RISM - Répertoire International des Sources Musicales

The American musicologist Howard Mayer Brown (1930-1993) was an important contributor for the RISM project. He provided detailed revisions and descriptions for the first part of the RISM B /I series, printed music collections published between 1500 and 1550, which were entered in 2014 into the RISM online catalogue. His collection of rare music instruments can be admired as part of his estate in the Newberry Library (Chicago).

Nobel Prize Museum
Yesterday was World Music Day. To mark the occasion, the Nobel Prize Museum in Stockholm asked: Vad betyder musik för dig? What does music mean to you? Even if not all of us might want to be as strict as Nobel Prize winner Albert Einstein—for whom a life without playing music would have been inconceivable—it’s still worth asking ourselves time and again what music means to each and every one of us. What does singing mean to us? Playing music? Listening to music? Or maybe dancing? Watching a music video? Or writing and reading musical notation?

Ipswich Museums
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Among all the many anniversaries this year is the 250th birthday of the British landscape painter John Constable (1776–1837). He is known to posterity mostly as a painter of romantic landscapes. Less well known until now was his love of music, which he expressed through his cello. The instrument was made in 1802 by John Dunthorne Sr., a neighbour and friend. After Constable’s death, the cello was initially neglected and later suffered damage during restoration. Thanks to initiative of the Friends of Ipswich Museum, which made another restoration possible, it is now playable again – a performance by British cellist Melanie Woodcock on June 10 provided undeniable proof of this. Constable’s cello will be on display at the Ipswich Collection from 17 June until 4 October 2026 as part of the activities surrounding Constable’s anniversary.

Image: John Constable: Salisbury Cathedral from Bishop’s Grounds, ca. 1825, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Object number: 50.145.8, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435922 (Public domain)

Links:
Website of Christchurch Mansion: https://ipswich.cimuseums.org.uk/visit/christchurch-mansion/
Article by Dalya Alberge, The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/jun/09/artist-john-constable-cello-played-first-time-100-years
Article by artworld.today: John Constable’s C https://artworld.today/news/constable-cello-2026/ello Returns as a Different Kind of Archive - artworld.today
Article by Helmut Mauró, Süddeutsche Zeitung: https://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/john-constable-cello-restaurierung-li.3497114

Mozart wasn't happy about her talent... But he composed his beautiful double concerto for flute and harp KV 299 for Marie-Louise-Philippine de Bonnières de Guînes, a French noblewoman and amateur harpist. At the same time, she became his student for composition; her rich father wanted her to be trained to compose duets for flute and harp under Mozart's guidance. Now the exercise book from their lectures has resurfaced in the BnF - Bibliothèque nationale de France ! And it contains some totally unknown compositions by Mozart which will be heard for the first time in modern ages on this weekend in Paris.

Discovery of an unpublished autograph manuscript by Mozart in the BnF Music Department BnF – Institutional website

Badische Landesbibliothek
Deutsches Historisches Museum

Franz Liszt was undoubtedly one of the most well-traveled musicians of his time. His concert tours took him all over Europe. During one such tour through southern Germany, he arrived in the small residential city of Donaueschingen toward the end of November 1843. A small composition - a "Ländler" -, now part of the collection at the Badische Landesbibliothek in Karlsruhe, stands as a lasting testimony to this brief stay. We have created a short post about it on our website, which provides some additional details.

Link to the post on the RISM-website: https://rism.info/library_collections/2026/06/17/a-l%C3%A4ndler-by-Liszt.html

Images:
First page of: Franz Liszt: Ländler - Don Mus. Autogr. 39 : pf; A|b; RaaL 34 / Franz Liszt. [S.l.], 1843 (1843). Source: Badische Landesbibliothek Karlsruhe, Don Mus. Autogr. 39, https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bsz:31-20486 / Public Domain Mark 1.0

Hans Hartz (1902) (production): Schwarzwald, Donaueschingen, Schloss. Deutsches Historisches Museum, item number: BA 97/12649. Source: Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, https://www.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/item/JQIQN63MEYEMNSLIWZP3RLMIAI4JWKTG, cc-license: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0,
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.en

How romantic! The young composer Béla Bartók fell deeply in love with the Hungarian violinist Stefi Geyer (1888-1956), she was the dedicatee of his first violin concerto. The Hungarian music antiquarian Ádám Bősze has recently discovered the autograph of a short piano piece from october 1907, a musical love letter for Stefi Geyer!

