Myths and Legends

Myths and legends:
The restitution of the Berlin Sing-Akademie Archive1
By Axel Fischer and Matthias Kornemann
In 1943, the security situation in Berlin was deteriorating rapidly in the wake of increased allied
bombing raids. Two years before, the Unter den Linden Opera House had already fallen victim to
the bombs, and the Sing-Akademie building, with its archive housed in a wooden attic storey, was
located just a few hundred metres away. In the summer of 1943, Goebbels ordered the widespread
evacuation of the city’s cultural treasures. This evacuation programme was managed by the urban
construction director and provincial curator Walther Peschke. The US National Archive contains a
list of the 556 private collections involved, and only one entry refers to printed music. This is entry
number 430, which states that on 31 August 1943, 14 large crates with printed music belonging to
the Sing-Akademie were transported to Ullersdorf Castle in Silesia. The crates had been prepared by
the then director of the Sing-Akademie, Georg Schumann. An inventory has not survived.
The village of Ullersdorf and its castle, first mentioned in the 14th century, were situated nine
kilometres south-east of the Lower Silesian town of Glatz in the so-called Glatzer Kessel. Its current
Polish name is Ołdrzychowice Kłodzkie. The castle was built between the 16th and 18th centuries,
and at the time of the evacuation was owned by the aristocratic von Magnis family. In 1945 the castle
was expropriated and today is in a dangerously run-down condition.
Southern Lower Silesia seemed to the authorities at the time to be a safe location for storing the
capital’s cultural treasures, and numerous castles were used as storage depots. Bombing raids in
these sparsely populated areas seemed highly improbable, and the idea of placing the archives,
paintings and library collections as far away as possible in the west to avoid them falling into Soviet
hands would have appeared unacceptably defeatist, even in the face of the retreating Eastern Front.
The events of 1945 remain somewhat unclear to this day and still offer room for speculation.
German cultural treasures that fell into the hands of the Red Army were generally shipped to Mos-
cow, where they were examined and distributed to the archives, museums and libraries of the Soviet
republics, with the best items naturally remaining in the capital. This was also what happened to the
collections discovered in July 1945 in Wölfelsdorf (now Wilkanów) near Ullersdorf. Here officials
even acted on the direct instructions of the notorious head of the NKWD, Lavrentiy Beria. Despite
this, the situation in the Glatzer Kessel was different to elsewhere, and this was to have serious re-
percussions for the fate of the archive of the Sing-Akademie. The area was captured and occupied
by the second Ukrainian Front, which had its own trophy brigade, and although this brigade too sent
most of the objects it found in the castles of Lower Silesia to Moscow, some shipments were also
sent directly to Kiev. A surviving letter by Colonel Ivan Shevchenko, for example, states that one
1
This description of events is based on the research work carried out by Dr. Patricia Kennedy Grimsted, who
worked as a Senior Research Associate at the “Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute” (HURI), founded in 1973 in
Cambridge (MA). All subsequent descriptions are based on her article “Bach Is Back in Berlin: The Return of the
Sing-Akademie Archive from Ukraine in the Context of Displaced Cultural Treasures and Restitution Politics”
(Spoils of War: International Newsletter, no. 8 June 2003, p. 67–104), which has not been distributed widely, so
that over the years a large number of half-truths and misquotations have arisen, leading to a hotchpotch of myths
and legends. It therefore seems all the more important that her meticulously gathered facts be subjected to re-
newed scrutiny. Even deprived of its romance, the story of the epic journey made by the Sing-Akademie collec-
tion is a happy and adventurous one.
13
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Axel Fischer and Matthias Kornemann
such shipment took place on August 20. In this case, however, the items concerned were not from
the archive of the Sing-Akademie, but probably paintings.
Although up until now no documents have emerged showing the location of the archive during
the summer months of 1945, all the indications point to it having been directly shipped to Kiev
without reaching the central distribution point in Moscow. Thanks to the detective work carried out
by Dr. Patricia Kennedy Grimsted – at the time Senior Research Associate at the “Harvard Ukrain-
ian Research Institute” in Cambridge (MA) – we know that the director of the Kiev Conservatoire,
Abram Mikhaylovich Lufer, was sent to the occupied areas on 23 October 1945 to act as an expert
on the printed music that had been found. Lufer was an educated man and an excellent pianist, hav-
ing come fourth at the first Chopin Competition in Warsaw. He therefore no doubt quickly recog-
nised the importance of the Sing-Akademie Archive. Just ten days after Lufer’s arrival in Germany,
the archive reached Kiev. Not only has the document ordering Lufer to go to Germany been found
in an archive in Kiev, but also the ones documenting the arrival of the collection in the city. It is
therefore extremely likely that the Sing-Akademie Archive was among those collections examined
by Lufer in Germany and sent on his advice to Kiev. Two legends can therefore be dismissed at
once: the first and more picturesque one that the archive was discovered by a tank driver and placed
on the steps of the Kiev Conservatoire; and the second that it was handed to the Ukraine by Moscow
as a brotherly gift. It remains unclear, however, where exactly Lufer viewed the material and which
troops brought it to Kiev. As only a fraction of the archives in both Russia and the Ukraine are ac-
cessible even to this day, it is probable that at some point even these last missing pieces in the jig-
saw will fall into place.
Now let us turn our attention to other aspects of the story around which legends have been built:
The fate of the collection in Kiev, and the circumstances that led to its “rediscovery”. The core ques-
tion is: Who knew of the existence of the collection, and how “lost” was it in reality?
On 5 November 1945, just three days after the arrival of the collection in the Kiev Conservatoire,
the order was issued to carry out an inventory of the treasures now codenamed “Fond 441”. This
lengthy and cumbersome task was handed to the German-speaking music librarian Lyubov Fain-
shtein. She replaced countless damaged covers, and subsequently placed the music sheets in around
two hundred cardboard boxes. From today’s point of view, the decision taken during the inventory
process to replace the old shelf marks, dating back to the time of Zelter, with new ones seems
somewhat less fortuitous. The aim of dividing the original 1,949 shelf marks into 5,175 new ones
was clearly to enable each work to be accessed via an individual shelf mark. This measure – whose
original aim could never have been realised in any case – led to many works made up of several
parts or groups of works being torn apart, or at the very least to their traditional connections becom-
ing obscured. Although the new shelving marks have been retained for practical reasons to this day,
there was a lot to be said for the old system, and for this reason it also is included in this catalogue.
The archive was housed until 1973 inside the Conservatoire, and was cared for to the extent per-
mitted by the limited means of the institution. Naturally the envelopes and cardboard boxes used at
the time would nowadays be totally unacceptable for conservation use due to their chemical struc-
ture. But back then they were the best of their kind in the Soviet Union. When the archive was
moved in 2008 to undergo restoration/conservation work financed by the ZEIT foundation (Ham-
burg), a study of the damage incurred by the items showed that there were hardly any traces of the
typical symptoms of inadequate archiving, namely mould growth and water damage, dating from
their time in Kiev. Consequently, despite the barbaric stamping of all pages with entry and owner-
ship stamps, and slips being carelessly written in ink on top of the original documents, on the whole
we can be grateful for the generally good care that was taken of the archive. Compared with other
collections, the fact that it has remained intact is in itself a huge stroke of luck.
14 Introduction

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Myths and legends: The restitution of the Berlin Sing-Akademie Archive
According to current evidence, the collection in the Conservatoire was in theory accessible to
outsiders. Although on no account kept “top secret” by government decree, it does seem that the
Conservatoire’s policy was to limit access as much as possible. Grimsted, in her research, names a
perfectly plausible reason for this: they didn’t want to lose the collection to Moscow. Other items
sent directly to Kiev in 1945 were indeed redirected to Moscow. This therefore is indirect confirma-
tion that the direct shipments to Kiev referred to above were exceptions, and moved in a grey area
as far as their military legality was concerned.
A small group of Soviet musicians does seem to have actually made use of the collection. During
the course of our cataloguing, we came across user slips with entries dating from the 70s and 80s.
The ominous flute concerto in D-Major Fk S. 11 unecht (SA 2637), ascribed to Wilhelm Friede-
mann Bach, symbolizes this oscillating status between secrecy and insider knowledge. It was per-
formed in Kiev in 1969, and one year later in Leningrad. The initiator of the performances, Igor
Blazhkov – who incidentally was to record the piece in 2000 following his emigration to Germany –
is among those who have secured a place in history with their user slips. Although great pains were
taken at the time to hide the origin of the piece, the Bach Archive in Leipzig managed to obtain a
copy, leading to rumours circulating as early as the early 80s that the collection had indeed survived
the war. By this time, the Sing-Akademie collection had already moved within Kiev to a new loca-
tion – the State Archive Museum for Literature and Art. The move occurred by highest official de-
cree, with the musical nature of “Fond 441” being kept silent even in the transfer documents. The
transfer from the Music Conservatoire to an institution that no longer had “Music” in its title, meant
that the collection was cloaked in even greater secrecy for almost another two decades. Grimsted
therefore did not find the decisive clue to collection’s location during her research in Kiev, but in-
stead in a German publication dating from 1996. Thanks to the significantly more relaxed archive
policies in Russia during the Yeltsin era, researchers were permitted to examine and transcribe
documents from the 1950s, in which the Soviet Cultural Ministry and the Central Committee of the
Communist Party reported on the looted cultural assets located in the Soviet Union. In one such re-
port dating from 1957, Grimsted found a paragraph the set the ball rolling for the rediscovery of the
collection:
“The State Conservatoire in Kiev houses part of the Berlin Music Library, a total of 5,170 works
(the works of the oldest West European composers, including first editions and manuscripts). They
are all stamped and have been included in the inventory of the Kiev Conservatoire.”2
Grimsted confronted her Ukrainian colleagues with this document, but failed to obtain any in-
formation on the whereabouts of the collection, as from 1993 onwards even Ukrainian scientists
were denied access to the original document from 1957. But Ukrainians themselves had now be-
come interested in the collection and carried out their own research. In spring 1999, Grimsted re-
ceived an e-mail from her colleague Gennady Boriak, who had learned from another colleague of
the existence of documents relating to the transfer of a large collection from the Conservatoire to the
State Archive Museum for Literature and Art.
It was Boriak, himself a librarian, who, holding the German translation of the Soviet document,
then carried out research in the Archive Museum and urged the Ukrainian archive authorities to take
up the trail themselves. In May 1999 Grimsted received another e-mail from Boriak. He wrote that
the Archive Museum did indeed house an important music collection, containing, among other
things, Bach sources. Following this significant discovery, Grimsted contacted her Harvard col-
2
The Trophy Committees of the Red Army. A collection of documents on the removal of books from German li-
braries published by Klaus-Dieter Lehmann and Ingo Kolasa, Frankfurt am Main 1996 (=Zeitschrift für Biblio-
thekswesen und Bibliographie, Sonderheft 64), document no. 46, p. 245.
Introduction 15

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Axel Fischer and Matthias Kornemann
league, Professor Christoph Wolff, and offered to arrange a visit to the Archive Museum, using
Boriak as their middleman. A little smugly, she added that she had already been planning to visit the
archive prior to this discovery.
Her report, otherwise objective and disputed by no-one, makes it clear that the discovery of the
collection was down to her. In July 1999, once a whole series of bureaucratic hurdles had been over-
come, Grimsted and Wolff were able to examine the mysterious collection for the first time. The
first shelf-mark they examined bore the famous lyre stamp of the Sing-Akademie. This immediately
resolved any doubts concerning the provenance of the collection, as did the Fainshtein Index, which
revealed how much of the archive had survived. The discovery of the archive therefore involved
more searching through archives than it did carrying out complicated musicological research, with
the key document being the German translation of the protocol issued in 1957. After this visit, the
ice was broken, and a group of musicological scientists from the Leipzig Bach Archive were permit-
ted to examine the collection in detail in October 1999. The story did not end there, however. The
last chapter recounts the complicated restitution of the renowned music library.
As early as 2000, diplomatic efforts were underway to try and secure the return of the collection
to Germany. In November 2000, for example, the German government organized “Ukrainian Cul-
tural Days”, with the fate of the collection included on the agenda. During these talks, the rumour
emerged that it had been suggested the return of the collection was worth at least one new nuclear
power station. Curiously, this humorous remark remained in circulation as a half-truth for quite a
while. All the documents we have seen, however, suggest that the German government paid nothing
at all for the return of the collection, let alone the price of a nuclear reactor. Instead, its negotiating
basis in the short period of time available to it was a highly opportune one, as a brief glance at a
strange episode in Ukrainian internal politics reveals.
On 2 November 2000, the decapitated body of the well-known dissident journalist, Gyorgi R.
Gongadze, was found in a forest near Kiev, and shortly afterwards audiotapes emerged which sug-
gested that his murder had been orchestrated by Prime Minister Leonid Kuchma. Protests broke out
in the Ukraine, and Kuchma’s image in the world rapidly deteriorated. To restore his reputation in-
ternationally, he badly needed some kind of foreign-policy coup, which turned out to be returning
the Sing-Akademie Archive to Berlin. This is the only plausible explanation as to why a preliminary
agreement on the return of the collection was able to be signed as early as January 2001 during Ku-
chma’s visit to Germany.
There was naturally significant opposition to the return of the collection in the Ukraine, and Rus-
sia too issued strong protests, claiming it would create a dangerous precedent that would lead to a
whole wave of restitutions. After all, the amount of the vanished loot in the former Soviet Union is
still immense. The key motive for returning the collection, and the one used by officials in Kiev to
exonerate themselves, however, was the status of the collection. This had never been the property of
the state, but instead was a private collection, and was now also returning to private hands.
In summer 2001, in order to gain a vague impression of the content of the collection, a transfer
protocol-like document was drawn up under the direction of the head of the musical department of
the Berlin State Library, Dr. Helmut Hell. The list was based on the Fainshtein Index and also in-
cluded the old Zelter shelf-markings, but was created under great time pressure, and was therefore
both rough and full of errors. Another condition of the restitution was that the entire collection be
replaced with a microfilm version, something that was able to be carried out thanks to a generous
donation by the Packard Foundation (Los Altos, CA). The money was given on condition that copies
also be handed to the two organizations involved, the Bach Archive in Leipzig and Harvard University.
As this work too, however, was carried out at great speed, with no collation or cataloguing being
carried out, the films created in Kiev are somewhat chaotic in nature and of little scientific use.
16 Introduction

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Myths and legends: The restitution of the Berlin Sing-Akademie Archive
On 29 November 2001, the transfer protocol was ceremoniously signed in Kiev. Curiously, like
the documents relating to its “transfer” to the Archive Museum, it makes no reference to either “mu-
sic” or the “Sing-Akademie”, let alone the emotive term “restitution”. Germany was represented by
Professor Tono Eitel, a high-ranking diplomat and former UN ambassador, who during the course of
his career had been involved in numerous restitution processes. The Sing Academy, represented by
its then board member Michael Rautenberg, declared itself willing to leave 33 of the 5,175 items in
Kiev. These included items with Slavic connections, such as works by the Russian-Ukrainian com-
poser Maxim Sozontovych Berezovsky, works published in Warsaw or St. Petersburg by Joseph
Elsner, Vincenzo Manfredini and Johann Friedrich Reichardt, collections of Russian folk songs and
dances, and an alleged symphony by the Venetian composer Baldassare Galuppi (who spent a num-
ber of years at the Russian court), which now, following examination, has been found to be a com-
position by Johann Wilhelm Hertel. Overall therefore, the items left behind did not lessen the qual-
ity, size or artistic value of the restituted collection, and were merely of gesture of thanks.
On the day following the signing of the transfer protocol, the archive was flown on a Lufthansa
freighter to Frankfurt am Main, where it was reloaded and sent on, arriving in Berlin on 1 Decem-
ber. The story that the archive was transported in the German Chancellor’s private Luftwaffe jet
therefore also belongs firmly in the realm of legends. The celebratory climax to the return of the
Sing-Akademie Archive took place on 15 May 2002 with a ceremony in the Berlin Philharmonic
Hall, attended by German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and the Ukrainian ambassador Dr. Ana-
toly Ponomarenko. Since then, the collection has once again been in the private possession of the
Berlin Sing-Akademie and available in its entirety to musicologists and everyone else with an inter-
est in music.
Introduction 17

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Fig. 2: Carl Friedrich Zelter (painting by Carl Joseph Begas, 1827)
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Zelter’s Archive. Portrait of a Collector1
By Matthias Kornemann
Carl Friedrich Zelter appears to us as a Janus-like figure. A man from a turning-point in history
when paths diverge, whose thought and life oscillated between the traditional, the solid and the
craftsmanlike and the higher world of art in which he worked tirelessly. A figure who at the same
time looked back into the history of music, finding there its ideals of perfection, and into the future,
which he actively shaped. The music collection of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, known mainly as
an archive nowadays, though that doesn’t quite correspond to its purpose, offers a clue in this search
and a portrait of its creator Zelter in which the practical and the idealistic, the refined and the unfin-
ished constantly intertwine.
Collecting musical scores was evidently in Zelter’s blood from his very first musical encounters.
He copied out works which he admired, and from an early age established a network of acquaintan-
ces with people who shared his tastes in music. Many of these names are to be found on the title
pages of numerous manuscripts which later found their way into Zelter’s music library. Here, for
example, was Possin, a friend from his youth with whom Zelter played music as a 17-year-old
apprentice; there was the publisher Nicolai, whose house was built by Zelter the master mason. In
this way, almost every piece can be described as a kind of archaeological fragment which reveals
something about a particular phase or aspect of Zelter’s life story. This also raises the aesthetically
insignificant to a significant, meaningful piece of a jigsaw in a biography reflected in musical
scores. It is moving to hold in the hand, for example, songs by the singer Marie Eichner who died
young and never quite enjoyed the success she deserved. It was the young Zelter himself who wrote
out the songs – Marie herself could not do this – and in so doing, almost inevitably became the young
lady’s admirer. The parents supported him, she wanted another, became ill and died. But the bundles
of parts in Zelter’s accurate early manuscript hand live on, and exist for us to the present day.
Many such biographical threads can be traced, yet they all lead to one conclusion: Zelter’s archive
is unlike any of the public collections whose popularity obscures the process of their slow accumu-
lation. We may well encounter the collection today as the “Archiv der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin”,
and old Fasch, the founder of this institution may well have compiled the first volumes, but it re-
mains Zelter’s work and monument alone.
Such a collection did not develop in an orderly fashion. The numerous contacts of Zelter, the so-
ciety gentleman, which later resulted in many gifts of music, were only one source. No less coinci-
dentally, the tides of cultural history also washed up a great deal, which in other times would not
have found its way into the archive of the Sing-Akademie. Zelter took full advantage of opportuni-
ties which presented themselves. Already around 1800 he was a celebrity collector and as a result,
the young, not particularly music-loving King Frederick William III let him have items from the
collection of his artistic, but dissolute father. This gift was so extensive that Zelter had to bring it to
Berlin by boat from the Marmorpalais in Potsdam. After the Wars of Liberation, he travelled on be-
half of the Prussian government to the closed-down monasteries of Silesia in order to catalogue their
libraries. He also appropriated some materials for his collection. People happily gave items which
they no longer wanted to a man of such official standing, for Zelter was obsessed with the musical
1
This article, brought up-to-date here, was originally published in German in: Der Singemeister Carl Friedrich
Zelter: Eine Festschrift zu seinem 250. Geburtstag, ed. Christian Filips, Mainz, 2008, pp. 56–68.
19

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Matthias Kornemann
past, works which were completely out of fashion at the turn of the 19th century and which were
only performed by small circles of enthusiasts. Ignoring the presentation copies from contemporary
musicians which he naturally included in his library, his perspective was an exclusively historical
one. The period covered in the collection ranges from individual works from the period of Orlando
di Lasso, that is to say the late sixteenth century, to the late eighteenth. Zelter regarded the works
accumulated within the archive as exemplary and worthy of preservation. Works outside the archive
meant nothing to him. And there were many such works. The sheer extent of the archive, around
140,000 leaves of either hand-written or printed music, promises something inexhaustible, and yet,
amidst the breadth of material, there are some areas of sparse coverage. For instance, flicking
through the hundred and ten trio sonatas by the Graun brothers you ask yourself, somewhat puzzled,
why there isn’t a single quartet by Mozart.
It is true, the most significant works of his own era lay outside his awareness. But can we de-
mand of Zelter that he should have embraced our canonisation of music-historical significance at a
time when he was contributing to its very first monument with the elevation of Bach to the position
as the God of music? He remained blind to the greatness of Mozart and Beethoven, but his assess-
ment of the past was perceptive. Bach was his sun, whose sons and forebears circled around this
heavenly body, and here he found the touchstone for his pedagogical approach in which we must
presume the deeper purpose of his passion for collecting.
Zelter lost no opportunity, turned down no gift, and amassed music in such quantities until piles
of music tumbled out of the kitchen in his private apartment. He can give a somewhat chaotic im-
pression as a collector, yet we should not lose sight of the deeper guiding rules behind the appar-
ently undiscriminating character of the collection. Little by little, Zelter unfolded a concept of musi-
cal education which far exceeded simple choral singing. The tasks and positions which he took up
became, with the passage of time, ever broader and more far-reaching, and the collection grew and
found its structure as a reflection of this ideal of education. What was arbitrary fell into order, until
the metres of shelves of music manuscripts of the most varied quality transformed themselves into a
cultural-historical panorama of encyclopaedic breadth. And only because Zelter succeeded in this
did the major collections of Levy, Nicolai and his friend Poelchau finally find their way into the ar-
chive. It was as inevitable as streams following the contours of the land and finding their way into a
large river. The archive had become the right, indeed the only place to accept them.
At the beginning, the music collection of the Sing-Akademie had a purely practical purpose. Per-
forming material was needed for the choir. And because the founder of the Akademie, Carl Frie-
drich Fasch, was interested in the rediscovery and fostering of older vocal music, material for sing-
ing and performance ended up in the archive. This main strand of collecting activity has continued
to the present, though the practical materials which the Society owned in the 19th century, all the
major choral works by Mendelssohn, Liszt and Brahms, are now lost.
As a result, the holdings of choral literature under Zelter gradually increased, but they were not
merely limited to the small trickle of compositions which made it to a public performance. Zelter
long wanted more, namely a music library in which the repertoire could be explored, and stylistic
directions and epochs studied. Early on he seemed to have recognised that key works in the reper-
toire, such as Bach’s motets, were surrounded by a kind of lower range of works of solid musical
craftsmanship with which the student should be acquainted in order to develop a measure for the
greatest. And in any case, Zelter had a weakness for craftsmanlike, solid, middle-ranking works, for
his achievement had nothing of the brilliant and imponderable.
The nurture of sacred choral music was the choir’s main purpose, and so we would expect that
this type of repertoire would form the major part of the c. 140,000 leaves of music. Yet it is by no
means so. The division of the mass of material is odd, as revealed by a few statistics.
20 Introduction

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Zelter’s Archive. Portrait of a Collector
After all its wanderings, Zelter’s archive today encompasses 5,175 individual signatures. How-
ever, these contain a distinctly larger number of compositions, with some volumes with over fifty
cantatas or solo sonatas. It is even more surprising that only 18% of these holdings are sacred vocal
works, that is to say, theoretically usable by the choir. A kind of reserve group is represented by the
13% secular vocal music, ranging from drinking songs to major cantatas. This makes a total of just
less than a third, compared with 56% instrumental music. This strong emphasis on instrumental mu-
sic is remarkable in the collection of a choral institution and requires some explanation.
In March 1807 Zelter founded the ‘Ripienschule’ with his own pupils and talented amateurs. He
actually had in mind to create a permanent ensemble for the Sing-Akademie’s concerts, but almost
straight away, the project acquired its own dynamic. He began to focus on instrumental works by
the old masters, whether it be works by the Bach family, the Berlin School or Italian Concerti grossi
by Corelli and Vivaldi. The dates annotated by Zelter which we find in many of the volumes pains-
takingly record the amount of time devoted at this point to repertoire which had really fallen out of
fashion. A contemporary witness (Hans Uldall) reported:
“Rehearsals took place every Friday in the years 1807–1815, with the exception of the period of
French occupation during the Napoleonic Wars. Each time the programme comprised an overture or
symphony, a piano concerto, an aria or another concerto and once again a symphony. The piano
concerto was always played by Mad. Levy, and although the most important concertos heard were
by Phil. Em. Bach, the names of Müthel, Friedemann Bach, Joh. Seb. Bach and Nichelmann were,
as the lists show, not yet forgotten.” Sara Levy, a former Berlin pupil of Friedemann Bach and Felix
Mendelssohn’s great aunt, had such a close association with the society that, directly after retiring as
a concert pianist in 1815, her music collection was added to Zelter’s archive. She lived into her
nineties, and died in 1854.
From the history of the beginnings of the Ripienschule we can clearly see how this archive was
able to reflect Zelter’s activities. Everything was in flux with such an inquisitive person. His practi-
cal sense was as so often the starting point, yet scarcely had he created his accompanying ensemble,
than he immediately set off into the land of unknown repertoire, in order to finally create a proper
institution in the Friday programmes. This unfolding of a branch of musical culture brought a clutch
of new music into the archive. Thus it developed, and as with the choral works, it wasn’t simply
works which were performed. Zelter wanted to create something playable out of a never-ending re-
source, wanted to have the measure of the whole range of styles of an era, and thus, thousands of in-
strumental works found their way into the music collection. But even here, Zelter didn’t stand still.
In his later years, when he had long since given up the building trade, he was entrusted with almost
the entire music educational work of the Prussian state. Tirelessly improving the training of future
music teachers, he became the unofficial Prussian “Minister of Music”.
And just as his activities now knew no bounds, this was matched by the horizons of the material
he collected. No facet of 18th century music was missing from his library, which he organised on
what were then extremely advanced principles of genre. He began with sacred vocal works, fol-
lowed by the bloc of opera scores, secular vocal music and finally instrumental music. Each of these
categories was arranged starting with the larger-size forms and scorings descending to the smallest.
As a result, the sequence of sacred vocal music began with the major oratorios and passions, some
with voluminous bundles of materials of several hundred leaves, and ended with songs; with in-
strumental works, the large symphonies were at the beginning and a few metres of shelves further
on, are works for piano solo. Thus the evidence of a former collector’s passion survives to the pre-
sent day.
The extent and content of Zelter’s collection has the character and proportions of a self-portrait.
Yet, the archive only comes to life in the way in which Zelter treated it, how he let light and shade
Introduction 21

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Matthias Kornemann
fall on the encyclopaedically accumulated, cleverly arranged colours. If we only judge him accord-
ing to those works which were actually performed, then our picture will remain rather pale. By
comparison, Zelter the collector invites us more personally to evaluate, comment and dismiss,
through his unbridled enjoyment.
Zelter should not be presented as a dusty old scholar. He lived his life in two realms, “pulled
hither and thither between craft and art, the achieved and the yet to be achieved”, as Goethe de-
scribed it, and this formed the collector’s intellectual character. He treated his treasures as a practis-
ing craftsman who literally wants to grasp the raw material. In the innumerable pages, we come
across an almost ruthless inclination to leave traces behind. It seems as if works which did not look
“used” were worthless to Zelter, and so he wove a web of annotations throughout his music library,
ranging from tentatively written dates in pencil to proliferating commentaries in his elaborate hand-
writing which became more confident with each year that passed, to truly proprietorial “improve-
ments” to the music in distinctive red chalk, used for corrections. The music could not have been
treated more materially: the red chalk strokes are the equivalent of the marks left by a craftsman on
wood or stone. They document a hunger to actively possess the whole. A gargantuan, insatiable
spirit strove to seize the immaterial, and there is already a slight whiff of vulgarity in this vigorous
assimilation. At any rate, Zelter sometimes wrote in autograph scores and was not afraid of adding
his comments to manuscripts by Bach.
The extent to which Zelter examined, commented on and edited his archive is truly astonishing.
No genre escaped the correcting red chalk marks of the musical artistic judge; here he smoothed out
a melodic line, there he jotted down an ornamentation or simply crossed out compositional deficien-
cies and at such moments, he slipped into the role of a schoolmaster chalking up his pupils’ mistakes.
Yet after a cursory leafing through, we need to inquire about the deeper reasons behind this con-
stant dialogue with his collection. His “Weiterkomponieren“ [continued tinkering] with the material
seems to have been arrived at quite independently, for his dialogue with the material he acquired
was, as stated earlier, not restricted to works which he intended to perform with the choir and where
his interventions occasionally necessitated new copies, so drastic were Zelter’s reworkings of the
original. Handel’s “Messias” is a prominent example of this. But entries are also found where there
was no question of their practical realisation. One example seems to recur. As in his collecting ac-
tivities, the perspective widened from the usable to the universal, the practitioner’s purposeful sense
seems to break away from all practical applications and become an end in itself. It is his way of ac-
quiring knowledge about which Zelter, almost verging on graphomania, continually had to account
for.
The further we follow him into the depths of his collecting, the more clearly we understand the
archive as a reflection of his intellectual character. If the markings of the red chalk crayon seem
high-handed at times, the resulting layer of commentary reveals a profile which ranges from subtle
and earthy humour to uncouthness. This characteristic was well-known to his colleagues. “At first
acquaintance he can seem very earthy, indeed from time to time, even somewhat coarse, but that’s
just superficial,” Goethe warned his close friend Eckermann. His comrade in the Liedertafel, Hell-
wig, wrote openly: “It was difficult to get on with Mr. Zelter, which was due to his force and the
egoism resulting from it. What he wanted, he wanted totally, and unfortunately he didn’t care how
he achieved it.” But Goethe also added that he had a soft heart. He was someone soon moved to
tears.
Today, those who follow up the numerous annotations and look over the working collector’s
shoulder, eavesdrop on a monologue. In his studio, Zelter is alone with the history of music, surveys
his cosmos god-like, and we can see him raging and hurling flashes of lightning. He did not aban-
don the disciplined, driven character which could intimidate those around him, for art. If his com-
22 Introduction

Authenticated
mentaries have remained unread to the present day in most cases, there are cases where out of the
monologue an opinion came to public notice with painful consequences, not least for his posthu-
mous reputation.
Only very occasionally do we come across those rare examples of what was then new, revolu-
tionary music in the archive. Zelter’s lack of feeling for the advances of middle and late-period Bee-
thoven is well known. His efforts in the rediscovery of an era which had fallen out of fashion were,
however, sufficiently major to free him from the duty of also keeping up with the new. The old criti-
cism, however, weighs heavier, that Zelter was, so to speak, Goethe’s demon who kept him at a dis-
tance from the most inspired interpreters of his poetry. However, Goethe would not have needed
Zelter’s blandishments to in order to reject, for example, Schubert’s “Erlkönig”. Such music ran
counter to his aesthetic concept. But in Zelter, he had a man who was able to prompt him with ap-
propriate phrases about why he was therefore in the right. And as a result, he occasionally asked for
a “Zelterish word”, a subtle circumlocution for the unleashing of an occasionally predatorial critic’s
instinct.
At one time when sifting through the archive, we happened upon a nondescript printed score cov-
ered in grey wrapping paper with the signature SA 968, “Huit scènes de Faust”, Hector Berlioz’s
first opus, which he had produced at his own expense and sent to the revered Goethe in Weimar
with the greatest of hopes. At the top left-hand corner of the inner cover is the entry: “2do Zelter”.
On 11 June 1829, Goethe wrote to Zelter: “I have one copy of Faust left which I therefore dedicate
lock, stock and barrel to you. In exchange, would you be so kind as to say a Zelterish word to me
about this work and to reassure me in your own way when looking through about the wonderful mu-
sic figures.” The old friends understood each other, and Zelter reassured in his tried and trusted way
in his answer of 21 June: “Certain people can only convey their presence of mind and their role
through loud coughing, puffing, squawking and spitting; Herr Hector Berlioz seems to be one of
these.” The verdict led into probably the most brutal judgement which a musician ever experienced
from another: “There will probably be an opportunity in a performance to make use of an abcess, a
freak which resulted from horrifying incest.” Did resentment also play a part here? Zelter had in-
deed failed to write the ultimate Faust music himself. These sentences, however, mark a black mo-
ment for Zelter the writer. Not because he misunderstands and rejects. But because he introduces a
type of concept which more disreputable characters in the field of cultural criticism were to grate-
fully adopt. Because now, however, this verdict aroused unanimous outrage, people happily over-
looked a detail: Zelter spoke of a possible use in a performance. Also – or just – such a score did not
languish on a shelf, but became a catalyst for music-practical exercises, was used as an example.
And that casts a comforting light over these passages. The nondescript volume, however, remains a
small monument. What we hold in our hands today has previously passed through those of Berlioz,
Goethe and Zelter.
This “case” certainly stands out vividly, yet a malicious humour sparkles through it. We suspect
in every line that Zelter, as Hellwig intimated, may have been a thoroughly formidable opponent.
Whether a work arrived on Zelter’s writing desk as a gift or purchase, it was conscientiously looked
through and evaluated. Not infrequently new acquisitions were condemned to eternal damnation,
such as the anonymous “Missa romana”, the title page of which Zelter annotated with the laconic
“could for good reason have remained in Rome”. It was thus thrown into the Hades of oblivion (but
not without acquiring a systematically correct place in his collection...). We see “Zelterish words”
also reverberated back through history, for the unrelenting artistic judge looked back Janus-like into
the past as well as into the future. However, his respect for the craftsmanship of the old masters
compelled him to make more differentiated judgements. In this way, the trial could drag on as, for
example, with a “Miserere” by Francesco Grassi: “On the 2nd June 1810 received from Herr For-
Introduction 23

Authenticated
Matthias Kornemann
strath [forestry official] Gorwitz, and not to be used, yet not to be scoffed at. A heartfelt thanks for
the goodwill will not be too high a price for such laboriously superficial work.” His pairing of the
descriptions mühsam [laborious] and flüchtig [superficial/hurried] is almost reminiscent of the witty
tortuousness of Thomas Mann’s style. And Zelter continues: ”Beginner, student, imitator of the first
half of the 18th century. Slips of the pen are also not lacking and one does not know whether they
come from the copyist of the composer, as, for example, the 14th bar of the last chorus.” An expert
verdict is combined with a sense of wordplay constantly lurking in the background, which is occa-
sionally suppressed out of respect in the correspondence with Goethe. Daniel Jacob Springsguth’s
motet “Tobet nun ihr Feinde” ends up on the shelf with the aphorism “Badly received and badly out
of control! Therefore can’t promise anything”, and the displeasure over Johann Carl Friedrich Rell-
stab’s “Te Deum” even annoyed Zelter sufficiently to rhyme: “You can’t play it, / You can’t feel it, /
You can’t sing it, / It will not sound! / I’ll happily turn a hundred and seventeen / Non confundar in
aeternum.“ Rellstab’s work ended on page 117, and because of this, Zelter consciously ended the
rhyme with the last verse of the “Te Deum”. When Zelter felt under attack from inferior intellects,
his wit yet again veered towards the boorish, as shown in his reaction to the admittedly presumptu-
ous dedication by the Viennese Beethoven protegé Franz Xaver Kleinheinz. He had dedicated his
setting of Schiller’s “Handschuh” “to Herr Zelter for comment.” Zelter retorted, “Thank you kindly
my little Heinz for your kindly lecture. The [Zelter’s fury renders the writing illegible here] must be
better than the glove for which you used old, rotten leather. Z.”
He remained completely at loggerheads with Georg Joseph Vogler, known as Abbé Vogler, and
his comments lead us to suspect that he enjoyed this. Zelter possibly heard Vogler’s organ recital in
the Marienkirche in November 1800, in which he used flashy effects such as depressing as many
keys at once with both arms to portray the fall of the walls of Jericho. What is amazing is that Zelter
had a copy of Vogler’s “Choral-System” interleaved with blank pages in order to have unlimited
space for his diatribes. An example: “The Babylonian whores; African bourrees; collapsing walls of
Jericho, H. Vogler gave these expertly as being of the greatest importance on the organ, and he
chides the poor devils of which he is one.” The volume brims over with witty, earthy insults and
would be worth reproducing in facsimile. When Vogler’s “Deutsche Kirchenmusik” came into his
hands sixteen years later, it was satisfying for the cool-headed collector to write laconically under
the humble foreword which requests forbearance for any printing errors, “the whole piece is a print-
ing error!” Naturally these pointed callous remarks amuse us, and they also occur more frequently
than words of praise. Yet they are also found in different registers. For example, as deferential re-
spect towards the art of the old masters: “Fine and protestant; composer unknown, but he would
have done well to include his name; the church wouldn’t be ashamed of him”, he wrote on the title
page of the anonymous cantata “Liebster Jesu wiltu scheiden”. And occasionally, recollections from
earlier times waft in, when his tone becomes almost soft: “A pretty, fresh, lively piece which I hap-
pily played and heard in my younger years. Possin plays this Concerto very well”, we read of Jo-
hann Schobert’s Harpsichord Concerto in C major.
Sometimes Zelter’s comments are extremely puzzling and one is forced to follow their author
into a labyrinth of veiled allusions. Or were they intended for future readers to discover? I would
like to conclude with probably the most intricate example of this kind. Under the signature SA 727
we find the unique surviving Requiem by a composer called Mario Capuana. The last page of this
slight work contains the following sentence by Zelter: “Capuana flees: if you see Gerber, then say to
him: I am most grateful, but he pays me too much respect, I was after all a scoundrel! / Xenien”.
Present-day readers have to search a little to find the model of Schiller’s Xenie “Peregrinus Pro-
teus”: “ If you should see Wieland, then say to him: I am most grateful, but he pays me too great an
honour, I was merely a rascal.” The sometimes aggressive polemic of the Xenies which appeared in
24 Introduction

