MUSIC COLLECTIONS IN THE LIBRARIES, INSTITUTES AND MUSEUMS OF MOSCOWAuthor(s): Galina Andreevna TimoshenkovaSource: Fontes Artis Musicae, Vol. 53, No. 3, Russia (July-September 2006), pp. 176-180Published by: International Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and Documentation Centres(IAML)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23510742 .

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MUSIC COLLECTIONS IN THE LIBRARIES, INSTITUTES AND MUSEUMS OF MOSCOW

Galina Andreevna Timoshenkova1

English Abstract This overview looks at the twelve specialist music libraries in Moscow, giving selected histories and collection highlights. The long-standing and early connections between Russia and the west often meant that significant items are in Moscow collections dat

ing from the sixteenth century onward.

French Abstract

Cet article propose une vue d'ensemble des douze bibliothèques musicales spécial

isées de Moscou, présentant quelques historiques sélectifs et les collections les plus

marquantes. Les relations durables et anciennes entre la Russie et l'Ouest expliquent

souvent que des documents importants se trouvent dans ces collections moscovites,

et ce depuis le seizième siècle.

German Abstract

Dieser Überblick beschäftigt sich mit den zwölf Musikbibliotheken in Moskau, einzel

nen Aspekten ihrer Geschichte sowie Besonderheiten ihrer Sammlung. Die lang

gewachsenen und frühen Beziehungen zwischen Russland und dem Westen erklären

häufig, warum bedeutende Teile dieser Moskauer Sammlungen seit dem sechzehnten

Jahrhundert herrühren.

The music resources in the libraries, archives, institutes, and museums of Moscow include printed and manuscript music, books on music, and music pe riodicals, as well as audio and video recordings. In considering these, I shall limit myself to information on the printed music in the scientific music institu tions in Moscow. I should first like to explain that two distinct types of libraries with music have developed in Russia, which might be divided in to specialist and the general. In the specialist music libraries, their work is predominantly with printed music. In general libraries, the music stock will have been devel

oped as a section of the library overall, with work on it carried out in a spe cialist department.

Moscow has twelve specialist music libraries which were designated as sci entific. These are the libraries in music high schools, institutes, conserva

toires, music museums and music establishments such as composer organisa

1. Manuscript Department of the Russian State Library, Moscow.

176

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MUSIC COLLECTIONS IN MOSCOW 177

tions and music publishers. The largest of them, and without doubt the largest of international significance, is the Taneyev Music Research Library of the

Tchaikovsky State Conservatoire in Moscow. As the Director of that library de

scribes it comprehensively elsewhere in this journal, I shall not cover this topic here. Other music research libraries within the higher education system which I should mention are the State Library of the Gnessin Academy for mu sic pedagogy (founded in 1934), which has around 200,000 items preserved and also includes the library of the Ippolitov-Ivanov Music High School, the

stock of which today numbers some 45,000 items. The collection of printed source material in the Central State M. I. Glinka Museum of Musical Culture should likewise be numbered amongst the specialist music libraries. Founded in 1943, its holdings include rare pre-revolutionary Russian editions, including rare editions of the works of Alexander Alyabeyev, Glinka, Anton and Nikolai

Rubinstein, Balakirev, Musorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and others. Of great in

terest are the private collections which were taken into the library. Each has its own personality. Worthy of mention are the personal libraries of the singer N. Raisky, rich in vocal literature, and of the folk music researcher, Kvitka, whose collection supports folklore studies. Another specific part of the collec tion is that of printed music from the beginning of the nineteenth century, for

example, salon pieces for piano and pieces for guitar. Another music museum with a music library is the R I. Tchaikovsky

Memorial Institute in the town of Klin in the Moscow area. The Museum

library has a rich collection of music manuscripts (which will not be discussed in this survey) and printed music. These are editions published in Tchai

kovsky's life-time, many rare copies which cannot be found elsewhere; there are a fair number of scores from which Tchaikovsky conducted by Arensky, Borodin, Mozart, Schumann, and many other composers. These scores con tain varied annotations in Tchaikovsky's hand and have thus provided subject matter for specialised research by musicians, as they will continue to do.

