Holdings of the Department of Music

Whether you are looking for music manuscripts, music prints, sound recordings, books or bequests, simply search online in our » Catalogue QuickSearch.

Music manuscripts

Our music manuscripts (about 60,000) constitute our historically most important collection:

• Original manuscripts by Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Anton Bruckner, Richard Strauss, Alban Berg and many others
• Choir books from the 15^th to 17^th centuries
• Sheet music from the Viennese Court Orchestra and numerous Viennese theatres and opera houses 
• Music collections from the emperors Leopold I, Charles VI and Francis I 

Music prints

The music prints (about 130,000) mainly tell the Austrian history of music. The Department of Music therefore serves as a central Austrian music archive.

Librettos

The collection of librettos (about 8,000) is a source of information about musical theatre, past and present – especially about opera in the baroque period.

Secondary literature

A specific section of the book collection of the Austrian National Library contains literature focusing on music (about 80,000 volumes).

Legacies

The Department of Music looks after the bequests of composers and performers, and other archival material. The bequests from Anton Bruckner, Hugo Wolf, Alban Berg, Franz Schreker, Hans Pfitzner, Clemens Krauss and others are particularly important.

Sound recordings

The sound recordings (about 18,000 records and compact discs, about 4,000 tapes) mainly document the history of Austrian music.

Photogram Archive

The Photogram Archive (about 60,000 sheets) allows researchers to study original manuscripts that are not owned by the Department of Music. These holdings cannot be found in our online catalogue, but are indexed in a printed catalogue.