New acquisitions, anniversaries, research findings: there are always opportunities to spotlight individual topics, activities or objects of the Music Department. In the following, you will find a small selection of noteworthy aspects from the broad spectrum and rich holdings and activities of the Music Department.

The opening bars of Das Liebesmahl der Apostel

Richard Wagner borrowed literature from the Royal Library in Dresden – according to Egon Voss in his most recently published Wagner book. It’s possible that this helped the composer to find inspiration for new operas, such as Die Meistersinger von Bayreuth, in which Hans Sachs sings at the end: Verachtet mir die Meister nicht und ehrt mir ihre Kunst! (Do not disdain our Masters thus, But honour well their Art!).
On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the birth the SLUB is presenting historical documents of Richard Wagner: the autograph score for Das Liebesmahl der Apostel (premiered in the Frauenkirche Dresden in 1843); other autograph scores, such as the festive song Der Tag erscheint, der ihn uns wiedergab and the Lied der Hirten from Tannhäuser, as well as original letters; program notes and artist postcards from premieres of Wagner’s works in Dresden; orchestral instrumentation of various opera performances under the direction of Richard Wagner; shellac discs; opera libretti; the police report from 1851, in which the 38 year-old Dresden Kapellmeister (conductor) was charged with being a "state criminal and traitor" and for whom existed an arrest warrant – as well as many, many more recent acquisitions pertaining to Wagner. [more]

46 autograph scores by the composer Ruth Zechlin (1926 – 2007), born in Großhartmannsdorf near Freiberg / Saxony, have been made accessible to the public and are now researchable in the International Inventory of Musical Scores (RISM). Most of this music are instrumental works from the period between 1966 and 1985, which the Music Department of the Saxon State Library managed to acquire due to the library’s personal contact with the artist, established for the "Archive of Composers in the GDR". Among the works in the collection are "Amor und Psyche", "Hommage à PHL", "Metamorphosen" and the work "Wandlungen", a work for organ which depicts the artist’s own life story.
The Saxon composers Jörg Herchet and Manfred Weiss, both of whom are also in the Dresden autograph score collection, were both students of Ruth Zechlin.

Find Dresden’s autograph scores by Ruth Zechlin at RISM online

A detail not to be missed in the SLUB’s lecture hall: the 3-meter high and 12-meter wide curtain, covering the presentation screen, which carries Antonio Vivaldi’s handwriting. The Dresden artist and graphic designer Armin Bock printed the beginning of the first violin part from Vivaldi’s Violin Concerto in G major onto muslin. The original autograph score is held in the SLUB Music Department, Sig. Mus.2389-O-70.

This "Vivaldi" can be viewed in the SLUB’s Digital Collections, experienced live in the lecture hall at events, or listened to on CD from the Media Library.

Violin Concerto RV 314 digital autograph
CD recordings in the Media Library: SM 6.452

In 1845, Clara and Robert Schumann began an album and dedicated it to the "faithful safekeeping" of their children. In 1934, the Saxon State Library purchased the then incomplete album from the Schumann grandchildren.

Bennett, William Sterndale: Herr Schumann ist ein guter Mann (Mr. Schumann is a Good Man), 1837.

The album contains family register pages, numerous letters, original autograph scores by Schumann, by Brahms and by Mendelssohn Bartholdy, writings by prominent figures, such as Joseph Haydn and Carl Maria von Weber, drawings by Bertel Thorwaldsen and Pauline Vkiadot-Garcia, as well as mementos, such as hair clippings from family members and dried flowers. Due to its singular value, the album was stored in a steel cabinet in the basement of the Japanisches Palais (Japanese Palace) during the war. Unfortunately, the album was severely damaged by Elbe groundwater. The album was inventoried, and each item was given a number and a letter, corresponding with the list of contributors. Signature (call number) numbers were assigned: Mus.Schu.1 – 338. In 1979, the Schumann scholar Wolfgang Boetticher published a representative selection of texts under the title: "Briefe und Gedichte aus dem Album Robert und Clara Schumann" (Deutscher Verlag für Musik Leipzig). Restoration work was carried out between 1986 and 1988.
On June 8th, 2012, Robert Schumann’s birthday was celebrated for the 200th time. For this occasion, several items were digitized (music, illustrations of the Schumann album) and are now available. Their letters can be researched via the SLUB manuscript database. Digitization and cataloguing of the entire family album is planned for 2011.

Literature:

• Hartmann, A.; Rosenthal, C.: Die musikalischen Blätter aus dem Schumann-Album in der SLUB, 2010 (catalogue, PDF)
• Hartmann, A.: Musikhandschriften des Dresdner Schumann-Albums, 2010 (PDF)

Resources in the SLUB catalogues:

• Images of the Schumann Album
• Letters from the Schumann Album
• Music from the Schumann Album
• Boetticher, W.: Briefe und Gedichte aus dem Album Robert und Clara Schumann. Leipzig, 1981