Authenticated
Schiller’s “Musenalmanach auf das Jahr 1797” will have pleased Zelter, even if his kind of literary
attack was for the most part more rustic and barely as distich. But what is the meaning of this par-
ody in which Ernst Ludwig Gerber’s name is substituted for Wieland’s? Schiller’s Xenie was
aimedpitted against Wieland, who had rehabilitated the cynic philosopher Peregrinus Proteus in his
late novel as an honourable visionary. By mentioning Gerber, Zelter placed a similarly polyhistori-
cal figure for the writing of music history in his place. In his epoch-making “Historisch-
biographisches Lexikon der Tonkünstler”, Gerber had portrayed the composer Rinaldo da Capua as
an excellent master, whilst Zelter basically dismissed the Requiem, marking the parallel fifths he
discovered with red chalk like a schoolmaster correcting work.
What did this all mean? Zelter could simply have written that Gerber had grossly overestimated
this technically limited lesser master. But it spurred him on to couch this commonplace discovery in
literary terms and with a theatrical flourish, not missing an opportunity to show off his culture a lit-
tle vainly with this game of deception. It fits better with our pedantic age, to destroy Zelter’s witty
parody with the point that the master of opera Rinaldo da Capua was not the composer of this work,
but a lesser composer, the Sicilian Mario Capuana ...
What, therefore, do these comments mean, which one could place one after another stretching
into infinity? Obsessively pedantic and supremely witty judgements mix together here in a quite
unique way, and when one looks through the pages, one can hear all the comments being whispered,
and sometimes Zelter’s thundering voice stands out again. There’s just one thing which we don’t
learn: whether he, as in his correspondence with Goethe, thought of us, the future public, racking its
brains and amused, or whether he talked to himself, totally happily, in a monologue.
At the end of his life, Zelter was a monolith from another age who had long since given up com-
prehending the present and its greats, possibly numbed by his inner raging artistic judge. Yet he
judged the past critically, with the courage to condemn that which was second rate, whereas today
we catalogue and preserve every little snippet.
The Archive of the Sing-Akademie cannot be measured against the great national libraries of
Europe. The archive stands apart in its uniqueness, its skeletal outlines and its craggy, unmistakable
physiognomy, for truly every page passed through Zelter’s hands and was assessed for its worth.
The material is not monumental in itself, but because of its perceptible transformation, down to the
last red crayon marking, by an intellect who had no inhibitions in engraving upon it his greatness as
well as his limitations with almost Renaissance-like dastardliness. It thus leaves for posterity a fas-
cinating portrait of a collector, which stands alongside his correspondence with Goethe, in itself of
world literary standing.
Introduction 25

Authenticated
Fig. 3: Sing-Akademie zu Berlin (painting by Eduard Gaertner, 1834)
26

Authenticated
The diversity and range of genres in the Archive
of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin1
By Axel Fischer
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe began his last letter to his close friend Carl Friedrich Zelter with the
encouraging lines:
That’s fine! After you have built and founded your citadel through your life’s work, aren’t lack-
ing an efficient bodyguard and first-rate allied comrades-in-arms, so you will keep fighting to pre-
serve that which you have achieved, to promote its main purpose and through it to reduce the bur-
den which such a position must carry with it.2
The careful preservation of what had been acquired, which Goethe acknowledged, was always an
absolutely central aspect in Zelter’s lifelong efforts for the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, which under
his aegis developed into one of the most important institutions in the promotion of bourgeois musi-
cal culture in the first third of the 19th century. And we should bear in mind that the all-embracing
and poetically exaggerated term ‘citadel’ included not only the various ensembles of the Sing-
Akademie, that is the large concert choir, the Liedertafel, the Ripienschule and the Akademie’s own
concert hall, but certainly also its precious music archive.
Even the founder of the Sing-Akademie Carl Friedrich Fasch recognised the necessity of having
its own archive, however it was his pupil Zelter who deserves recognition for considerably expand-
ing the collection and having brought it to the state in which it is still found today.3 Zelter first
amassed the scores in his private rooms until the completion of the institution’s own concert hall at
the Kastanienwäldchen in 1827 when the archive received its own home. Precise information about
its location is thanks to a report by Friedrich Welter, who, from 1928 to 1932, commissioned by the
then director Georg Schumann, continued the cataloguing work begun by Max Schneider.4 Accord-
ing to Welter’s recollection, the archive was situated in the attic in a room approximately 60 metres
long and five to six metres wide, filled with about 30 solid wood bookcases. Between the bookcases
were bays in which readers could comfortably work.
The collections remained at this location for over a century. In August 1943, a few weeks before
the destruction of the building by British incendiary bombs, the Sing-Akademie decided to evacu-
ate, and then began a veritable odyssey, which can only be briefly summarised here.5 From Berlin,
1
This article, brought up-to-date here, was originally published in: Gattungsgeschichte als Kulturgeschichte. Fest-
schrift für Arnfried Edler, ed. Christine Siegert, Katharina Hottmann, Sabine Meine, Martin Loeser and Axel Fi-
scher, Hildesheim 2008 (=Ligaturen, Vol. 3), pp. 123–135. We are most grateful to Georg Olms Verlag for kind
permission to reprint it.
2
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to Carl Friedrich Zelter, Weimar 11 March 1832, see Goethes Werke, ed. on behalf
of Grand Duchess Sophie of Saxony Sophie von Sachsen, Part IV, Vol. 49, Weimar: Böhlau 1909, pp. 265–268,
the quotation is found on p. 265.
3
For general information on the history of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin see Sing-Akademie zu Berlin. Festschrift
zum 175jährigen Bestehen, ed. Werner Bollert, Berlin: Rembrandt 1966 and 200 Jahre Sing-Akademie zu Berlin.
Ein Kunstverein für die heilige Musik, ed. Gottfried Eberle, Berlin: Nicolai 1991.
4
See Friedrich Welter, Die Musikbibliothek der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin. Versuch eines Nachweises ihrer früheren
Bestände, in: Sing-Akademie zu Berlin. Festschrift zum 175jährigen Bestehen, as footnote 2, pp. 33–47.
5
The most detailed analysis of the odyssey up to now, and in particular the rediscovery of the archive, is by
Patricia Kennedy Grimsted, Bach is Back in Berlin: The Return of the Sing-Akademie Archive from Ukraine in the
Context of Displaced Cultural Treasures and Restitution Politics, in: Spoils of War, International Newsletter, No.
8 (2003), pp. 67–104.
27

Authenticated
Axel Fischer
the archive was taken to Ullersdorf in Lower Silesia [now Oldrzychowice Klodzkie], and from there
under circumstances still not completely clarified, it went to the Conservatoire in Kiev in 1946 and
in 1973, to the State Archives and Museum of Literature and Art of Ukraine, also in Kiev. There, it
was inaccessible to western musicologists and musicians for over fifty years, until it was finally
found by a team of researchers from Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.) in 1999. Two years
later, the collection was returned to the private ownership of the Sing-Akademie. Since then, it has
been held on deposit in the Music Collection of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kultur-
besitz, and is available for readers to consult, subject to the usual conditions of use.
Cataloguing the archive
The archive of the Sing-Akademie comprises approximately 264,100 pages of music, which divide
into a total of 5,175 signatures.6 As one signature can equally contain a single work (e.g. an opera
score, which can also be in several volumes) or an extensive collection, the obvious and simple
question of how many works are contained in the signatures still cannot be answered. The repertoire
encompasses a period stretching from the 16th century to the first third of the 19th.7 A significant
number – not yet precisely known – date, as would be expected, from the closing years of the 18th
century, thus the classical era of Frederick the Great’s period in Berlin.
The quasi magical aura which surrounds the archive is due not least to the fact that its contents
were not precisely known until the publication of this catalogue. It is doubtful whether the collec-
tion was catalogued during Fasch’s and Zelter’s lifetimes.8 A complete catalogue was very probably
drawn up for the first time around 1835. The catalogue owes its origins to a disastrous lawsuit be-
tween Zelter’s heirs and the Sing-Akademie. The background was the fact that Zelter did not differ-
entiate sufficiently clearly between his private music collection and that of his choral society and in
general, left the library in a disorganised state. In order to at least be able to value the amount in
dispute approximately, the collector Georg Poelchau was asked by the Sing-Akademie to produce a
Catalog musikalisch-literarischer und practischer Werke aus dem Nachlasse des Königl: Professors
Dr. Zelter.9 Through Schneider’s and Welter’s previously-mentioned work around 1930, Poelchau’s
catalogue, with its very general catalogue entries, could first be replaced after almost a century, but
the card catalogue made during his time was lost in the turmoil of the war. For this reason the hold-
ings in the Kiev Conservatoire were not only stored in cardboard boxes, but also given new signa-
ture numbers and entered into an inventory.10 Finally, in connection with the repatriation to Berlin
in 2001, an attempt at a minute, recording the handing over was drawn up which, however, turned
out to be really full of errors and can in no way be used as a catalogue.
6
The vast majority are manuscripts. The printed works, including valuable first editions and even unique copies,
constitute about 15% of the archive.
7
The more recent archive of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin from the period between Zelter’s death in 1832 and the
removal of the stock during the war in 1943 is still missing. As a result, the repertoire from over a century of in-
tensive concert activity, including the great choral-symphonic works by Mendelssohn, Brahms, Liszt etc. is miss-
ing. How and when this separation of the newer archive came about is unknown at present.
8
For information on the following, see the introduction by Ulrich Leisinger in: Die Bach-Sammlung aus dem Ar-
chiv der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, pub. by Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, ed. Axel Fischer and Matthias Kornemann,
Munich: Saur 2003, pp. 13–36 (pp. 37–52.
9
A copy of this catalogue was found in Friedrich Welter’s effects; it is now preserved under the signature N. Mus.
ms. theor. 30 in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz.
10
The signatures allocated in Kiev were retained for pragmatic reasons after the repatriation of the archive, and only
expanded by the addition of the abbreviation “SA” at the beginning. The systematic listing of the holdings has
remained untouched with this alteration.
28 Introduction

Authenticated
The diversity and range of genres in the Archive of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin
From what has been previously stated, it emerged that the publication of a detailed and accurate
complete catalogue was urgently required. This possibility opened up through the decision by the
Sing-Akademie to publish the complete archive on microfiche from 2003 in collaboration with K.G.
Saur Verlag (Munich) and with the support of the Packard Humanities Institutes (Los Altos, Cali-
fornia).11
Although the archive of the Sing-Akademie only contains a few original sources by Johann Se-
bastian Bach, after this spectacular rediscovery, the next major broadest interest – not least because
of the recent Bach anniversary year in 2000 – was in the Bach holdings. There is here the third larg-
est collection worldwide of musical sources of the Bach family. No fewer than twelve composers
with this surname are represented, of which the surviving output of Carl Philipp Emanuel with c.
360 sources (including the previously largely unknown Hamburg church music) forms the largest
part, and the “Alt-Bachisches Archiv” [an archive of compositions by members of the extended
Bach family and other important composers such as Buxtehude and Pachelbel’] perhaps the most
valuable treasure. There were therefore good reasons to begin with the Bachiana ahead of the com-
plete publication of the archive. This occurred in 2003 in close collaboration with the Bach-Archiv
Leipzig.12 Scarcely less important are the Telemann sources, which have also likewise been pub-
lished before the main body of works. After works by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and the Graun
brothers, Telemanniana, with approximately 300 sources is the third largest body of work. This in-
cludes works where are indicated as lost in the catalogue of Telemann’s works, but also previously
unknown works in modern times such as a full evening length Pastorelle en Musique (SA 1203).
After the Bach and Telemann collections, the remainder of the archive holdings were filmed in
the sequence of signatures SA 1 to SA 5175. In the course of this, works were put into order, newly
foliated if necessary and in particular, identified by consulting the relevant repertoires. A great deal
of attention was given to examining the numerous anonymous compositions and works surviving in
unique copies. All parts of the edition have accompanying index volumes which enable individual
works to be easily located. These index volumes form the data basis for the present complete cumu-
lative catalogue.13
Genres
The “Zelter-Katalog” mentioned previously, drawn up around 1835, represents a remarkable system
of classification, probably based on Zelter’s own ideas, used for the music deposited in the Sing-
Akademie’s building at the Kastanienwäldchen, and still used today. The overview at the beginning
of the catalogue clarifies the principle:14
11
Further information is available at http://www.saur.de. The publication on microfiche guarantees, in contrast with
digital processes, a readability of several hundred years.
12
Since then, a detailed catalogue of the Bach sources in the Sing-Akademie has been produced: Wolfram Enßlin,
Die Bach-Quellen der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin. Katalog, Hildesheim: Olms 2006 (=Leipziger Beiträge zur Bach-
Forschung 8.1 and 8.2).
13
A further project, running concurrently with the microfiche edition under the auspices of the DFG (German Re-
search Foundation), has been recording the manuscripts since April 2006 for the RISM Database.
14
D-B: N. Mus. ms. theor. 30, fol. 2v–3r. NB. As the following calculations are on the basis of the number of signa-
tures, not, however, the number of works contained within them, the results should only be regarded as approxi-
mate. Precise statistics will only be possible after the cataloguing has been completed.
Introduction 29

Authenticated
Axel Fischer
SA ... number %
A. Theorie der Musik. Schulen. Akustik. Geschichte.
Wörterbücher. Biographien. Orgelbau u. Orgelspiel. – – –
Zeitschriften. Aesthetik.
B. Contrapunctische Beispiele u. Studien. 1–17 17 0.3
C. [Vocal works]
I. Oratorien. 18–177 160 3.1
II. Messen, Psalmen, Quartalstücke und liturgische Musik. 178–693 516 10.0
III. Geistliche Cantaten, Motetten, Trauer- und
694–812 119 2.3
EinführungsMusiken.
IV. Choralbücher u. einzelne Choräle. 813–860 48 0.9
V. Mehrstimmige Gesänge vermischten Inhalts. 861–936 76 1.5
VI. Opern. 937–1219 283 5.5
VII. Weltliche Cantaten für ein und mehrere Stimmen. 1220–1456 237 4.6
VIII. Duette. 1457–1507 51 1.0
IX. Arien. 1508–1669 162 3.1
X. Singübungen. 1670–1678 9 0.2
XI. Lieder. 1679–1890 212 4.1
D. [Instrumental works]
I. Sinfonien. 1891–2555 665 12.8
II. Concerte. 2556–3067 512 9.9
III. Ouverturen. 3068–3250 183 3.5
IV. Fugen und Canons. 3251–3294 44 0.8
V. Sextett’s und Quintett’s. 3295–3320 26 0.5
VI. Quartett’s. 3321–3583 263 5.1
VII. Trio’s. 3584–3907 324 6,3
VIII. Duo’s. 3908–4000 93 1.8
IX. Solo’s. 4001–4128 128 2.5
X. Clavier-Compositionen. 4129–4714 586 11.3
XI. Orgelstücke. 4715–4740 26 0.5
XII. Pakete unvollständiger Musikstücke. 4741–4807 67 1.3
[E. Appendices] 4808–5175 368 7.1
30 Introduction

Authenticated
Roughly, the archive is divided into five categories A to E. For the old signatures, a “Z” and a run-
ning number was originally added to the letters, so, for example, a signature in the vocal works
category might run “ZC 1234”.
The 288 theoretical works in class A were lost following the removal of stock in 1943, and class
B, “Contrapunctische Beispiele u. Studien”, seems strangely under-represented with just 17 signa-
tures. All the vocal works were filed under C, with further classification into eleven subclasses with
Roman numerals. The idea of separating sacred from secular vocal works is clearly shown in giving
the operas a subclass of their own (subclass VI). The area of opera may perhaps be particularly sur-
prising, for admittedly the performance of music-theatrical works at all times lay outside the tradi-
tionally-defined repertoire boundaries. Class D encompasses the instrumental works, divided into
twelve subclasses in decreasing size of scoring. The final class E is missing in the Zelter Catalogue;
it was only added later and contains predominantly vocal music from the context of the Liedertafel,
but also instrumental music and a few treasures which had fallen out of order such as the “Alt-
Bachisches Archiv”. Within the subclasses, the order is generally alphabetical.
In the quantitative examination of a choral archive, one might generally expect a significant con-
centration on vocal music. Evaluation of the different genres, however, produces diverging results,
as shown in the following figures:15
Sacred vocal works 17,8 %

Operas 5,5 %
Secular vocal works 13,0 %
Symphonies, concertos and overtures 26,2 %
Piano and chamber music 30,1 %
Roughly speaking, the proportion of sacred and secular vocal works is actually around about a third
(30.8 %), whilst the instrumental works occupy 56.3 %. The high proportion of orchestral music
(symphonies, concertos and overtures) can be explained by the “Ripienschule”, an orchestral school
for the training of its own accompanying ensemble set up by Zelter in 1807 under the institutional
auspices of the Sing-Akademie, which could be provided with study material in this way. On the
other hand, the equally strong presence of piano and chamber music is more surprising. Although
such music was performed in the private and semi-public salons of the old Prussian capital Berlin, it
never belonged to the key repertoire of the Sing-Akademie. The replacement of the primacy of vo-
cal music in favour of the ‘more modern’ instrumental genres which occurred everywhere in the
second half of the 18th century here finds a clear quantitative expression.
The classification of music according to principles of genre makes sense in many respects and
has therefore been commonly used for several centuries. One of the somewhat newer and less obvi-
ous merits lies in the ability to bring music collections, publishers’ listings, auction catalogues and
similar works together in a systematic order. A classification according to genre can scarcely be bet-
tered, for in contrast with alphabetical or chronological principles, it allows works without a firm
composer, let alone a date, to be correctly classified.16
15
This calculation does not take account of classes “B” (Contrapunctische Beispiele u. Studien, 0.3 %) and “E”
(Appendices, 7.1 %), both of which contain vocal and instrumental works.
16
Arnfried Edler also speaks explicitly of the purpose of “librarianship conservation”; see idem., article Gattung, 4.
Musik, in: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit, on behalf of the Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut [Institute for Advanced
Introduction 31

Authenticated
Axel Fischer
If we examine the system used in the Zelter catalogue in more detail, the wide range of the gen-
res represented is striking. An attempt to establish a precise evaluation is, however, frustrated by the
fact that, as previously stated, the majority of the signatures do not give any clue as to the number of
works they contain. Moreover, the archivists did not always succeed in assigning compositions to
the precise systematically correct classification. Sometimes the reason for this can be readily under-
stood, for example when a series of sacred cantatas (SA 2991–3004) has been filed with the instru-
mental concertos because of the title “Concerto”, as was usual for the time. Often, though, the rea-
son is baffling, such as in the classification C. V. “Mehrstimmige Gesänge vermischten Inhalts”, the
last section of sacred vocal works, which includes psalms and mass movements (which should be in
class C. II. “Messen, Psalmen, Quartalstücke und liturgische Musik”) and in addition to that, in-
cludes serenades and even string quartets.
The use of a systematic listing according to musical genre naturally results in certain imponder-
ables regarding both size and also scale. Although the classification D. I. “Sinfonien” encompasses
665 signatures, but the classification C. X. “Singübungen” only 9 signatures, it was certainly right to
refrain from a broader diversification? of the symphonies, because this would almost inevitably
have made the correct assignation of new works either more difficult or even impossible. For the ex-
tensive classification C. II. “Messen, Psalmen, Quartalstücke und liturgische Musik” a further sub-
division according to current classifications would, though, be practical and desirable.
Provenances
One of the most pressing desiderata regarding the Archive of the Sing-Akademie is researching the
provenances, which promises to reveal important discoveries about Fasch and Zelter’s connections
to the musicians and musical centres of their day. Already it is beginning to emerge that both the
first two directors enriched the holdings over the years, particularly in the following ways: by pur-
chases from estates, making personal copies, exchanging scores, and from gifts and legacies.
One of the most important sources was the deliberate purchase of musicians’ surviving papers.
The example of the papers of Johann Nikolaus Forkel portrays how such a deal could be engineered.
After his death in March 1818, the remains of his valuable book and music collection was the sub-
ject of discussion. In order to save time and auction costs, Forkel’s son Carl Gottlieb strove to
achieve a complete sale, and Zelter wrote to Goethe:
I would happily undertake a journey to Göttingen: Forkel is dead, and his artistic estate is to be
sold in its entirety. And therefore one needs to know what is there, and what the items look like.17
Four weeks later, Zelter set off from Berlin for Göttingen. On 12 August 1818 he reported on his
negotiations there to another friend, the Berlin lawyer Georg Heinrich Ludwig Nicolovius, at which
he felt “like the Greeks before Troy”:
The collection itself is substantial and has a value in this respect, if you take everything together.
I looked through everything meticulously, which is no small undertaking, for there is no catalogue
and everything is in a chaotic muddle.
Study in the Humanities] (Essen), and in conjunction with specialists ed. Friedrich Jäger, Vol. 4, Stuttgart and
Weimar: Metzler 2006, pp. 195–200, here p. 195.
17
Carl Friedrich Zelter to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Berlin 21 June 1818, see Briefwechsel zwischen Goethe
und Zelter, ed. Max Hecker, 3 vols. Frankfurt am Main: Insel 1987, Vol. 1, p. 645. Zelter considered equally a
purchase for the Königliche Bibliothek (Royal Library) which was then being built, for the Archive of the Sing-
Akademie and for his own private collection.
32 Introduction

Authenticated
According to my general reckoning there are about 400 books and perhaps 15 centners of music,
including rare and beautiful items. I have not found any manuscripts for the continuation of the
Geschichte der Mus., but many excerpts and materials which are important enough. It would be a
great shame if the materials were to be split up.18
Zelter recognised the significance of the collection, counted on being able to purchase it in its en-
tirety and asked Nicolovius later in the letter to be discreet for the time being, in order not to unnec-
essarily attract competitors. The negotiations then turned out to be decidedly enervating, as Forkel’s
son demanded a flat rate of a one Gute Groschen (correponds to 1/24 of a Reichstaler) per sheet of
paper, irrespective of the ideal value, whereas Zelter was actually prepared to offer 100 Friedrich
d’or (correponds to 500 Reichstaler) for the complete collection. Although both seller and purchaser
would have benefited from a transfer en bloc, this was achieved with neither Zelter nor any other in-
terested party. What happened was something which was inevitable in such situations: a catalogue
of effects was drawn up and the collection publicly auctioned in May 1819.
Whatever plans he made, as in the above example, we should not forget that this kind of growth
only lay within Zelter’s power to a certain extent and that instead, a dynamic developed independent
of his intentions. We encounter this in the case of legacies, gifts and presentation copies which con-
stantly came the Sing-Akademie’s way. For instance, the Berlin writer and publisher Friedrich
Nicolai left his music collection to the Sing-Akademie in his will, with its wealth of orchestral and
chamber music works which were, indeed, used for practising by the Ripienschule but never for the
choir’s concert programmes. Scarcely controllable, but of greater importance for their contents,
were additions through gifts. Amongst the most significant were undoubtedly those from Sara Levy
née Itzig, the great aunt of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, which contained works by Johann Sebas-
tian, Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach; also the gift from Georg Poelchau, who,
over a period of time, left the Sing-Akademie extremely valuable sources by Johann Sebastian and
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach as well as the “Alt-Bachisches Archiv”.
Motivations
If finally we enquire about the forces which drove Zelter in developing his music archive, the an-
swer lies in the interplay of several factors. First and foremost, in the acquisitions, he was aiming
pragmatically to provide repertoire for the rehearsals and performances given by his ensembles. Be-
sides this, Zelter used the sources for his own further education. When looking through the archive,
we are constantly coming across works which he had studied intensively. These are easy to recog-
nise, for Zelter was not afraid of marking his sometimes strong value judgements, his amendments,
corrections, comments on performance practice or witty glosses with (frequently red) ink directly in
the old scores. These notes reveal Zelter as a musician who was as eager for knowledge as knowl-
edgeable, gradually they have become recognised as of high value for research and practice. Aston-
ishingly, they are also found in works which were almost certainly never taken out of the archive or
18
Carl Friedrich Zelter to Georg Heinrich Ludwig Nicolovius, Göttingen 12 August 1818, see an anonymous au-
thor, Carl Friedrich Zelter als Sammler, in: Die Weltkunst 6 (1932), No. 22 of 29 May 1932, p. 5; see also Hans-
Joachim Schulze who first referred to this letter, Karl Friedrich Zelter und der Nachlaß des Bach-Biographen Jo-
hann Nikolaus Forkel. Anmerkungen zur Bach-Überlieferung in Berlin und zur Frühgeschichte der Musiksamm-
lung an der Königlichen Bibliothek, in: Jahrbuch des Staatlichen Instituts für Musikforschung Preußischer Kul-
turbesitz, Stuttgart and Weimar: Metzler 1993, pp. 141–150, on Nicolovius pp. 145–146. The number of books
ran to over 3,000 in the auction catalogue printed later; see Verzeichniß der von dem verstorbenen Doctor und
Musikdirector Forkel in Göttingen nachgelassenen Bücher und Musikalien, Göttingen: Huth 1819.
Introduction 33

Authenticated
Axel Fischer
performed either privately or publicly. Here, entirely personal musical-theoretical and historical dis-
coveries are central.
Yet we can only partly do justice to Zelter’s critical spirit by examining these motivational rea-
sons alone. He also manifestly followed a greater, almost encyclopaedic drive. Only this aspect of
his activity can adequately explain the broad character of the collection as a comprehensive library
of all available repertoire ranging over almost all musical genres. As a result, the archive became
one of the supporting pillars of his concept of education, which was based on regarding the Sing-
Akademie’s influence as part of a universal artistic, pedagogical and academic programme of edu-
cation.
Last but not least, we can confidently credit Zelter with a far greater than usual passion for
amassing and preserving old treasures. Herein lay one of the basic affinities which united him with
his friend Goethe. Where Goethe resorted to minerals and fossils, Zelter collected scores and parts.
But in contrast with Goethe, whose collecting remained a search, looking exclusively to the distant
past, Zelter could have his finds played in the circles of his colleagues and through this, give them a
new lease of life. This was a possibility which Goethe envied him in the last letter cited above:
Just once I’d really like to present you for a joke, if you are checking through some lively cho-
ruses with your animated youths, an ancient elephant’s molar, so that you should feel the contrast
really vividly and with some grace.19
Through the mutually stimulating activities of collecting, studying and shared music-making, in
the course of Zelter’s thirty two years as director, the archive grew into a collection of encyclopae-
dic completeness. Through this, it became an important medium for the wide and cultural-historical
engagement of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, whose influence extended far beyond the borders of
the Berlin.
19
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to Carl Friedrich Zelter, Weimar 11 March 1832, see Goethes Werke (see footnote 1),
p. 267.
34 Introduction

Authenticated
Authenticated
Fig. 4: Georg Christoph Bach: Sacred concerto „Siehe, wie fein und lieblich“
(from the „Alt-Bachische Archiv“), SA 5163
36

Authenticated
The Bach Collection*
By Ulrich Leisinger
With its more than 500 items, the older music archive of the Berlin Sing-Akademie today represents
the third largest collection in the world of musical sources for the Bach family. Taking into account
the value of the sources and their musicological importance, however, it can even lay claim to sec-
ond place. It is significantly outdone only by the present-day collection of the “Staatsbibliothek zu
Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz”.1 This, however, owes a large portion of the original sources of
the works of Johann Sebastian Bach to a financial crisis of the Sing-Akademie which in 1854 forced
it to sell the most valuable items. The Sing-Akademie collection also lies behind the Brussels Bach
sources, which are divided between the Royal Library and the Conservatory, only in terms of num-
bers.2
With 360 sources for the works of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, 48 for Wilhelm Friedemann and
the so-called “Alt-Bachisches Archiv” (Old Bach Archive), which includes 24 manuscripts,3 the
Sing-Akademie preserves a unique collection of high-quality, partly even unique sources for the
most important representatives of the Thuringian-Saxon family of musicians beyond Johann Sebas-
tian Bach.
The spectacular discovery of the music library in the Ukraine Central State Archive Museum for
Literature and Art in the summer of 1999 by a research team from Harvard University, and the sub-
sequent, no less attention-catching return of the collection in December 2001, happily coincided
with the markedly increased interest in the biographical and musical context of Johann Sebastian
Bach over the last two decades. Up until the Second World War, the collection was scarcely used
for musicological purposes. In the first place, there was for a long time a lack of research interest,
which was completely concentrated on the heroes of music history. For example, the publication of
selections from the “Alt-Bachisches Archiv” in 1935 was essentially made possible only by the
250th anniversary in this year of Johann Sebastian Bach’s birth.4 Further, the Sing-Akademie, as a
choral association, which was focused on the cultivation of music through rehearsals and concerts,
did not possess the necessary infrastructure to support musicological work. They lacked the space
and personnel for looking after the enormous and loosely organised music archive. It is also impos-
sible to avoid the suspicion that a number of Directors of the Sing-Akademie were not willing to al-
low others to make use of the sources, in order to reserve for themselves the possibility of winning
recognition with a first evaluation, which they then never succeeded in completing. The spare utili-
*
I would like to express my thanks to Axel Fischer (Hanover), Helmut Hell (Berlin), Christiane Raabe (Munich),
Hans-Joachim Schulze (Leipzig) and Christoph Wolff (Cambridge, Mass.) for their suggestions and support.
1
For an overview of the contents, see Die Bach-Sammlung. Katalog und Register. Nach Paul Kast – Die Bach-
Handschriften der Berliner Staatsbibliothek, 1958 – vollständig erweitert und für die Mikrofiche-Edition ergänzt.
Publication of the “Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preussischer Kulturbesitz”, Munich 2003, and Eva R. Blech-
schmidt, Die Amalien-Bibliothek, Musikbibliothek der Prinzessin Anna Amalia von Preußen (1723–1787). Histo-
rische Einordnung und Katalog mit Hinweisen auf die Schreiber der Handschriften, Berlin 1965.
2
Ulrich Leisinger and Peter Wollny, Die Bach-Quellen der Bibliotheken in Brüssel. Katalog. Mit einer Darstellung
der Sammlungen Fétis, Westphal und Wagener, Hildesheim etc. 1997 (Leipziger Beiträge zur Bach-Forschung 2).
3
Partly in scores and parts.
4
Altbachisches Archiv. Aus Johann Sebastian Bachs Sammlung von Werken seiner Vorfahren Johann, Heinrich,
Georg Christoph, Johann Michael und Johann Christoph Bach, edited by Max Schneider, 2 volumes, Leipzig
1935 (Reichsdenkmale. Sonderbände zum Bach-Gedenkjahr 1935. 1–2), reprint Leipzig 1966.
37

Authenticated
Ulrich Leisinger
sation of the collection up until the Second World War thus provided only an initial indication of the
treasures that are assembled here.
– The Berlin Sing-Akademie possesses in the “Alt-Bachisches Archiv” the greater part of all the
surviving sources of the vocal works of the older Bach family, and thus preserves unique insights
into the tradition-consciousness of the Bachs.
– Wilhelm Friedemann Bach’s years in Berlin, and above all his involvement with the circle of
Mendelssohn’s great-aunt Sara Levy, revealed only by the sources of the Sing-Akademie.
– Without these sources it would also be impossible to form an adequate picture of Carl Philipp
Emanuel Bach’s work as Musical Director in Hamburg between 1768 and 1788.
In addition to this, the collection offers surprising insights into other aspects of the family history. The
most dramatic of these is the discovery of joint counterpoint studies of Johann Sebastian and Wilhelm
Friedemann Bach, which are described in detail elsewhere.5 New acquisitions of knowledge extend
also to the less significant family members, for example the identification of an important copyist and
contributor to preservation from the circle of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach as Johann Christian Bach
(1743–1814), the so-called Halle Clavier-Bach (not to be confused with the better-known son of Jo-
hann Sebastian born in 1735, the Milan or London Bach).6 Thorough evaluation, which has only
now become possible on a broader front – and which can ideally inspire both musicology and per-
formance – will require a few years. The picture will necessarily remain incomplete until a schor-
larly catalogue of all the manuscripts and printed editions of the Sing-Akademie, not only the Bach
sources, has been compiled.7 The microfiche edition attempts, however, to present in advance all
identifiable compositions by members of the Bach family which it has been possible to identify in a
systematic undertaking of the items in Berlin by staff of the Leipzig Bach Archive and the Berlin
Sing-Akademie. This also includes a large number of pieces that are preserved without attribution in
the present sources, but which are ascribed to members of the Bach family in reliable concordances.
The picture would remain incomplete without the inclusion of other sources which have a direct
connection with the Bach family, even though they do not contain compositions by one of the
Bachs. This applies most of all to the occasional false attributions: Carl Friedrich Zelter, the long-
term Director of the Sing-Akademie and an exceptional expert on the material, already pointed out
some of these, with sometimes dry, sometimes capricious commentaries: for example, “Kann nicht
von Em. Bach seyn” (cannot be by Em. Bach) reads his commentary on the sinfonia in E flat major
ascribed to C. P. E. Bach (SA 1950), and “Wasser die Fülle in diesem Bach, aber keine Fische”
(Plenty of water in this brook, but no fish) on the title page of a harpsichord concerto ascribed to a
“Bach Berlin” (SA 2622). In addition, manuscripts from the Bach family collection are included
here: these stem principally from the Hamburg performance repertoire of Carl Philipp Emanuel
Bach. At least one manuscript, however, with an arrangement of the Mass Ecce sacerdos magnus by
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (SA 424) goes back to the music library of Johann Sebastian Bach.8
5
Peter Wollny, “Ein Quellenfund in Kiew: Unbekannte Kontrapunktstudien von Johann Sebastian und Wilhelm
Friedemann Bach“, in: Bach in Leipzig – Bach und Leipzig. Konferenzbericht Leipzig 2000, edited by Ulrich
Leisinger, Hildesheim 2002 (Leipziger Beiträge zur Bach-Forschung 5), pp. 275–287.
6
Peter Wollny, “Tennstädt, Leipzig, Naumburg, Halle – Neuerkenntnisse zur Bach-Überlieferung in
Mitteldeutschland”, in: Bach-Jahrbuch 2002, pp. 29–60, here pp. 47–52.
7
Cataloguing is planned as part of a project of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft under the leadership of the
Berlin State Library.
8
Barbara Wiermann, “Bach und Palestrina. Neue Quellen aus Johann Sebastian Bachs Notenbibliothek”, in: Bach-
Jahrbuch 2002, pp. 9–28.
38 Introduction