Unknown Bartók Manuscript Discovered An unknown composition by Béla Bartók has surfaced at the Ádám Bősze Music Antiquarian. The occasional piece was written by the composer on October 1, 1907, in response to a question sent in a letter by his love, violinist Stefi Geyer—music historian and antiquarian Ádám Bősze informed our...

15 June: On this day, in 1685, the Bavarian Elector Max Emanuel married 16 years old Austrian Archduchess Maria Antonia, daughter of the Habsburg emperor, in Vienna. The Elector brought a 'modest' delegation of 847 Court officals and servants and 1084 horses with him for this occasion. When the couple returned to Munich, the event was celebrated with the lavish performance of Agostino Steffani's opera 'Servio Tullio'. The marriage was very important for dynastic reasons: If Maria Antonia would give birth to a son who would survive the ailing Spanish King Charles II., the problems of the Spanish Succession would have been solved, as the young prince would have been No. 1 in the succession line to the Spanish throne. But the marriage was an unhappy one, the young electress felt neglected and unwelcome at the Munich court, and she passed away in 1692, just 23 years old, in Vienna. Her only son, the young electoral prince Ferdinand Joseph would die already in 1699: This tragic event would eventually cause the devastating Spanish War of Succession.
The Music department of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (D-Mbs) owns parts of Maria Antonia's private music collection. https://rism.online/people/30101592/sources Some manuscripts reflect her connection with her beloved Viennese Court, with aria collections from operas by the Viennese court composer Antonio Draghi (example: Mus.ms.1523, https://rism.online/sources/450058490 , which contains some inserted pieces composed by her father, Emperor Leopold I., who was an accomplished composer himself), and a collection of German Lieder by her music teacher Johann Jacob Prinner Mus.ms.1577 https://rism.online/sources/450058594 . But she owned also music by Munich composers Agostino Steffani (arias from his opera 'Alarico il Baltha' from 1687, Mus.ms.1517-1518, https://rism.online/sources/450058329 and https://rism.online/sources/450058330 ) and Giuseppe Antonio Bernabei (Balletto 'Gli Dei festeggianti' Mus.ms.1523 https://rism.online/sources/1001354533 , Munich 1688). From the surviving libretto we learn that Maria Antonia took part in the performance as one of the leading dancers. So there must have been some rare moments of joy in Munich for this unhappy princess.

15.6.1685: In Wien findet die Vermählung des jungen bayerischen Kurfürsten Max Emanuel (reg. 1679–1726) mit der sechzehnjährigen Erzherzogin Maria Antonia (1669–1692), der ältesten Tochter Kaiser Leopolds I., statt. Es ist eine der üblichen fürstlichen Zweckehen, die dazu dient, den Wittelsbacher von einer lockenden Verbindung mit Leopolds Gegner, dem französischen Sonnenkönig Ludwig XIV., abzuhalten und den Bayern für seine unverzichtbare Militärhilfe in den kaiserlichen Türkenkriegen belohnt. Schließlich ist mit der Hand der Prinzessin eine (wenn auch anfechtbare) Anwartschaft auf das spanische Habsburger-Reich verbunden! So viel Politik ist eine schlechte Voraussetzung für eine gelingende menschliche Beziehung, die dann auch gründlich schief geht. Gefeiert werden soll aber dennoch: Die bayerische Hochzeitsdelegation, die die Braut in das – zwischenzeitlich vermutlich entvölkerte – München „überführt“, erscheint mit nicht weniger als 847 Personen! Dazu 1084 Pferde vor 101 Wagen und Kutschen, alles geparkt in der Hofburg, die noch nicht der riesige Palastkomplex ist, den heutige Wien-Touristen bestaunen. „Dahoam“ in München wird dafürwenige, arbeitsintensive Monate später die Hochzeitsoper „Servio Tullio“ über die Bretter des Hofopernhauses am Salvatorplatz geschickt: Der Titelheld, der dank Mut und Tugend auf den Thron gelangte Römerkönig Servius, erringt die Hand der schönen Prinzessin Tullia aus der altehrwürdigen Etrusker-Dynastie. Es braucht kaum Erklärung des singenden Götterhimmels im Prolog, um Mythologie und tagespolitsches Wunschdenken zu verzahnen! Mehr über Max Emanuels Ehe(n) in Schlösserblog unter: https://schloesserblog.bayern.de/residenz-muenchen/frauen-an-der-seite-max-emanuels

