This article is a fundamental revision of Otto Albrecht's comprehensive listing in Grove6 of collections of printed and manuscript music and letters of composers and musicians, libraries, books and theoretical works still in private hands. collections of Instrumentsand Sound archives are treated elsewhere. Albrecht's division into two sections has been retained, though the parts are retitled ‘Current Collections’ and ‘Historical Collections’. The former records geographically collections in the process of formation and development, or which remain in the family of the original collector or have not yet reached permanent, public, institutional ownership. The second lists alphabetically collections since the late 15th century which have reached a final destination (as far as can be ascertained) or have now been dispersed. Political and market forces of the last 30 or so years of the 20th century have shown that it is not always an inexorable progress from the first to the second list and in some cases the reverse journey has been made. Bibliographical details are generally omitted in the second part; they may be found under the entry for the library where the collection is now located.
A definition of a private collection in the early 21st century is not easily made. The second half of the last century saw the rise of many private foundations, particularly in the USA and continental Europe, though not in the UK. This resulted in a number of collections which welcome public access, such as the Paul Sacher Stiftung, Basle, or the Bibliothèque Gustav Mahler, Paris, but which are actually privately owned, funded and directed and which for the greater part of their existence were formed as private collections. Some publishers' archives are also included, especially those, such as Novello's, which have been largely dispersed, are on deposit in libraries, or have left the publisher's premises. The archives held by the estates of composers, consisting almost exclusively of their own works (e.g. Bartók), are not deemed to be collections in the strictest sense.
The amassing of private music libraries dates from the Renaissance or even earlier, but the collecting of autograph manuscripts is a more recent phenomenon, a product of the Enlightenment, particularly in Germany where many important sources of music, such as those of the Bach family, are preserved. The rise of the manuscript dealer and auction houses in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries has ensured a steady flow of books, printed music and manuscripts, letters, photographs and other memorabilia.
For a comprehensive list of private collections, see vol.28 (Appendix a).
CooverMA
MGG2 (‘Musikbibliotheken und Archive’, G. Haberkamp)
StevensonRB
Thompson9
J.E. Matthew: ‘Some Notes on Musical Libraries’, PMA, xxix (1902–3), 139–68
O.E. Albrecht: A Census of Autograph Music Manuscripts of European Composers in American Libraries (Philadelphia, 1953)
K.H. Köhler: ‘Die Musikabteilung’, Deutsche Staatsbibliothek, 1661–1961, ed. H. Kunze, W. Dube and G. Fröschner (Leipzig, 1961), i, 241–74
G. Thibault: ‘Les collections privées de livres et d'instruments de musique d'autrefois et d'aujourd'hui’, HMYB, xi (1961), 131–47
A.H. King: Some British Collectors of Music c. 1600–1960 (Cambridge, 1963)
A. Davidsson: ‘Cultural Background to Collections of Old Music in Swedish Libraries’, FAM, xi (1964), 21–8
V. Duckles: ‘Catalogs of Music Libraries and Collections’, Music Reference and Research Materials (New York, 1964, 3/1974), nos.817–1138
J.H. Davies: Musicalia: Sources of Information in Music (Oxford, 1966, 2/1969) [incl. ‘Principal Music Collections, formerly in Private Hands’, appx i, pp.161–7]
R. Benton: Directory of Music Research Libraries (Iowa City, 1967–72, 2/1979–85)
K. Dachs: Die schriftlichen Nachlässe in der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek München (Wiesbaden, 1970)
C. Johansson: ‘Något om de äldre samlingarna i Kungl. musikaliska akademiens bibliotek’, Svenska musikperspektiv: minnesskrift vid Kungl. musikaliska akademiens 200-årsjubileum 1971, ed. G. Hilleström (Stockholm, 1971)
A.N.L. Munby: Sale Catalogues of Libraries of Eminent Persons (London, 1971–5)
C. Sartori: ‘Collezioni private italiane’, FAM, xviii (1971), 157 only
R. Schaal: Führer durch deutsche Musikbibliotheken (Wilhelmshaven, 1971)
B.S. Brook: Thematic Catalogues in Music (Hillsdale, NY, 1972, 2/1997)
S.H. Folter: Private Libraries of Musicians and Musicologists (Buren, 1987)
OTTO E. ALBRECHT/STEPHEN ROE