Authenticated
The Bach Collection
The genesis of the collection
Before we can examine closely the significance of important source complexes, a few remarks are
necessary on the origin of the Bach collection. This is closely bound up with the history of the Sing-
Akademie between its foundation in 1791 and the death of Carl Friedrich Zelter in the year 1832.
The most important acquisitions will be described in chronological order, without taking account of
the actual age of the sources.
The Fasch era
The Berlin Sing-Akademie regards 24th May 1791 as the date of its foundation, the point in time
from which regular rehearsal work is documented (initially with 22 singers, male and female, the
acceptance of the latter was at this time by no means to be taken for granted).9 Although the Sing-
Akademie in its early years, under Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch (1736–1800), addressed itself pre-
dominantly to Italian vocal music – to historical, rather than ‘modern’ music – works of the Bach
family found their way surprisingly early into the repertoire. Rehearsals of the motet for double
choir Komm, Jesu, komm BWV 229 by Johann Sebastian Bach are documented as early as 1794 –
eight years before the work acquired more widespread circulation through the publication in print of
the materials of the St. Thomas’ School in Leipzig.10 It was also in the same year that listeners were
for the first time admitted to performances of the choir.
The extent which the music library of the Sing-Akademie had reached by the time of Fasch’s death
remains unclear, as does the question of whether it profited directly from the distribution of the leg-
acy of its founder. Today, the collection contains a few important copies of compositions by
Johann Sebastian Bach which Fasch had originally prepared for his private use (see below for more
detail).11 These remained in the Sing-Akademie as remembrances of the founder (possibly also be-
cause of relevant dispositions) when all sources with works by Johann Sebastian Bach were sold to the
Royal Library in 1854. At first glance, the assumption seems plausible that the sources may have
come directly to the Sing-Akademie after Fasch’s death. Zelter reports, however, that Fasch gave
away all his possessions to friends and needy persons shortly before his death, so it should instead
be assumed that all these copies must temporarily have been in his hands or in those of friends. The
most extensive copy in Fasch’s hand is a score of the so-called Passion Cantata Wq 233/H 776 by
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (SA 20; associated parts SA 4663). The majority of the volumes from
Fasch’s possessions otherwise consist of keyboard compositions of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.
Remarkably, Fasch continued to take the trouble to copy even easily accessible keyboard composi-
tions in his own hand until well into the 1780s, in preference to acquiring new or antiquarian copies of
the original printed editions, which would have been easy to come by in Berlin. Fasch thus became
the founder of a tradition, as printed copies are singularly rare in the extremely extensive Bach col-
lection of the Sing-Akademie. Not even the printed collections “für Kenner und Liebhaber” of
C. P. E. Bach, or the keyboard compositions of the second oldest of Bach’s sons published by Johann
Carl Friedrich Rellstab around 1790, are available in complete form in the Sing-Akademie.
9
For the following section, compare particularly Günther Wagner, “Die Anfänge der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin und
ihr frühes Repertoire”, in: Jahrbuch des Staatlichen Instituts für Musikforschung – Preußischer Kulturbesitz
2002, pp. 25–40.
10
The whereabouts of this source are unknown.
11
Cf. Carl Friedrich Zelter, Karl Friedrich Christian Fasch, Berlin 1801, pp. 38f.
Introduction 39

Authenticated
Ulrich Leisinger
At a time which cannot be more precisely identified, the Sing-Akademie received an important aug-
mentation of the Bach sources with important copies, principally of harpsichord concertos by Carl
Philipp Emanuel Bach, from the estate of Johann Friedrich Agricola (1720–1774), perhaps the most
successful of the pupils of Johann Sebastian Bach, who attained the position of Capellmeister to the
Prussian Court.
The Zelter era
The music archive of the Sing-Akademie really took shape during the course of the directorate, last-
ing more than 30 years, of Carl Friedrich Zelter (1758–1832). An architect and builder by profes-
sion, Zelter had initially, in his own perception, received only an unsatisfactory musical education
and had predominantly educated himself in self-study. He had early selected (Carl Philipp Emanuel)
Bach and Hasse as his compositional models. However, his enthusiasm was soon extended to other
members of the “musikalisch-bachische Familie” (musical Bach family).12 It was no great surprise
when in 1800 he was appointed Director of the Sing-Akademie, of which he had been a member
from its earliest days. A substantial expansion of its activities arose from the establishment of a
“Ripienschule” in 1807 for the cultivation of instrumental music (and for the formation of an or-
chestra for choral symphonic works). This gave rise to an additional focus of the collection, with
hundreds of instrumental compositions from the “classical” era of Berlin under Frederick the Great.
Zelter had a ready gift for inspiring members of the Sing-Akademie to make presents and bequests.
Thus for example, the writer and publisher Friedrich Nicolai (1733–1811) left his musical collec-
tion, which consisted principally of sinfonias and trios, to the Sing-Akademie. Nicolai was so
skilled a violinist that, during the 1780s, he was able to take part in the “Concert der Musik-
liebhaber” (Music-lovers’ concerts) under Friedrich Ernst Benda and Ludwig Bachmann.
By far the most valuable addition to the collection, however, came with the acquisition of sub-
stantial parts of the musical estate of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. This was auctioned off in Ham-
burg after the death of Anna Carolina Philippina Bach (1747–1804), the last direct descendent of the
composer.13 Bach’s musical possessions were largely acquired by two persons: Georg Poelchau
(1773–1836) and Caspar Siegfried Gähler (1747–1825). Gähler, a keyboard pupil of Carl Philipp
Emanuel Bach and Mayor of the city of Altona, was principally interested in the instrumental music,
while the vocal compositions went almost completely to Poelchau. These included not only C. P. E.
Bach’s own compositions, but also the original sources which were in his possession for the vocal
compositions of Johann Sebastian Bach and the “Alt-Bachisches Archiv”, which was first referred
to under this name in 1790 14 in the catalogue of his estate. Possibly there were agreements between
Gähler and Poelchau, who continued to maintain close contacts. Poelchau succeeded in persuading
Gähler, while he still lived, to hand over the autograph of several instrumental concertos of the
Hamburg Bach,15 and made efforts – although with only partial success – to purchase the Bach
sources at the auction of Gähler’s estate in 1827. This resulted in the largest collection of original
sources for the works of Johann Sebastian and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach being in the hands of
Georg Poelchau. As early as 1810, Poelchau gave notice of his intention – to the great delight of
12
Cf. Hans-Günter Ottenberg, “C. P. E. Bach and Carl Friedrich Zelter”, in: C. P. E. Bach Studies, edited by
Stephen L. Clark, Oxford 1988, pp. 185–216.
13
Cf. Elias N. Kulukundis, “Die Versteigerung von C. P. E. Bachs musikalischem Nachlaß”, in: Bach-Jahrbuch
1995, pp. 145–176.
14
Verzeichniß des musikalischen Nachlasses des verstorbenen Capellmeisters Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach,
Hamburg 1790 (several reprints).
15
See the letter of Gähler to Poelchau attached to the manuscript Mus. ms. Bach P 352 of the State Library.
40 Introduction

Authenticated
The Bach Collection
Zelter – to bequeath his collection, which was unique in Germany, to the Sing-Akademie. The trans-
fer of a large number of Bach vocal compositions to the Sing-Akademie in 1811 can be seen as a
sign that Poelchau was earnest in his intention. The special circumstances of his life may have en-
couraged this decision: when the banker Abraham Mendelssohn and his family (his son Felix was
born in 1809) left Hamburg, which was under threat, and for a while even occupied, during the
course of the wars with France, Poelchau sold him numerous musical materials, which Mendelssohn
then, as expected, made a present of to the Sing-Akademie.16 In the cases where Poelchau possessed
both score and parts for a work, he kept the scores, as a rule, for himself.17 This served the interests
of both sides, because the scores were primarily of interest for collectors of autograph manuscripts
for study purposes and historical interest, while the Sing-Akademie could use the parts directly for
rehearsals and performances, and only had to prepare a score when necessary for the conductor.
Poelchau even gave the “Alt-Bachisches Archiv” to Mendelssohn, although at 35 marks it was one
of the more expensive items at the auction in 1805 and he could never hope to obtain a replacement
of similar value for his collection of autograph manuscripts.
In 1813 Poelchau moved to Berlin, and joined the Sing-Akademie in the following year.18 It
seems possible that at that time the takeover of his collection was examined by the Sing-
Akademie.19 However, Poelchau soon completely gave up the idea of transferring his collection to
the Sing-Akademie. In 1823, with the knowledge and support of Zelter, he addressed himself to the
Prussian state with the proposal for the establishment of a musical archive at the Royal Library, for
which his collection could form the foundation. But the purchase of the collection of the Halle Uni-
versity Music Director, Johann Friedrich Naue (1787–1858) sufficed for the moment. When Poel-
chau died in 1836, his heirs again granted the Sing-Akademie first refusal on the collection, which
was, however, declined. It was not until 1841, five years after Poelchau’s death, that the time was
ripe: since then the Berlin State Library, as successor of the Royal Library, has possessed the most
important Bach collection in the world.
Although the transfer of the Poelchau collection to the Sing-Akademie did not succeed, and the
status of Zelter’s own library remained unclear during his lifetime, the Sing-Akademie received fur-
ther substantial augmentation, once again through a member of the Mendelssohn family, during the
time between 1815 and Zelter’s death:
Sara Levy, née Itzig (1761–1854), the great-aunt of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, transferred
large parts of her musical collection to the Sing-Akademie during her lifetime as gifts. This included
not only works by Carl Philipp Emanuel and Johann Sebastian Bach, but also numerous sources
with works by Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, who had been her keyboard teacher, and had frequented
her salon and that of her brother-in-law, Josef Fließ.20 It is probable that some of his later composi-
16
See Klaus Engler, Georg Poelchau und seine Musikaliensammlung. Ein Beitrag zur Überlieferung Bachscher
Musik, Tübingen 1984, p. 55.
17
The distribution of the sources was perhaps carried out under time pressure. Particularly for the Hamburg vocal
works of C. P. E. Bach, individual autograph movements are sometimes present among the part sets of the Sing-
Akademie. In the case of the partial score of the Passion of 1781, the material has been so unhappily divided
between the State Library and the Sing-Akademie that the beginning of one aria is in the State Library (Mus. ms.
Bach P 339) while its ending is at the Sing-Akademie (SA 28).
18
Cf. on the following Helmut Hell, “‘Geschwister’ finden zueinander. Das Musikarchiv der Sing-Akademie zu
Berlin als Depositum in der Musikabteilung der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin”, in: Jahrbuch des Staatlichen Instituts
für Musikforschung – Preußischer Kulturbesitz 2002, pp. 18–24.
19
In any event, the directorate of the Sing-Akademie in 1815 also surprisingly made an offer to Carl Friedrich
Zelter to buy his private collection from him for 1,200 thalers, which he did not, however, accept.
20
See Peter Wollny, “‘Ein förmlicher Sebastian und Philipp Emanuel Bach-Kultus’. Sara Levy, geb. Itzig, und ihr
musikalischer Salon”, in: Musik und Ästhetik im Berlin Moses Mendelssohns, edited by Anselm Gerhard,
Tübingen 1999 (Wolfenbütteler Studien zur Aufklärung, Vol. 25), pp. 217–255.
Introduction 41

Authenticated
Ulrich Leisinger
tions were written for Sara Levy, such as the Cantilena nuptiarum consolatoria Fk. 97 (SA 274) on
the occasion of her marriage in 1783, and the viola duets (Fk. 60–62, SA 3921). It is possible that
Sara Levy supported the surviving dependents of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach financially with pur-
chases from his estate.
After Zelter’s death, a dispute raged for many years between the Sing-Akademie and the heirs,
because Zelter had not kept his musical possessions separate from those of the Akademie, with the
result that a clean division of the two libraries proved to be difficult, and in the end, as was later es-
tablished, hopeless. The legal dispute ended in 1835 with the retention of the collection by the Sing-
Akademie in return for a payment of 1,000 thalers.21 This signalled at the same time the end of any
sort of systematic policy of acquisition with the objective of building a historical collection.
Zelter had not marked his musical possessions with his name.22 Entries in his hand are found
without distinction in sources from the collection of the Sing-Akademie and those that he himself
owned. From Zelter’s private possessions came, in any case, not only the musical materials identi-
fied with the maiden name of his second wife, Julie Pappritz (1767–1806), but also the extensive
collection, the origin of which is rather puzzling, of keyboard compositions by Carl Philipp
Emanuel Bach, which Johann Samuel Carl Possin (1753–1822) had accumulated and had probably
transferred to his friend Zelter on his departure from Berlin in 1791.23 The subsequent Directors
showed no signs of historical interest on behalf of the Sing-Akademie comparable with that of Zel-
ter, although a few of them, such as Eduard Grell, for example, succeeded in building up remarkable
private musical collections.24 The Royal Library had by then long been the gathering place for col-
lections of old musical materials, although it was not able completely to reserve for itself the very
rich supply of the Berlin antiquarian market for Bach sources. In the later 19th and early 20th centu-
ries, it was in fact the Library of Congress in Washington, the Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris, the
Sibley Library in Rochester, N.Y., and the Conservatoire Royal de Musique in Brussels (through the
purchase of the collection of Guido Richard Wagener), and later the Austrian National Library (and
to a lesser degree the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde zu Wien) with the acquisition of the Hoboken
collection, who took advantage of this.
The Zelter catalogue
The legal dispute, just as unedifying for the Sing-Akademie as for Zelter’s heirs, had in the end one
good result: the Sing-Akademie was forced to prepare a catalogue of its musical collection, for
which it succeeded in winning Georg Poelchau. For the first time in its history, the Sing-Akademie
possessed in the “Catalog musikalisch=literarischer und practischer Werke aus dem Nachlasse des
Königl: Professors Dr. Zelter” (Catalogue of literary and practical musical works from the estate of
the Royal Professor Zelter) an overview of the works belonging to it. Certainly the catalogue does not
satisfy musicological requirements, but the discovery of an old copy of the catalogue in the estate of
21
This was in any case 200 thalers less than the Sing-Akademie had offered 17 years earlier (cf. fn. 19).
22
See Thomas Richter, Bibliotheca Zelteriana: Rekonstruktion der Bibliothek Zelters. Alphabetischer Katalog,
Stuttgart and Weimar 2000.
23
See below. For Possin, see also Christoph Henzel, “Die Musikalien der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin und die
Berliner Graun-Überlieferung”, in: Jahrbuch des Staatlichen Instituts für Musikforschung – Preußischer Kultur-
besitz 2002, pp. 60–106, here pp. 80–82.
24
For the contents of the Grell collection, see Sigrun Folter, Private Libraries of Musicians and Musicologists. A
Bibliography of Catalogs, Buren 1987, pp. 86f.
42 Introduction

Authenticated
The Bach Collection
Friedrich Welter,25 who was active in the Sing-Akademie as a librarian around 1930, represents an
invaluable aid to orientation in the reconstruction of the collection thought lost since the Second
World War.26 The catalogue has since then been successfully appraised, above all with respect to the
“Alt-Bachisches Archiv” and the sources it includes for the works of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.27
The catalogue served as a guide to the older musical works in the collection until the creation of a
card index system in the 1930s.28 The majority of the index cards are known to have gone to Kiev
along with the musical items during the displacement resulting from the Second World War, where
their trail disappears. The sequential numbering of the Zelter catalogue replaced an older, also se-
quential, numbering system, the principles of which it may perhaps still be possible to decipher by
means of the sources, now that these are once more accessible. To provide a better overview, the ac-
tual number was additionally prefixed with a letter code which serves to allocate the compositions
to musical categories: A stands here for theoretical works, B for contrapuntal examples and studies,
C for vocal music (in 11 sub-categories identified with Roman numerals), and D for instrumental
works (with 12 sub-categories allocated according to increasing numbers of instruments). The num-
bers correspond as follows to the four main categories:
ZA 1–288 ZC 302–1373
ZB 289–301 ZD 1374–1949
During the course of the 19th century, an additional category, E, was added for acquisitions after ZD
1949, the last sequence number of the main part. These works are not recorded in the catalogue.
They can, however, easily be identified as the property of the Sing-Akademie by means of the
stamp of ownership and other features. Many numbers were further sub-divided with additional
lower case letters, with which comparable works – a number of sinfonias or concertos of one, or
even of various composers – are assigned to a common catalogue number. As was generally the
case in the 19th century, copies of one and the same work were often recorded under a single number
regardless of provenance, with the result that a shelfmark may include two or three, sometimes in-
complete, sets of parts for a composition. In practice, the sequential number is sufficient, but the
majority of references in the literature originating up to 1945 display the form ZD 1649a, where the
letter Z stands for the Zelter classification, and D for the category. The assignment was admittedly
not carried out completely consistently, with the result that keyboard works are sometimes filed
among instrumental chamber music, or church cantatas, due to the then usual title “Concerto”,
among instrumental concertos.
Almost nothing is known of the condition of the collection at the time of the inspection of its
contents in Kiev. A provisional inventory was prepared in 1946 by Liubov Favndovna Fainshtein, a
German-speaking music librarian at the Kiev Conservatory. The assumption is that at that time, sev-
eral – probably four of the original five – of the card indexes were still present. On inspection of the
items, all sources were given new inventory numbers, which for pragmatic reasons are still some-
25
Friedrich Welter, “Die Musikbibliothek der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin. Versuch eines Nachweises ihrer früheren
Bestände”, in: Sing-Akademie zu Berlin. Festschrift zum 175jährigen Bestehen, edited by Werner Bollert, Berlin
1966, pp. 33–47, particularly p. 34.
26
The catalogue was acquired by the State Library in 1988 through the mediation of Daniel R. Melamed, who had
discovered it in the possession of Welter’s widow in Lüneburg. Shelfmark: N. Mus. ms. theor. 30.
27
Elias N. Kulukundis, “C. P. E. Bach in the Library of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin”, in: C. P. E. Bach Studies (as
fn. 12), pp. 159–176.
28
On the construction of the Zelter catalogue, see Günther Wagner, “Die Anfänge der Sing-Akademie” (as above,
fn. 9), pp. 27–29.
Introduction 43

Authenticated
Ulrich Leisinger
times used today. The present-day shelfmarks with the form SA 1 to 5175 go directly back to Fain-
shtein. That the last number is roughly three times as large as that of the Zelter series results from
the fact that the librarian resolved the sub-numbers of the Zelter catalogue, and attempted with the
means at her disposal to separate out multiple copies which were united under a single Zelter shelf-
mark. The collection was apparently only in externally sound condition; it had, however, in parts
become substantially disorganised. The Kiev inventory numbers certainly follow basically the Zel-
ter numbers (the Zelter numbers are listed in the inventory in an extra column). Some items were,
however, removed from the original sequence and not recorded in the inventory until later. This can
clearly be seen in the case of the Passions of C. P. E. Bach, which were originally given a sequential
series of numbers from ZC 309 to ZC 332. Three of the sources, however, were split off, and were
now booked to significantly higher inventory numbers than the remaining works (SA 18–37 and
50).29 Comparison between the Zelter catalogue and the Kiev inventory makes it possible to esti-
mate the losses: only the theoretical writings (shelfmark group ZA) are completely missing. They
thus probably never came to the conservatory, or later to the Ukraine Central State Archive Museum
for Literature and Art. The same applies, with a few exceptions, for the performance materials
which were prepared in the 19th century for the use of the Sing-Akademie. The loss of historic mu-
sical items thus lies at significantly less than 10 percent.30 According to the current state of knowl-
edge, for the following entries in the Zelter Catalogue no corresponding sources were found when
the material was catalogued in Kiev:31
Zelter Presumed contents Remarks

number
ZA 8 Angelo Berardi: Documenti Armonici, allegedly in Johann Sebastian Bach’s hand-
manuscript copy after the Bologna 1687 writing
edition
ZA 45 C. P. E. Bach:
Wq 254 / H 868 (Berlin 1759) and
Wq 255 / H 870 (Berlin 1762)
29
The St. John Passion from 1772 H 785 is found under SA 4657, and the St. Matthew Passion of 1773 H 786
under SA 5136. The partial autograph score of the St. Matthew Passion of 1769 H 782 is preserved under the
shelfmark SA 5155.
30
According to a stock-taking carried out by staff of the Berlin State Library during the course of the restitution, 71 of
the 1950 Zelter numbers seemed to be missing in the Kiev inventory. It has since been possible to identify a part of
these among the materials returned. However, for reasons which can no longer be established in detail, a few
sources, like the archive materials, were not placed in storage in 1943 but remained in Berlin and were to all
appearances preserved privately by Georg Schumann, the then Director of the Sing-Akademie. These – including
thirty musical items – were deposited by the Sing-Akademie in the State Library as early as 1974. See on this Hans-
Günter Klein, Werke Carl Philipp Emanuel Bachs in der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. Neuerwerbungen von Hand-
schriften nach 1945, in: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach und die europäische Musikkultur des mittleren 18. Jahrhun-
derts. Bericht über das Internationale Symposium der Joachim Jungius-Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften Hamburg
29. September – 2. Oktober 1988, edited by Hans Joachim Marx, Göttingen 1990, pp. 461–472, here pp. 469–471.
31
Furthermore the following Zelter numbers cannot be traced to any manuscript that was returned from Kiev: ZC
505 (Johann Christoph Bach, 8 sacred works), ZD 1463 (C. P. E. Bach, 50 concertos, sonatas and symphonies),
ZD 1464 (C. P. E. Bach, 11 concertos), ZD 1818 (C. P. E. Bach, sonatinas and other works), ZD 1821 (C. P. E.
Bach 11 sonatinas). Apparently these sources had already received new shelf numbers in the Sing-Akademie be-
fore 1930, others, e.g. the Alt-Bachisches Archiv, were stored without shelf number. In all likelihood the perti-
nent sources are extant and to be found among the Kiev inventory from SA 4808 on.
44 Introduction

Authenticated
The Bach Collection
Zelter Presumed contents Remarks

number
ZA 46–47 C. P. E. Bach: Part 1: 3 copies?
Wq 254 / H 868 (Berlin 1759) and Part 2: 2 copies
Wq 255 / H 870 (Berlin 1762)
ZA 48 C. P. E. Bach: with remarks by Kirnberger and Zelter
Wq 255 / H 870 (Berlin 1762)
ZA 238 C. P. E. Bach:
Wq 279 / H deest (Hamburg 1790)
ZC 307 C. P. E. Bach: with ms. parts
Wq 238 / H 775 (Hamburg 1775)
ZC 312 C. P. E. Bach: Wq 233? / H 776? ms. score and parts
ZC 489 C. P. E. Bach:
Wq 217 / H 778 (Hamburg 1779)
ZC 497 C. P. E. Bach: not identifiable several fragments, partly in Bach’s hand;
perhaps preserved under a different shelf
number
ZC 506 Johann Christoph Bach: Wedding piece ms. text without music
“Meine Freundin, du bist schön”
(from ABA)
ZC 1338 Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg:
Neue Lieder (Berlin 1756);
contains C. P. E. Bach, Wq199/6 / H680
and Johann Christian Bach, Warb. H 1
ZD 1381 C. P. E. Bach:
Wq 183 / H 663–666 (Leipzig 1780)
ZD 1385 C. P. E. Bach: not identifiable; 13 sinfonias in score by W. F. Bach, C. P. E.
W. F. Bach: Fk. 63, 67–69, 71 Bach, and Kirnberger
ZD 1475 W. F. Bach: Fk. 44 keyboard part only
ZD 1608 J. S. Bach: not identifiable prelude and fugue in ms.
ZD 1609 C. P. E. Bach:
Wq 62.8 / H 55 und Wq 119.3 / 100
(in: Tonstücke für das Clavier, 2nd edi-
tion, Berlin 1774)
ZD 1824 C. P. E. Bach: not identifiable 13 vols. with keyboard compositions, partly
in print, partly in ms.
ZD 1825 C. P. E. Bach: not identifiable 14 books of printed keyboard music
ZD 1827 W. F. Bach: Fk. 4, Fk. 6A and B 2 keyboard sonatas (2 copies each)
ZD 1830 W. F. Bach: Fk. 1A + 1B, Fk. 2A 2 keyboard sonatas
Introduction 45

Authenticated
Ulrich Leisinger
Important source complexes 32
The “Alt-Bachisches Archiv”
The Sing-Akademie today unites the largest collection of sacred compositions of the older Bach
family. The “Alt-Bachisches Archiv” (Old Bach Archive) was first documented in 1790 in the cata-
logue of the musical estate of C. P. E. Bach. With the exception of a few works by Johann Christoph
Bach (1642–1703) which went to the Royal Library in the 19th century, the sources were preserved
in the Sing-Akademie, and some at least were made accessible to research with copies made in
1935.33 Today, they represent the best-researched part of the family history.34 The latest research by
Peter Wollny 35 makes clear that the collection goes back to the archive of the Arnstadt Cantorate,
which Johann Ernst Bach (1683–1739), the successor of Johann Sebastian Bach as the organist at
St. Boniface’s from 1704, probably directed specifically to the works of his family after the death of
the Arnstadt town cantor Ernst Dietrich Heindorff (1651–1724). In 1735, the collection then went to
Johann Sebastian Bach, who preserved it carefully, and arranged several pieces by his great-uncle
Johann Christoph Bach for performances in Leipzig. The part of the “Alt-Bachisches Archiv” which is
known today went to C. P. E. Bach. The question arises whether other members of the family received
significant parts of the collection in 1750 in the course of the distribution of the estate, which, apart
from a few isolated pieces, have now been lost.36 C. P. E. Bach, however, valued the collection very
highly, and in the 1770s and 1780s made it accessible to friends interested in musical history, such
as Johann Nikolaus Forkel, Music Director of the University of Göttingen, and the Berlin Court
Capellmeister Johann Friedrich Reichardt. He even performed a few of the compositions, then more
than a hundred years old, in Hamburg. Although the “Alt-Bachisches Archiv” was carefully exam-
ined in 1935 with the means then available, a new musicological edition of this unique family ar-
chive, whose existence is now severely threatened by ink corrosion, is urgently needed.37
Johann Sebastian Bach
As already stated, the music archive of the Sing-Akademie experienced a painful loss, and the Royal
Library a corresponding gain, with the handover in 1854 of almost all manuscripts containing works
32
An initial overview is offered by “Die Handschriftensammlung der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin im ‘Archiv-
Museum für Literatur und Kunst der Ukraine’ in Kiew und ihre Bedeutung für künftige Forschungsvorhaben
(Round Table)”, prepared by Ulrich Leisinger, in: Bach in Leipzig – Bach und Leipzig. Konferenzbericht Leipzig
2000 (as fn. 5), pp. 333–384.
33
The motet Ich lasse dich nicht BWV Anh. 159 by J. S. Bach is probably attributed to the “Alt-Bachisches
Archiv” in the catalogue of the estate only in error. It is apparent that of the items documented there only the
motet Nun hab ich überwunden by Johann Michael Bach has been lost – and that before 1935.
34
Daniel R. Melamed, J. S. Bach and the German Motet, Cambridge 1985; Peter Wollny, “Alte Bach-Funde”, in:
BJ 1998, pp. 137–148.
35
Peter Wollny, “Geistliche Musik der Vorfahren Johann Sebastian Bachs. Das ‘Altbachische Archiv’”, in:
Jahrbuch des Staatlichen Instituts für Musikforschung – Preußischer Kulturbesitz 2002, pp. 41–59.
36
Cf. Daniel R. Melamed (Johann Sebastian Bach and the German Motet, as fn. 34, pp. 174f.) on a source oft the
motet “Unsers Herzens Freude hat ein Ende” by Johann Michael Bach apparently preserved through Johann
Christoph Friedrich Bach (1732–1795) in Bückeburg; the same may apply for the motet “Herr, nun lässest du
deinen Diener fahren” in Mus. ms. Bach P 4/2) not recorded in the catalogue of C. P. E. Bach’s estate.
37
Not belonging to the “Alt-Bachisches Archiv” however, is the cantata Kommet, es ist alles bereit (SA 275) by the
Meininger Court Capellmeister Johann Ludwig Bach (1677–1731). This stems rather from the old repertoire of
the cantorate of St. Nicholas in Berlin.
46 Introduction

Authenticated
The Bach Collection
of Johann Sebastian Bach.38 Until this time, the Library had possessed the original sets of parts for
both of the great Passions of Johann Sebastian Bach stemming from Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s
possessions, large portions of the original parts for Bach’s first Leipzig cantata cycle, and many
other works.39 In spite of the thorough sorting through of the collection in the course of the sale,
there are nevertheless still three original sources in the archive of the Sing-Akademie today:40
– counterpoint studies of Johann Sebastian and Wilhelm Friedemann Bach not previously recog-
nised as a Bach autograph (SA 3650),
– four vocal ripieno parts for the cantata BWV 23 (SA 5175, fasc. 7) which apparently remained in
error 41
– and the Palestrina arrangement mentioned earlier (SA 424).42
The few manuscripts remaining in the Sing-Akademie which contain compositions of Johann
Sebastian Bach include the manuscripts of the founder, Carl Fasch, which were apparently seen as
un-saleable. To be named in first place is a collection of 134 (or 133) four-part chorales by Johann
Sebastian (and C. P. E.) Bach (SA 818) 43, a copy of the French Suites BWV 812–817 (SA 4274)
and a collective manuscript containing highly demanding keyboard music, including the C minor
Toccata BWV 911 (SA 4260). Particular mention is also to be made of materials concerning the
early history of the involvement of the Sing-Akademie with Bach, especially a copy score of the St.
Matthew Passion (SA 4658) which is connected with the epoch-making revival by Mendelssohn,
and several printed copies of the libretto for performances of this work between 1829 and 1838
(SA 5130–5133).
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach
The Wilhelm Friedemann Bach sources of the Sing-Akademie were sighted and described in very
brief form by Martin Falck around 1910 for his dissertation on the life and works of Wilhelm
Friedemann Bach.44 Peter Wollny has recently provided a renewed assessment in connection with
his work on a new catalogue.45 The Sing-Akademie possesses no less than ten autograph or partly
autograph manuscripts of the oldest of Bach’s sons, mainly keyboard and chamber music of the
38
Werner Neumann, “Welche Handschriften J. S. Bachscher Werke besaß die Berliner Singakademie?”, in: Hans
Albrecht in Memoriam: Gedenkschrift mit Beiträgen von Freunden und Schülern, edited by Wilfried Brennecke
and Hans Haase, Kassel 1962, pp. 136–142.
39
Siegfried Dehn, “Johann Sebastian Bach’s Vocal- und Instrumental-Musik in der Bibliothek der Sing-Akademie
zu Berlin“, handwritten catalogue, Berlin State Library, Mus. ms. theor. 429.
40
See on this also Christoph Wolff et al., “Zurück in Berlin: Das Notenarchiv der Sing-Akademie. Bericht über eine
erste Bestandsaufnahme”, in Bach-Jahrbuch 2002, pp. 165–180, here p. 167.
41
Christoph Wolff, “Originale Ripienstimmen zu BWV 23”, in: Bach-Jahrbuch 2002, pp. 167–169 (see previous
footnote).
42
A bass part with the parts for Peter and Pilate originally belonging to the original set of parts of the St. John
Passion, of which an old photocopy is present in the State Library (in: Mus. ms. Bach St 1119) (see Johann
Sebastian Bach. Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke II/4, Johannes-Passion, edited by Arthur Mendel, Kassel etc.
and Leipzig 1974, p. 51) remains missing.
43
An article on this by Hans-Joachim Schulze appeared in Jahrbuch des Staatlichen Instituts für Musikforschung –
Preußischer Kulturbesitz 2003.
44
Martin Falck, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. Sein Leben und sein Werk, Leipzig 1913.
45
Peter Wollny, “Die Autographe Wilhelm Friedemann Bachs”, in: Christoph Wolff et al., “Zurück in Berlin” (as
fn. 40), pp. 175–178.
Introduction 47

Authenticated
Ulrich Leisinger
Berlin period (after 1774), in high-quality, in some cases unique sources. Further, there are three
representative vocal works of the Halle period (1746–1764) and a few older works. To this are to be
added a few copies from the immediate circle of the composer. Examination of the sources confirms
the authenticity of one flute concerto (SA 2637), assessed by Falck as “doubtful”, and arouses inter-
est in more detailed consideration of a sinfonia in D major (SA 1957, Fk deest), which already Zel-
ter saw as a possibly authentic youthful work of Wilhelm Friedemann. The precise description of
the sources by Falck, however, makes clear that the collection has suffered losses either before or
during the displacement. Missing are the autographs of four keyboard sonatas (olim in ZD 1830)
and secondary copies of five sinfonias (Fk. 63, 67–69 and 71; olim ZD 1385), works for which no
concordant sources are known.
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
The instrumental music

The centrepiece of the Bach collection of the Berlin Sing-Akademie has always been the music of
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. His instrumental compositions continued to enjoy great popularity in
Berlin long after he left the city for Hamburg in 1767. They are preserved in almost their complete
extent in the collection of the Sing-Akademie. The sinfonias, instrumental concertos and trio sonatas
were – at least in conservative musical circles – still cultivated around 1800. Often there are multi-
ple copies of a work, since duplicates were not disposed of, or not to any great extent. The provi-
sional inspection of the instrumental compositions allows the following categories to be recognised.
Instrumental concertos
The dissertation of Hans Uldall 46 confirmed that the Sing-Akademie had a large number of the
concertos of C. P. E. Bach. As now becomes clear, this includes not only the ubiquitous harpsichord
concertos of the early Berlin period but also the otherwise sparsely preserved concertos for flute (af-
ter Wq 13 and after Wq 22) and violoncello (Wq 170 and 171) and the so-called sonatinas for one or
two harpsichords and orchestra (Wq 96ff.). In the meantime it has also become apparent why Uldall
made preferential use of the material of the Sing-Akademie, since a substantial majority of the
pieces are also preserved here in score (partly in the hand of Johann Friedrich Agricola, and partly
in that of Johann Samuel Carl Possin), which of course greatly facilitated his access for analysis.
Sinfonias
The sinfonias of the Berlin Bach are also unusually well documented: even the string sinfonias Wq
182, which were written in Hamburg, are present here in several copies (probably originally belong-
ing to the Levy collection). The wind parts added by Zelter to many pieces constitute a remarkable
document of developing perceptions: they form an unauthorised continuation of a practice intro-
duced by Bach himself (probably only after 1767), who sought in this way to adapt his string sinfo-
nias of the Berlin period to the altered taste of the public. It still remains to be investigated who was
responsible for the keyboard arrangements of numerous sinfonias which include otherwise so far
unverified arrangements of the sinfonias Wq 174, 176, 177 (= 122/3) and 179 in the collective
manuscript SA 4200.
46
Hans Uldall, Das Klavierkonzert der Berliner Schule, Leipzig 1928.
48 Introduction