In diesem Jahr feiert die „Mathildenhöhe“, ein Gebäude- und Parkensemble in Darmstadt, ihr 5jähriges Jubiläum als Teil des UNESCO-Welterbes, aber bereits das 125jährige Jubiläum ihrer ersten Ausstellung im Jahr 1901. Sie ist weithin bekannt für ihre Architektur im Jugendstil. Weniger bekannt sind ihre Verbindungen zur Musik, etwa ein Flügel aus der Schiedmayer Pianofortefabrik Stuttgart, der nach einem Entwurf des Designers und Architekten Peter Behrens gebaut worden war. Behrens gehörte von 1899 bis 1803 der Darmstädter Künstlerkolonie Mathildenhöhe an und schuf dort das „Haus Behrens“. Ob der kunstvoll gearbeitete, mit Intarsien einen Adlerflügel imitierende Salon-Flügel aus dem Hause Schiedmayer jemals in Behrens Haus in Darmstadt gestanden hatte, ist bislang anscheinend ungeklärt. Seit 2014 befindet er sich im Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln. Aber nicht nur Behrens, sondern auch Ernst Ludwig, Großherzog von Hessen-Darmstadt, Gründer und Förderer der Mathildenhöhe, zeigte sich der Musik verbunden. Kompositionen aus seiner Feder sind in der Musikabteilung der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz erhalten und über die RISM-Datenbank leicht zu recherchieren, Digitalisate inklusive.

Links:
Abbildung: Ernst Ludwig, Großherzog von Hessen-Darmstadt: „Ich trag eine Wunderblume verschlossen in meiner Brust“ für Singstimme und Klavier; http://resolver.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/SBB0002D1E600010000
Behrens‘ Flügel:
https://makk-designblog.de/2018/05/zarathustras-adler-im-schiedmayer-salonfluegel-von-peter-behrens/
https://www.bildindex.de/document/obj20492365?medium=fm1012380&part=3 (Stand: 11.06.2026)
Recherche in RISM: https://rism.info/de/index.html
Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt: https://www.mathildenhoehe.de/

IAML-Music Librarians, Archivists and Information Specialists of the World
The Congress of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres (IAML) is taking place again this year, and this time the Greek city of Thessaloniki is welcoming guests from the international music library community. Please see our website for details on the slate of RISM events in Thessaloniki, including a Muscat workshop for those interested in getting a project started with RISM.
In diesem Jahr findet der Kongress der International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres (IAML) in der griechischen Stadt Thessaloniki statt. RISM wird wieder mit Veranstaltungen vertreten sein, zu denen wir auf unserer IAML 2026-Seite Informationen zusammengestellt haben. Besonders möchten wir auf einen zweiteiligen Workshop hinweisen, mit dem wir allen Interessierten eine Einführung in unsere Katalogisierungssoftware Muscat anbieten.

Link: https://rism.info/publications/iaml-congresses/2026.html

Early Music Sources 'Beyond the existing: Lost works and fragmentary sources': Next week, there will be an international conference hosted by the Department of Musicology at the University of Cremona, Italy, dedicated to this thrilling subject!

🎓 Convegno internazionale
Oltre l’esistente. Musicologia, opere perdute e testimonianze frammentarie
📅 15–17 giugno 2026
📍 Palazzo Raimondi, Aula Magna del Dipartimento di Musicologia e Beni Culturali, Università di Pavia (sede di Cremona)

Come studiare ciò che non esiste più? Opere perdute, frammenti mutili, materiali dispersi e testimonianze indirette rappresentano una sfida cruciale per la ricerca musicologica e filologica. Il convegno internazionale Oltre l’esistente esplora il «perduto» come oggetto di studio, interrogandosi su come l’assenza influenzi la nostra conoscenza delle opere, degli autori e dei processi creativi.
🎤 Apertura dei lavori con la keynote lecture di Claudio Vela (Università di Pavia).
🌍 Interverranno studiose e studiosi provenienti da Regno Unito, Svezia, Irlanda, Spagna, Stati Uniti, Turchia, Germania e Italia.
🎻 Martedì 16 giugno, presso il Museo del Violino, è prevista un’audizione pubblica con strumenti storici.

🎓 Il convegno è promosso e organizzato dalle dottorande e dai dottorandi in Musicologia dell’Università di Pavia.
🎟️ Ingresso libero.
▶️ Diretta streaming sul canale YouTube del Dipartimento.
🔗 Programma completo al link nel primo commento
📧 Informazioni: [email protected]