Stefan Zweig Collection

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Zweig MS 52, f. 1r; Mozart's Fuga from Quartet in D minor (K 173) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Fuga from quartet in D minor, K. 173. (BL Zweig MS 52 f. 1r).jpg
Zweig MS 52, f. 1r; Mozart's Fuga from Quartet in D minor (K 173)

The Stefan Zweig Collection is an important collection of autograph manuscripts formed by the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig. After his death in 1942 his heirs continued to develop the collection, and donated it to the British Library in 1986. The collection includes many literary and music manuscripts, mainly in the composers' own hands. [1]

Contents

The collection contains 206 numbered items: MS 1-131 are musical manuscripts, MS 132-200 and MS 206 are literary or historical manuscripts, and MS 201-205 are printed books and music. Most of the musical manuscripts have been digitised.

Musical manuscripts

Opening of the first movement of Bach's autograph manuscript for his cantata Wo soll ich fliehen hin
(BWV 5 ) J. S. Bach - 'Wo soll ich fliehen hin' (BWV5) - manuscript - 03.jpg
Opening of the first movement of Bach's autograph manuscript for his cantata Wo soll ich fliehen hin (BWV 5 )

The bulk of the collection consists of 131 autograph manuscripts by notable composers; most, but not all, are musical scores.

One particularly prominent item is Mozart's "Verzeichnüß aller meiner Werke" (MS 63), [2] his own handwritten thematic catalogue of his works from 1784 to 1791. As well as many Mozart manuscripts, a range of prominent composers are represented, including Johann Sebastian Bach, Joseph Haydn, George Frideric Handel, and Johannes Brahms. Unusual pieces include a piano duet by Friedrich Nietzsche (MS 71). [3]

Other autographs

The 69 historic or literary manuscripts in the collection date from 1542 to 1940, and include material from individuals as diverse as Martin Luther (MS 200), Jules Verne (MS 197), John Locke (MS 168), Johann Wolfgang Goethe (MS 152–155), Adolf Hitler (MS 158), Sigmund Freud (MS150) and Henrik Ibsen (MS 162). [4]

Zweig MS 206 was given separately from the main collection, in 1989, and is a manuscript of a biography of Luca Signorelli by Giorgio Vasari, copied from Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects .

Other material

The remaining five items in the collection include editions of Rimbaud, Cervantes, and a two-volume printed edition of Schubert's vocal music. [5]

Reed Library at the State University of New York at Fredonia has a large collection of Zweig's letters in their own Stefan Zweig Collection.

Notes

  1. "BWV" is Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis, a thematic catalogue of Bach's works.

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The Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, BWV 1043, also known as the Double Violin Concerto, is a violin concerto of the Late Baroque era, which Johann Sebastian Bach composed around 1730. It is one of the composer's most successful works.

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"Bist du bei mir, geh ich mit Freuden" is an aria from Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel's opera Diomedes, which was first staged on 16 November 1718. The aria is best known as "Bist du bei mir," BWV 508, a version for voice and continuo found as No. 25 in the 1725 Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minuets in G major and G minor</span>

The Minuets in G major and G minor, BWV Anh. 114 and 115, are a pair of movements from a suite for harpsichord by Christian Petzold, which, through their appearance in the 1725 Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, used to be attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach. These minuets, which are suitable for beginners on the piano, are among the best known pieces of music literature. The 1965 pop song "A Lover's Concerto", of which millions of copies were sold, is based on the first of these Minuets.

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<i>The Well-Tempered Clavier</i> Collection of keyboard music by J.S. Bach

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The Kyrie–Gloria Mass for double choir, BWV Anh. 167, is a mass composition in G major by an unknown composer. The work was likely composed in the last quarter of the 17th century. The composition has two sections, a Kyrie and a Gloria, each subdivided in three movements. It has twenty-two parts for performers: twelve parts for singers, and ten for instrumentalists, including strings, wind instruments and organ. Johann Sebastian Bach may have encountered the work around 1710, when he was employed in Weimar. In the 1730s he produced a manuscript copy of the Mass.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Organ Sonatas (Bach)</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sketch (music)</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Autograph (manuscript)</span> Manuscript or document written in the authors handwriting

An autograph or holograph is a manuscript or document written in its author's or composer's hand. The meaning of autograph as a document penned entirely by the author of its content, as opposed to a typeset document or one written by a copyist or scribe other than the author, overlaps with that of holograph.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magnificat (Torri)</span> Pietro Torris Magnificat in C major for double choir and orchestra likely dates from the 1690s

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References

  1. The Zweig Music Collection. British Library 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
  2. Mozart's "Verzeichnüß aller meiner Werke" at the British Library Online Gallery accessed July 13, 2011
  3. "Login". pdsloginblue.bl.uk. Retrieved 2021-05-20.
  4. "Login". pdsloginblue.bl.uk. Retrieved 2021-05-20.
  5. "Login". pdsloginblue.bl.uk. Retrieved 2021-05-20.