Authenticated
The Bach Collection
Chamber music
That Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s chamber music works were present in particularly large numbers
was known from the dissertation of Ernst Fritz Schmid.47 The majority of the sources originated, as
was to be expected, from Berlin period, and stem from, for example, the circles of Friedrich Nicolai
and Sara Levy. Although many of the compositions belong to the 1740s and 1750s, the majority of
the copies seem to be significantly later, and to come from the 1770s and 1780s. Various copies
were, however, ordered by the Levy family directly from Hamburg, which helps us to understand the
familiar tone of a letter from Bach’s widow to Sara Levy shortly after the death of her husband.48
A certain leaning to arrangements is conspicuous, whereby individual cases are still to be exam-
ined to determine whether they are authorised by the composer (as in the case of the version for vio-
lin and obligato harpsichord Wq 144, SA 3638) 49 or whether particular practical performance con-
siderations led to an adaptation by a sufficiently skilled practical musician (this probably applies to
the C major version with two violas of the trio for two violins and bass otherwise in B flat major
Wq 159 from the Sara Levy collection (SA 4870).
It is to be expressly pointed out that while, on the one hand, the systematic inspection of the col-
lection brought to light a few sources which escaped Schmid in his time (such as those for the flute
solos Wq 123–133; SA 4808–4817 and SA 4775), on the other hand, the few verifiably missing
chamber works of Bach – the duet for two violins Wq 141 and the solo for violoncello Wq 138 –
were not to be found even among the anonymous works.
Keyboard music
Bach’s keyboard music is represented by more than 100 sources, most of which belonged to the
Possin collection. Bach’s works are, however, often also represented in collective manuscripts of
the Sing-Akademie, often even without identification by name, which clearly documents his reputa-
tion as a keyboard composer and his position in the musical life of Berlin. Further research is neces-
sary in order to determine the importance of these sources. The starting point for this must be the
catalogue prepared by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach in his own hand of his clavier compositions writ-
ten up to 1772.50 It appears that this may have been used by Possin, who assembled a systematic
collection of Bach’s keyboard works which was completed before he left Berlin in 1791, and thus
before the scope of the works of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach became generally known through the
catalogue of his estate printed in 1790. Although the majority of the compositions were surely easy
to acquire in Berlin, the question remains whether Possin was able to refer directly to manuscripts
from C. P. E. Bach’s music library, with the consequence that a very high ranking as source material
must in some cases be assigned to his copies.51
47
Ernst Fritz Schmid, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach und seine Kammermusik, Kassel 1931.
48
Johanna Maria Bach to Sara Levy, 5. Sept. 1789. Reproduced in: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: Briefe und
Dokumente. Kritische Gesamtausgabe, edited by Ernst Suchalla, 2 volumes, Göttingen 1994 (publication of the
Joachim Jungius Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, Hamburg, No. 80), Doc. No. 614.
49
The former existence of this version was discussed in 1993; see Ulrich Leisinger and Peter Wollny, “‘Altes Zeug
von mir’. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bachs kompositorisches Schaffen vor 1740”, in: Bach-Jahrbuch 1993, pp. 137–
204, here p. 182.
50
Christoph Wolff, “Carl Philipp Emanuel Bachs Verzeichnis seiner Clavierwerke von 1733 bis 1772“, in: Über
Leben, Kunst und Kunstwerke: Aspekte musikalischer Biographie. Johann Sebastian Bach im Zentrum, edited by
Christoph Wolff, Leipzig 1999, pp. 217–235; facsimile of the manuscript catalogue on pp. 229–235.
51
This includes for example a collection with pieces from the Musikalischen Vielerley (SA 4254), which is counted
in both the catalogue of clavier works and in the catalogue of the estate as No. 161 (the number also appears in
Possin’s copy), whose sequence does not, however, agree with other sources. Bach’s house copy is lost.
Introduction 49

Authenticated
Ulrich Leisinger
Original sources
The number of original sources in the area of the instrumental music of C. P. E. Bach is as a whole
conspicuously low. Among the keyboard compositions it has so far only been possible to identify a
single autograph (SA 4512).52 From the chamber works, there are principally the autographs of the
quartets Wq 94–95 (SA 3328), which seem to have been a composition commission from Sara
Levy,53 and in addition the printer’s copy for the second part of the keyboard trio (Wq 91; SA 4154).
Of the concertos, the autograph of the late double concerto for harpsichord and fortepiano Wq 47,
which was preserved privately during the Second World War by Georg Schumann, the Director of the
Sing-Akademie, and thus not removed for storage with the remaining items (Berlin State Library, N.
Mus. SA 4).54 There are also occasional individual parts from the original sets to be found: a few
autograph insertions in the performance materials for the concerto Wq 6 (SA 2581), which were in-
accessible to Bach before his move to Hamburg. Apart from this, a viola part for the harpsichord
concerto Wq 1 serves as cover and notes sheet for song compositions (SA 1690).
The vocal music

The ratio between original sources and copies of Berlin provenance is reversed in the area of the vo-
cal music. Since Bach appeared as a church composer in Berlin only in exceptional cases, it is not
until his Hamburg period that an appreciable number of works were written. These, however, are so
clearly adapted to the requirements of his Hamburg post or to specific events that Carl Philipp
Emanuel Bach placed little value on their circulation during his lifetime. After his death, they had to
be considered outdated, since the genres of the sacred cantata and passion music based on the Evan-
gelists had almost completely lost their significance. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach fulfilled the re-
quirements of many of the over 120 performances a year with pasticcios, to which he himself con-
tributed only individual movements. For most of the compositions, there thus existed only the per-
formance materials required in Hamburg. Without Poelchau’s courageous intervention and the
transfer to Berlin well before the great city fire in Hamburg in 1842, they would therefore probably
have been irretrievably lost. The works were not included by Alfred-Camille Wotquenne in his Cata-
logue thématique des Œuvres de Charles-Philippe-Emmanuel Bach (Leipzig 1905), since the sources
of the Sing-Akademie were not accessible to him. It was only possible for Heinrich Miesner 55 to
study them for his dissertation Philipp Emanuel Bach in Hamburg and to provide a provisional de-
scription of them in less than 50 pages and an assignment to their historical musical context.56
52
See Ulrich Leisinger, “Noch einmal die ‚Arietta variata’ – Carl Fasch und die Berliner Pasticcio-Variationen”, in:
Carl Christian Friedrich Fasch (1736–1800) und das Berliner Musikleben seiner Zeit, Bericht über die
Internationale Wissenschaftliche Konferenz am 16. und 17. April 1999 im Rahmen der 6. Internationalen Fasch-
Festtage in Zerbst, publication of the International Fasch Society, Zerbst, Dessau 1999, pp. 114–129, here p. 129.
It may have remained in Fasch’s possession, since it does not show any of the numberings characteristic for
Bach’s house copies.
53
The original score of the quartet Wq 93 is lost. The possibility cannot be excluded that Zelter passed it on to an
autograph collector after he had a fair copy made (SA 3330).
54
The work is not included in the present microfiche edition because the items deposited in the Berlin State Library
in 1974 are kept separately (see fn. 30). It is, however, like the works under the shelfmarks N. Mus. SA 10 (a
copy of the original edition of the oratorio Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu Wq 240) and N. Mus. SA 101
(contemporary print of the libretto) to be published in a supplement at a later date.
55
Heinrich Miesner, Philipp Emanuel Bach und Hamburg. Beiträge zu seiner Biographie und zur Musikgeschichte
seiner Zeit, Heide in Holstein 1929.
56
The rudimentary entries in E. Eugene Helm, Thematic Catalogue of the Works of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach,
New Haven and London 1989 are based on Miesner’s information.
50 Introduction

Authenticated
The Bach Collection
The compositions, which will occupy research for several years, can here only be listed in sum-
mary:
– 21 Passion settings, which were performed in the years 1769 to 1789, are to be found here. The
compositions follow a Hamburg tradition, in accordance with which the four Evangelists were
treated in annual alternation in the sequence Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The duration of the
performance was not permitted substantially to exceed one hour.
– Also to be named are 20 almost completely unknown cantatas, which were composed for espe-
cially important sacred and civic occasions (music for installations, consecrations and funerals).
– In addition to this, there are some 15 sacred cantatas, of which only a small proportion were pre-
viously known.57
Inspection of the works, and initial performances based on the sources, which were undertaken on
the basis of provisional materials, show that these are mostly works of substantial musical value.
Bach was not obliged, however, by his office regularly to compose new works. He therefore often
borrowed individual movements from the works of others, preferring those of Georg Benda (1735–
1795) and Gottfried August Homilius (1714–1785), but also looking back to Johann Sebastian Bach
and Georg Philipp Telemann. This had already been referred to by Johanna Maria Bach in the letter
to Sara Levy from September 1789 which was quoted earlier:58 “In 20 Passions from his 20-year
stay here … there are quite a few pieces of him, although there is also much that was taken from
others. In some other sacred pieces there is also here and there something from the dear departed
mixed in.” The identification of Bach’s models is a priority task for research. It will be facilitated by
the further resources of sacred vocal music of the 18th century in the Sing-Akademie. It has already
been possible to assign many cantatas of other masters with certainty to Bach’s music library (see
for example SA 288, 366, 367 and 369). Most display entries which are connected with perform-
ances in Hamburg.
Finally, the original sources for Bach’s song compositions have been unexpectedly augmented by
the discovery of the printer’s copy corrected by Bach of a collection of songs published individually.
The Kiel scholar and man of letters Carl Friedrich Cramer had actively promoted their publication
in his series Polyhymnia in the 1770s and early 1780s before the project came to a halt (SA 1689).59
These materials also include textual and musical sources for Bach’s last song compositions, of
which two are not even included in the otherwise complete Brussels collection (SA 1690–1692).60
The remaining Bach family
The remaining members of the Bach family are present in the Sing-Akademie collection only with
an un-representative selection of pieces.61 This applies especially to Johann Christian Bach (1735–
57
An article by Ulrich Leisinger is planned for publication in the Jahrbuch des Staatlichen Instituts für
Musikforschung – Preußischer Kulturbesitz 2003.
58
See fn. 48.
59
Christoph Wolff reported on the Polyhymnia-Sammlung in August 2003 at the Congress of the International
Musicological Society in Leuven.
60
See “Die Handschriftensammlung der Sing-Akademie” (as fn. 32), pp. 357–359, and the facsimile of the songs
Die Alster and Harvstehude H 763 on p. 384.
61
A cantata by Johann Ludwig Bach has already been mentioned in connection with the „Alt-Bachisches Archiv”
(see fn. 37).
Introduction 51

Authenticated
Ulrich Leisinger
1782), even though he was active in Berlin for five years of his life (from 1750 to 1755). At least it
has been possible to assign three, or perhaps even four 62 compositions to this period, whereby the
manuscripts could possibly contribute to resolving doubts over the authenticity of the two trio sona-
tas in F major and D major (SA 3548 and SA 3631).63 His three years older brother Johann Chris-
toph Friedrich Bach (1732–1795), the so-called Bückeburg Bach, is represented here only by a few
compositions. Only the title page of a C minor concerto for harpsichord and orchestra – itself not
(any longer) contained in the collection – opens new, if for the time being hypothetical, perspec-
tives. The chamber music of the Eisenach cousin, Johann Ernst Bach (1722–1777) enjoyed a certain
popularity, too, but the works also survive elsewhere through their publication (Eisenach 1772). The
sources are thus principally of interest for the purposes of the history of their reception. Particularly
remarkable, on the other hand, is the complete absence of authentic compositions of the last musical
descendant of Johann Sebastian Bach, the grandson Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach (1759–1845),
born in Bückeburg, who was employed as a keyboard teacher at the Prussian court from 1789 until
his death, although he completely withdrew after receiving his pension in 1810. Even though Au-
gust Wilhelm Bach (1796–1869) was not directly related to Johann Sebastian Bach, the few compo-
sitions of his in the collection of the Sing-Akademie should not be omitted: August Wilhelm Bach
played an important part in the preservation of the Bach heritage, and had a close relationship, as
demonstrated by some autograph dedications, with Carl Friedrich Zelter.
With the exception of the Hamburg performance repertoire of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, only a
few compositions – in comparison with the large number of sources – have come to notice whose
existence was not already known. Whether the ascription to a member of the Bach family is in every
case correct still remains to be examined critically. With a view to the planned complete filming of
the older music archive of the Sing-Akademie, it seemed appropriate to record collective manu-
scripts from multiple composers in full immediately. This explains the large number of index en-
tries, perhaps at first sight surprising, for composers who do not bear the family name Bach.
Printed music
Printed music was from the beginning significantly under-represented in the collection of the Sing-
Akademie. However, the organisation of the materials in the library and the fact that multiple prints
and manuscripts are bound together in a single volume make it clear that prints and manuscripts
were not accorded an essentially differentiated status in the Sing-Akademie. The Sing-Akademie
possessed a generally representative collection of the compositions of members of the Bach family
that were printed in Germany up to the middle of the1770s. It would therefore have been wrong to
ignore the printed music in the filming, even though this went against the principle pragmatically
applied in the filming of the sources of the Bach collection of the “Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin –
Preußischer Kulturbesitz”.
62
Apart from the presumably authentic early trio sonatas, this refers to the F minor harpsichord concerto Warb C 73
(SA 2633 and 2634), which is also well preserved elsewhere. Whether an F major concerto – for harpsichord
solo? – (SA 2622) which does not survive elsewhere could be by Johann Christian Bach is to be critically
examined. According to the catalogue of the estate of C. P. E. Bach (p. 82; see fn. 14) at least one early
harpsichord concerto of his younger half-brother, which was composed “nach Tartinis Manier” (in the manner of
Tartini), is lost.
63
Ernest Warburton assesses both works (YB 54; YB 73) as doubtful in Johann Christian Bach: Thematic Cata-
logue (The Collected Works of Johann Christian Bach 1735–1782, Vol. 48), New York and London 1999.
52 Introduction

Authenticated
Authenticated
Fig. 5: Georg Philipp Telemann: cantata „Ich will singen von der Gnade des Herrn“
TWV 1:893, SA 612
54

Authenticated
The Georg Philipp Telemann Collection*
By Ralph-Jürgen Reipsch
The return of the music archive of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin from Kiev (Central State Archive
Kiev, State Archive-Museum for Literature and Art of the Ukraine) to Berlin in December 2001
(Depositum in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz)1 made access to one of the
last missing collections of Telemann works possible again.2 The archive had been evacuated in 1943
and was lost without a trace since the end of the war. With 365 entries, respectively 336 works,
Georg Philipp Telemann’s compositions form the third-largest corpus within the music archive fol-
lowing the compositions by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and those by the Brothers Graun.
Practically every work by Telemann that Werner Menke (1907–1993) had recorded bibliographi-
cally 3 in the context of his investigations for his dissertation and for the Telemann-Vokal-Werke-
Verzeichnis in the archive of the Sing-Akademie can now be detected once more. Only a relatively
small, although not unimportant part of the manuscripts has to be regarded as lost (see below Miss-
ing Shelf-Marks). On the other hand, the present microfiche edition contains several vocal works
previously unknown and not available to Menke, either, published here for the first time. However,
the greatest increase in musical sources is recognisable in the instrumental music not registered by
Menke. This refers to works with concordances in other collections as well as to unknown works.
The music archive of the Sing-Akademie mirrors the musical history of Berlin especially of the
18th and 19th centuries in a unique way. This weighting is valid for most of the Telmanniana, too,
*
This is a revised version of the introduction of 2003. Revisions are based on – if not named otherwise: Ralph-
Jürgen Reipsch, Der Telemann-Bestand des Notenarchivs der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin – ein Überblick, in: Tele-
mann – der musikalische Maler / Telemann-Kompositionen im Notenarchiv der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin (Bericht
über die Internationale Wissenschaftliche Konferenz vom 10. bis 12. März 2004 in Magdeburg), (forthcoming).
This primary contribution was the result of a first examination of the Telemann stock in the archive of the Sing-
Akademie in Berlin conducted by the Zentrum für Telemann-Pflege und Forschung [Centre for the Cultivation
and Research of Telemann Studies] in Magdeburg (Wolf Hobohm, Carsten Lange, Brit Reipsch, Ralph-Jürgen
Reipsch) and by the Magdeburg editorial office of the Telemann-Ausgabe (Ute Poetzsch) since December 2002.
See also: Wolf Hobohm, Magdeburger Studien am Telemann-Bestand im Notenarchiv der Sing-Akademie zu Ber-
lin, in: Mitteilungsblatt der Telemann-Gesellschaft e.V. (Internationale Vereinigung), no. 14 (December 2003),
Magdeburg 2003, pp. 14–23. I would like to express my gratitude to Mr Axel Fischer (Hanover) and Mr Matthias
Kornemann (Berlin) for the cooperative and constructive collaboration, and to Mr Helmut Hell (Staatsbibliothek
zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Department of Music) and the Sing-Akademie for the opportunity to work
with the music found in the manuscript archive.
1
Christoph Wolff (et al), Zurück in Berlin: Das Notenarchiv der Sing-Akademie. Bericht über eine erste Be-
standsaufnahme, in: Bach Jahrbuch 88, Leipzig 2002, pp. 165–180; by the same author, Wiederentdeckt und wie-
dergewonnen. Das Notenarchiv der Sing-Akademie aus der Perspektive der Musikforschung, in: Jahrbuch des
Staatlichen Instituts für Musikforschung Preußischer Kulturbesitz 2002, ed. Günther Wagner, Stuttgart/Weimar
2002, pp. 9–17.
2
Compare Werner Menke’s attempt of a first stocktaking after 1945: W. Menke, Das Vokalwerk Georg Philipp
Telemanns. Eine bibliographische Zwischenbilanz, in: Die Musikforschung, 1 (1948), pp. 192–194.
3
Menke received the initial impulse for this extensive work from Karl Straube (1873–1950), he was supported by
Max Seiffert (1868–1948). By his own account, he received commission 1932 or 1934 for the research into
Telemann’s vocal works from the Staatliches Institut für Deutsche Musikforschung in Berlin (named that way
since 1935!) under Seiffert’s direction. W. Menke, Das Vokalwerk Georg Philipp Telemann’s. Überlieferung und
Zeitfolge, Kassel et al 1942 (Erlanger Beiträge zur Musikwissenschaft, vol. 3), pp. Vf, 11f.; by the same author,
Thematisches Verzeichnis der Vokalwerke von Georg Philipp Telemann, 2 vol., Frankfurt am Main 1982/1983,
passim.
55

Authenticated
Ralph-Jürgen Reipsch
which indicates a remarkable Telemann reception in Berlin during the 18th century. Well-known
documents such as Telemann’s correspondence with Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714–1788), Carl
Heinrich Graun (1703/4–1759), Johann Joachim Quantz (1697–1773), Franz Benda (1709–1786),
Christoph Nichelmann (1717–1762) and Johann Friedrich Agricola (1720–1774) that rudimentarily
survived already gave evidence to the particularly close contacts to circles of musicians and poets in
Berlin.4 The examination of Telemann’s work is especially present in the papers on music theory
and aesthetics written by different Berlin authors such as Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg (1718–1795)
and Christian Gottfried Krause (1719–1770). That performances of Telemann’s works in Berlin
took place has also been established. Now it will be possible to examine these special circumstances
in more detail due to the returned manuscripts and print editions.
In his autobiography from 1718 Telemann wrote: „Dieses aber weiß ich wohl, daß ich allemahl
die Kirchen-Music am meisten werth geschätzet …5 (“What I know surely is that I most highly es-
teemed church music”). This understanding of his own approach is also visible in the Telemann
stock of the music archive: the share of “De Tempore” church cantatas is very high at about 60 per-
cent. The manuscripts and print editions of this group of works primarily come from the collections
by Berlin cantors and organists. Performances in Berlin from church musicians of different “Jahr-
gänge” can be proved at least up to the middle of the 1770s. The great number of sacred works from
Telemann’s pen will thus throw a new light on the cultivation of sacred music in Berlin, too.
The copies (often the score and parts) by Berlin church musicians Ditmar and Ringk are among
the most important sectors of the collection, also in terms of quantity.
Jakob Ditmar (= Copyist 45) 6, born in Berlin on August 16, 1703, took on the position of the
Kantor at St. Nicolai from his father (who had the same name, 1665–1728) in 1728. He had worked
as an assistant to the elder Ditmar since 1726. Ditmar was simultaneously a teacher at the Gymna-
sium zum Grauen Kloster. In 1774, he called himself “Collega Gymnas. emer.” (SA 601, textbook).
After holding his musical office at the Nikolaikirche for more than 50 years, he died on February
10, 1781.7
Approximately one third of all Telemann sources in the music archive come from Ditmar. This
collection of music includes the not quite complete issues of “Musicalisches Lob Gottes in der Ge-
meine des Herrn” (both handwritten and printed materials, printed in Nuremberg 1742–1744), 37
pieces mostly transmitted without concordances of the so-called “Oratorischer Jahrgang” according
to texts of Albrecht Jacob Zell (1701–1754) as well as individual cantatas from other years, e.g.
from the “Französischer Jahrgang” and the “Concerten-Jahrgänge”.8 The well-known cantata “Du
4
Georg Philipp Telemann, Briefwechsel. Sämtliche erreichbare Briefe von und an Telemann, eds. Hans Große and
Hans Rudolf Jung, Leipzig 1972, passim.
5
Autobiography from 1718, in: Georg Philipp Telemann, Singen ist das Fundament zur Music in allen Dingen.
Eine Dokumentensammlung, ed. Werner Rackwitz, Leipzig 1981, p. 100.
6
Joachim Jaenecke (comp.), Georg Philipp Telemann. Autographe und Abschriften, Munich 1993 (Staatsbiblio-
thek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Kataloge der Musikabteilung, erste Reihe: Handschriften, vol. 7, Georg
Philipp Telemann), pp. 154f. (Mus. ms. 21 728/1), Ditmar’s handwriting ill. p. 362.
7
Carl Freiherr von Ledebur, Tonkünstler=Lexikon Berlin’s, Berlin 1861, p. 113; Curt Sachs, Musikgeschichte der
Stadt Berlin bis zum Jahre 1800, Berlin 1908, passim. New insights about Ditmars’ biography by Christoph Hen-
zel: Telemann-Überlieferung im Spiegel des Notenarchivs der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, in: Telemann – der mu-
sikalische Maler / Telemann-Kompositionen im Notenarchiv der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin (Bericht über die In-
ternationale Wissenschaftliche Konferenz vom 10. bis 12. März 2004 in Magdeburg) (forthcoming).
8
On Telemann’s Jahrgänge, compare Wolf Hobohm, Telemann als Kantatenkomponist – Versuch einer Ordnung
und Typologie seiner Jahrgänge, in: “Nun bringt ein polnisch Lied die gantze Welt zum Springen”. Telemann
und Andere in der Musiklandschaft Sachsens und Polens, ed. Friedhelm Brusniak, Sinzig 1998 (Arolser Beiträge
zur Musikforschung. vol. 6), pp. 29–52.
56 Introduction

Authenticated
The Georg Philipp Telemann Collection
aber Daniel, gehe hin“ TVWV 4:17 (SA 642) is transmitted unique here.9 A number of manuscripts
include text prints and notes on the administrative procedures they were subjected to. Apparently,
the books without a date were printed in larger numbers and offered for sale to the congregation
when the respective music was repeated. Some text prints that are dated and go back to the time af-
ter 1758 suggest that Telemann’s cantatas were performed in modified arrangements on special oc-
casions.10
The fact that the manuscripts are provided with Ditmar’s possession note allows the conclusion
that this belonged to a private music collection used by the cantor for playing music during the ser-
vice.11 Actually, this might be relevant for the way in which the Sing-Akademie became the owner
of these materials after Ditmar’s death. Whether music collector Georg Poelchau (1773–1836) him-
self, one of Carl Friedrich Zelter’s friends and long-standing members of the Sing-Akademie, from
1832 onwards head librarian of the music archive, played a role in the taking over of the Ditmar
manuscripts remains to be investigated. In any case, his estate (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin) also in-
cludes copies of Telemann works by Ditmar and Ringk.12
Johannes Ringk, among other also known as copyist of works by Johann Sebastian Bach (among
them the main source for BWV 202), Carl Heinrich Graun, his teacher Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel
(1690–1749), Dietrich Buxtehude (1637–1707), Nicolaus Bruhns (1665–1697) and Georg Böhm
(1661–1733), was born in Frankenhain (Thuringia) on June 25, 1717. Around 1729/30, he was an
organ student with Johann Peter Kellner (1705–1772) in Gräfenroda, and he took lessons in compo-
sition with Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel. From about 1740 onwards, he worked in Berlin as a music
teacher and composer of operas until he became the late Johann Gottlieb Wiedeburg’s successor in
1755 as the organ player at Marienkirche. Ringk, who had still been in contact with the young Zel-
ter13, died in Berlin in 1778.14 From his hand, we mainly find cantatas from the two “Concerten-
Jahrgänge”. About one sixth of the Telemann works collection in the music archive consists of his
copies. We cannot rule out that Ringk already brought this music with him from Thuringia.15
9
See: Brit Reipsch, Ende des Rätselratens. Georg Philipp Telemanns Trauermusik „Du aber, Daniel, gehe hin“
neu gesichtet, in: Concerto Heft 191, March 2004, pp. 23f.
10
Inaugural sermon of Johann Ludwig Dieterichs 1758 (SA 599), memorial sermon Rector Joachim Christoph
Bodenburg 1759 (SA 624), peace agreement 1762 (SA 601), inauguration Johann Joachim Spalding 1764 (SA
632), memorial sermon Pastor Georg Friedrich Lüdicke 1768 (SA 597), bi-centennial celebration of the Gymna-
sium zum Grauen Kloster 1774 (SA 601)
11
In contrast to this custom, music sheets for church music in Frankfurt were bought and administered by the All-
gemeine Almosenkasten of the city in Frankfurt am Main. See also Roman Fischer, Frankfurter Telemann-
Dokumente, ed. by Brit Reipsch and Wolf Hobohm, Hildesheim et al 1999 (Magdeburger Telemann-Studien, vol.
16), pp. 20f.
12
Jaenecke (fn. 6), pp. 154ff. (Mus. ms. 21 728/1), Ringk’s handwriting ill. p. 354.
13
Carl Friedrich Zelter, Darstellungen seines Lebens. Zum ersten Male vollständig nach den Handschriften hrsg.
von Johann-Wolfgang Schottländer (Schriften der Goethe-Gesellschaft Weimar, Bd. 44), Weimar 1931 (reprint,
Hildesheim et al 1978), p. 229 [from the second record of the autobiography]: „Hier [im Hause eines Freundes
von Zelters Vater] lernte ich den sehr geschickten und fleißigen Organisten Ringk kennen, der mich lieb gewann
wegen meiner Lust zur Musik, und ich wüßte ihm manchen Fingerzeig zu verdanken.“ (At this place [a place of a
friend of Zelters’ father] I met Ringk, a very skilful and diligent organist, who became fond of me because of my
passion for music and I know to owe him several hints.”
14
On Johannes Ringk see: Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg, Historisch=Kritische Beyträge zur Aufnahme der Musik,
vol. 1., 5. St., Berlin 1754 (reprint Hildesheim et al 1970), pp. 477, 506; Sachs (fn. 7), passim; Johann Sebastian
Bach, Neue Ausgabe Sämtlicher Werke, serie I, vol. 40: Hochzeitskantaten – Kantaten verschiedener Bestim-
mung, Kritischer Bericht, ed. by Werner Neumann, Leipzig 1970, pp. 10–12; Johann Sebastian Bach, Neue Aus-
gabe Sämtlicher Werke, serie IV, vol. 5/6: Präludien, Toccaten, Fantasien und Fugen für Orgel, Kritischer Be-
richt, ed. by Dietrich Kilian, part vol. 1, Leipzig 1978, pp. 198ff.
15
The watermark CHS in a crowned character line on the paper frequently used by Ringk plus the date 1738 in SA
502 point to this.
Introduction 57

Authenticated
Two other cantata manuscripts with the possession note “J.B.G.” (SA 559, SA 581) point to Ber-
lin as the place of origin. The letters are thought to stand for Johann Boguslaus Gerathen (died
1759) who had been Kantor at Jerusalemkirche and Neue Kirche since 1726.16
A not insignificant part of sacred music has been handed down to us in the form of copies made
by Berlin Bach student Johann Friedrich Agricola (1720–1774). Agricola, who according to his own
statements valued Telemann’s church music very highly, mentions the latter’s “vortrefflichen
großen oratorischen Jahrgang” (“superb great oratorical ‘Jahrgang’”) (see above) from which he had
borrowed several Telemann pieces to copy.17 One of these “Oratorios” was preserved among Agri-
cola’s Telemann copies (SA 595 [1]).
In addition to the above-mentioned collections of sacred music in Berlin found in the music ar-
chive, there are a number of other provenances and groups of works, which will be briefly de-
scribed, in the following paragraphs.
From Hamburg come some original parts of Telemann’s “Hamburger Hauptkopist A” (= Anon.
304 [Kast] = Otto Ernst Gregorius Schieferlein, 1704–1787; SA 540, SA 548, SA 661, SA 674a).18
On some of these parts autographs from the composer’s hand have survived. Since the otherwise
obligatory entries (“Revisionen”) by the grandson Georg Michael Telemann (1748–1831) are miss-
ing in these sources, we cannot assume the normal path of transfer from Georg Philipp Telemann
(Hamburg) via Georg Michael Telemann (Riga) to Georg Poelchau (Berlin) known for similar
manuscripts in the Telemann collection of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. There are some evidences
to believe that these sources had been used for performances in Berlin.
Among the sources available in connection with concert life in Berlin – and especially with
Christian Gottfried Krause, Johann Philipp Kirnberger (1721–1783) and Johann Gottlieb Graun
(1702/3–1771) – which we will have to take a closer look at, there is the Passion oratorio “Der Tod
Jesu” TVWV 5:6 (SA 170 [1], SA 17119, SA 173),20 set to music by Telemann at the same time as
by Carl Heinrich Graun; as well as his famous “Ino” Cantata TVWV 20:41, here recorded under
Krause’s name (SA 1401, SA 1402).21 The poetry for both works was created by Carl Wilhelm
Ramler (1725–1798) in Berlin, “[dem] gefeiertste[n] Oratorienpoet[en] seiner Zeit” (“the most cele-
brated contemporary poet of oratorios”).22
Furthermore, several important sources for different Passion music works by Telemann are re-
markable. (“Passion Oratorio according to Brockes” TVWV 5:1 [SA 168];23 “St. John’s Passion 1745”
TVWV 5:30 [SA 169, Particell from a print in Nuremberg 1746; “Seliges Erwägen” TVWV 5:2
16
Sachs (fn. 7), passim.
17
Fr. Agricola to Telemann, Berlin, 24 May 1775, in: G. Ph. Telemann, Briefwechsel, (fn. 4), p. 371.
18
Another part is missing: ZC 685d (see missing shelf marks ).
19
Only the score’s first part; rests of the parts are grouped under the entry SA 1092 (2) and SA 1092 (3) [= Betrach-
tung der 9. Stunde am Todestag Jesu TVWV 5:5 ]. See below.
20
Georg Philipp Telemann, Der Tod Jesu, Oratorium nach Worten von Karl Wilhelm Ramler TVWV 5:6 / Betrach-
tung der neunten Stunde am Todestage Jesu. Oratorium nach Worten von Joachim Johann Daniel Zimmermann
TVWV 5:5, edited. by Wolf Hobohm, Kassel et al 2006 (G. Ph. Telemann. Musikalische Werke, vol 31), pp XIIf.,
XXIIIf., XXIX; Wolf Hobohm, Ramlers zweite Fassung seines „Tod Jesu” in der musikalischen Bearbeitung von
Christian Gottfried Krause, in: Telemann – der musikalische Maler / Telemann-Kompositionen im Notenarchiv
der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin (fn. 7).
21
Wolfgang Hirschmann, Christian Gottfried Krauses Bearbeitung der Ino-Kantate, in: Telemanns Vokalmusik –
Über Texte, Formen und Werke, edited. by Adolf Nowak and Andreas Eichhorn (Studien und Materialien zur
Musikwissenschaft, vol. 49), Hildesheim et al. 2008, pp. 323–352, here pp. 337–339.
22
Arnold Schering, Geschichte des Oratoriums, Leipzig 1911 (reprint Hildesheim et al 1988), p 363.
23
Georg Philipp Telemann, Der für die Sünde der Welt leidende und sterbende Jesus, ed. by Carsten Lange, Kassel
et al 2008 (G. Ph. Telemann. Musikalische Werke, vol. 34), pp. XXXIIf.
58 Introduction

Authenticated
[SA 174]; “Betrachtung der 9. Stunde am Todestag Jesu“ TVWV 5:5 [SA 170 [2], SA 809]).24
Telemann’s Grand Motet “Deus, judicium tuum regi da” TVWV 7:7 (SA 469 [3]), composed 1738
for Paris, is transmitted in a version at the music archive, which presumably had been formed after
Telemann’s death. The hand writing is very similar to the one of the copyist 49 (Jaenecke), who
worked for the Hamburg publisher Johann Christoph Westphal (1727–1799).25
Secular vocal works are less represented in the holdings of the music archive. Special mention
should be made to to a copy of “Sechs Cantaten” TVWV 20:17–21 (printed Hamburg 1731) by the
young J. Fr. Agricola. Now it should be clarified by this copy which cantatas Agricola meant, when
he wrote in his first letter to Telemann in 1752: “Sie [Telemann] sind der erste gewesen, der mir, in
einem zarten Alter, durch Sechs gewisse Cantaten von Ihrer Arbeit, die mir damals zu Händen ka-
men, einen Begriff beygebracht hat, wie Singsachen, wenn sie schön seyn sollen, eingerichtet wer-
den müssen. Diese Cantaten, und Ihre Kirchenstücke, deren viele ich noch in meiner Vaterstadt ge-
höret habe, sind das erste von Musik gewesen, so mir das Herz gerühret hat.“ (“You are the first,
who gave me, when I was very young, by these six cantatas an idea of your work and how to set vo-
cal parts, to make them beautiful. These cantatas and church music I’ve heard a lot in my hometown
have been the first kind of music which touched me deeply.”)26 The existence of this manuscript of
the young Agricola and several later written manuscripts reveal that a large number of Agricola’s
musical estate could be inherited to the Sing-Akademie to Berlin’s archive.
Also to mention is the intermezzo “Pimpinone” TVWV 21:15 (SA 1202) in a copy of the copyist
“Berlin61” (Henzel) and cantatas in an omnibus volume, SA 1450 [10, 11, 13]). The cantata “Mein
Vergnügen heißt mich sterben” (SA 1450 [19]) – which is also itemised here (to “Mons: St.:” = Au-
gustin Reinhard Stricker?) – is in another copy attributed to Telemann which is located in Ham-
burg.27
Several other previously unknown works without concordances Menke did not have at his dis-
posal. Namely, these are three solo cantatas (SA 1450 [1528, 18, 20]) and one more extensive “Pas-
torelle en Musique” (SA 1203), which is presumably a Frankfurt wedding music.29 Raschid-Sascha
Pegah demonstrated that Telemann accessed the Comédie-Ballet “Les Amants Magnifiques” by
Molière and Lully for his libretto version.30
While Telemann’s vocal music had already been documented relatively well in the collection of
the Sing-Akademie thanks to Werner Menke’s preliminary works, we can record a substantial in-
crease for the instrumental music, as mentioned above. The music archive keeps sources previously
known, most of them apparently from the property of musicians from Berlin.31 Some of these have
24
Georg Philipp Telemann, Der Tod Jesu, Oratorium nach Worten von Karl Wilhelm Ramler TVWV 5:6 / Betrach-
tung der neunten Stunde am Todestage Jesu (fn. 20), pp. XII, XXIII, XXVIII.
25
Georg Philipp Telemann, 71. Psalm „Deus, judicium tuum regi da“, Grand Motet (Paris 1738) TVWV 7:7, ed. by
Wolfgang Hirschmann (G. Ph. Telemann. Musikalische Werke, vol. 45), Kassel et al 2007, p. XVII.
26
J. Fr. Agricola to Telemann, Berlin, November 18, 1752, in: G. Ph. Telemann, Briefwechsel (fn. 4), p. 366
27
D-Hs ND VI 81g:11.
28
According to a note from Michael Maul (2004) there is a concordance (D-B Mus. ms. 30 176 [19]), which bears
the mark „del Signr: Hoffmann“.
29
Printed text: D-F Mus W 340, PASTORELLE EN MUSIQUE, Oder: Musicalisches Hirten=Spiel., n.p., n.d.
30
Peter Huth, [Georg Philipp Telemanns] Pastorelle en Musique oder Musicalisches Hirten=Spiel, in: Programm-
heft der 17. Magdeburger Telemann-Festtage, Magdeburg 2004, pp. 80–86, here p. 81.
31
Possession note and copyist note e.g. “Creutzwatis” (SA 3553), “FW Stiegel” (SA 3547, SA 3904, also found in
other manuscripts from the Nicolai collection), “C:W:V:B” (SA 3274, SA 3899, SA 3900). On copyist and pos-
sessors see Christoph Henzel, Die Musikalien der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin und die Berliner Graun-
Überlieferung, in: Jahrbuch des Staatlichen Instituts für Musikforschung Preußischer Kulturbesitz 2002, ed. Gün-
ther Wagner, Stuttgart/Weimar 2002, pp. 60–106; Henzel, fn. 7.
Introduction 59