Amongst those who have worked on them are many contemporary Russian

conductors, including Yladmir Fedoseyev and Valéry Polansky, as well as the

pianist and conductor Mikhail Pletnev and the pianist Andrey Khateyev. The

Tchaikovsky Institute has the personal library of the composer's brother, Modest, in which may be found works which he himself played. Much of the

music has dedications from Russian musicians, testimony to the creative and

friendly connections which the Tchaikovsky brothers made; they include au

tographs of the composers Arensky, Glazunov, and the conductor Napravnik. A large printed music collection (over 122,700 items) is to be found in the

Central Music Library of the Moscow Composers' Union. Founded in 1940 un

der the auspices of the Ail-Russian Society of Composers and Dramatists and

based on private collections, it is rich in editions from the private collections of

twentieth-century composers such as Asafyev, Myaskovsky, Prokofiev, and

Shebalin. Another specialised research library worth mentioning is the Central Music

Library of the Moscow State Philharmonic, whose stock is made up of around

100,000 items, mainly symphonic and opera scores, piano, chamber, vocal and instrumental music. Two other libraries belong in this list of libraries used by

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178 FONTES ART1S MUSICAE 53/3

creative associations and drama organisations: the Library of the Russian

Society for Radio and Television "Ostankino" and the Library of the State Academic Bolshoi Theatre. Their specific interest certainly lies in their inher itance of manuscripts. The first holds music manuscripts of composers from Soviet times; the second is interesting for its large collection of manuscript orchestral parts.

To return to printed music, mention must be made of the special library of the publisher Muzyka. Its library was set up on the foundations of the pre revolutionary firm of P. Jurgensson which alone accommodated half a million

editions, published under the aegis of the company. Much of its stock must be considered rare, for example, the music from the archives of the Russian

Imperial Theatre. I now turn to the general research libraries of Moscow that contain printed

music collections. Amongst these, the collections of the Humaniora High School and the Moscow State Pedagogical University are particularly large. The latter has a collection exceeding 30,000 items. The Moscow State Uni

versity of Culture contains over 50,000 items and the Library of the Moscow

Academic-Choreographic School more than 20,000. The largest general re search library, whose significance extends well beyond Moscow, to encompass the whole country, is the Russian State Library, the music department of which has printed music and sound recordings, with printed music numbering over

400,000 items. The Russian State Library, founded in 1862, has the status of Russia's national library. As part of the Rumyantsev Museum, it was first es tablished as the Moscow Public Library, and from 1925, in the USSR, was called the V. I. Lenin Library; since 1993 it has been called the Russian State

Library. Following a decree in 1862, the library received on legal deposit one

copy of each item of printed music published, receiving works free of charge from A. Gutheil, V. Bessel, P. Jurgensson, M. Belaieff, Y. Zimmerman, and other publishing firms. Alongside these, it received a quantity of printed music from the Russian imperial family, as well as gifts from other aristocratic fami lies: the Odeyevskys, Razumovskys, Baryatinskis, and others. One valuable

gift came in 1910, when the Jurgensson publishing firm gave the library 32 vol umes of scores by Russian composers.

Amongst the printed music collections in Russia, that of the Russian State

Library has a special place. The universality of its collections and its chrono

logical depth allow it to meet the multifarious demands of its objectives. The collection contains the musical creations of all eras and of many peoples of the world. There are editions of different kinds, including works of all possible genres and forms. The music collection of the Russian State Library serves the

purposes of musicological research, stage activities, musical professional de

velopment, amateur music-making, and education. The collection includes works for ensembles of various combinations, for choral and orchestral music, solo songs and solo pieces, covering more than 50 individual music instru ments. There are a wide variety of genres of vocal, instrumental and stage works, and the collection is also rich in folk music. There is also a wide variety of types of editions—collected editions, music collections, series, albums, sheet music, maps with music, posters, and games. There are editions illus

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MUSIC COLLECTIONS IN MOSCOW 179

trated by the foremost Russian artists from the early twentieth century: Bilibin, Bakst, and Lanssere. There are some sixteenth-century editions from the time

of Palestrina, and some from the seventeenth century, in particular works by Corelli, Lully, and Melchior Franck. Amongst eighteenth-century volumes

from the life-times of Bach, Mozart, Haydn, and Scarlatti are some first editions.

