News archive – In the news
Catalog of the Works of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: A New Project
We have received the following from Carola Finkel: The Roman composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525–1594), through his musical output, left a far-reaching mark on church music, music theory, and compositional practice. His influence on music history started during his lifetime and can still be felt today. Although scholarly treatment...
2 February 2017
Moralt, A Muscial Family
Moralt, A Muscial Family Even if the history of the Moralt family of musicians begins much earlier, to an extent we can identify Adam Moralt (circa 1741-1811) as the founding father of the Munich branch. First engaged as a bellows blower for the organs at the Mannheim Court, he moved...
31 October 2016
Christoph Wolff honored with Medal Pour le Mérite
Last Sunday, May 29, 2016, RISM honorary president Christoph Wolff was honored with the medal Pour le Mérit für Wissenschaften und Künste, a civilian honor. In the presence of German President Joachim Gauck, the Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim and the German musicologist Christoph Wolff received their medals at a ceremony...
2 June 2016
Vratislavia, Brassel, Breslau, Wrocław, or "WrocLove"
The fourth-largest city in Poland has worn many names over the course of its storied past. This year, Wrocław is one of the two European Capitals of Culture, along with Donostia-San Sebastián in Spain. The full calendar of events and more information about the Polish city can be found on...
28 April 2016
18th-Century Music Manuscript "Libro Sesto" Tells of Colonial History in Chile
The Biblioteca Nacional de Chile in Santiago (RCH-Sbnc) is home to a rare music manuscript from ca. 1790, which it has had in its possession since January 2014. It was a gift from the descendants of the Chilean musicologist Guillermo Marchant Espinoza (1950-2009), who rescued it from the rubble during...
25 February 2016
The 2016 RISM Bird Count
The winter months keep most of us indoors, but this time of the year is greeted by birdwatchers on both sides of the Atlantic as they grab their binoculars and head outside for annual bird counts. There is the Christmas Bird Count in North America, the Big Garden Birdwatch in...
15 February 2016
Donostia / San Sebastián: European Capital of Culture 2016
Donostia, the Basque name for San Sebastián in Spain, is one of the two European Capitals of Culture in 2016. Donostia joins Wrocław, Poland for year-long festivities of theater, music, dance, exhibitions, and more. Our colleagues at ERESBIL-Basque Archives of Music (E-RE) have written an overview of music life in...
21 January 2016
Luigi Marchesi - A famous singer from the 18th century
Luigi Marchesi (1754-1829) – one of the most famous singers at the end of the eighteenth century – will be the focus of attention in the next few days with large celebrations in Italy. An exhibit dedicated to the Italian castrato, whose career began in 1765 as a choirboy at...
15 October 2015
Using RISM for Genealogy
This article by Peter Teuthorn was originally published in his Genealogie-Feuilleton in an earlier form and is reprinted here with kind permission. Compositions by Christian Balthasar Teuthorn found using RISM Today’s genealogy no longer wears itself out by piling up ancestry data. Genealogists now look at the social context of...
6 August 2015
Help solve a 90-year-old musical mystery
A competition has been set up by the Italian music monthly Musica to find works by the almost unknown Italian-Argentinian composer Rodolfo Zanni (1901-1927). After his mysterious death, his works completely disappeared. He composed over 80 works: symphonies, overtures, ballets, sonatas, and two operas. Can you find any? A worldwide...
30 March 2015