Authenticated
been incorporated into the property of the Sing-Akademie through the collections of Friedrich Nico-
lai (1733–1811) and Sara Levy (1761–1854).32
Among the instrumental music recorded in the music archive are the following original prints:
“Kleine Cammer-Music” (Frankfurt am Main 1716, SA 3901), “Sonate Metodiche” (Hamburg
1728, SA 3898), “Quadri” (Hamburg 1730, SA 3897, here with a previously unknown dedication to
the flutist Joachim Erasmus von Moldenit),33 “Continuation des Sonates Methodiques” (Hamburg
1732, SA 3899), “Essercizii musici” (Hamburg about 1726/1728, SA 3900).34 Complete copies of
the prints “Sei Suonatine per Violino e Cembalo” (Frankfurt am Main 1718, SA 4124), “Quadri”
(Hamburg 1730, SA 3559 [12–17], SA 3906), “XII Canons mélodieux” (Paris 1738, SA 3902)
should also be mentioned as well as part copies of the “Musique de Table” (Hamburg 1733, SA
3559 [10, 11, 18–20]) and the “Nouveaux Quatuors” (Paris 1738, 3559 [1]). 21 manuscripts of
Telemann comprised in the item SA 3559 are associated with the Berlin “Hofkapelle” according to
the copyists (inter alia J. Fr. Agricola, Johann Gottlob Freudenberg sen., J. G. Siebe).
From the area of handwritten instrumental music handed down to us, the version of the overture
suite TWV 55:C3 (“Wasser-Ouverture”, SA 3247)35 should be especially mentioned, as well as
some works of chamber music previously unknown to Telemann researchers:36 Nine Sonatas for
two traverse flutes TWV 40:141-149 (SA 3903),37 Sonata in B flat major for Oboe, Bassoon and
Basso continuo TWV42:B2 (SA 3553, questionable authorship), Trio in G major for two Violins
and Cembalo TWV 42:G15 (SA 3850), Trio in A major for two Violins and Cembalo TWV 42:A17
(incomplete, SA 3851), Sonata in A major for Strings and Basso continuo TWV 44:35 (SA 3559
[7]). Telemann’s works for keyboard are represented with an incomplete work only. It is the first
setting of the suite A major TWV 32:14 / BWV 824 (SA 4163 [1]), which i.a. is known from the
“Clavier-Büchlein” for Wilhelm Friedemann Bach.
The questions of how the Telemanniana can be categorised in the context of the entire music ar-
chive, in which ways the pieces were handed down and what the relation of this collection is espe-
cially to the Telemann collection of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin must be answered through further
comprehensive studies.
The highly important Telemann collection of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, currently kept as a
depositum in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin considerably supplements the source materials available
on several pieces by the famous “Kapellmeister” and will especially give new impulses to the study
of the Telemann reception during the 18th century. Furthermore, the discovery of several previously
32
About Levy and Nicolai: Henzel (fn. 31), pp. 68–71; compare Peter Wollny, “Ein förmlicher Sebastian und Phi-
lipp Emanuel Bach-Kultus”. Sara Levy, geb. Itzig und ihr musikalisch-literarischer Salon, in: Musik und Ästhetik
im Berlin Moses Mendelssohns, ed. Anselm Gerhard, Tübingen 1999 (Wolfenbütteler Studien zur Aufklärung ,
vol. 25), pp. 217–255.
33
Ralph-Jürgen Reipsch, Telemann und der “Junker von Moldenit” – die unbekannte Widmung der Hamburger
Quadri (1730), in: Mitteilungsblatt der Telemann-Gesellschaft e.V. (Internationale Vereinigung), no 14 (Decem-
ber 2003), Magdeburg 2003, pp. 23–28; id., Zur Rezeption von Telemanns Kompositionen für Traversflöte im
Umfeld von Quantz – Neues aus dem Notenarchiv der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, in: Zur Flötenmusik in Geschich-
te und Aufführungspraxis zwischen 1650 und 1850, ed. by Boje E. Hans Schmuhl in cooperation with Ute
Omonsky. Augsburg and Michaelstein 2009 (Michaelsteiner Konferenzberichte, vol. 73), (forthcoming).
34
The previous dating on 1739/40 is no more supportable. This copy on hand bears a hand written entry, whereupon
it had been acquired 1728.
35
According to a note from Wolfgang Hirschmann this part is about a development of the aria of Germania „Ich
fühle noch“ of Telemann’s Serenata „Deutschland grünt und blüht im Friede“ TVWV 12:1c (Frankfurt 1716).
36
See Ralph-Jürgen Reipsch / Steven Zohn, Unbekannte Instrumentalmusik von Georg Philipp Telemann – Zur
Vergabe neuer TWV-Nummern, in: Die Musikforschung, 59 (2006), issue 4, pp. 366–369.
37
Georg Philipp Telemann, Neun Sonaten für zwei Traversflöten ohne Generalbass TWV 40:141–149, first edition,
ed. by Ralph-Jürgen Reipsch, Bärenreiter: Kassel et al 2006 (BA 5888).
60 Introduction

Authenticated
unknown works rounds off the picture of one of the most important German composers from the
first half of the 18th century.
Missing Shelf-Marks 38
– “Der Tag des Gerichts” TVWV 6:3 (score from the Poelchau collection, ZC 428),
– “Mirjam, und deine Wehmut, Debora” TVWV V 6:4b (from Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock’s
“Messias” 10. Gesang, score manuscript probably from Zelter’s personal estate incl. printed text:
“Rhapsodie aus Klopstocks Message”, Berlin n.d.: Paul Christian Friedrich Veltheim, ZC 429),
– “Meine Seele erhebt den Herrn” TVWV 1:1104 (J. Ringk, ZC 673f),
– “Gebet dem Kaiser, was des Kaisers ist” TVWV 1:579 (score and parts, ZC 676d),
– “Selig sind die, die zum Abendmahl” TVWV 1:1309 (ZC 685b),
– “Belebende Lüfte” TVWV 1:122 (copy score of C. P. E. Bach III, parts of the main Hamburg
copyist A, ZC 685d),
– “Ich bin der erste” TVWV 1:816 (parts, ZC 687d),
– “Es ist gut auf den Herrn vertrauen” TVWV 1:512 (parts, ZC 688f),
– “Der Herr kennet die Tage der Frommen” TVWV 1:283 (parts, ZC 690d),
– “Die ihm vertrauen” TVWV 1:348 (J. Ditmar, parts, ZC 696b),
– “Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu” TVWV 6:6 (score and parts, another score with ar-
rangements by Potsdam Nicolai Kantor Johann Karl Friedrich Kolbe, performance notes Potsdam
1773 and 1778, formerly registered under ZC 804),39
– “Jauchzet dem Herren” TVWV 8:10, BWV App. 160.40
– “Der getreue Music-Meister”, Hamburg 1728 (ZA 142)
Notes on the individual shelf-marks
SA 567
Telemann’s authorship of the fragmentary cantata TVWV 1:1621, written in J. Fr. Agricola’s hand
can be doubted. The stylistic structure points more toward a composition by Agricola. Menke did
not use the beginning of this piece in his register of work, but instead placed the last aria ”Wie
freudig seh ich dir entgegen” as the text incipit. The correct title, deduced from text prints, among
others, is “Gott hat den Herrn auferwecket”. Lyrics of the Potsdam court chaplain Leonhard
Cochius (1717–1779) had been setted by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (H. 803), too. According to a
printed text from Hamburg Telemann performanced a cantata with the same lyrics in 1756 (TVWV
1:651).41 Since the music has not been transmitted it remains uncertain, if it is a composition of its
own or by another composer.
38
Notes and individual photocopies (writing samples) for the missing sources are found in Werner Menke, Ver-
zeichnis der Vokalwerke Telemanns, typescript in the Stadt- und Universitätsbibliothek Frankfurt (Main), HB 20:
H 800, passim.
39
Georg Philipp Telemann, Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu TWV 6:6, ed. by Ralph-Jürgen Reipsch, Kas-
sel et al 1997 (G. Ph. Telemann. Musikalische Werke, vol. 32), p. XVI.
40
According to Robert Eitner, Biographisches Quellen-Lexikon, vol. 9, Leipzig 1903 (Reprint Graz 1958), p. 272:
“Jauchzet dem Herrn, 8 voices. P. Ms. P. Berlin. Singak.” According to the entry in the register of Telemann vo-
cal works, Menke was not able to view this source anymore as early as 1937.
41
D-B Mus. ms. 21766/190.
Introduction 61

Authenticated
SA 594
The cantata “Ruft es aus in alle Welt” TVWV 1:1230 is also known under the name of Hoffmann
(= Johann Melchior Hoffmann?) (B-Bc 837).
SA 612
The cantata “Ich will singen von der Gnade des Herrn” appears twice in Menke’s register of works:
as TVWV 1:893 and as TVWV 1:1655. The latter one, however, is listed with a wrong text incipit,
namely “Wir aber singen von der Gnade des Herrn”.
SA 669, 673, 677

Jakob Ditmar sometimes used blank pages he couldn’t use anymore and which he took from older
musical manuscripts for writing the individual parts. Thus, there are remains of an sacred multi-part
concert of many parts from the 17th century amongst the shelf marks mentioned. It was concerned
with Psalm 128: “Wohl dem, der den Herrn fürchtet”. There are other such fragments mixed with
other shelf marks that cannot be described here in detail. Some of them could be identified by Chris-
toph Henzel.42
SA 1649
The fragment “Wie will ich Höchster dich besingen” could not yet be assigned to any of the known
cantatas by Telemann. However, Telemann’s authorship is beyond doubt because of the stylistic
analysis and the typical notation the composer used which was also used by the copyist (e.g. the
typical German terms for performance in use since about 1733).
About the edition
The order of the works within the present microfiche edition follows the numerically ascending SA
shelf marks (SA = Sing-Akademie). They in turn go back to those inventory numbers used for the
collections of the music archive during their stay in the conservatory in Kiev (until 1973).43 The SA
marks replace the marks ZC and ZD that go back to the so-called Zelter register 44 while the very
precise systematics of the Zelter catalogue was largely retained.45 In this system, the group mark ZC is
used for vocal music; within this group, the systematics divides genre and arrangement. The same
holds true for the ZD group that consists of the instrumental music. Group ZB contains several contra-
puntal examples and studies while group ZA (Music Theory)46 comprising 288 numbers is missing.
42
Henzel (fn. 7).
43
Helmut Hell, Geglückte Rückkehr: Das Musikarchiv der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, in: Jahrbuch Preußischer Kul-
turbesitz, vol. XXXVII, ed. Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, Berlin 2002, p. 357.
44
Catalog musikalisch-literarischer und practischer Werke aus dem Nachlasse des Königl: Professors Dr. Zelter,
D-B N. Mus. ms. theor. 30.
45
Friedrich Welter, Die Musikbibliothek der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin. Versuch eines Nachweises ihrer früheren
Bestände, in: Sing-Akademie zu Berlin. Festschrift zum 175jährigen Bestehen, ed. by Werner Bollert, Berlin
1966, p. 34.
46
There is an copy of Telemann’s music journal Der getreue Music-Meister (Hamburg 1728) in ZA 142.
62 Introduction

Authenticated
In order to document the contemporary context of how the Telemanniana were handed down, an-
thologies were always filmed in total. The position of the works within the volumes is shown by a
numeral added to the original shelf mark, e.g. anthology SA 1450 → SA 1450 (1), SA 1450 (2) etc.
The Telemann compositions used by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach for his Hamburg Passion pas-
ticcios were not taken into account in this edition.47 Bach’s manuscripts are made accessible by the
following microfiche edition:
Music Manuscripts of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz. Part 1: The Bach
Collection, Supplement II: The Bach Collection in the Archive of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin,
Depositum Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, ed. by the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin. Compiled by Axel
Fischer and Matthias Kornemann, K. G. Saur Verlag: Munich 2002–2003.
The following located respectively identified manuscripts appear still after microfilming in 2003
in the Supplement of the Microfiche Edition.
– Trio E major for two flutes and basso continuo TWV 42:E1 (SA 3799),
– Sonata B la françoise e minor for two violins and basso continuo TWV 42:e11 (SA 4455),
– Concert G major for flauto traverso, oboe, violin and basso continuo TWV 43:G6 (SA 3584),
– Sonata f minor for two violins, two violas and basso continuo TWV 44:32 (SA 3585),
– “Gottloses, schändliches Gebot“ (“Der aus der Löwengrube errette Daniel“) TVWV 1:deest (SA
70),
– “Schmückt das frohe Fest mit Maien“ TVWV 1:1255 (SA 2992),
– “Veni sancte spiritus“ TVWV 3:84, here wrongly attributed to C. Ph. E. Bach, c.f. Wq 220/H.
855 (SA 263),
– “Verwirrter Geist, wie wird mir“ (“Der ungerathne Sohn“) TVWV 1:deest (SA 77),
– “Zischet nur, stechet ihr feurigen Zungen“ TVWV 1:1732 (SA 807 [2]),
– “Der Tod Jesu“ TVWV 5:6 (SA 1092 [2]),48
– “Betrachtung der 9. Stunde am Todestag Jesu“ TVWV 5:5 (SA 1092 [3]),49
– “Von geliebten Augen brennen“ TVWV 20:47 (SA 1243 [11]).
47
See Uwe Wolf, Der Anteil Telemanns an den Hamburger Passionen Carl Philipp Emanuel Bachs, in: Telemann
– der musikalische Maler / Telemann-Kompositionen im Notenarchiv der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin (fn. 7).
48
Originaly the second part of SA 171.
49
Primarily SA 171 and SA 1092 (2) formed a unit.
Introduction 63

Authenticated
Fig. 6: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: Johannes-Passion (1772) Wq deest / H 785, SA 4657
64

Authenticated
Oratorios, Masses, Sacred and Secular Cantatas, Arias and Lieder∗
By Christoph Henzel
Of the musical treasures in the archive of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, the Bach and Telemann
autographs have attracted the greatest attention up to now1; for evident reasons, those holdings were
the first to be made publicly available in the form of a microfiche edition2. It is, however, obvious
that the significance of the collection extends far beyond the works of a few titans of early music
history. (These include the brothers Carl Heinrich and Johann Gottlieb Graun, Georg Friedrich
Handel and Johann Adolf Hasse.) Rather, the selection and origin of the sources, which include a
high percentage of printed copies, provide information about the musical taste and collecting inter-
ests of Carl Friedrich Zelter, who was closely associated with the institution of the Sing-Akademie
for over thirty years. During this time he had a considerable influence on its development, in rela-
tion to its activities and repertoire and by his contacts with composers, musicians and music collec-
tors, some of whom sent and exchanged scores with him. Just as important is the information which
can be gleaned about the repertoire of societies of music lovers and private collectors who left their
collections to the Sing-Akademie. The music archive can simply be described as a gathering to-
gether of various partial collections from various sources. Because of this, it is unnecessary to
search further for Zelter’s intention with every acquisition in the collection. For a considerable
amount of the music was certainly either opportunistic purchases or gifts which were offered to Zel-
ter or the Sing-Akademie by friends such as Georg Poelchau3 and Johann Samuel Carl Possin4, pa-
trons such as Sara Levy, née Itzig5 or by notable members such as Friedrich Nicolai6, Carl Wilhelm
Klipfel7 and Johann Carl Friedrich Rellstab8, precluding a planned collection in any sense. This may
explain the fact that several copies exist of a few works, or that some are incomplete and that Zelter
∗
I am grateful to Axel Fischer, Matthias Kornemann and Tobias Schwinger for valuable information in preparing
this text.
1
See Wolfram Ensslin, Die Bach-Quellen der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, 2 vols. (Leipziger Beiträge zur Bach-
Forschung 8), Hildesheim 2006; Christoph Henzel, Telemann-Überlieferung im Spiegel des Notenarchivs der
Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, in: Telemann, der musikalische Maler / Telemann-Kompositionen im Notenarchiv der
Sing-Akademie zu Berlin. Bericht über die Internationale Musikwissenschaftliche Konferenz anlässlich der 17.
Magdeburger Telemann-Festtage, 10. bis 12. März 2004 (= Telemann-Konferenzberichte, Bd. XV), eds. C. Lange
and B. Reipsch (in preparation); Ralph-Jürgen Reipsch, Der Telemannbestand des Notenarchivs der Sing-
Akademie zu Berlin – ein Überblick, in: ibid.
2
See Axel Fischer and Matthias Kornemann, Die Bach-Sammlung aus dem Archiv der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin /
The Bach Collection in the Archive of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin. Katalog und Einführung zur Mikrofiche-Edition /
Catalogue and Introduction to the Microfiche Edition, München 2003; idem., Die Telemann-Sammlung aus dem Ar-
chiv der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin / The Telemann Collection in the Archive of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin. Katalog
und Einführung zur Mikrofiche-Edition / Catalogue and Introduction to the Microfiche Edition, Munich 2003.
3
See Ulrich Leisinger, Zur Geschichte der Bach-Sammlung der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, in: Ensslin, Die Bach-
Quellen (note 1), Vol. 2, pp. 507–545, particularly pp. 515–517.
4
See Christoph Henzel, Agricola und andere. Berliner Komponisten im Notenarchiv der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin,
in: JbSIMPK 2003, pp. 31–98, particularly pp. 57–60 and 87–95.
5
See idem., Die Musikalien der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin und die Berliner Graun-Überlieferung, in: JbSIMPK
2002, pp. 60–106, particularly pp. 68–71.
6
See ibid., p. 68.
7
Through him, his father Carl Jacob Christian Klipfel’s music may have come into Zelter’s possession; see ibid.,
pp. 72–77.
8
See Henzel, Agricola und andere (note 2), pp. 60–65.
65

Authenticated
Christoph Henzel
sometimes criticised the quality of some compositions. Thus he noted maliciously at the end of the
autograph score of Rellstab’s Te Deum (SA 434): „Jesaia 1. v. 6“ [Isaiah ch. 1, v. 6] (p. 139), by
which he meant: „Von der Fußsohle bis zum Haupt ist nichts Gesundes an euch ...“ [“From the sole
of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it;”] On the other side he wrote: „Man kann’s
nit spielen,/ man kann’s nit fühlen,/ man Kann’s nit singen,/ Es will nit klingen!/ Hundertsiebzehn
schlag ich gern um/ Non confundar in aeternum.“ [“You can’t play it,/ you can’t feel it,/ you can’t
sing it,/ it doesn’t want to sound! / I would happily turn a hundred and seventeen pages/ Do not let
me be confounded for eternity.”] The entries and comments which frequently crop up in his hand-
writing in the manuscripts should not just be regarded as an indication of his involvement with the
material on a practical and theoretical level, but also as a method of establishing control over the ac-
cumulating piles of music.
The following description contains some observations about the forms, genres and composers
represented within this publication. These relate partly to the origin and significance of the music
scores, to the works themselves, and partly to the range of the history of the forms contained in the
music collection. It goes without saying that the quantity and variety of material does not permit
more than a few random remarks. The systematic cataloguing and music-historical evaluation of the
present collection of sources, which is very similar to the Music Collection of the Staatsbibliothek
zu Berlin – Preußischer Kulturbesitz in its profile and transmission, remains a task for the future.
1. Sacred cantatas
The sacred cantatas which are preserved in the music archive of the Sing-Akademie are mostly from
the Berlin cantorates at St. Petri and St. Nicolai. From the sparse details in the Berlin daily papers,
we can deduce some information about the repertoire performed in church services in the early and
mid-eighteenth century. Thus, cantatas by Johann Friedrich Agricola (SA 44, 181–182, 184–186
and 6949) were written for the Kantor at St. Petri, Rudolph Dietrich Buchholtz. Wallet ihr Seelen
voll Schwermut (SA 183) was a royal commission for the funeral of the widowed Queen Sophia
Dorothea who died on the 28th June 1757, which was also performed in St. Petri. Amongst the can-
tatas by the Graun brothers (SA 700, 734, 737 and 738), C. H. Graun’s Ich suchte den, den meine
Seele liebet (SA 737) occupies a special position, as the work has survived in an autograph score
with a titlepage in Georg Caspar Schürmann’s handwriting. This is one of the few surviving works
from the Wolfenbüttel chapel archive. (Graun was deputy Kapellmeister at the court of the Duke of
Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel until 1735.) Five of the six cantatas by the composer Liebhold, about
whom almost nothing is known, come from the collection of Jacob Ditmar, Kantor at St. Nicolai
(SA 381–383 and 385–386). The sixth (SA 384) once belonged to his colleague Johann Boguslaus
Gerahten, Kantor at the Jerusalems-Kirche and Neue Kirche. Not only did a large number of Tele-
mann cantatas survive through Ditmar, but also older music from the late seventeenth and early
eighteenth centuries, evidence of a harking back to earlier traditions in performance repertoire, de-
spite all attempts at modernisation. Examples of this are transcriptions of five cantatas by “Hasse”,
which were prepared at the end of the seventeenth century by one “Jean George Rhein” (SA 111,
364 and 741) – in fact they have nothing to do with Johann Adolf Hasse, the Whitsun cantatas Nun
aber gibst du Gott by Wilhelm Zachau (SA 683) and Lehre mich thun by Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel
(SA 909), the sacred concerto Meister wir wissen by Adam Krieger (SA 374) and an anonymous
9
The cantata Wie freudig seh ich dir entgegen TVWV 1:1621 (SA 567), copied by Agricola and later attributed to
Telemann, could also have been composed by him.
66 Introduction

Authenticated
Oratorios, Masses, Sacred and Secular Cantatas, Arias and Lieder
Sanctus Dominus Deus (SA 188). The music of the last two pieces is largely by Hermann Koch,
Ditmar’s grandfather and predecessor-but-one as Kantor. They were therefore used by three genera-
tions of Kantors. Admittedly, Ditmar also sorted out much material by his predecessors. Evidence of
this can be seen by examining the reverse of various pages in Ditmar’s hand, and also some
trimmed manuscript pages on which complete or fragmentary parts for older sacred works can be
found10.
A further five works by Stölzel (SA 908–909 and 1448) and twenty-seven cantatas by Johann
Georg Röllig (SA 443–445, 795–797 and 1423–143911) cannot be linked with any of the Berlin
churches. The same applies to the Whitsun cantatas by “Lange”, “Spiegler” and an anonymous
composer12 in the collection SA 808, and naturally also for those works surviving from the estates
of Carl Friedrich Kolbe, Kantor at St Nicolai in Potsdam and the Hamburg music director Carl
Philipp Emanuel Bach. Whilst two cantatas by “Liethiel” (SA 387 and 388) are actually by Kolbe,
various works including, for example, cantatas by Gottfried August Homilius ended up in Zelter’s
possession via Bach (SA 37, 50, 251 and 366–369). These include mainly markings by Bach, as he
used them as models for his passions and Easter cantatas. Further cantata transcriptions by the Kan-
tor of the Kreuzkirche in Dresden are of Berlin provenance (SA 117, 120–123, 219, 774, 1304, 1511
and 1591). The motet Schaffe in mir Gott ein reines Herz (SA 742) should be mentioned here. The
number of manuscripts is evidence of the popularity of this composer who was prized in Berlin, the
Prussian capital, as „sehr glückliche[r] Nachahmer eines Grauns“13 [“an extremely successful imita-
tor of a Graun”].
2. Oratorios and major sacred works
Berlin’s public and semi-public concert life, began to take shape at the beginning of the 1760s, en-
couraged by the reduced circumstances of the court musicians resulting from war. It was promoted
by amateur societies in which amateur musicians of varying backgrounds worked together, and pro-
fessional musicians set the standard. Separately from this, whether concerts were for the performers
themselves and an exclusive circle of subscribers or for the paying public, these musical activities
concentrated on vocal music, as far as can be deduced from newspaper reports and advertisements.
Oratorios and other large-scale vocal works, particularly sacred pieces, were at the heart of many
concert programmes in response to the widespread need for religious edification. This is also
reflected in the relative quantity and quality of the different forms represented in the music archive.
The high regard which Georg Friedrich Handel enjoyed as an oratorio composer in Berlin is,
however, not fully reflected in the surviving source holdings. Only Messiah HWV 56 is proportion-
ately represented with various transcriptions of the score and an extensive number of sets of parts
(SA 51–55 and 73–76). Many of these can be linked to performances given by Johann Adam Hiller
(1786), Johann Georg Lehmann (1786 and 1789) and finally Zelter (1804, 1817 and 1823)14. The
archive thus documents a crucial chapter in Handel reception in northern Germany, which was con-
siderably influenced by the reception of the Messiah. In addition there are complete transcriptions of
Saul HWV 53 (SA 66), Samson HWV 57 (SA 68) and the Brockes Passion HWV 48 (SA 72) as
10
See Henzel, Telemann-Überlieferung (note 1).
11
At least ten of these (SA 443–445 and 795–797) are autograph scores.
12
The volume also contains a further five arias from Stölzel’s opera Diomedes.
13
Berlinische Nachrichten von Staats und gelehrten Sachen, 19th March 1776.
14
See Christoph Henzel, Hiller – Lehmann – Zelter. Zu einigen Berliner ‘Messias’-Aufführungen, in: Händel-Jb
2008, pp 225–274.
Introduction 67

Authenticated
Christoph Henzel
well as early printed editions of Saul (SA 67), Samson (SA 69, in: SA 1553), Esther HWV 50b (SA
71), Belshazzar HWV 61, Joseph and his Brethren HWV 59 and Deborah HWV 51 (all three are in
SA 1553, the last also in SA 1554), and excerpts from Judas Maccabäus HWV 63 (in: SA 150).
There are also various copies of Handel’s sacred music and odes: The Lord is my light HWV 255
(SA 339 and in: SA 344), O praise the Lord with one consent HWV 254 (SA 340 and in: SA 344),
Jubilate HWV 279 (SA 341 and 342), Te Deum HWV 281 (in: SA 344), Te Deum HWV 282 (SA
343) and the Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day HWV 76 (SA 771). There are two copies of the funeral an-
them for Queen Caroline The ways of Zion do mourn HWV 264 (SA 769 and 770). The first of these
is of particular interest; it comprises the score, parts and libretto of a contrafacta Latin version of the
work which was premiered on 4 February 1780 in a Berlin „Concert der Musikliebhaber“ [Concert
for music lovers] in a musical commemoration for Princess Luise Amalia of Prussia, the mother of
Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, who had died on 13 January. It is finally worth mentioning the
scores of two oratorios of doubtful authenticity: Der aus der Löwengrube errettete Daniel, which
survives in an imcomplete transcription by the copyist Johann August Patzig (SA 70), and Der
ungeratne Sohn (SA 77).
The fact that under Zelter the Sing-Akademie established its own performance tradition of
Graun’s Tod Jesu is not evident from the music archive. The reason for this is the considerable loss
of materials when the collection was put into storage. The performing material to C. H. Graun’s Te
Deum has also been lost. The only surviving material for this work is four vocal scores (SA 335–
338) and a transcription of the score (SA 334). Of his Der Tod Jesu, just a vocal score (SA 61) and a
transcription of the Italian version which was performed by Fortunato Santini in Naples in 1830 (SA
57) have survived. On the other hand, there is an abundance of material for C. H. Graun’s first
Brunswick passion Kommt her und schaut (SA 59, 60, 63, 64 and 65). Most of this comes from the
music director Lehmann, who premiered the work in 1785 in St. Nicolai. With transcriptions of the
scores of the second passion Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld (SA 62) and the funeral music
Quis desiderio sit pudor (SA 736) composed in 1740, other major sacred works by Graun are repre-
sented in the music archive of the Sing-Akademie. It also includes rarities such as the transcriptions
of Graun’s Herr Gott dich loben wir (SA 332), an early work, and La passione di Gesù Cristo by his
older brother Johann Gottlieb (SA 46). There is also a transcription of his Mass in E flat major by
Agricola (SA 330). In this context there is also a curious misattribution of the anonymous chorus
Töne laut durch alle Sphären (SA 331), which Rungenhagen attributed to “Graun”. This is, in fact,
an excerpt from Wolfgang Amadé Mozart’s incidental music to Gebler’s Thamos, König von Ägyp-
ten KV 336a (345) with modified text.
A written out set of parts from Leonardo Leo’s La morte di Abele (SA 128) in the hand of Carl
Friedrich Rungenhagen, Zelter’s successor as director of the Sing-Akademie, reveals much about
his interests. The basis for this was surely one of the two scores of the work then in the music ar-
chive (SA 127 and 129). There are also scores of Leo’s oratorio Sant’Elena al calvario and a Te
Deum (SA 130–132 and 380). Rungenhagen himself is represented by only two smaller sacred
compositions, each of which is present in several printed copies: the vocal score of his Stabat mater,
Op. 24 (SA 155–158) and the motet with piano or organ accompaniment Aus der Tiefe ruf’ ich Herr
op. 25 (SA 799–800). It is generally the case that, with a few exceptions such as printed copies of
Friedrich Schneider’s Weltgericht (SA 159–161) and Louis Spohr’s Die letzten Dinge (SA 164–
167), the oratorio repertoire of the nineteenth century is not represented in the music archive. The
whereabouts of the once large collection of music, the scores for a choir of several hundred singers,
is unknown.
In comparison with Handel and Graun, the surviving material by Hasse in the music archive of
the Sing-Akademie reflects the reputation and position of the senior Dresden Kapellmeister in Ber-
68 Introduction

Authenticated
lin concert life. Almost all his oratorios can be found here, both in scores (frequently several copies)
and parts: La caduta di Gerico (SA 85–91), Il cantico de’tre fanciulli (SA 108–110), La conversio-
ne di Sant’Agostino (SA 84), La deposizione dalla croce di Gesù Cristo (SA 103), Giuseppe ricono-
sciuto (SA 94–96), I pellegrini al sepolcro di Nostro Signore (SA 97–10015), Sant’Elena al Calva-
rio (SA 79 and 81–83), Serpentes in deserto (SA 101–102) and Le virtù appiè della croce (SA 104–
107). The music comes almost exclusively from Berlin collectors such as Klipfel or from musicians
such as Agricola, Fasch, Patzig, Possin and Zelter. They themselves worked as copyists alongside
the professional copyists who worked for the court ensemble. The autograph score of La caduta di
Gerico (SA 85/86) is a particularly rare item.
There is just one oratorio by Johann Abraham Peter Schulz, Maria und Johannes (1786). There
are two printed editions: a vocal score (SA 162), probably a gift from the composer to Juliane Pap-
pritz, the widow of Zelter who died in 1806, and a score in tablature notation (SA 163). Besides
this, the music collection of the Sing-Akademie contains printed editions and transcriptions of three
hymns (SA 459–465) and a motet (SA 761). The music collection also contains autographs by his
pupil Possin for the cantata Die Schöpfungsfeier oder die Hirten in Midian (SA 1412–1413) which
was premiered on 10 September 1781 in the „Konzert in der Stadt Paris“ [concert in the city of
Paris], as well as a Chor auf den Geburtstag Friedrichs II. (SA 1414). Other cantatas of Berlin
provenance, which mainly survive in printed editions, are Johann Friedrich Reichardt’s La Danza
(SA 1415–1416) and Ariadne auf Naxos (SA 1418), Friedrich Heinrich Himmel’s Musique cham-
pêtre (SA 1393), Rellstab’s Ino (SA 1419) and Vincenzo Righini’s Cantate avec choeurs et danses
russes and Pomona vincitrice (SA 1420–1421), the latter a unique copy.
Finally, the collection SA 134 from the collection of the Prussian queen Sophie Charlotte looks
back to a time when the oratorio was still exclusively a courtly-aristocratic art form. It contains two
oratorios and a Confitebor by Luigi Manza and has a correspondingly magnificent binding.
3. Catholic church music
Catholic church music played scarcely any part in liturgical music in Berlin. According to newspa-
per advertisements, „musikalische Hochämter“ [high masses with music] only took place on the
main church feasts in St. Hedwig’s. What was performed there is to a large extent unknown. We
simply know about masses by Francesco Antonio Valotti and Leopold Hofmann which were per-
formed at the consecration on 1 November 1773 and during the ensuing celebrations with help from
the court ensemble16. In comparison, there was widespread interest in vocal polyphony and Italian
sacred concertante music of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Driven on by the search
for “true” sacred music, collectors and concert promoters eagerly seized on all kinds of liturgical
music, whether it was for study purposes or religious edification. The public performance of a „ka-
nonische Messe“ [“canonic mass”] by Antonio Lotti on 15 February 1776 in the „Haus des Herrn
Jouan auf dem Spittelmarkt“17 [Herr Jouan’s house at Spittel Market] is evidence of this. And the
foundation of the Sing-Akademie itself was known to be a result of this interest, when Carl Frie-
drich Christian Fasch gathered together singers to perform his mass for four choruses in sixteen
parts, which was inspired by a similar work by Orazio Benevoli. The model may have been the
15
SA 98 is a copy of the vocal score edited by J. A. Hiller, printed in Leipzig.
16
See Christoph Henzel, Das Konzertleben der preußischen Hauptstadt 1740–1786 im Spiegel der Berliner Presse,
in: JbSIMPK 2004, pp. 216–291 (Teil 1) and 2005, pp. 139–241 (Teil 2).
17
Berlinische Nachrichten von Staats und gelehrten Sachen, 13th February 1776.
Introduction 69