The Russian editions from the eighteenth century include old Russian sa

cred vocal music, as well as secular music in various genres. There is the first

Russian opera by Pashkevich and V. Martin y Soler (then active in Russia), in

strumental music by Pleyel, Pratsch, Koslovsky, and other composers. The

first collections of Russian songs, made by V. Trutkovsky and J. B. Pratsch and

published between 1778 and 1795 are of great value. During the eighteenth

century, music journals appeared in Russia which contained collections of mu

sic, the contents of which reflect the music repertoire of each era and its taste.

One example is the Giornale musicale del teatro italiano, published by B. T.

Breitkopf. Other sources of some worth are the journals published by I. D.

Gerstenberg, such as the Journal d'airs italiens, français et russes avec accom

pagnement de guitare par J. B. Hainglaise and the Journal de guitare par

J. B. Hainglaise. The music of the nineteenth century is to be found in the works of Russian

and foreign composers. Most worthy of mention are the editions published in

the lifetime of the classic composers of Russian music such as Glinka, Dar

gomyzhsky, Verstovsky, Tchaikovsky, Balakirev, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov,

Rakhmaninov, Skryabin, Mussorgsky, Lyadov, and others. Over 300 editions of

works by these authors bear their dedications and autographs. In total, the Russian State Library has in its collections several hundred pre

1917 publications by Russian publishing houses and almost all the editions of

the Soviet period. On account of the changed socio-economic and social con

ditions which have come about since 1991, problems have arisen in the appli cation of legal deposit. Many new private publishing houses have been set up; while as a rule they cultivate their business exclusively, they unfortunately al

most always close their eyes to the country's bibliographical work and to any strict compliance with the law of legal deposit for music. It follows that one of

the major current tasks is to seek out missing editions, to ferret out their es

tablishments, and bring their wares into the collection. A further important

point is that the Russian State Library has to prepare series of documentation

for other state establishments, which may help to solve this problem, which

many Russian libraries have in common. Under Russian conditions, such a spe cific kind of publication as music has problems with all the more currency be

cause, compared with books which enjoy a greater demand, it is known to be

issued in more limited print-runs. One current task for the Russian State Library is the acquisition of current

foreign editions from the leading foreign firms. The international book ex

change scheme developed in the Russian State Library from the 1950s, en

abled, maintained, and fostered the procurement of foreign music through the

necessary reciprocal relationships with many partner libraries and publishing houses, particularly in Germany, France, Italy, Great Britain, the USA,

Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, amongst other countries.

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180 FONTES ARTIS MUSICAE 53/3

For this reason, along with information on Russian music publications (both the main catalogue and that for individual parts of the music collections will be published), a main catalogue of current foreign music publications for re search libraries in Russia is of extraordinary importance. This catalogue will be led forward under the direction of the Russian State Library, a part of the

EDV-catalogues currently being compiled in the Russian State Library. Work on the main catalogue of current foreign publications is shared between the 20 largest libraries in Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, and the Commonwealth of

Independent States. Information on old foreign music publications in the library's collections,

begun in the nineteenth century, will be published in printed catalogue publi cations from time to time in the series "Monuments of Musical Culture".

Accordingly, given the Russian State Library's rich and individual music col

lections, it will be important to develop still further reciprocal partnerships still

further, whether through the exchange of music, reciprocal information or the

exchange of music exhibitions. In the future, we hope to expand and foster all these very necessary contacts.

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