Libraries
Wienbibliothek im Rathaus
Starting out from a bequest of the contractor and art sponsor Nicolaus Dumba, the Vienna City Library’s Schubert collection has been systematically enlarged and is today the world’s largest collection of Schubertiana. At its core are the world’s most substantial body of autograph music manuscripts by Schubert and a nearly complete collection of first editions of his works. The Vienna City Library’s Schubert collection is being consulted by musicologists from all over the world. It provides particularly indispensable source material for the New Edition of Schubert’s Complete Works and other text-critical editions. In addition to the musicological interest, items from the Vienna City Library’s Schubert collection have been regularly demanded as show pieces for exhibitions. Examples to be noted are the City of Vienna’s major Schubert exhibitions of 1978 and 1997 in the Historical Museum, which centered on the composer’s artistic legacy and whose exhibits were drawn mainly from the Vienna City Library’s Schubert collection.
Description: The Vienna City Library’s Schubert Collection comprises of about 340 autograph music manuscripts, first editions of nearly all of Schubert’s works, numerous later editions and manuscript copies by other hands, several autograph letters and other writings and various further documents referring to Schubert (in particular writings by members of his circle of friends), accompanied by a large collection of international literature on Schubert.
Bibliographic details: The Schubert Collection is split between the Music Collection, the Manuscript Collection and the Printed Books Collection of the Vienna City Library. Every single item is identified by its inventory number which, in the cases of manuscripts and books, is similar to its call number; for reasons of convenience, all editions of a given composition or group of compositions by Schubert have been assigned one and the same call number.
Visual documentation: Several items of the Schubert Collection have been photocopied, microfilmed or published in facsimile editions, as well as photographs of numerous items which appear throughout the literature on Schubert.
History: Coming into effect in 1900, Nicolaus Dumba, contractor and art sponsor, bequeathed the greater part of his highly notable collection of Schubert autographs to the City of Vienna. This led subsequently to the foundation of the Music Collection of the Vienna City Library with Dumba’s Schubert collection as its centerpiece which has been enlarged systematically and is today the world’s largest collection of Schubertiana.