Authenticated
Christoph Henzel
Missa in diluvio aquarum multarum, which has survived in two transcriptions of the score (SA 290
and 291). The second was copied by Fasch.
The Palestrina autographs in the Sing-Akademie come from various sources, such as an extensive
collection given to Berlin by Santini in 1831. Alongside the Missa Papae Marcelli, which is in a
collection together with compositions by Stefano Landi, Rogerio Giovannelli and Filippo Siciliani
(SA 450), Santini collected favourite motets from the Papal choir in two further volumes: „Com-
posizioni quali si cantano nella Cappella del Sommo Pontifice in Roma“ (SA 413–414). Here,
works by Palestrina predominate, with twenty-three motets – an interesting document placing the
composer amongst the pantheon of classical composers of Catholic sacred music. Other composers
represented here include Gregorio Allegri, Tomás Luis Vittoria and Costanzo Festa, with single
compositions. The three volumes mentioned (and the previously mentioned transcription of Der Tod
Jesu) are bound in yellow leather, with gold embossing on the spine, each with a red title panel and
the initials “C. F. Z.”. In this way, Santini paid his respects to the „degnissimo Direttore della cele-
berrima Accademia di Musica in Berlino”. Three further transcriptions of Palestrina masses in his
hand (SA 421–423), including a second copy of the Missa Papae Marcelli, found their way via
Franz Lauska, a Berlin composer and pianist closely associated with Zelter and the Liedertafel, to
the Sing-Akademie.
In comparison, five motets (SA 201–205) and eight magnificats by Palestrina (SA 418) came
from the collection of Francesco Antonio Calegari, who compiled scores from older printed parts.
Together with two anonymous compositions, nineteen motets by Giovanni Matteo Asola and two of
his own works (SA 193–200, 205–216 and 417), these came into Zelter’s possession via Giuseppe
Sarti and his son-in-law Natale Mussini, who was a musician in the service of the widowed Queen
Friederike Luise. Sarti died in Berlin on 28 Juli 1802 on the return journey from St. Petersburg to It-
aly. Evidently the Calegari transcriptions were found in his papers. It is not known how Sarti ac-
quired them. Finally of interest is a copy of a part of the mass Ecce sacerdos magnus (SA 424) ar-
ranged by Johann Sebastian Bach, which probably came via C. P. E. Bach; the score of this is in the
Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin–Preußischer Kulturbesitz 18. The remaining surviving parts were copied
by Johann Christoph Altnickol; only the first oboe part is in Bach’s own hand.
The practice observed in Calegari’s Palestrina transcriptions of producing scores for study pur-
poses from old printed parts can be seen elsewhere. Thus there is a score in Patzig’s hand with six
psalms by Georg Schwaiger (SA 466). The basis for this is clearly Adam Berg’s edition of the seven
penitential psalms (Munich 1588), a copy of which is in the music archive of the Sing-Akademie
(in: SA 375). In contrast, the score of Orlando di Lasso’s eight-part Missa super Bella Amfitrit’altera
has survived without its corresponding model (SA 376); this was a birthday present from Rungen-
hagen for Zelter on 11 December 1819. It can be deduced from an accompanying note that the copy
was prepared by „Geh. Hofrath Paasche“. (This copyist worked for Rungenhagen several times.)
Conversely, the purchase of printed parts of works including Lasso’s Cantiones sacrae (Graz 1594)
(in: SA 375) and Rudolph di Lasso’s Missa Vestiva i colli (1590) (in: SA 412) could have resulted
from planned transcriptions which were never realised.
The close links between Berlin court musicians (including Franz Benda, Johann Joachim Quantz
and the Graun brothers) and the Dresden court ensemble, particularly its leader Johann Georg Pis-
endel, are reflected in evidence of the exchange of music scores. Works by Jan Dismas Zelenka also
reached Berlin via this route. As well as a Magnificat, there are some transcriptions of masses and
movements from masses by Dresden and Berlin copyists, including Agricola (SA 685–690 and
18
See Barbara Wiermann, Bach und Palestrina. Neue Quellen aus J. S. Bachs Notenbibliothek, in: BJb 88 (2002),
pp. 9–28.
70 Introduction

Authenticated
692). There is also a copy of the score of the Missa Sancti Spiritus ZWV 4 (SA 691) prepared by
Johann Gottlob Harrer, which, together with a transcription of a mass by Domenico Natale Sarro
(SA 452) probably came into Zelter’s possession from Harrer’s estate via Breitkopf in Leipzig. In
contrast with Dresden, nothing is known about contact between Berlin musicians and the Munich
court in the eighteenth century. It is unclear how the Ave Maria (SA 739) and the D minor and G
minor masses by Giuseppe Antonio Bernabei (SA 293–294) came to be in Zelter’s collection of
scores. The conceptual style of layout of the scores of the masses, and the type of corrections therein
lead to the supposition that these may be autograph scores.
Amongst the more modern composers of sacred music, those which stand out include Hasse,
Leo, Lotti and Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. Works by Hasse include three transcriptions of masses
(SA 349–351), two transcriptions of the Te Deum in G major (SA 347–348) and a copy of the
Miserere in C minor (SA 346) produced jointly by Zelter and Possin. The latter includes an extra
aria by Zelter („Quoniam si voluisses“). Leo’s works include two transcriptions of the five-part
Dixit Dominus (SA 377–378), two solo motets (SA 780–781) and a mass (SA 321). (Rungenhagen
misattributed the mass, which bears no attribution in the archive, to Francesco Feo.) Astonishingly,
the famous double-choir Miserere with organ accompaniment is missing from the archive. An at-
tempt to modernise Leo’s Dixit Dominus can be seen from later additional wind parts in the hand of
an unknown arranger (SA 379). The high reputation which Lotti enjoyed can be judged from both
complete and partial transcriptions and arrangements of masses (SA 395–398 and 451). In addition,
a four-part Miserere in D minor (SA 394) from Santini’s collection ended up in the music collection
of the Sing-Akademie via Franz Lauska. The fact that there are nine copies of Pergolesi’s Stabat
mater emphatically demonstrates that this work was one of the most popular sacred compositions in
Berlin, as it was elsewhere. As well as scores and parts by composers including Kolbe, Zelter and
Possin (SA 142–143 and 146–149), the collection also includes a work by Giuseppe Jannacconi;
originally scored for soprano, alto and strings, it exists here in two printed copies of the Hiller edi-
tion of the vocal score (SA 145–146) and an arrangement for four solo voices and basso continuo
(SA 142a). There are also transcriptions of the Salve regina, Laudate pueri and Confitebor tibi
Domine (SA 425–427).
4. Vocal chamber music
The Italian secular cantata, which emerged as a „kleine private Nebengattung der Oper“19 [“small-
scale, private, related genre of opera”] was established as „Hausmusik für anspruchsvolle Gesell-
schaften“20 [“domestic music for discriminating society”] around the middle of the eighteenth cen-
tury. The social setting where such cantatas were performed was courtly and aristocratic circles, and
educated society. A considerable number of Carl Heinrich Graun’s cantatas, for example, were
composed as court music for the Prussian Crown Prince Friedrich in Ruppin and Rheinsberg. The
fact that a large number of such compositions can be found in the music archive of the Sing-
Akademie is evidence of the efforts of musicians and bourgeois collectors in Berlin to participate in
this exclusive type of artistic activity, whether it be in the form of practical participation21, symbolic
19
Silke Leopold, Weltliche Vokalmusik: Die Kantate, in: Neues Handbuch der Musikwissenschaft, ed. C. Dahlhaus,
Vol. 5, Laaber 1985, pp. 84–89, particularly p. 84.
20
Ibid., p. 85.
21
The performance of C. H. Graun’s cantata Ah tu fuggi? (Adimanto e Dori. Scena pastorale) in a concert for music
lovers at Potsdam after the Seven Years’ War is proved by a libretto; see Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer
Kulturbesitz, Musikabteilung, in: Mus. T 96
Introduction 71

Authenticated
Christoph Henzel
ownership or analytical study. The surviving parts are evidence of the first of these, and the scores
evidence of the second and third.
The repertoire comprises mainly works by Italian masters from the late seventeenth to the mid-
eighteenth centuries, that is to say on music which over fifty years later was still regarded as fash-
ionable, rather as worth hearing, even exemplary. The following composers, amongst others, are
represented in this genre: Attilio Ariosti (7 transcriptions, in: SA 1235, 1282–1283, 1286 and 1289),
Emanuele d’Astorga (37 transcriptions, SA 1234, 1258–1265, in: SA 1235, 1243, 1286 and 1409),
Francesco Conti (25 transcriptions, SA 1266–1272, in: SA 1282, 1286, 1289 and 1450), Nicola Fago
(14 transcriptions, in: SA 1282, 1286, 1289 and 1380), Filippo Finazzi (6 transcriptions, in: SA 1222),
Francesco Gasparini (5 transcriptions, SA 1279–1281, in: SA 1409), C. H. Graun (35 transcriptions,
SA 1229–1232, 1300–1303, 1306, 1309, 1311–1323, 1325–1326, 1328–1331, 1342, in: 1308), J. G.
Graun (9 transcriptions, SA 1292–1299 and 1327), Nicolò Grillo (10 transcriptions, in: SA 1380), G.
F. Handel (32 transcriptions, in: 1289, 1380–1381, 1409 and 1450), Conrad Friedrich Hurlebusch (11
transcriptions, SA 1390), A. Lotti (9 transcriptions, in: SA 1235 and 1409), Benedetto Marcello (8
transcriptions, SA 1245, 1284–1285, in: SA 1243), Pergolesi (5 transcriptions, SA 1407, in: SA
1308), Francesco Antonio Pistocchi (12 transcriptions, in: SA 1278, 1450 and 1853), Nicola Por-
pora (26 transcriptions, 1225, 1254–1255 and 1411) and Alessandro Scarlatti (13 transcriptions, in:
SA 1275–1276, 1286 and 1380). There are very few cantatas in German (likewise French); these in-
clude works by C. H. Graun (SA 1310), Hiller (SA 1383–1387), Christian Gottfried Krause (SA
1398–1400 and 1403) and Kirnberger (Ino, four copies, SA 1394–1397). There is a unique copy of
the cantata Das Wiedersehen. Zur Ehre der würdigen Familie Itzig von der Familie Paradis by
Maria Theresia Paradis (SA 1406), which came from the collection of Zippora Wulff.
The observation that the Italian cantatas in the music archive of the Sing-Akademie partly sur-
vived with individual numbers from operas is evidence of the close relationship between the two
genres in formal, literary and performance practice terms. The transition to the smaller-scale genres
of social music, to the chamber duets and trios can be seen throughout the material which has sur-
vived. A good example of this is in the collection SA 1503, which contains fifty-three duets and an
incomplete transcription of Agostino Steffani’s opera La superbia d’Alessandro. The compositions
are partly from operas, and partly free-standing works. The overwhelming majority are by Steffani,
who was widely regarded as the master of this form. The collection also contains a bundle by him
with a further forty-nine duets (SA 1504) and four volumes with identical contents, each with
twelve compositions (SA 1499–1502). Volumes SA 1503 and 1504 are rare pieces from the estate
of Queen Sophie Charlotte. A. Lotti is also represented with ten vocal trios, quartets and quintets
(SA 391–393, 881, in: SA 863), and G. F. Handel also with two vocal trios (HWV 200 and 201b, in:
SA 863). The collections SA 1463–1466 reveal a similar case to the transmission of Steffani scores,
in that they each contain the same twelve duets by Francesco Durante. There are nineteen duets by
Giovanni Bononcini (SA 1460, in: SA 1459).
In comparison with the transmission of sources in other forms, canons differ. In these, social and
artistic interests overlap; concerted singing and vocal counterpoint. The interest in canons in Eng-
land is shown by One Hundred Cantici In Italian after the manner of English Canons & Catches
(SA 864), edited by Francesco Borosini and printed in London. Besides this, there are thirty works
by Italian masters, particularly Giovanni Battista Martini in the collections SA 865 and 866. Of the
Berlin composers, Kirnberger is represented with eight canons (in: SA 876 and 877). Only two of
these have texts, i.e. are intended to be sung. The remaining canons were probably contrapuntal
studies.
72 Introduction

Authenticated
5. Study works, pedagogical works and songs
Learning by copying. Some of the scores in the music archive of the Sing-Akademie owe their exis-
tence to this trusted method of analytical examination of compositions which was used by musicians
in the eighteenth century, before the mass production of printed scores.
In addition to the compilation of Schwaiger’s penitential psalms mentioned above, Zelter’s col-
lection of Chöre und Contrapuncte von verschiedenen Meistern (SA 150) should be considered.
This includes vocal works by Johann Christoph Schmidt, Handel, Fasch, Stölzel and Zelenka, as
well as two pieces from Die Kunst der Fuge [The Art of Fugue] by J. S. Bach.
In contrast with true pedagogical works are the exercises of notable singing teachers in the col-
lection of the music archive. These are by Giuseppe Aprile (SA 1670), Girolamo Crescentini (SA
167322), Franz Danzi (SA 1674–1676) and Vincenzo Righini (SA 1677–1678). There are also tran-
scriptions of solfeggio exercises attributed to “Graun” (SA 1671–1672).
The surviving holdings of songs reveal on the one hand a conspicuous concentration of works of
Berlin provenance from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, hardly surprising given the
overall profile of the collection. One the other hand, the full breadth of styles and forms, including
romances, ariettas and canzonas is represented. The aesthetic and stylistic variety seriously calls into
question the accepted term „2. Berliner Liederschule“ [Second Berlin Lieder School]23. Songs by
the following composers – male and female (!) – are present in the collection as individual items, or
bound in collections, sometimes surviving in printed editions, and sometimes in transcriptions: Jo-
hann André (SA 1680–1687), Adelheid Marie Eichner (in: SA 1758 and 1880), Hiller (SA 1708),
Friedrich Franz Hurka (SA 1709–1713 and 1757, in: 1793), Reichardt (SA 1637, 1745, 1804–1819,
1835 and 1858–1859, in: 1861, 1877 and 1881), Luise Reichardt (SA 1623 and 1820–1824, in:
1793), Righini (SA 1610, 1638–1639 and 1657), Schulz (SA 1743, 1754, 1779 and 1841–1844, in:
1761, 1845 and 1861), Bernhard Anselm Weber (SA 1738, 1777 and 1888–1889, in: 1881) and Zel-
ter (in: SA 1620, 1793, 1801, 1845, 1852, 1856 and 1886). Of the Viennese composers, only Joseph
Haydn, with a few pieces from Alt-Schottischen Balladen und Liedern [A Selection of Original
Scots Songs] Hob XXXIa (SA 1702–1703 and 1849) and Mozart, with two copies of Das Veilchen
KV 476 (in: SA 1747 and 1883) are represented. There is only one work by a composer from south-
ern Germany – a single song by Johann Rudolph Zumsteeg (in: SA 1467). Whilst Reichardt, Righini
and Schulz of the Berlin composers are represented roughly in proportion to their output, the num-
ber of songs surviving by Zelter is conspicuously small. This speaks volumes about the coinci-
dences in detail and in the development of the collection, as well as the survival and transmission of
the music archive. Nevertheless the collection as a whole is a document of the highest importance
on the era of Frederick the Great in Berlin music history.
22
This includes a few anonymous vocal exercises.
23
See Christoph Henzel, Ein Italiener im „gelobten Land des Liedes“. Vincenzo Righini und die Berliner Lieder-
schule, in: JbSIMPK 2002, pp. 142–170.
Introduction 73

Authenticated
Fig. 7: Antonio Vivaldi: opera „Motezuma“ RV 723, SA 1214
74

Authenticated
Operas*
By Klaus Hortschansky
It is little surprise to connoisseurs and scholars that the archive of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin con-
tains extensive amounts of music from the circle of Johann Sebastian Bach and his family 1 as well
as Georg Philipp Telemann 2 and other north German composers, primarily from the Baroque pe-
riod. The fact that some previously unknown works have come to light, and will continue to do so
as further work is carried out on the collection, is principally because after the Second World War,
close examination of the sources could not take place because of their storage elsewhere. On the
other hand, the large number of complete opera scores,3 above all from the eighteenth century, is
surprising. The collection contains at least 250 titles.
In essence, there are three questions relating to the present collection of operas, though it should
be stressed that only complete scores 4 will be discussed here; in addition, the archive of the Sing-
Akademie zu Berlin contains a further section with individual arias, collections of arias and further
miscellaneous opera material which is yet to be assessed and will therefore be listed in a future index.
1) Why does the collection include opera scores at all?
2) Which works form the main focus?
3) From, or through whom did Zelter obtain the scores?
But before embarking on that, his intentions in establishing the archive must be discussed.
The intentions
At first one might think that alongside suitable material for his singing lessons, Zelter also had a
keen interest in opera manuscripts and printed copies, for he reported very frequently on all new op-
era performances to Johann Wolfgang Goethe in Weimar and he was passionate about opera from
his youth, without venturing to compose in this form himself. He also held Johann Adolph Hasse
and Carl Heinrich Graun in high regard in his philosophy of the musical world, and continually
championed their cause.
If, however, one thinks beyond the role which Zelter had in mind for the Sing-Akademie in the
general musical education of his country, it will be evident that with the systematic acquisition of
* This article is the result of an initial examination of the opera holdings in the archive of the Sing-Akademie zu
Berlin, carried out at the beginning of April 2005. Thanks are due to Axel Fischer (Hanover) and Matthias Korne-
mann (Berlin) for their support and encouragement, Helmut Hell (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer Kul-
turbesitz, Music Collection) and the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin for allowing me to work in the music archive.
1
Axel Fischer and Matthias Kornemann, The Bach Collection in the Archive of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin. Cata-
logue and Introduction to the Microfiche Edition, Munich 2003. Introduction by Ulrich Leisinger (pp. 13–36).
2
Axel Fischer and Matthias Kornemann, The Telemann Collection in the Archive of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin.
Catalogue and Introduction to the Microfiche Edition, Munich 2003. Introduction by Ralph-Jürgen Reipsch (pp. 9–
18).
3
In this article, it will not generally be indicated whether the scores have survived complete or in fragmentary
form. It will also not be mentioned which scores bear composers’ names and which have survived as anonymous
works, but could be identified.
4
The term “complete scores” within the practice of this kind of music manuscript collection can also mean, that
f.e. only one ore two acts of a three-act opera are part of the collection.
75

Authenticated
Klaus Hortschansky
music manuscripts and printed copies he was pursuing nothing less than the establishment of a mu-
sic library for scholarly purposes. Only this motivation can explain the large number of scores
which were not suitable for performance by the Sing-Akademie. These include not least the many
complete operas. In 1804, Zelter complained to his friend Goethe, referring to correspondence with
the minister von Hardenberg, that music “is completely missing, as it is not treated in a scholarly
manner”,5 in the Academy of Arts in Berlin. This comment should be seen in the context of one of
Zelter’s basic ideas, which could stand as a motto for the entire collection of the Sing-Akademie, as
expressed in the same letter to Goethe: “My plan to do something lasting for music in general occu-
pies me day and night and is taking shape in principles more and more.” 6
In one of at least six memoranda which he repeatedly sent with great doggedness and insistence
to the royal government and in particular State Minister Carl August von Hardenberg, and which
pointed to the continued absence of music in the range of subjects encompassed by Academy of
Arts,7 he was able to state on 24 August 1804 that after a twelve-year period, the Sing-Akademie
now owned “an artistic treasury of master-works, largely in original manuscript, which (not taking
its uniqueness into account) ... is worth ten thousand thalers alone.” 8
The crucial thing for Zelter was not the material value of the collection, rather its worth in terms
of educational policy. For the music library was intended to provide the “teacher(s) and supervi-
sor(s)” 9 of classes being taught within the Academy of Arts with suitable models to impart sophisti-
cated musical taste, which they could in turn impart to their pupils. With this, the collection was in-
tended to be no less than an academic library, which could form a basis for the work of the future
director and, where possible, further teachers. And as to its tasks, the following were repeatedly
stated: public lectures on the history of music, on the “rudiments of musical art, composition and
style” and finally on the aesthetics of music.10
In first-hand reports of Zelter’s life, at the centre of which is the Darstellungen seines Lebens 11
and his correspondence with Goethe published directly after the deaths of the two friends, discus-
sion of the library at the Sing-Akademie was always a side issue for various reasons. Nevertheless
his thoughts constantly turned – directly and indirectly – to the collection and its expansion. On 23
June 1806 he wrote to his friend in Weimar: “tomorrow evening after the Singakademie I think I
will go to Potsdam for a few days in order to have a look at the musical treasures of the deceased
King. I have a hunch in my mind, of which I will tell you more if it is successful.” 12 The “deceased
King” was Frederick William II, who, in succeeding Frederick the Great, held the fate of the coun-
try in his hands from 1786 to 1797. He was an excellent cellist and subscribed to the promotion of
5
(“gänzlich fehle indem sie nicht wissenschaftlich angebauet würde”); Briefwechsel zwischen Goethe und Zelter in
den Jahren 1799 bis 1832, vol. 1: Briefe 1799–1827, ed. by Hans-Günter Ottenberg and Edith Zehm, Munich
1991 (= Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Sämtliche Werke, vol. 20.1), p. 69.
6
(“Mein Plan, etwas Beständiges für die Musik, im Allgemeinen zu tun, beschäftigt mich Tag und Nacht und be-
festigt sich in Absicht auf Grundsätze immer mehr.”); Ibid., p. 71.
7
See Georg Schünemann, Carl Friedrich Zelter, der Begründer der Preußischen Musikpflege, Berlin 1932.
8
(“einen Kunstschatz von Meisterwerken, großen Theils in Originalhandschriften, ausschließlich der (seine
Außschließlichkeit ungerechnet) seine Zehn Tausend Thaler werth ist”); Cornelia Schröder, Carl Friedrich Zelter
und die Akademie. Dokumente und Briefe zur Entstehung der Musik-Sektion in der Preußischen Akademie der
Künste, Berlin 1959, p. 115.
9
(“Lehrer(n) und Aufseher(n)”); Ibid.
10
(“Anfangsgründe der musikalischen Kunst; Composition und Styl”); Ibid., p. 114.
11
Carl Friedrich Zelter, Darstellungen seines Lebens, ed. by Johann Wolfgang Schottländer, Weimar 1931 (=
Schriften der Goethe-Gesellschaft, vol. 44).
12
(“Morgen Abend nach der Singakademie denke ich nach Potsdam auf einige Tage zu gehn um mich unter den
musikalischen Schätzen des verstorbenen Königs ein wenig umzusehn. Ich habe eine Spekulation im Sinne von
der ich Ihnen mehr sage wenn sie gelungen sein wird.”) Briefwechsel, vol. 1, op.cit., p. 133.
76 Introduction

Authenticated
Operas
music in many different ways.13 Even if Zelter made no further reference to this occasion in later
correspondence, it is nevertheless clear what kind of “hunch” he had in mind, namely that his efforts
should be directed towards acquiring parts of the “treasures” in some way for the library of the
Sing-Akademie. At any rate, these “treasures” were brought to Berlin by water on 17 August 1806,
including works by Durante, Handel, Leo and Palestrina.14 Whether this selection also included op-
era scores is not known at present.
Evidently, Zelter was also always on the look out for “treasures” elsewhere. On 18 October 1811,
he wrote to Goethe on various matters: “Since the end of last month I have again been in Berlin, af-
ter travelling almost three months long in the Silesian mountains, trying to unearth old musical
treasures out of the dust.” 15
The collection, which was built up over several years, is only mentioned in Zelter’s correspon-
dence with Goethe once, and that was during the turmoil of 1806 when the French were occupying
Berlin, the Sing-Akademie was suspended, as he wrote on 17 December, and the Prussian court and
elite had fled to Königsberg. He wrote: “In the local academy, where I have deposited my beautiful
musical works, I found the bookcases broken into, but up to now, I have not found anything miss-
ing. The main works and monographs are to hand, and as the collection is large, I need a few weeks
to check through everything [...]”.16 It would be interesting to know what Zelter deemed to be “main
works”, but for the part of the collection being presented here, it is of very little significance, no
matter how important collecting operas may have been to him.
The collection
Works by Hasse and Graun occupy a particularly large amount of space in the opera scores section,
which is hardly surprising, for they were Zelter’s models, just as they were for Berlin music-lovers
at the end of the eighteenth century. Eventually, Johann Georg Sulzer placed them in the pantheon
of great musicians alongside Georg Friedrich Handel in his Allgemeine Theorie der schönen Künste
of 1771/1774. The collection includes no less than 27 musical-theatrical works by Carl Heinrich
Graun, often in multiple copies and frequently also with performance materials; in addition to these
there are extra numbers for arrangements he made of other composers’ works for Berlin (e.g.
Hasse’s Arminio, SA 1006/3). It is evident that they originated from the centre of Berlin opera prac-
tice, as also indicated by the existence of the additional aria “Non odi consigli” from Frederick II’s
composition in Demofoonte of 1746 also in the library at Wolfenbüttel.17 This piece provoked Zelter
to the critical remark: “It is easy to recognise that the Italian scansion has caused the royal composer
trouble” (“Daß dem Königlichen Componisten die italienische Skansion zu schaffen gemacht habe
ist leicht zu erkennen [...]”) (SA 1044/2). It will be possible to assess the importance of these manu-
13
On the musical interests of Frederick William II cf. Carl von Ledebur, Tonkünstler-Lexicon Berlin’s von den äl-
testen Zeiten bis auf die Gegenwart, Berlin 1861 (reprint Tutzing 1965), pp. 171–172.
14
Georg Schünemann, Carl Friedrich Zelter. Der Mensch und sein Werk, Berlin 1937, p.53.
15
(“Seit den letzten Tagen des vorig. Monats bin ich wieder in Berlin, nachdem ich mich beinahe drei Monate lang
in den Schlesischen Gebirgen umgetrieben habe, um alte musikalische Schätze aus dem Staube zu graben.”);
Briefwechsel, vol. 1, op.cit., p. 266. See also Johann Wolfgang Goethe, Sämtliche Werke, vol. 20.3: Einleitung –
Kommentar [to the correspondence between Goethe and Zelter], Munich 1998, p. 284.
16
(“Auf der hiesigen Akademie, wo ich meine schönen Musikwerke niedergelegt hatte, fand ich die Schränke
erbrochen, doch vermisse ich bis jetzt nichts. Die Capitalwerke und Monographa sind vorhanden und da die
Sammlung groß ist, brauche ich einige Wochen um alles nachzusehn [...].”); Ibid., p. 141.
17
Christoph Henzel, article “Friedrich II., Friedrich der Große”, in: Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 2nd ed. –
Persons, vol. 7, Kassel etc. 2002, col. 140.
Introduction 77

Authenticated
Klaus Hortschansky
scripts in the overall context of surviving works by Graun from the catalogue of works shortly to be
published by Christoph Henzel.18
The collection of opera manuscripts by Johann Adolph Hasse is also no less extensive; these total
34 works, some with performance material from both Dresden and Berlin performances, which was
prepared under the supervision of Carl Heinrich Graun, as entries relating to this show (Senocrita,
SA 1069). Though from Berlin, with a few exceptions (Cajo Fabricio, Berlin 1766, SA 1079; Leu-
cippo, Berlin 1765, SA 1101), scores and materials only exist from the period before the Seven
Years’ War. Other manuscripts evidently come from Dresden and even include occasional auto-
graph entries of “Sassone”, such as the three-volume score of Arminio (SA 1071). The score of
Viriate had no connection with either Berlin or Dresden – it came from Venice (1739, SA 1125).
The collection contains a series of opera scores by the third of the musicians so esteemed by Ber-
lin musical aesthetics, Georg Friedrich Handel. This is despite the fact that his reputation as one of
the greats was thanks to oratorio rather than opera, for in the second half of the eighteenth century
his operas were no longer performed in German theatres. In most cases, these are printed first edi-
tions; exceptions to this are the autograph score of Amadigi di Gaula (SA 1057) expensively bound
in leather, extracts from Alceste (SA 952) and the score of Radamisto (only Act I, SA 1061). A copy
of Il Floridante, evidently based on Handel’s autograph (SA 1064), may be of particular interest,
and will be taken into consideration in preparing the Halle Handel Edition. The collection contains
twelve manuscript arias from Giulio Cesare in Egitto in score and instrumental parts, evidently per-
formance material required for a particular performance in a particular place (SA 1052/1, 1052/8).
Running in parallel to the rich collection of Telemann’s music in other sections of the archive,
the musical-dramatic works also contain a further two titles which have already been microfilmed.
These are the intermezzo Pimpinone e Vespetta (SA 1202) and the previously unknown Pastorelle
en Musique (SA 1203) which, according to Ralph-Jürgen Reipsch, was probably written for the oc-
casion of a wedding in Frankfurt.19
It goes without saying that the library contains most of the musical-theatrical works of Berlin
composers who worked in the royal capital from the mid-eighteenth century to the first decades of
the nineteenth century. Again, there are also performance materials for some of these. Firstly, Jo-
hann Friedrich Agricola and Johann Friedrich Reichardt should be mentioned. There are two previ-
ously-known works by Agricola (Cleofide and Il filosofo convinto in amore, SA 940–943, SA
1009/2), but in addition to this, six pieces (two choruses with recitatives, an accompagnato recitative
and three arias) from his Oreste e Pilade, a late work of 1772 which had been thought to be lost,
have been rediscovered (SA 944–948).20 The archive also contains an aria from Achille in Sciro of
1765 (SA 1006/1), two (previously unknown?)21 choruses from Amor e Psiche of 1767 (SA 1006/2)
and two replacement arias which Agricola had incorporated into Hasse’s Leucippo in response to a
commission (SA 1101), a work which was performed in 1765 in Berlin. Turning to Reichardt, the
archive contains materials for Die Geisterinsel, Protesilao, Ino, Erwin und Elmire, Brenno and
L’Olimpiade (SA 1163–1176). The collection contains the score Christoph Nichelmann’s Il sogno di
Scipione of 1746 (SA 1153), another work which was also firmly established in the Berlin repertoire.
18
Christoph Henzel, Graun-Werkeverzeichnis (GraunWV). Thematisch-systematisches Verzeichnis der Werke von
J. G. und C. H. Graun, Beeskow 2005.
19
See A. Fischer and M. Kornemann, The Telemann Collection, op.cit., pp. 14, 39–40.
20
See Hans Joachim Schulze, article “Johann Friedrich Agricola”, in: Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 2nd
ed. – Persons, vol. 1, Kassel etc. 1999, col. 219.
21
Ibid.
78 Introduction

Authenticated
Operas
Berlin performance practice is also evidently reflected in the two-volume score of Antonio Sa-
lieri’s Armida with German text underlaid (SA 1183), which Johann Carl Friedrich Rellstab very
probably used in 1787 for the opening of his Konzerte für Kenner und Liebhaber (Concerts for con-
noisseurs and amateurs).22 The archive also contains the printed vocal score of this opera, edited by
Carl Friedrich Cramer in 1783 (SA 1186) as well as the manuscript score of the abridged two-act
version of the opera Axur re d’Ormus (SA 1187).
Although not strictly opera, but belonging to the dramatic genre, the collection contains a first
printed edition of Ludwig Berger’s Gesänge from a Liederspiel Die schöne Müllerin performed in
Berlin (SA 967), a work which represents a literary-musical forerunner of Franz Schubert’s well-
known Lieder cycle.
German Singspiel and opera composers from the second half of the eighteenth century are also
well represented, with their German Singspiele and operas, Italian operas, melodramas and other
dramatic works; these include Georg Benda (SA 959–966), Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Benda (SA
955–959), Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf (SA 982), Johann Adam Hiller (SA 1128, 1216), Carl Sig-
mund Schönebeck (SA 1190), Johann Abraham Peter Schulz (SA 934–935, 1192–1193), Anton
Schweitzer (SA 1197–1198), Franz Seydelmann (SA 1199), Franz Adam Veichtner (SA 1210) and
Ernst Wilhelm Wolf (SA 1217–1219), though these are mostly in the widespread printed editions of
the period which Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf in Leipzig, Carl Ludolf Hoffmann in Weimar and
others produced and sold. This part of the collection is complemented by manuscript vocal scores
and also performance material which indicates that it was performed in Berlin (SA 934–935, 955–
966, 982, 1128, 1197–1210, 1216–1219).
A series of scores can be described as the work of those influenced by the circle of Berlin com-
posers. Because of inter-linked dynasties, the Berlin public also followed the cultural activities of
those courts which were intermarried with the house of Hohenzollern, and paid special attention to
the opera performances which were high points of court life.
These works include the dramma per musica Il re pastore by the Swedish court music director
Francesco Antonio Uttini, performed on the occasion of the birthday of the Queen of Sweden in
July 1755 in Drottningholm (SA 1206–1208). Queen Luise Ulrike (1720–1782) was a younger sis-
ter of Frederick II of Brandenburg-Prussia. As the music of the opera was printed, several copies of
it evidently ended up in Berlin, three of which are in the archive of the Sing-Akademie (SA 1206–
1208). The archive also contains a manuscript keyboard score of the ballets inserted into the opera
performance (SA 1209), the author of which is not named. In general in the mid-eighteenth century,
such ballets were not written by the composer who had composed the opera as the high point of the
festivities, so it may be assumed that the ballet music was composed by a ballet master or a subordi-
nate musician, or was compiled from the available stock of dances.23
Brunswick must also be regarded as within Berlin’s sphere of influence, for after all, Frederick II
was formally married to Elizabeth Christine (1715–1797), a princess of the house of Brunswick-
Wolfenbüttel. The Brunswick repertoire is represented by scores of Antigono (without recitatives),
Didone abbandonata (incomplete) and Romeo e Giulia by Johann Gottfried Schwanenberger
(SA 1181, 1194–1196).
The archive also contains six Italian arias by Conrad Friedrich Hurlebusch amongst musical
numbers by Handel, all but two of which (SA 1052/5, 1052/7) do not seem to exist in other sources
22
G. Schünemann, Carl Friedrich Zelter, op.cit., p. 6.
23
The libretto, which was printed in Stockholm (microfilm in the Institut für Musikwissenschaft und Musikpäda-
gogik at the University of Münster) does not mention any performers, nor the composer, names of the singers or
the ballet master.
Introduction 79

Authenticated
Klaus Hortschansky
(SA 1052/2–4, 6). It is not known whether they date from the composer’s time in Brunswick, Ham-
burg or Stockholm. The aria “Vaga Aurora” (SA 1052/5) at any rate comes from a cantata com-
posed in Stockholm in 1725 for the birthday of Queen Ulrike Eleonore (1688–1741).24
At the heart of the holdings which reflect musical culture at the Dresden court are the printed
score Il Paride by Giovanni Andrea Bontempi from 1662 (SA 970), the manuscript score La Gala-
tea by Johann Georg Schürer from 1746 (SA 1191) and the extensive number of Hasse scores pre-
viously mentioned. In addition to this is the manuscript score of the opera Talestri (SA 1200, 1201),
with an incomplete set of parts, composed for the Electress Maria Antonia Walburga.
There are several compositions by Johann Gottlieb Naumann, whose works were also performed
in Berlin: Amphion (printed edition 1784, SA 1148), La clemenza di Tito (SA 1149), Cora (printed
edition, SA 1150, 1151), Le sort de Médée (printed by Rellstab, SA 1152) and the second act of
Reichardt’s Protesilao (SA 1164, 1165).
Even though Johann David Heinichen only became Kapellmeister of church music in Dresden in
1716, he is mentioned here in the Dresden category. The archive contains unique copies of the auto-
graph scores of his operas Die lybische Talestris (SA 1205), premiered in Leipzig in 1709, and
Paris und Helena (SA 1127), premiered in Naumburg in 1710.
The collection contains four Singspiele (which could also be described as allegorical serenatas)
by one Röllig jun., which are difficult to categorise at present, either to a particular place or time.
The one entitled Die Lust von jenem Schrecken-Bilde is dated “Misn: [= Meißen] d. 7. Octobr. 1753
Da me Roellig jun.” and was composed for the birthday of the Elector (and King) Frederick Augus-
tus II (1696–1763). The composer was evidently Johann Georg Röllig; it has been demonstrated that
he lived in Dresden and Zittau 25 and, according to the entry here, possibly also in Meißen, before
working in Zerbst. The four Singspiele appear to be unique sources.
Turning to the opera theatre in Vienna, the archive contains only a few representative opera
manuscripts and printed copies. These include Galatea vendicata (incomplete, but with parts) and
Griselda by Francesco Conti (SA 976, 977) and a late work, the musical Scherzspiel Der Apollosaal
by Conradin Kreutzer (SA 1129).
There is a conspicuous lack of Mozart operas in the archive, which only contains Idomeneo in the
printed score by Nikolaus Simrock of Bonn and Don Giovanni in a partly manuscript, partly printed
vocal score (again by Simrock) (SA 1146, 1147).
Nevertheless, the scope of the collection extends yet further. There is music from Italy from the
beginning of the eighteenth century, with at least twelve works by Alessandro Scarlatti (SA 1188),
Giovanni Porta (SA 1158), Antonio Vivaldi (SA 1214), Domenico Scarlatti (SA 1189), Nicola Por-
pora (SA 1157), Leonardo Vinci (SA 1211–1213), Giuseppe Arena (SA 953), Domingo Terradellas
(SA 1204), Domenico Alberti (SA 861) and Domenico Fischietti (SA 986).
There are at least five works, the music of which could not be previously traced:
(1) Giovanni Porta’s dramma per musica Semiramide to a text by Francesco Silvani, previously
regarded as lost 26 (SA 1158);
(2) Nicola Porpora’s dramma per musica Germanico in Germania, of which only individual arias
were previously known to exist 27 (SA 1157);
24
Rainer Kahleyss, Conrad Friedrich Hurlebusch (1691–1765). Sein Leben und Wirken, Frankfurt/Main 1984, pp.
149–150 (WV 3).
25
See Dieter Härtwig, article “Johann Georg Röllig”, in: Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart [1st ed.], vol. 11,
Kassel etc. 1963, col. 608.
26
See Faun Tanenbaum Tiedge, article “Giovanni Porta”, in: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians,
2nd ed., vol. 20, London 2001, p. 181b.
80 Introduction

