Germany : Dresden, Munich : Working group Germany
The objective of the German working group is the scholarly indexing and cataloging of older music prints, manuscripts, writings, and libretti dating from around 1600 to the mid-19th century that have been handed down in German collections.
Since 1979, examples of music iconography in the field of fine arts has concurrently been indexed in the Munich office through cooperation with the Répertoire International d’Iconographie Musicale (RidIM). Detailed information about the activities of the German RIdIM office can be found here (in German).
The project is financed by the Union of German Academies of Sciences and Humanities in Mainz. Reports of the German RISM working group are published annually online and in the Jahrbuch der Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz see annual reports of the German working groups since 2003 (in German).
The focus of the work is on scholarly cataloging of historical music manuscripts in German collections (predominantly from the time between 1600 and 1850, but sometimes beyond that). More information about this, as well as an overview of the over 200 collections that have already been described, is available here.
Within the scope of RISM Germany, more than 700 collections housed in public, religious, and private institutions have been described so far. Around half of these collections consist of only printed music while the other half is made up of both music manuscripts and imprints.
RISM Germany Working Group: Steering Committee
Prof. Dr. Nicole Schwindt (1. Vorsitzende)
Staatliche Hochschule für Musik
78647 Trossingen
Dr. Bernhold Schmid (2. Vorsitzender)
Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
Orlando di Lasso-Ausgabe
80539 München
Dr. Christoph Meixner (Schriftführer)
Thüringisches Landesmusikarchiv
Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt
99425 Weimar
Prof. Dr. Barbara Wiermann (Beisitzerin)
Sächsische Landesbibliothek - Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek
01054 Dresden
News
Unknown Beethoven sketch leaf acquired by the SLUB Dresden
The Saxon State and University Library (SLUB) has acquired a privately owned Beethoven sketch leaf previously unknown to scholars. It forms part of a small collection that once belonged to the Saxon music teacher Carl Otto Böhme (1807-1874). The Beethoven autograph (D-Dl Mus.4193-T-608) contains sketches for the Piano Sonata op....
24 January 2025 – Library collections
Herrnhut is World Heritage
On Friday, 26 July, Herrnhut became a UNESCO World Heritage Site! To be more precise, the settlements of the Moravian church in Herrnhut were added to UNESCO’s World Heritage list: Christiansfeld in Denmark has been on the list since 2015, and now Gracehill in Northern Ireland, Bethlehem in Pennsylvania, and...
29 July 2024 – In the news
Perspectives on Cataloging Printed Music: Meeting with the German RISM Offices
In mid-May 2024, the staff of the Munich and Dresden RISM offices came together for a meeting in Dresden. The main topic of several discussions and workshops was exploring new options when cataloging printed music. One of the points of discussion, for example, was finding tools to describe images and...
28 May 2024 – New at RISM
In memoriam Gertraut Haberkamp (29 January 1937 – 5 November 2023)
On the same day as Dr. Harald Heckmann, long-time president of RISM, Dr. Gertraut Haberkamp, who stood for RISM’s work like few others and was also a leading authority on the sources of the Viennese Classics, passed away in Munich. Gertraut Haberkamp was born in Bochum, the middle of five...
30 November 2023 – In memoriam
Anniversary Symposium of RISM Germany
On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the founding of RISM’s German working group, a symposium will be held on November 21 and 22 at the Bavarian State Library in Munich. The event bears the title “Musical Sources of the 19th Century in Germany: Challenges and Opportunities” and offers...
19 October 2023 – Events