Archives
The steadily growing archives collection contains at this moment nearly 600 archives of Dutch composers, performing musicians and musical institutions. Included are more than 45.000 music manuscripts mainly of Dutch composers, more than 200.000 letters, thousands of photographs, personal documents (diplomas, testimonials, diaries etc.) and audio and video materials.
Library
The collection contains at present 140.000 titles, most of which are registered in the online catalogue. Most of these refer to sheet music and literature published before 1900, the so-called historical collection. Besides the library contains a collection of musicological literature, performing editions and microfiches which may be consulted in the reading room. A part of the collection is lendable.
Documentation
The documentation collection consists of a large number of historical concert programmes, cuttings, magazine articles, folders and flyers documenting musical life in the Netherlands.
Web presentations
From the archives: Monthly feature
- A recommendation by Maurice Ravel (February 2012)
- The Noske family (March 2012)
- Johann Sebastian Bach: a receipt from the year 1731 (April 2012)
- Joseph and Fritz Giese, cellists (May 2012)
- Berlioz: A letter from Rome, 1831 (June 2012)
- Alsbach: Album amicorum, 1861-1908 (July 2012)
- A violinist-aviator (1913) (August 2012)
- Leopold Mozart: Letter (1770) with a postscript by Wolfgang (September 2012)
- Whose portrait? (October 2012)
- F. Nieuwenhuysen (1783) (November 2012)
Due to reduction of the organisation, this series is discontinued as of December 2012.
Schumann's Myrthen: an unknown manuscript
Among the manuscripts in the collections of the Nederlands Muziek Instituut are several handwritten documents by Robert and Clara Schumann. One of them contains six songs from the Myrthen cycle op. 25 (1840) by Robert Schumann (1810-1856). It is part of a manuscript which has served as engraver's copy for the first edition, published in August 1840 by Friedrich Kistner in Leipzig. This manuscript has at some time been split up; its parts are now in Paris, Zwickau, an unknown private collection, and in the NMI in The Hague. The pages in the NMI have long been thought lost. A comparison with the other portions has now proved it to be the missing source.
Speelmuziek: de collectie Vlam
In 2006 ontving het NMI via een schenking een unieke verzameling Nederlandse speelmansboeken uit de 18e en 19e eeuw, de collectie Vlam, zo genoemd naar de verzamelaar van de boeken, de wiskundige en musicoloog dr. Christiaan C. Vlam (1916-1999). Het zijn handschriften waarin violisten, fluitisten en andere speellieden het repertoire noteerden waarmee zij hun brood verdienden. Deze manuscripten vormen de belangrijkste bron van onze kennis van de populaire muziek van die tijd.
'Beatrijs' as opera: Three works in the archives
of the Nederlands Muziek Instituut
The Medieval Dutch poem about the nun Beatrijs (Beatrix) has inspired many poets and composers. In the NMI archives three operas based on this legend may be found: Soeur Béatrice, by Willem Landré (1911); Beatrijs, by the same composer (1925); and Beatrijs, by Ignace Lilien (1928). A lecture about these operas by musicologist and NMI staff member Lodewijk Muns is here published as web presentation (Dutch only).
Liszt manuscripts: A bicentenary presentation
On the occasion of the bicentenary of the birth of Franz Liszt (1811-1886), the NMI presents a selection of manuscripts in its Franz Liszt Collection. A choice was made of two letters and two music manuscripts. The letters show Liszt at very different stages of his life and in very different capacities. The music manuscripts, two of the Petrarch Sonnets in their second version for voice and piano, are interesting as evidence of the process of rethinking and recomposing that was a characteristic aspect of Liszt’s rich artistic life.
Marie Taglioni (1804-1884): A life on toe tip
An unexpected little treasure among the NMI archives is a collection of objects which have belonged to the famous ballet dancer Marie Taglioni (1804-1884). Taglioni is one of the most important figures in dance history; as Sylphide she has created the archetype of the romantic ballerina. The objects in this collection have inspired musicologist Lodewijk Muns to a search for their connections and meaning within Taglioni's career.
The Scheurleer Museum of the History of Music
The private museum of banker and music historian Daniël François Scheurleer (1855-1927) constitutes the historic core of the Netherlands Music Institute. Scheurleer created his museum in the first decades of the 20th Century. After his death the collection was threatened with dispersion as a consequence of the economic crisis. In 1933 the Municipality of The Hague acquired the collection. This article provides a virtual tour through Scheurleer’s lost museum.
Johann Gottfried Walther: The Frankenberger Manuscript (ca. 1730)
The so-called Frankenberger Manuscript is one of the most precious items in the collection of the Netherlands Music Institute. It contains 196 organ chorale settings from the period 1650-1730, compiled and copied by the composer and organist Johann Gottfried Walther (1684-1748).
Franz Liszt: Correspondence with Marie Espérance von Schwartz
This presentation contains images of these four letters together with transcriptions, translations and extensive commentary.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Galimathias Musicum K32
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed Galimathias Musicum in March 1766, shortly after his tenth birthday, on the occasion of the inauguration of Prince William V as stadholder of the United Provinces.
Alphons Diepenbrock: Music Manuscripts
This collection contains autographs of all the compositions of Alphons Diepenbrock (1862-1921). Also included is a selection of photographs, correspondence and a few audio fragments. The music of Diepenbrock is one of the highlights in Dutch music history.