Authenticated
Operas
(3) Antonio Vivaldi’s dramma per musica Motezuma of 1733, which survives in an incomplete
form in the Sing-Akademie; only the libretto was previously known to exist 28 (SA 1214);
(4) Giuseppe Arena’s dramma per musica Achille in Sciro, from which only individual arias were
previously known 29 (SA 953);
(5) Domenico Alberti’s serenata Amore riconciliato con Venere (SA 861) and
(6) Nicola Porpora’s Serenata a quattro voci (SA 891).
However, the fact that the archive contains scarcely any operatic material by younger Italian
composers working in the second half of the eighteenth or beginning of the nineteenth centuries
should not be ignored. The incomplete score of Antonio Boroni’s opera buffa L’amore in musica of
1763 (SA 971) and the trio from Gioacchino Rossini’s L’inganno felice (SA 894) simply cannot
plug this noticeable gap. The significance of the inclusion of Antonio Cortona’s three-act opera
Mariane, dated 1764 and not listed in any other sources, requires explanation. The copy in the Sing-
Akademie (SA 978) could have come from Johann Friedrich Reichardt who, according to Robert
Eitner, was also said to have owned a copy marked “1764”.30
The full breadth of French opera is represented. The collection ranges from works by Jean-
Baptiste Lully to Etienne-Nicolas Méhul and Hector Berlioz, mostly in printed editions. The precise
reasons for the strong presence of French material may be because most operas which were per-
formed in Paris were also printed, enabling collectors in all countries to acquire copies. The fact that
printed material from Paris was constantly offered for sale by booksellers in Berlin is scarcely sur-
prising, given cultural interests and the fact that French immigrants constituted almost 20 % of the
population. The archive contains eleven operas by Lully alone, most of them printed in Paris and
expensively bound in leather with gold embossing and gilt edging. These appear to have come from
a nobleman’s library, but the monogram “DL” and coat-of arms which appear on two of them has
not yet been identified.31 The consecutive listing of these scores by Zelter, in alphabetical order by
title (ZC 1049–1059 = SA 1131–1141) indicates that, in addition to always having the same bind-
ings, they ended up in the archive as a self-contained group. The printed copy of Les trio des opéra
de Monsieur de Lully (Amsterdam 1690) and the anonymous manuscript score of Phaéton evidently
come from another source, as they are classified in other places within the collection (SA 882 = ZC
867 and SA 975 = ZC 915). The composite work Achille et Polixene of 1687, on which Pascal Col-
lasse also worked (SA 973), should be considered with the Lully holdings. Collasse’s opera Thétis
et Pélée is also in the archive (SA 974).
From a later period come the famous intermedio Le Devin du Village by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (SA
1182) and operas by Nicolas-Marie Dalayrac (Sargines, SA 1154), Etienne-Nicolas Méhul (Une Folie,
SA 1143), Antonio Sacchini (Œdipe à Colone, SA 1185) and Luigi Cherubini (Médée, SA 972).
27
See Stefano Aresi, article “Nicola Porpora”, in: Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 2nd ed. – Persons, vol.
13, Kassel etc. 2005, col. 783.
28
See Peter Ryom, Verzeichnis der Werke Antonio Vivaldis (RV); Kleine Ausgabe, Leipzig 1974, p. 125 (RV 723).
29
See Bianca Maria Antolini, article “Giuseppe Arena”, in: Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 2nd ed. – Per-
sons, vol. 1, Kassel etc. 1999, col. 889.
30
Robert Eitner, Biographisch-Bibliographisches Quellen-Lexikon der Musiker und Musikgelehrten der christli-
chen Zeitrechnung bis zur Mitte des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts, vol. 3, Leipzig 1900, p. 70b.
31
On page II of the printed score of Armide, Zelter made the following entry: “From state councillor Schulz in ex-
change for Hasse’s opera in score: La clemenza di Tito. d. 1Xbr 1816.” This entry raises many questions. Who
was state councillor Schulz? This was Christoph Ludwig Friedrich Schulz (1781–1834), who was appointed state
councillor in 1809, cf. Briefwechsel zwischen Goethe und Zelter in den Jahren 1799 bis 1832, vol. 2, ed. by Edith
Zehm and Sabine Schäfer: Briefe 1828–1832; Dokumente; Register, Munich 1998 (= Johann Wolfgang Goethe,
Sämtliche Werke, vol. 20.2), p. 1831. Were all the Lully scores exchanged for a Hasse score? Perhaps. Besides,
state councillor Schulz may have been an interim owner at the most, if not merely an intermediary.
Introduction 81

Authenticated
Klaus Hortschansky
The form of opéra comique is represented with numerous works central to the repertoire, such as
Le Roi et le Fermier and Le Deserteur von Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny (SA 1142, 1144–1145), Re-
naud d’Ast and L’Amant statue by Nicolas-Marie Dalayrac (SA 979, 980), Silvain and Zémire et
Azor by André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry (SA 862, 1050), Le Peintre amoureux de son Modèle and Le
Caprice amoureux ou Ninette à la Cour by Egidio-Romoaldo Duni (SA 983, 984), L’Ecole de la
Jeunesse by Alessio Prati (SA 1159), Le Faux Lord by Niccolò Piccinni (SA 1155), La Colonie by
Antonio Sacchini (SA 1184) and Le Médecin de l’Amour by Jean-Louis Laruette (SA 1130). The ar-
rangement of Pietro Auletta’s commedia musicale L’Orazio, which is in the Sing-Akademie archive
in the French version as Le Maître de Musique (with numbers by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, SA
950), should also be viewed in the context of opéra comique.
From the 1770s, the period of the squabbles between the ‘Piccinnists’ and ‘Gluckists’, the Italian
composer is represented by the Paris edition of Roland together with printed (!) parts (SA 1156);
from the German opera reformer, the archive firstly contains printed material produced by Johann
Carl Friedrich Rellstab in Berlin: Alceste (SA 987), Orphée et Eurydice (SA 990) and Iphigénie en
Tauride (SA 995), together with later copies of the Paris editions, sold by Boieldieu the Younger 32:
Alceste (SA 988), Armide (SA 989) and the first edition of Iphigénie en Aulide (SA 994). The last of
these was possibly used for a performance and contains numerous markings also by Carl Friedrich
Rungenhagen, Zelter’s deputy and later successor at the Sing-Akademie. In addition to a transcrip-
tion of the Italian original version of Orfeo ed Euridice (SA 991), there is an abridged manuscript
score of the French version of Orphée with corresponding performance materials (SA 992, 993). In-
cidentally, Zelter noted in a witty remark about the Rellstab vocal score of Orphée: “A composer
could at best pick his way through […] this vocal score if he already knew the opera, but it is hard
to imagine how an amateur could begin to get to grips with it.” (“Ein Componist könnte allenfalls
aus [...] diesem Kla[vier] A[uszug] sich noch herausfinden, wenn er sonst die Oper kennt, aber was
ein Liebhaber damit anfangen soll ist gar nicht anzusehen.”) Amongst the anonymous manuscripts
is finally the act Bauci e Filemone from the Feste d’Apollo, where Zelter had evidently not recog-
nised Gluck’s hand (SA 939).
One of the last entries must have been the printed edition of Hector Berlioz’s Huit scènes de
Faust, Op. 1 (SA 968). Goethe, who had the work sent to him personally by the composer, sent it to
Zelter on 13 June 1829 (together with a letter dated 11 June) with the remark: “I have one copy of
Faust left, which I shall bequeath and dedicate to you. In return, would you be so kind as to say a
Zelter word to me about this work […].” 33 In the same post, Goethe also sent his friend in Berlin a
copy of the cantata Rinaldo in his own words, set to music by Peter von Winter, the literary source
of which he had previously sent a reminder about.34 Possibly, the copy in the Sing-Akademie is of
this further, “clean” copy (SA 1215).35
Operatic life in London is also represented, if only to a very limited extent. As well as the previ-
ously-mentioned scores of Handelian works, there are also works by Giovanni Bononcini (Astarto,
SA 969), Samuel Arnold (The enraged musician, SA 954) and Charles Dibdin (The Christmas Tale,
SA 981).
32
This is Louis-Armand Boieldieu, who ran his music publishing house from 1811, cf. Anik Devriès and François
Lesure, Dictionnaire des éditeurs de musique français, vol. 1: Des origines à environ 1820, Genève 1979, pp.
35–36.
33
(“Von Faust hab’ ich noch ein Exemplar deswegen Dir dieses erb- und eigentümlich gewidmet sei. Dagegen wirst
Du aber die Freundlichkeit haben mir ein Zelterisches Wort über dieses Werk zu sagen [...].”); Briefwechsel, vol.
2, op.cit., p. 1238.
34
Ibid., p. 1222.
35
Ibid., p. 1238.
82 Introduction

Authenticated
Operas
Quite a few of the full scores, vocal scores and parts are anonymously listed in the collection, or
were wrongly classified by Zelter. Nevertheless, in consultation with specialists, the compilers of
the collection, Axel Fischer and Matthias Kornemann, have succeeded in identifying all the works,
except for one: La réconciliation forcée, a proverbe dramatique in one act, bound in with a hand-
written libretto (SA 949).36
Zelter also included a few works in the opera category which were actually neither opera, nor
musical-theatrical works. These include works such as the oratorios of Johann Heinrich Rolle, all of
which were described by the composer as ‘musical dramas’ in his printed editions, a term which
was also used in manuscript copies (SA 1178–1180). Included in this category were the two anony-
mous, and partly incomplete passion oratorios by Georg Philipp Telemann (SA 1092/2–3), which
can be found as supplements in a volume of music from Hasse’s Ezio.37
Besides this, Zelter frequently annotated the individual volumes with remarks on the place, time
and circumstances of performance, reflecting his own knowledge of these facts.
The Sing-Akademie collection, and in particular the opera scores, is more than a reflection of the
musical history of Berlin in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, as Ralph-Jürgen Reipsch
has established.38 Rather it mirrors European musical history over a period of more than two hun-
dred years, filtered through the national historical interests of Zelter and other Berlin collectors. Yet,
if we limit the debate to just opera, as well as Berlin, both national and international centres such as
Dresden, Munich (Pietro Torri, Briseide, SA 951), Bayreuth, Venice, Rome, Naples, Paris, London
and Stockholm (Uttini) are represented, some in considerable breadth and sometimes by unique sur-
viving copies (Heinichen, Vivaldi, Porta).
Previous owners
Many of the volumes contain indications of their previous owners, though fewer than one would
wish for when drawing up as complete a list of provenances as possible. This applies above all to
manuscripts from Italy, where the handwriting overwhelmingly indicates a Venetian provenance;
with these works in particular, we would dearly love to know how they ended up in Berlin – via
Carl Heinrich Graun, who was in Italy at one time? Via the Italian singers at the Royal Opera House
Unter den Linden? Via the opera metropolis of Dresden, or via Bayreuth,39 where Wilhelmine
(1709–1758), the sister of Frederick II of Brandenburg-Prussia, directed a dazzling operatic scene?
From Johann Philipp Kirnberger’s collection came works such as the printed scores of Handel’s
Tamerlano (SA 1054), Rodelinda, Regina de’ Langobardi (SA 1062) and Giustino (SA 1063). Zel-
ter had enjoyed studying with Kirnberger in the last years of his life, and had evidently taken loving
care of him in his last hours, for certainly nobody else undertook this difficult task.40
36
A one-act opéra comique entitled La Réconciliation villageoise by Tarade, the violinist at the Académie Royale,
was performed in Paris at the Comédie italienne in 1765, and was said to have enjoyed some success.
See Alexandre-Etienne Choron and François-Joseph Fayolle, Dictionnaire historique des Musiciens, Artistes et
Amateurs, morts ou vivans, vol. 2, Paris 1811 (reprint Hildesheim-New York 1971), p. 356a; Franz Stieger,
Opernlexikon, part. I: Titelkatalog, vol. 3: O–Z, Tutzing 1975, p. 1013.
37
The two oratorios are neither contained, nor mentioned in the volume relating to the Telemann collection at the
Sing-Akademie.
38
See A. Fischer and M. Kornemann, The Telemann Collection, op.cit., p. 10.
39
According to Reinhard Strohm, this provenance may perhaps apply to the incomplete score of Vivaldi’s Mote-
zuma.
40
C. F. Zelter, op.cit., pp. 128–130, 137–138.
Introduction 83

Authenticated
Klaus Hortschansky
The Handel scores include a Venetian copy of Agrippina with the inscription “C B. Linike.
1712.”, which should probably be regarded as an indication of ownership (SA 1072). This is evi-
dently Christian Bernhard Linike (1673–1751), who was appointed royal chamber musician in Ber-
lin in 1706. Interestingly, there were two Linikes associated with the transmission of Handel manu-
scripts, one D. Linike (d. c. 1725), who worked in London as a copyist for the composer and was
paid for a copy of Handel’s opera Rinaldo in 1711, and a Johann Georg Linike (c. 1680–1762), also
engaged in the Berlin court ensemble and orchestral leader to the Duke of Saxony-Weißenfels from
1714, who was involved in a performance of Giulio Cesare in Egitto in Hamburg in 1725 as an ar-
ranger and composer.41 If C. B. Linike were related to one or even both of these, which may be as-
sumed, he could have obtained the manuscript out of interest on the basis of references in corre-
spondence from London to his ambitious young compatriot.
The three operas by Alessandro Scarlatti, Il Pirro e Demetrio, Penelope la casta and La Didone
delirante (SA 1188), belonged to Queen Sophie Charlotte (1668–1705),42 the second wife of the
first King of Prussia’ Frederick I (1657–1713), according to information contained on the expensive,
embossed leather binding (SCR and a crown).
The well-known bookseller Christoph Friedrich Nicolai (1733–1811), who was also a member of
the Singakademie for many years,43 gave Zelter several opera scores, as Zelter conscientiously re-
corded; these included the first edition of Handel’s Alessandro (SA 1055, previous owner: L [oder D]
Meier 1753).
A few manuscripts and printed copies belonged to Juliane Caroline Auguste Pappritz (1767–
1806), who became Carl Friedrich Zelter’s second wife in 1796 (SA 995, 1192, 1193).
The deputy director of the Sing-Akademie, Carl Friedrich Ludwig Hellwig, also contributed to
the collection, for the printed score of Bontempi’s Il Paride had evidently belonged to him. Accord-
ing to an entry in 1813, he had received this as a present from an unknown person (SA 970).
The music teacher and music retailer Carl Klage was also a member of the Sing-Akademie from
1807 to 1832; he bequeathed the printed vocal score of Valentino Fioravanti’s comic opera Die
Dorfsängerin (SA 985) arranged by himself, for which written-out vocal parts also exist (SA 985).
Zelter’s methods of acquiring material also included exchange.44 In the vocal score of Mozart’s
Don Giovanni (SA 1147) he noted: “From Fräul. Blanc in exchange for a score of Hasse: I pelle-
grini. 30 7br 1823.” (“Vom Fräul. Blanc. gegen die Partitur von Hasse: I pellegrini eingetauscht. d
30 7br 1823.”) Was this Fräulein Blanc the daughter of the widowed Frau justice commissioner M.
C. Blanc, née Poppe, who was to subscribe to the vocal score of the St. Matthew Passion by Johann
Sebastian Bach in 1830, or was she the daughter of the lady director of the Hospital of the French
community, Frau Blanc, née Duport? 45
41
Bernd Baselt, Händel-Handbuch, vol. 1, Leipzig 1978, p. 225b; idem, Händel-Handbuch, vol. 3, Leipzig 1986,
pp. 11a, 64a, 291a, 333 (Ann. 4); Idem, Händel-Handbuch, vol. 4, Leipzig 1985, pp. 52b, 78a, 137a, 523a. – Ac-
cording to the Linikes cf. Ekkehard Krüger, article “Linike”, in: Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 2nd ed.
– Persons, vol. 11, Kassel etc. 2004, col. 168–171. Before 1725 Johann Georg Linike stayed three years in Eng-
land, which suggests a relationship to D. Linike, a copist and a violist in London, who is not mentioned in the
cited article.
42
Carl von Ledebur, op.cit., p. 554, reports that the Queen “had a priceless collection of music” and “had performed
arias with outstanding talent.”
43
C. von Ledebur, op.cit., pp. 395–396. After his death in 1811, the Singakademie organised a memorial “to his
memory”.
44
See also ann. 31.
45
J. W. Boicke, Allgemeines Adreßbuch für Berlin, Berlin 1820 (reprint Berlin 1991), p. 35; Adreß-Kalender für [...]
Berlin und Potsdam auf das Jahr 1826, Berlin n.d. (reprint Berlin 1989), p. 263.
84 Introduction

Authenticated
Operas
Berlin’s Jewish families played no small part in the setting up of the archive. Two printed scores
of works by Gluck, Alceste and Armide (SA 988, 989) bear Zelter’s remark: “Present from Mad.
Hinny Mendelssohn on 1 Dec. 1818.” (“Geschenk der Mad. Hinny Mendelssohn am 1 Decbr
1818.”) This was in fact Hinde (later Henriette) Mendelssohn (1776–1862) 46, the wife of the banker
Joseph Mendelssohn (1770–1848). The Rellstab print of the vocal score of Gluck’s Orphée et Eury-
dice (SA 990) contains a loose sheet of paper (the end of a letter), signed: “Your truly obedient Lie-
berman Schlesinger the 22nd October 1822.” (“Ihr treu ergebener Lieberman Schlesinger den 22t
October 1822.”) This was the cotton merchant Liebermann Marcus Schlesinger (1758–1836), who
came from Frankfurt an der Oder.47
The printed vocal score of Charles Dibdin’s The Christmas Tale of 1774 bears an owner’s stamp
“Wulff”. This was probably Zippora Wulff, née Itzig (1760–1836), who was first married to the
businessman Benjamin Isaac Wulff (1756–after 1789) and, after divorce, to the businessman Bern-
hard von Eskeles (1753–1839) in Vienna.48
A likely source for Zelter was also Johann Nikolaus Forkel’s estate in Göttingen. At any rate ac-
cording to a statement he made, he received from Forkel’s son a letter from Georg Benda to Georg
Christoph Hamberger (1726–1773), a professor and librarian in Göttingen, which he enclosed with
the score of Romeo und Julie (SA 959).
A series of manuscript opera scores came from material offered for sale by the firm Bernhard
Christoph Breitkopf und Sohn in Leipzig, as listed in printed catalogues from 1762 onwards.49 With
this music, each manuscript had a printed titlepage as, for example, with Hasse’s late works from
his Vienna period such as Alcide al Bivio (SA 1068), Il trionfo di Clelia (SA 1080), Egeria (SA
1088), Nitteti (SA 1105), Partenope (SA 1114) and others.
It is hardly surprising that at present all details of ownership and provenance cannot be resolved.
Where should one begin with a monogram GFH or G[?]H (SA 962, 963, 1171, 1174)? Who is con-
cealed behind the name “Mund” (SA 1199) or “Krämer” (SA 1017)? In all areas of research, a great
deal remains to be done.
46
Jacob Jacobson, Jüdische Trauungen in Berlin 1759–1813. Mit Ergänzungen für die Jahre von 1723 bis 1759,
Berlin 1968 (= Veröffentlichungen der Historischen Kommission zu Berlin, vol. 28: Quellenwerke, vol. 4), p. 359
(no. 659.I.1a).
47
Ibid., p. 282 (no. 482.I.1).
48
Ibid., p. 245 (no. 397.I.1a). See also Peter Wollny, “Ein förmlicher Sebastian und Philipp Emanuel Bach-Kultus”.
Sara Levy, geb. Itzig und ihr musikalisch-literarischer Salon, in: Anselm Gerhard (ed.), Musik und Ästhetik im
Berlin Moses Mendelssohns, Tübingen 1999 (= Wolfenbütteler Studien zur Aufklärung, vol. 25), pp. 250–253; ac-
cording to this, her manuscripts were marked with a red, round stamp “ZWulff”. – Another possibility is Zippora
Itzig, née Wulff (d. 1831) (J. Jacobson, op.cit., p. 262, no. 437.I.1a); there are numerous music copies by her, but
which she always marked with her full name “Zippora Itzig nee Wulff”, cf. Klaus Hortschansky, Katalog der
Kieler Musiksammlungen. Die Notendrucke, Handschriften, Libretti und Bücher über Musik aus der Zeit bis
1830, Kassel etc. 1963 (= Kieler Schriften zur Musikwissenschaft, vol. 14), p. 263a (index of persons); P. Woll-
ny, op.cit., pp. 247–249. – Finally, the previous owner could also have been the banker Liebmann Meyer Wulff
(1745–1812) (J. Jacobson, op.cit., p. 127, no. 161.I.1). Ibid., p. 127 (no. 161.I.1).
49
The Breitkopf Thematic Catalogue. The Six Parts and Sixteen Supplements 1762–1787, ed. by Barry S. Brook,
New York 1966.
Introduction 85

Authenticated
Fig. 8: Johann Joachim Quantz: flute concerto in G major QV 5:177, SA 2924
86

Authenticated
Symphonies, Concertos and Overtures
By Tobias Schwinger
This catalogue in the series of microfiche editions, designed to make the music manuscripts of the
Sing-Akademie zu Berlin publicly available, documents those sources which were once grouped to-
gether in the “Zelter Catalogue” which is divided according to systematic criteria (genres and scor-
ing) under the following headings: D I (Sinfonien), D II (Concerte), D III (Ouverturen)1. This part
of the archive contains all the instrumental works scored for larger forces. As the definitions of the
genres were sometimes rather loosely used when the music was added to the archive, something
which stemmed in particular from the terminological vagueness of work descriptions in the 18th cen-
tury, groups of works are found here which would now be categorised as chamber music.2
During the period when the sources were in storage in Kiev, new inventory numbers were as-
signed instead of the old signature groups (ZD 1374a to ZD 1606), and these are still in use today.
In this process, groups of signatures, which once belonged together, were dispersed. The collection
now documented here (within the whole collection of 5,175 individual signatures) includes music
with the signatures SA 1891 to SA 3250. If one reduces this group by discounting the instrumental
music already published on microfiche in the Bach and Telemann Collections of this series3, and
separates the bundles containing composite manuscripts and printed works which still exist today, it
can be seen that the 1,354 individual call numbers documented here contain approximately 1,550
works (including some partial works).
Initial information about the characteristics of this important partial collection of manuscripts and
printed works within the archive can already be gleaned from a comparison with the surviving mu-
sic in the vocal section. The most striking is the fact that not only is a far larger number of compos-
ers represented, but also that the works contained in the manuscripts come from a wider spread of
areas of music history – in terms of history of composition and geography – than is the case with the
instrumental music4. Thus, in the area of vocal music, the range spans a significant number of late
17th and early 18th century copies and valuable autographs of Italian repertoire (operas and secular
cantatas) which once belonged to the Prussian Queen Sophie Charlotte and the Margrave Christian
Ludwig of Brandenburg, via the central German repertoire of operas, cantatas and oratorios from the
whole 18th century to enormous corpus of Bach material, with the Alt-Bachisches Archiv and the
Hamburg church music of C. P. E. Bach at the centre.5 This is complemented by a rich treasury of
Italian and southern German Catholic church music and a huge number of documents relating to the
Berlin reception of Händel6 Hasse, Telemann7 and Graun. And Zelter’s own intentions and interests
1
For information on this catalogue, see the article by Ulrich Leisinger „Zur Geschichte der Bach-Sammlung der
Sing-Akademie zu Berlin“ in: Fischer/Kornemann 2007, p. 534ff. The other categories within the section instru-
mental music are: D IV (Fugen und Canons), D V (Sextetts und Quintetts), D VI (Quartetts), D VII (Trios), D
VIII (Duos), D IX (Solos), D X (Clavierkompositionen), D XI (Orgel-Stücke), D XII Bundles of incomplete
pieces of music. The music included here will be the subject of a separate catalogue.
2
So many of the quartets by Johann Gottlieb Janitsch and also keyboard suites by Georg Christoph Wagenseil (see
SA 3128–3170 and SA 2528–2531). Occasionally pure trio compositions also ended up wrongly in this collection
(SA 2184 and 2372–2383).
3
Fischer/Kornemann 2003 and 2003a: SA 1927–1962; 2576–2639; 2455–2456; 3247–2348.
4
The catalogue and the preface to Fischer/Kornemann 2007 offer an overview of this.
5
Described in its entirety by Enßlin 2006.
6
See Henzel 2008.
7
See Henzel 2008a.
87

Authenticated
Tobias Schwinger
as a collector, his tireless efforts in expanding and building up “his” collection, have left their traces,
with vocal music more prominent than seems to be the case with the instrumental music.8 Alongside
musical-practical aspects, his interest in musical and compositional history is apparent.
In contrast with this, the picture in the area of instrumental music is far more uniform. The com-
piling of this collection of sources and works and the special repertoire reflected in it – which can be
characterised as genuinely northern German through the taste it mirrors – is inextricably interwoven
with the early acquisition history of the archive of the Sing-Akademie. A marked influence seems to
be above all the fact that under Zelter’s aegis numerous more or less self-contained individual col-
lections found their way into the archive from Berlin court musicians and music-lovers, many of
whom (or their heirs) were members of the Sing-Akademie.9 First and foremost, the collections of
Sara Levy,10 Daniel and Benjamin Itzig and Zippora Wulff,11 Carl Jacob Christian Klipfel,12 Frie-
drich Nicolai,13 Paul Heinrich Bingert14, J. E. C. Helbing15 and Johann Samuel Carl Possin16 should
8
Zelter may have obtained much of the music, which goes back to the library of Sophie Charlotte and the Margrave
Christian Ludwig, and many of the fine volumes of Italian church music, directly from Frederick William III. C. F. v.
Ledebur wrote in his article on Zelter of a letter from Zelter to the King on 6 August 1806, in which he requested him
“to donate the valuable music collection of Frederick William II, comprising works of Handel’s, Leo’s, Palestrina’s,
Durante’s etc. to the Sing-Akademie” („die werthvolle Musikaliensammlung Friedrich Wilhelm II., bestehend in
Werken Händel’s, Leo’s, Palestrina’s, Durante’s etc. der Sing-Akademie zu schenken.“) According to Ledebur
(also a member of the Sing-Akademie) this request was “graciously” („huldreichst“) met on 16 August 1806 (Le-
debur 1861, p. 666). A further example of this kind of effort can be seen in the part of the collection devoted to
vocal music, which Zelter obtained thanks to his contact with Fortunato Santini: SA 57, 300, 394, 413, 414, 421,
422, 423, 450, 455, 789, 810, 953 (with four of these volumes, further previous owners F. Lauska and A. F. J. Thi-
baut have been identified). In the category of vocal music, a total of over 600 sources are linked with Zelter through
entries or annotations denoting ownership. Which of these pieces of music really belonged to him could no longer
be precisely ascertained after his death in 1832, and will probably never able to be determined in the future.
9
An important source of information about this is the “Album der Sing-Academie zu Berlin” of 1841, which con-
tains complete lists of members of each voice part. Each entry comprises a signature of the member and informa-
tion on their date of joining (see D-B N. Mus. SA 299). There, the names of many of the previous owners of the
music holdings of the archive are found again in autograph.
10
Fundamental to an understanding of Sara Levy and her role in the musical life of Berlin: Wollny 1999. On the
Graun sources in her library, see Henzel 2002, pp. 68–70. The Bach materials in her collection in the ownership
of the Sing-Akademie have been extensively described in Enßlin 2006. The collection listed in this catalogue
alone contains over 150 further pieces of music from her library: SA 1905, 1968, 1990, 1994, 1999, 2007, 2008,
2016, 2022, 2025, 2026, 2028–31, 2038, 2041, 2046, 2048, 2050, 2053, 2055–57, 2062, 2066, 2094, 2107, 2108,
2129, 2140, 2142–45, 2149, 2152, 2154, 2156, 2161, 2169, 2170, 2174, 2180, 2215, 2221, 2222, 2233, 2234,
2473, 2490–92, 2494, 2558, 2709, 2713, 2762, 2770, 2779, 2802, 2823, 2824, 2831, 2837, 2875, 2876, 2881,
2885, 2886, 2889–93, 2895, 2896, 2898–2901, 2903, 2905, 2906, 2909, 2910, 2914–17, 2919–24, 2928–30,
2932–36, 2942, 2946, 2948–50, 3070, 3072–74, 3079, 3080, 3088, 3090, 3091, 3093–98, 3101, 3105, 3117–20,
3131, 3133–43, 3144–62, 3166, 2001a, 2799 (14), 3103 (1). This number increases substantially with its exten-
sive quantity of chamber music. In comparison, in the area of vocal music, her name is associated with only a few
signatures (SA 109, 1069, 1517–1520, 1576, 1584, 1585, 1944).
11
See, for example, SA 2142 (B. Itzig – later Sara Levy) and SA 2181, 2715, 2801 and 3083 (all from the collection
of D. Itzig) and SA 2565, 2822, 2931, 2933, 2934, 2984 (4), 2990, 3016 (all Z. Wulff).
12
For Klipfel’s biography, see Ledebur 1861, p. 290 and Henzel 2002. The Graun materials from Klipfel’s collec-
tion are described in Henzel 2006, and the Bach materials completely in Enßlin 2006. For further details about
this collector and the music in his ownership in this catalogue, pp 28ff.
13
The following music comes from Nicolai’s collection (the symphonies are also already in Henzel 2002, pp. 84–
87): SA 1923, 1980, 1988, 2011, 2033, 2034, 2081–85, 2241, 2242, 2261, 2263–66, 2469, 2471, 2480, 2498,
2503, 2514, 2517, 2518, 2543, 3076, 3081, 3084, 3246. In addition, his collection presumably included: SA
2437–42. In the area of vocal music, he is represented by about 30 sources.
14
For information on the collection of the aulic councillor Paul Heinrich Bingert, see Schwinger 2006, p. 589f. In
addition to the sources already listed, further music from his collection can be identified in the collection docu-
mented here: SA 1915, 1916, 2003, 2013, 2021, 2024, 2032, 2042, 2044, 2068, 2115, 2148, 2163, 2177, 2208,
88 Introduction

Authenticated
be mentioned. Berlin musicians including Johann Friedrich Agricola,17 Carl Benda,18 Johann Rudolf
Siegmar Printz,19 Johann August Patzig20 and Menges21 encounter in the collection as copyists or
previous owners of the manuscripts. Suppliers of music include the printer Christian Ulrich Ring-
macher22 and J. F. Rellstab with his “Magazin de Musique”23; and for the transmission of entire
groups of works, important copyists such as F. Baumann and Thamm24 emerge from the shadows of
history.
Taking these collections of sources as a whole, the individual parts of which have not yet all been
identified, and despite coincidences in the history of transmission which must be taken into account, a
picture emerges which succinctly reflects the taste of music-lovers in the second half of the 18th cen-
tury in Berlin and further afield. The roots of these individual collections stretch back in some cases as
far as 1740, that is to say, the point when in Berlin, with Frederick II’s accession to power and the re-
vival of music at court, “it was as if a new period began” („eine neue Periode sich gleichsam an-
fieng“).25 In this respect, the character of this collection was scarcely surprising, with compositions by
musicians of the first generation of the Berlin court ensemble after its re-establishment in 1740, com-
plemented by music with works by composers from the Dresden court ensemble, which set the ideal
for Berlin technically and aesthetically. At the centre of this part of the collection, with 337 sources,
are the compositions by the Berlin court Kapellmeister Carl Heinrich Graun and his brother, the leader
of the Berlin court ensemble Johann Gottlieb Graun. The dominance of their oeuvre in the music col-
lections of Berlin musicians and music-lovers throughout the second half of the 18th century26 is also
2218, 2459, 2460, 2463, 2641 (1–2), 2810, 2812, 2818, 2956, 3023, 3026, 3027, 3089. Information on Bingert’s
Bach materials is provided in Enßlin 2006.
15
Nothing has been discovered about the possessor J. E. C. Helbing up to now. The following music from his col-
lection all contains his signature, and some works are dated 1764: SA 2687, 2759, 2700, 2004, 2035, 2047, 2064,
2138, 2523, 2524, 2550. Helbing (or a descendant) evidently belonged to Zelter’s circle of acquaintances, as sug-
gested by a note by Zelter in SA 2687: “Present from friend Helbing on 22 Febr 21”. („Geschenk des Freundes
Helbing am 22 Febr 21“.)
16
For information on Possin, see Ledebur 1861, p. 419. Large parts of his collection probably went directly into
Zelter’s ownership, including about 30 sources with vocal music. The following music from the collection listed
here originally came from Possin: SA 2141, 2569, 2575, 2736, 2742, 2747, 2788, 2791, 2867, 2985–87, 3048–53,
2659 (1–30), 2793 (1–2).
17
Copies of Agricola’s manuscripts in: SA 2740 (1–14), 2769, 2772, 2776, 2778, 2781, 2782, 2799 (part).
18
There are copies from the collection of Carl Benda, the youngest son of Franz Benda: SA 2690, 2691, 2694,
2703, 2716, 2719, 2725, 2754–57, 2765, 2695.
19
Printz was a bassoonist in the Berlin court ensemble from 1766–83. The following music comes from his collection: SA
2718, 3128, 3163–65, 3167, 3168, 3132 (1), 3132 (2), 3170 (1).
20
The following music is in the hand of the Berlin music teacher and member of the Sing-Akademie Johann August
Patzig: SA 1918, 1921, 1926, 2220, 2247, 2479, 2481, 2655, 2657, 3218, 1957, 1962. About 80 inventory num-
bers in the vocal music category can be linked with him.
21
For information on Menges, see Henzel 2002, p. 78. The following music from his collection, some of which is
entirely in his hand, can be listed at the moment: SA 1906, 1919, 1920, 1992, 1993, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2010,
2013, 2027, 2040, 2051, 2071, 2072, 2075, 2111, 2113, 2116, 2117, 2158, 2160, 2165, 2178, 2189, 2193, 2216,
2219, 2245, 2489, 2720, 2749, 2750, 2852, 2862, 3014, 3017, 3055, 3062, 3089, 3092, 2967 (1), 2968 (1), 2969
(2), 2972 (1), 2973 (2), 2981 (2), 2982 (1), 3104 (1). In the vocal music category about 90 sources indicate a link
to Menges.
22
Sale copies from Ringmacher, which are all also listed in the catalogue published by him in 1773 (see Ring-
macher 1773), can be amongst others made out at the following inventory numbers: SA 2195, 2474, 2483, 2501.
23
See SA 1061, 2815.
24
For information on these copyists, see Schwinger 2004, 532ff. (F. Baumann), p. 590 (Thamm).
25
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Autobiographie, in: Charles Burney, Tagebuch einer musikalischen Reise. Vollständige
Ausgabe, Vol. 3, Hamburg 1773, ed Christoph Hust (=Documenta Musicologica, 1. Reihe: Druckschriften-Fak-
similes XIX). Kassel et al. 2003, p. 201.
26
See Henzel 2000 and Schwinger 2004.
Introduction 89

