a selection of 75 items. The ca. 1,400 printed editions will therefore lose their context in the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, the Rheinfurth collection has not been cataloged for RISM, except for a single source. Nevertheless, the antiquarian’s documentation of the sources will still be able to convey the impression of an organically developed collection for future research. Dr. Rheinfurth’s collecting concentrated on ephemeral prints from German publishers of the early 19th century, including some rare and unique items. For the editions by Gombart, Hofmeister, and Böhme, separate catalogs are to be published in 2025/26.
In a few weeks’ time, in the second part of this introduction to private libraries, we shall take a closer look at collections that have a long history of continuity or have found a safe haven in an institution relatively recently. In addition, the relocation of private households together with their collections will also be discussed.
Image: Music prints from the private collection of Martin Bierwisch (with kind permission).
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