Digitisation of autographs and unique prints from the Music Library of the Bern Academy of the Arts

Wednesday, August 14, 2024

The library of the Bern Academy of the Arts (Hochschule der Künste Bern, CH-BEk) goes back to the library of the Bern Music Society (Berner Musikgesellschaft), which was founded in 1816. In 1858, the Music Society promoted the founding of the Bern Music School (Berner Musikschule, the forerunner of today’s HKB. Perhaps due to the fact that it was an association rooted in the urban bourgeoisie, many of the documents preserved among the rarities bear the bookplates of high-ranking personalities. Many sources are the result of donations from teachers and directors of the conservatory. Finally, a small number of the musical sources come from the library of the Swiss Music Society, which was founded in Lucerne in 1808 and dissolved in 1891. As part of the digitisation project D-MUS (Digital Music Unica in Switzerland), seven unique music prints and three autographs are now accessible online. The printed editions, which are not known from any other library, contain works by Ludwig van Beethoven, Muzio Clementi, Josef Haydn, Rodolphe Kreutzer, Vicente Martín y Soler and Ignace Pleyel (Trios and Quartets). Two autographs by Louis Spohr (a duet and a scherzo) and one by Adolf Reichel are added to the already digitised manuscripts from this collection, primarily with works by Adolf Reichel and Hans Studer.