News archive
500 Years of the Protestant Reformation
Reformation Day is celebrated by Protestants and is an important religious holiday in German-speaking countries. In Germany and Austria, October 31 marks the beginning of the Protestant Reformation by Martin Luther. The first Sunday in November is celebrated as Reformation Sunday in Switzerland. Tomorrow, 31 October 2017, marks the 500th...
30 October 2017 – Musical anniversaries
Polona, the Digital Library of Poland, Now in English
Polona, the digital library administered by the National Library of Poland, has published its 2 millionth work and has just released an interface in English. (Look at the bottom of the page for a link to the English version.) Polona includes treasures of Polish culture from the National Library and...
26 October 2017 – Electronic resources
Muscat Workshop in Vienna
The following news has reached us from Stefan Engl (President, IAML Austria): A Muscat workshop took place in Vienna on 17 October 2017 in the new facilities of the Education Department at the Austrian National Library. The leader of the workshop was Dr. Ikarus Kaiser, organist of Wilhering Abbey and...
23 October 2017 – Events
Twelve More Women Composers
This past International Women’s Day, 8 March 2017, we published a list of the 800 women composers who have sources in the RISM database. The RISM online catalog grows continuously, and in June we added eight more names to the list. Much has happened since June, and we are pleased...
19 October 2017 – New at RISM
Elena Pozza-Sorgo (1784 – 1865)
The series RISM A–Z brings us to the letter P with this post by Vjera Katalinić and Lucija Konfic (RISM Croatia): Elena Pozza-Sorgo (Jelena Pucić-Sorkočević, born Elena Luisa Ragnina, married to Niccolò Luciano di Pozza-Sorgo [Nikola Lukin Pucić-Sorkočević]; 1784 – 1865) was a member of a noble family from Dubrovnik....
17 October 2017 – RISM A-Z
Sterkel 200
The following is a guest post by Dr. Joachim Fischer, president of the J. F. X. Sterkel-Gesellschaft e.V. and editor of the Sterkel thematic catalog: Johann Franz Xaver Sterkel (1750-1817). Thematisch-bibliographisches Werkverzeichnis (StWV), Neustadt an der Aisch: Sterkel Gesellschaft, 2014. Composer Johann Franz Xaver Sterkel, who died on 12 October...
12 October 2017 – Musical anniversaries
New Insight on Maurice Greene's Italian Vocal Music
A recent article by Michael Talbot has shed some light on the “Italian” vocal music of Maurice Greene (1696-1755) and has uncovered two previously overlooked works. Moreover, Talbot identified a handful of pieces that were previously anonymous in RISM. In “Maurice Greene’s Vocal Chamber Music on Italian Texts” (Royal Musical...
9 October 2017 – New at RISM
Earliest Manuscript Source of Lasso Requiem Found in Augsburg
Recently we were browsing the social media site academia.edu and came across a review by Barbara Eichner of Tobias Rimek’s book Das mehrstimmige Repertoire der Benediktinerabtei St. Ulrich und Afra in Augsburg (1549–1632) (Stuttgart: Carus, 2015; the review originally appeared in Jahrbuch des Vereins für Augsburger Bistumsgeschichte [2016]). Eichner’s review...
5 October 2017 – Rediscovered
The Oboe: Instrument of the Year
This year, the oboe has pride of place as Instrument of the Year according the state music council in Germany. This honor is meant to call more attention to an instrument that, in the view of the music councils, needs more young players. In the RISM database, we have plenty...
2 October 2017 – In the news
Music in the Convent of St Adalbert's Abbey in Staniątki, Poland
Marcin Konik (RISM Poland) has completed a project that investigated the music of the Benedictine Monastery in Staniątki, Poland (PL-STAb), resulting in 250 new records in the RISM database. The RISM records were entered by Ludmiła Sawicka. Here is a summary of a newly published article that reveals more about...
28 September 2017 – Library collections