Lucerne Central and University Library

In addition to its regional importance, the historical music collection of Lucerne Central and University Library (ZHB Luzern) is highly relevant to the overall context of Swiss music history. It comprises some 240 music manuscripts from the 18th and 19th centuries (with a focus on Leo Stöcklin and Franz Josef Breitenbach), several complete posthumous collections (e.g., of Richard Rosenberg, Albert Jenny, Otto Kreis, etc.) as well as approximately 600 printed editions of music from the 18th and 19th centuries. There are also individual manuscripts with music by Franz Xaver Schnyder von Wartensee from his partial Nachlass, playing an important role within the project "Repertory of Swiss composers of the 19th century".

In addition to the manuscripts there are also a number of printed music books of the 18th century in the ZHB Luzern that are kept there as a deposit of the Collegiate Church of St Leodegar. These are mostly miscellaneous volumes, presented in partbooks. The collection is an important one, insofar as it is a good addition to the titles already catalogued in the RISM printed A/I series, and that it provides a picture of the ordinary music practice at the Hofkirche of Lucerne in the 18th and 19th centuries. Its complete cataloguing by the RISM offers both musicologists and practical musicians a tool to find historical music sources to explore and perform once again.

The cataloguing project is planned over several years due to the great wealth of historical music sources. In a first step, the printed editions of the Collegiate Church of St Leodegar, and in a second, the more representative manuscripts are catalogued. In parallel, all other documents such as letters, photographs or notes are catalogued by the employees of the library in the overall catalogue of manuscripts, archives and posthumous collections (HAN).

Contact: Cédric Güggi