Authenticated
Tobias Schwinger
reflected in the collections of the Archive of the Sing-Akademie. It was based on a developing con-
sciousness amongst the middle classes and aristocracy of the classical qualities of music of the 1740s
to 1760s.27 The attractiveness and considerable charismatic power of court music influenced a now
rapidly developing middle class-aristocratic musical culture, which firstly manifested itself in many
amateur societies and later, from the 1770s, became institutionalised into an independent, public con-
cert life. Many of the compositions listed here can be directly or indirectly linked with these develop-
ments. The other prominent ensemble members, first and foremost C. P. E. Bach,28 but also J. J.
Quantz, C. Schaffrath, F. Benda, J. P. Kirnberger, J. G. Janitsch, C. Nichelmann, C. F. Schale, J. G.
Seyffarth, G. Zarth, J. F. Agricola, A. Kohne, C. W. Glösch and F. W. Riedt, are all represented with
works.
The influence of J. A. Hasse and of the Dresden court ensemble on the Berlin court opera, and the
popularity of many of his works amongst the wider public of Berlin, is clear from the considerable
number of sources containing works ranging from his symphonies to his operas. However, composi-
tions by other Dresdeners such as C. F. Abel and C. S. Binder found their way into the repertoire of
Berlin musicians and collectors. Instrumental works by “heroes” from further afield, such as G. F.
Händel, A. Vivaldi, G. Tartini, A. Corelli and F. S. Geminiani, were already part of the standard reper-
toire; their compositions were available throughout Europe in printed editions or copies.
There has been a widely-held view that the dominance of music composed in Berlin and Dresden in
the second half of the 18th century permitted only scant attention to be paid in Berlin to the musical de-
velopment of other regions: the instrumental music in the archive suggests that this view needs to be
partially revised. The considerable number of sources with works by Viennese and Mannheim com-
posers such as G. C. Wagenseil, J. K. Vaňhal, F. A. Hoffmeister, C. D. v. Dittersdorf, L. Hofmann and,
on the other hand, C. Stamitz, C. G. Toeschi, I. Holzbauer and F. X. Richter can be construed as evi-
dence that at least musical culture outside the court was more open to external stylistic influences than
the harsh tone adopted from time to time by contemporary theorists in their disputes with southern
Germans led to believe.
Alongside much information that is of immense value in clarifying questions relating to music and
its reception, the collection ultimately makes priceless contributions to the transmission of works by
individual composers. A few examples serve to illustrate this. There are 31 works in this part of the ar-
chive by the Weimar court Kapellmeister E. W. Wolff alone, including unique autograph sources to
some of his symphonies and a viola concert29 – a fact of even greater significance, given the serious
losses caused by the fire at the Anna Amalia-Bibliothek in 2004.. Taking into account the quantitative
relationships within the collection of sources, it again suggests that the increase in works by Berlin
composers of the second half of the 18th century is particularly great, including 18 works by C. H.
Graun and J. G. Graun.30 The dissemination of works by two composers, Johann Gottlieb Janitsch and
27
See Henzel 2003.
28
For information on the sources with instrumental music by C. P. E. Bach, which are basically part of this group of
holdings, see Fischer/Kornemann 2003 and Enßlin 2006.
29
See SA 2532–2541 (SA 2533 is a viola concert), all from the collection of C. F. Zelter.
30
C. H. Graun: Ouverture A-Dur, GraunWV Bv:XI:15 in SA 3073, Ouverture D-Dur, GraunWV Bv:XI:12 in SA 3081.
J. G. Graun: Sinfonien GraunWV Av:XII:46 in SA 1995; GraunWV Av:XII:59 in SA 2052 and 2053; Violinkonzert
D-Dur, GraunWV Av:XIII:21 in SA 2689; Violakonzert Es-Dur, GraunWV Av:XIII:28 in SA 2715 and SA 2724;
Cembalokonzert G-Dur, GraunWV Av:XIII:35 in SA 2736; Violinkonzert B-Dur, GraunWV Av:XIII:42 in SA 2757;
Gambenkonzert C-Dur, GraunWV A:XIII:2 in SA 2777. C. H. Graun or J. G. Graun: Sinfonie F-Dur, GraunWV
Cv:XII:83 in SA 2107; Violinkonzert D-Dur, GraunWV Cv:XIII:107 in SA 2693; Violinkonzert C-Dur, GraunWV
C:XIII:67 in SA 2695; Violinkonzert G-Dur, GraunWV Cv:XIII:140 in SA 2702; Violinkonzert h-Moll, GraunWV
C:XIII:95 in SA 2756; Cembalokonzert F-Dur, GraunWV Cv:XIII:132 in SA 2786; Ouverture F-Dur, GraunWV
Cv:XI:22; Ouverture d-Moll, GraunWV Cv:XI:21 in SA 3095; Ouverture D-Dur, GraunWV Cv:XI:20 in SA 3096.
90 Introduction

Authenticated
Christoph Schaffrath, who are generally less in the forefront in this respect, gains greatly as a result. In
the extensive holdings of quartets (and a trio) by Janitsch listed here from the collections of S. Levy, J.
R. S. Printz and G. F. Tempelhoff, 14 works have survived as unique sources;31 moreover, the other
sources contain two autograph manuscripts.32 With the recovery of the sources of the Sing-Akademie
Archive, it has also become apparent that amongst the court musicians in Berlin, next to C. P. E. Bach
and C. H. Graun, Chr. Schaffrath was one of the most productive composers in the area of keyboard
concertos. The Schaffrath sources in the archive include many complete and partial autograph manu-
scripts with keyboard concertos and copies by his principal copyists. Many of these works only exist
here, and come from Schaffrath’s estate.33 They represent the counterpart to his symphonies and
chamber music works which survived, via J. P. Kirnberger, in the Amalienbibliothek. However, the se-
quence of autograph manuscripts is even longer and includes, without any claim to completeness,
original manuscripts by J. F. Fasch,34 C. Nichelmann,35 J. P. Kirnberger36 and J. C. F. Rellstab.37
If there was talk of “homogeneity” and at the same time also of “coincidences in the history of
transmission” within the repertoire presented here, the latter relates to the transmission of those
sources, where the background context differs from the main stream discussed. Both aspects can be
seen in the music collection of Carl Jakob Christian Klipfel, who was born in 1726 in Königstein in
Saxony and died on 16 May 1802 in Berlin. On the one hand, the character of his collection corre-
sponds in many ways to the taste of the Berlin public: Hasse and Graun are at the centre: other com-
posers from the court ensembles in Dresden and Berlin, together with southern German and Mann-
heim figures, form the periphery. On the other hand, his collection includes names such as Roellig
(jun.)38, Horn39, Georg Gebel and Johann Friedrich Drobisch40, whose compositions probably did not
31
SA 3128, 3132(2), 3135, 3139, 3142, 3148, 3151, 3154, 3155, 3159, 3161, 3162, 3169, 3170(1). For information
on the Janitsch collection in the Archive of the Sing-Akademie overall, see Schwinger 2006, pp. 519–549 and pp.
595–673.
32
SA 3163 (Quadro D-Dur) and SA 1965 (Sinfonie A-Dur; the cover, which does not relate to the parts, gives Jo-
seph Benda as composer).
33
See SA 2966–2980, 2981–2982 (2) and 2983. For information on this collection, see Schwinger 2006, pp. 490–
495 and 497–501.
34
Trio e-Moll in SA 2184.
35
Sinfonie E-Dur in SA 2257.
36
Sinfonie D- Dur in SA 2267.
37
Sinfonie C-Dur in SA 2278.
38
It is not possible at present to positively identify the person indicated by the abbreviation “Roellig jun.”, a com-
poser’s name which appears within the Roellig holdings. A definite provenance of Dresden or Meissen for all the
sources attributed to “Roellig jun:” resulting from many demonstrable similarities of script between “Roellig jun.”
and C. J. C. Klipfel; the watermarks and dates in his own hand (1752–57) and place names (Dresden, Meißen) by
„Roellig jun:“ (see in particular SA 797 for this); the unambiguous autograph status of many scores by „Roellig jun:“
(particularly within the vocal music, but also to some extent with the parts in the instrumental music; see SA 2393);
and the appearance of the diverging autograph by Johann Georg Röllig in D-B Mus. ms. autograph J. G. Röllig 1,
make it prob-able that Johann Georg Röllig cannot be considered to be the author (and copyist with autograph manu-
scripts) of surviving sources signed „Roellig jun.“ The partial autograph source SA 1440 (cantata “Der Jäger und der
Landmann”, “Da Roellig. jun:”, dated Dresden 25.8.1753) is added by a handwritten textbook, mentioning Johann
Christian Röllig [sic!] as author of the music. From both of the saxon/lusatian stirps of the Röllig family
(Berggießhübel and Königsbrück) originate sons of musicians with this name. A son of the Königsbrück Kantor Jo-
hann Christian Röllig (died 1731) bears that name (Johann Christian Roellig, born as the sixth of seven children 7th
of June 1711) and also a descendent of the Berggießhübel musician Johann Georg Röllig (Johann Christian Röllig,
born 18th of March 1716). The latter is the younger brother of the later Zerbst organist und chamber musician Johann
Georg Röllig (born 20th of November 1710). Obviously Johann Christian Roellig (this spelling in the autographs)
was scholar of the Kreuzschule and presumably both of the brothers composed. This could explain the frequent use
of the epithet „jun.“ in the autographs and copies by Klipfel. A detailed description of these coherences will follow
elsewhere.
Introduction 91

Authenticated
Tobias Schwinger
belong to the usual repertoire – here, Klipfel’s connections with musicians in the ensemble of Count
Heinrich von Brühl may be assumed. A further characteristic of Klipfel’s collection is that almost all
the copies are in one hand – his own. The extent of the collection is enormous and even exceeds that of
Sara Levy’s collection. In the area of material listed here alone – symphonies, overtures and concertos
– the Klipfel collection comprises 333 sources.41 If the copies in his collection with vocal music and
chamber music are included, then the overall extent of the collection may be estimated at 500 to 600
sources.
Further details of Klipfel’s biography, and the circumstances in which his music collection was de-
veloped, may be gleaned from an obituary published in the “Berlinische Monatsschrift” of 1802.42 Ac-
cording to this, Klipfel learned the craft of flower painting in the Meissen porcelain factory from 1730.
At the same time, he studied music and later made himself “through practising on his own at home,
quickly into an accomplished player, particularly on the keyboard” („durch eigene praktische Uebung
zu Hause bald zu einem fertigen Spieler, besonders auf dem Klaviere.“)43 The obituary continues with
information about the occasion which led him to work as a copyist: “This enthused him, with a few of
his friends and with the town musicians, to put on a concert in Meissen. As they had very little money
between them, he undertook the job of a music copyist for the group, devoting the greater part of every
night to this. No matter how quickly he copied the music, it turned out beautifully and cleanly; the
large quantities he produced could still serve now as exemplars. He usually wrote out the music first in
full score, and then the individual parts; through the first, he educated himself at the same time as a
theorist […]” („Dies begeisterte ihn, mit einigen seiner Kameraden, und mit den sogenannten Stadt-
pfeifern, in Meißen ein Konzerte zu errichten. Da sie sämmtlich des Geldes wenig besaßen, so über-
nahm er für sich selbst und für die Gesellschaft das Geschäft eines Notenschreibers, dem er fast den
größten Theil jeder Nacht widmete. So schnell er auch die Noten schrieb, so schön und reinlich fielen
sie doch aus; die vorhandenen großen Vorräthe davon können selbst itzt noch als Muster dienen. Ge-
wöhnlich schrieb er die Musikalien erst in ganzer Partitur, und dann in einzelnen Stimmen ab; durch
das erstere bildete er sich zugleich zum Theoretiker […]“)44 And finally, the text also gives clues about
the sources from which Klipfel obtained his music: “At carnival time, he never missed the opportunity
to hear the major operas in Dresden, no matter how onerous it was to satisfy this wish; he brought a
score of the operas he had heard on the return journey each time.” („Zur Karnevalszeit versäumte er
nie, in Dresden die großen Opern zu hören, so beschwerlich auch in mancher Hinsicht ihm die Befrie-
39
The author’s name in source SA 3196 is in Klipfel’s hand and states: „del. Sigr. Horn fatto a Dresde, d: 25.
Agosto, 1742“. This probably relates to a work by the leader of Count Heinrich von Brühl’s ensemble, Christian
Friedrich Horn. Works handed down through Klipfel by Georg Gebel (harpsichordist in the Brühl ensemble from
1735–47) and Gottlob Harrer (Kapellmeister of the ensemble from 1741–50) probably also come from this con-
nection.
40
Drobisch worked from 1753 until his death in 1762 as Kantor in St. Annen in Dresden.
41
SA 1956, 1969, 1997, 2002, 2018, 2019, 2059 (1–2), 2077–79, 2082, 2087, 2101, 2103–06, 2146, 2147, 2151,
2166, 2167, 2173, 2187, 2190, 2197–2207, 2211, 2223–25, 2227–29, 2239, 2254, 2280, 2281 (1–6), 2282–84,
2285 (1–3), 2286, 2287–90, 2291 (1–2), 2292–95, 2296 (1–4), 2297–2311, 2313–20, 2321–23, 2325–35, 2337,
2338, 2340–53, 2355, 2356 (1), 2357–64, 2365 (1–2), 2366–72, 2373 (1–2), 2374 (1–6), 2375–81, 2382 (1–6),
2383, 2384 (1–3), 2385 (1–2), 2386 (1–3), 2387–90, 2391 (1–2), 2392–2414, 2415 (1–6), 2416, 2417, 2418 (1–
6), 2419–21, 2425–27, 2428 (1–2), 2429–31, 2457, 2458, 2468, 2472, 2500, 2502, 2504–08, 2519, 2521, 2522,
2527, 2530 (1–6), 2549, 2552, 2553, 2556, 2557 (1–4), 2559–61, 2656, 2665–70, 2733, 2734, 2751 (1–7), 2780
(1–2), 2785, 2803, 2937, 3077, 3116, 3126, 3127, 3129, 3192, 3193 (1–2), 3194–98, 3200, 3202–13, 3215–17,
3219–33, 3237–39, 3240, 3241, 3242.
42
Berlinische Monatsschrift (1783–1811), ed. Von F. Gedike and J. E. Biester, 2, 1802, pp. 135–149. This anonymous
text is available at the following url http://www.ub.uni-bielefeld.de/diglib/aufkl/browse/berlmon/21802.html.
43
Ibid., p. 140.
44
Ibid., pp. 140–141.
92 Introduction

Authenticated
digung dieser Sehnsucht ward; auf der Rückreise nahm er jederzeit eine Partitur der gehörten Opern
mit.“)45 Klipfel must have had good contacts with Dresden ensemble musicians and Kantors, for this is
the only explanation for the many unique copies of Saxon provenance amongst his copies.
His collection was in large part the result of a local music-making tradition in Meissen, which, ac-
cording to the obituary, probably lasted until the end of the Seven Years’ War. The events of the war fi-
nally also caused Klipfel’s departure for Berlin. In the last years of the war, Frederick II made his win-
ter quarters in Meissen, and from 1760, Klipfel was granted the favour of being allowed to “accom-
pany” the king on the piano. The king, however, pursued other interests with Klipfel and enticed him
away to develop porcelain production in Berlin. Thus, the Meissen flower painter and enthusiastic
amateur musician became the successful co-director of the Berlin porcelain factory, a privilege seldom
granted by the king: “Frederick granted him admittance to his concerts in perpetuity, at which he him-
self played the flute”. („Friedrich gestattete ihm, aus eigener Bewegung, für immer den Zutritt zu Sei-
nem Konzerte, worin Er selbst die Flöte blies“).46 Klipfel’s “large quantity” of musical sources in his
own calligraphy may have found their way into the music archive via his son, the aulic councillor Carl
Wilhelm Klipfel (d. 1827), a member of the Sing-Akademie from 181047, where they may “itzt” be
admired.
Bibliography
Enßlin 2006: Die Bach-Quellen der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin. Katalog. Bearbeitet von Wolfram
Enßlin (= Leipziger Beiträge zur Bach-Forschung, Bd. 8.1), Hildesheim, Zürich, New York 2006.
Fischer/Kornemann 2003: Axel Fischer und Matthias Kornemann, Die Bach-Sammlung aus dem
Archiv der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin. Katalog und Einführung zur Mikrofiche-Edition, Munich
2003.
Fischer/Kornemann 2003a: Axel Fischer und Matthias Kornemann, Die Telemann-Sammlung aus
dem Archiv der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin. Katalog und Einführung zur Mikrofiche-Edition, Mu-
nich 2003.
Fischer/Kornemann 2007: Musikhandschriften aus der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preußischer
Kulturbesitz und aus der Jagiellonischen Bibliothek in Krakau. Tl. 6: Die Sammlung der Sing-
Akademie zu Berlin. Katalog zur Mikrofiche-Edition. Tl. 1: Oratorien, Messen, geistliche und
weltliche Kantaten, Arien und Lieder, hrsg. von der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin. Mit einem Vor-
wort von Martin Geck und einer Einführung von Christoph Henzel, bearbeitet von Axel Fischer
und Matthias Kornemann, Munich 2007.
Henzel 2000: Christoph Henzel, Studien zur Graun-Überlieferung im 18. Jahrhundert, Habil.-Schrift
(Ms.). Rostock 2000 (in preparation).
Henzel 2002: Christoph Henzel, Die Musikalien der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin und die Berliner
Graun Überlieferung, in: Jahrbuch des Staatlichen Instituts für Musikforschung Preußischer Kul-
turbesitz 2002, S. 60–106.
Henzel 2003: Christoph Henzel, „Die Zeit des Augustus in der Musik“. Berliner Klassik. Ein Ver-
such, in: Berliner Aufklärung. Kulturwissenschaftliche Studien, Bd. 2, hrsg. von Ursula Golden-
baum und Alexander Košenina, Hannover 2003, S. 7–33.
45
Ibid., p. 141. Examples of this type of acquisition are particularly numerous amongst the Hasse copies of operas
and oratorios.
46
Ibid., p. 148.
47
For information on C. W. Klipfel see Ledebur 1861, p. 290.
Introduction 93

Authenticated
Tobias Schwinger
Henzel 2006: Christoph Henzel, Graun-Werkverzeichnis (GraunWV). Verzeichnis der Werke der
Brüder Johann Gottlieb und Carl Heinrich Graun, 2 Bde. Beeskow 2006.
Henzel 2008: Christoph Henzel, Hiller – Lehmann – Zelter. Zu einigen Berliner Messias-
Aufführungen, in: Händel-Jahrbuch 2008 (in preparation).
Henzel 2008a: Christoph Henzel, Telemann-Überlieferung im Spiegel des Notenarchivs der Sing-
Akademie zu Berlin, in: Telemann, der musikalische Maler / Telemann-Kompositionen im No-
tenarchiv der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, Bericht über die Internationale Musikwissenschaftliche
Konferenz anlässlich der 17. Magdeburger Telemann-Festtage, 10. bis 12. März 2004 (=Telemann-
Konferenzberichte, Bd. 15), hrsg. von C. Lange und B. Reipsch (in preparation).
Ledebur 1861: Carl Friedrich Ledebur, Tonkünstler-Lexikon Berlins von den ältesten Zeiten bis auf
die Gegenwart. Berlin 1861.
Ringmacher 1773: Brook, Barry Shelley (Hrsg.), Catalogo de’ Soli, Duetti, Trii, Quadri, Quintetti,
Partire, de’ Concerti e delle Sinfonie per il Cembalo Violino, Flauto Traverso ed altri Stromenti
che si trovano in Manoscritto nella Officina musica di Christian Ulrich Ringmacher Libraio in
Berolino. Nachdruck der Originalausgabe Berlin 1773. Leipzig 1987
Schwinger 2006: Tobias Schwinger, Die Musikaliensammlung Thulemeier und die Berliner Musik-
überlieferung in der zweiten Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts, Beeskow 2006.
Wollny 1999: Peter Wollny, Ein förmlicher Sebastian und Philipp Emanuel Bach-Kultus – Sara Le-
vy, geb. Itzig und ihr musikalisch-literarischer Salon, in: Musik und Ästhetik im Berlin Moses
Mendelssohns, hrsg. von Anselm Gerhard (Wolfenbütteler Studien zur Aufklärung, Bd. 25).
Tübingen 1999.
94 Introduction

Authenticated
Authenticated
Fig. 9: Johann Jacob Froberger: Suite XXVII in E minor, SA 4450 (10)
96

Authenticated
Chamber Music and Piano Music
By Mary Oleskiewicz
The present catalog concludes the series listing the contents of the microfiche edition of the music
library of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin. It presents sources that were designated as comprising in-
strumental chamber music in the inventory drawn up by Karl Friedrich Zelter (1758–1832). There
they fall under the following rubrics: D IV (Fugues and Canons); D V (Sextets and Quintets); D VI
(Quartets); D VII (Trios); D XIII (Duos); D IX (Solos); D X (Keyboard compositions); D XI (Organ
works); and D XII (Incomplete packets of musical works).
These groupings, based on early nineteenth-century practice, do not always conform precisely to
the terminology or repertory contained in the sources themselves, which are primarily of the eight-
eenth century. Numerous works that originally would also have been considered chamber music and
performed by small ensembles in intimate settings, such as concertos, might also have been in-
cluded here. But the latter are found instead under designations that were assumed to involve larger
scoring: D I (Sinfonias); D II (Concertos); and D III (Overtures). Nevertheless, because the assign-
ment of individual sources to particular categories was far from consistent, some concertos and sin-
fonias found their way into the present listing of chamber music.1 Conversely, some sources con-
taining works such as solo sonatas, trios, and quartets that properly belong here were included under
sinfonias, concertos, or overtures and therefore are listed in the previous installment of this edition.2
Signatures beginning with SA 4820, which were added later to the Zelter-Catalog, will appear in the
supplements. Among these are approximately 60 additional chamber music works.3
The original Zelter source signatures, including those for the works documented here (ZD 1610–
ZE 1949x/1), were replaced by new “SA” inventory numbers after the collection was brought to
Kyiv. The present catalog and its corresponding microfiches are organized according to these signa-
tures, which remain the ones used today (SA 3251–4807).
Excluded from the present list are most of the sources containing works by Telemann and by
members of the Bach family. These have already been published in previous installments of this se-
ries,4 although a few items overlooked there are included in the present edition of microfiche. In any
1
Thus, a violin concerto by F. W. Hertel (SA 3602) is included under D VII (Trios), whereas several other violin
concertos by Franz Benda, Johann Georg Benda, and Georg Anton Benda (SA 4049–4059) are included under D
IX (Solos); likewise, two sinfonias of Neruda (SA 3878 and 3883) are listed under D VII (trios).
2
For example, trio sonatas and quartets by C. F. Abel (SA 2556–2558, 2562) and trios by J. F. Fasch, Leopold
Hoffmann, Kleinknecht, J.C. Roellig, Stamitz, and Wagenseil (SA 2184, 2372–2382); five quartets by Quantz
(SA 2930–2934); trios and quartets of Janitsch (SA 2256, 3128–3170(1)); and string quartets of F. J. Haydn (SA
3121–3124) are all listed in Symphonies, Concertos and Overtures, part 3 of The Collection of the Sing-Akademie
zu Berlin: Catalogue and Introduction to the Microfiche Edition, edited by Axel Fischer and Matthias Korne-
mann (Munich: Saur, 2008); see also p. 9, footnote 2 in the latter.
3
These include sonatas for flute and continuo by Quantz (SA 4820–4832); a copy of the three accompanied key-
board sonatas Op. 3 (SA 4885, attributed here to “F. Benda”); trio sonatas by Georg Anton Benda (SA 4886–
4887); autograph trio sonatas by August Kohne (SA 4888); and a trio sonata by Kirnberger (SA 4904). Further
works by (or with uncertain attributions to) the Grauns include trios and quartets (SA 4865, 4872, 4911,4914),
and quartets by Schobert, Schmitt, Ebell, Schneider (SA 4858–4860, 4862), trios by Leopold Hoffmann (SA
4875–4877, 4882) and others, including several anonymous works.
4
See Axel Fischer und Matthias Kornemann, The Bach Collection in the Archive of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin.
Catalogue and Introduction to the Microfiche Edition (Munich: Saur, 2003), and ibid., The Telemann Collection
in the Archive of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin. Catalogue and Introduction to the Microfiche Edition (Munich:
Saur, 2003).
97

Authenticated
Mary Oleskiewicz
case, the number of individual chamber works represented here is far greater than one might ini-
tially suppose on the basis of the SA numbers alone, as many sources listed under single signatures
comprise collective manuscripts (convolutes) and printed anthologies.
The signatures SA 3251–4807 designate printed as well as manuscript sources, scores as well as
parts, and also a number of other types of items. One of the most significant of the latter is a manu-
script thematic catalog of keyboard music composed by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach up to about
1770, known as the Klavier-Verzeichniss, SA 4261 (and a copy, SA 4132). It represents an early
version of the better-known and more complete list of the composer’s works included in his post-
humously published Nachlassverzeichniss and was completely unknown before the reappearance of
the Sing-Akademie collection. It has been suggested that the Klavier-Verzeichniss was prepared in
connection with Charles Burney’s visit to Hamburg in 1772/73.5 But many of the index numbers
used in the Klavier-Verzeichniss appear in other SA manuscripts containing copies of individual so-
natas, implying that the list had been drawn up previously, possibly in relation to copies made avail-
able to copyists working at Berlin.6
Other materials documented here are those used for performance and teaching; music-theoretical
demonstrations, compositional sketches; pedagogical contrapuntal exercises; theoretical analyses,
and written-out cadenzas of a type used in eighteenth-century performances at Berlin and elsewhere.
These sources, taken altogether, provide a much clearer picture of the richness and variety of musi-
cal practice and study in eighteenth-century Berlin than has been previously possible.
The Chamber Music of the Sing-Akademie Collection
The more than 2000 sources of instrumental chamber music in the Sing-Akademie archive include
virtually all 18th-century genres, in particular those cultivated by German and Austrian composers.
The collection focuses above all on composers working in northern Germany during the mid- to late
eighteenth century. In addition to the large number of works by Telemann and various members of
the Bach family, many of these sources, not surprisingly, contain chamber works by Berlin compos-
ers, especially court musicians active during the reign of King Friedrich II “the Great” of Prussia.
Taken as a whole, the collection demonstrates the close network that existed between the com-
posers whose works are assembled here. It also considerably widens our perspective on music col-
lecting in 18th-century Berlin and more generally on the transmission of 18th-century German musi-
cal manuscripts.
Represented by a significant number of works here are the Prussian court composers Carl Philipp
Emanuel Bach, Franz (František) and Johann Georg (Jan Jiří) Benda (as well as other members of
their family), the Kapellmeister Carl Heinrich and his brother the concertmaster Johann Gottlieb
Graun, Johann Gottlieb Janitsch, and the flutist Johann Joachim Quantz. The Grauns in particular
are represented by an astonishing number of solos, trios and quartets. Many of these works either
5
See Die Bach-Quellen der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, compiled by Wolfram Enßlin (Hildesheim: Olms, 2006),
vol. 1, 378–9. See also microfiches nos. 210 and 191 in the series The Bach Collection in the Archive of the Sing-
Akademie zu Berlin, and Christoph Wolff, “Carl Philipp Emanuel Bachs Verzeichnis seiner Clavierwerke von
1733 bis 1772,” in Über Leben, Kunst und Kunstwerke: Aspekte musikalischer Biographie: Johann Sebastian
Bach im Zentrum, edited by Christoph Wolff (Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 1999), pp. 221f.
6
For example, in SA 4189, containing the six sonatas of Wq 54, five of the six works are headed by their respec-
tive numbers in the Klavier-Verzeichniss (156, 154, 145, 152, 143, 151); these numbers differ from the better-
known ones later assigned to the same works in the composer’s Nachlassverzeichnis (158, 156, 146, 154, 144,
153). For more discussion of SA 4189, see Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: The Complete Works, vol. I/3: 183–4.
98 Introduction

Authenticated
were not previously known or appear here in sources that employ alternate scorings or include im-
portant original performance materials, as is also true of the many trios and quartets found here by
Janitsch, Kleinknecht, and Quantz. A smaller number of sources transmit works by Johann Friedrich
Agricola, August Kohne, Christoph Nichelmann; Johann Friedrich Reichardt (King Friedrich II’s
last Kapellmeister), Friedrich Wilhelm Riedt, Christian Friedrich Schale, Johann Gabriel Seyffarth,
Georg Zarth, King Friedrich himself, and others.
There are also sources for works by other local Berlin composers, such as Johann Philipp Sack,
Domorganist in Berlin, and by those of other court musical establishments in or closely connected
to Berlin, especially those headed by relatives of Friedrich II, such as his brother Prince Heinrich of
Prussia and the Margraves of Brandenburg-Schwedt. Among the composers belonging to the minor
Hohenzollern households is Christian Friedrich Rackemann, a pupil of the violinist Seyffarth and
the flutist Riedt, who worked for both Prince Heinrich of Prussia and for Markgrave Heinrich of
Brandenburg-Schwedt. In the Hofkapelle of the latter was also the violinist Jakob le Fevre, who stu-
died with J. G. Graun and C. P. E. Bach, and likewise Johann Philipp Kirnberger. Kirnberger served
for a year as ripieno violinist in the royal Kapelle before serving as harpsichordist in the Schwedt
Kapelle from 1754 to 1758; he then served the king’s sister Princess Anna Amalia, alongside the
harpsichordist Christoph Schaffrath. Schaffrath entered Amalia’s service in 1744, having previously
served since 1733 in Friedrich’s Kapelle in Ruppin, Rheinsberg, and finally in Berlin. The violinist
August Kohne served Margrave Karl of Brandenburg-Schwedt from 1750 until 1760, when he en-
tered the royal Kapelle. Carl Wilhelm Glösch, a flute pupil of Quantz, worked for the king’s young-
est brother Prince Ferdinand, whereas the flutist Jakob Friedrich Kleinknecht served from 1743 until
1769 at the court of Bayreuth, where Friedrich’s older sister Wilhelmine was margravine. For a
brief period from 1787 until 1790 Johann Samuel Carl Possin held the title of Kapellmeister to the
king’s brother Prince Heinrich in Rheinsberg. Also represented in the collection are works by com-
posers at the courts of Strelitz (Johann Wilhelm Hertel, a pupil of Franz Benda and C. P. E. Bach)
and Zerbst (Johann Friedrich Fasch and the concertmaster Carl Höckh). A limited number of
sources for the works of Dresden composers, such as Johann Adolph Hasse and Johann David
Heinichen and Johann Christian Roellig, are also found here.
A subsequent layer of sources stemming from the later 18th and early 19th centuries represents
works of Viennese classical composers and minor Berlin court composers active under Friedrich’s
successors. Printed works include examples by Beethoven, Mozart, and Haydn, as well as compos-
ers of the second tier such as Michael Haydn, Pleyel, and Clementi [neither Austrian nor Viennese,
better to delete the crossed out phrase which is redundant anyway]. Works of the Mannheim school
include those of Holzbauer, Stamitz and Richter. Mozart is represented not only by string quartets
but also by keyboard sonatas in printed arrangements for flute, violin, viola, and cello (SA 3498).
Haydn too is represented by string quartets and by Salomon’s published arrangements of the com-
poser’s symphonies for flute with string quartet (SA 3306).
Genres and Instrumentation
The original terminology used in the sources for genres and instrumentation clarifies how many
works were understood and performed in the eighteenth century, as opposed to how these works
were later viewed and cataloged. Thus an expression such as trio indicates not the number of play-
ers but rather the number of distinct contrapuntal parts. Works designated as trios may involve (1)
two melodic instruments with basso continuo; (2) three melodic instruments without bass; or (3) one
melodic instrument together with an obligato keyboard instrument. The first and third types were of-
Introduction 99

Authenticated
Mary Oleskiewicz
ten interchangeable in Berlin practice, inasmuch as the right hand of the keyboard could take over
one of the two melody parts. Thus many trio sonatas exist in sources that employ option (3); these
involve only two instruments yet still bear the title Trio.
The term trio is also used for a type of accompanied keyboard sonata, typical of the later eight-
eenth and early nineteenth centuries, in which the keyboard instrument has the principal part and is
joined by two entirely subsidiary parts, typically violin for (or flute) and cello. Unlike his Berlin
court colleagues, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach also composed trios of this later type, although not un-
til after he left Berlin in 1768. The present collection includes examples of both his trio sonatas
(some playable by one melody instrument and keyboard) and his accompanied keyboard sonatas,
the latter represented by his Six Sonates Pour le Clavecin ou Piano Forte Accompagnées d’un Vio-
lon & Violoncelle (Berlin and Amsterdam, no date), Wq 89 (SA 3331). Another example of the lat-
ter type is the Sonata in F major by his younger half-brother Johann Christian Bach for obligato
keyboard, violin (or flute) and cello, Op. 2, No. 1, Warb B 43 (SA 3340).
The term quartet, as used by mid-eighteenth-century Berlin composers, similarly refers to a work
that has four written parts but does not necessarily require four players. The many quartets by Ja-
nitsch, J. G. Graun, and other court composers are for three melodic instruments with basso con-
tinuo. In most cases the basso continuo would have been furnished by keyboard and cello together
resulting in a performance by five players. Although C. P. E. Bach composed no such works, toward
the end of his life he did write three unusual works for obligato keyboard with flute and viola (Wq
93–95). These require only three players (there is no trace of any separate bass part for cello); all are
present in the Sing-Akademie collection (SA 3327–3330), two in autograph scores. These are des-
ignated quartets not in the sense of the modern term Klavierquartet, which implies the combination
of keyboard with three accompanying instruments, but rather because in these works the flute and
viola are equal partners with the keyboard, which plays a third melodic part as well as the bass. Also
catalogued here among quartets, perhaps as a product of a misunderstanding of some sort, are three
of C. P. E. Bach’s sonatinas for ensemble (Wq 106–108, SA 3333, 3334). These actually represent a
unique sort of divertimento for solo keyboard accompanied by an orchestra of seven or more dis-
tinct parts.
The term Cembalo or Klavier in many of these sources originally referred to an unspecified key-
board instrument whose part might have been played on harpsichord or fortepiano (used at the Ber-
lin court from at least 1746), perhaps also clavichord and other less common stringed keyboard in-
struments such as the Tangentenflügel. Quantz’s use of the expression Cimbalo forte e piano in the
flute concerto QV 5:162 (D-B KHM 3952) indicates that the fortepiano was at first considered a
special type of cembalo. But Emanuel Bach’s three quartets for keyboard, flute and viola, composed
in 1788, were almost certainly for fortepiano, as suggested by Zelter’s title page for SA 3327 and
3328. Yet the two autographs of these works designate the keyboard part as simply Klavier (SA
3328), and the copy (SA 3327) calls for Cembalo. Two other Sing-Akademie sources call for Cem-
balo obligato (SA 3329, 3330).
Pedagogical and Contrapuntal Works
An important strand of Berlin music collecting is represented by contrapuntal music. Such works
were of particular interest to the Prussian princess Anna Amalia and her Kapellmeister Johann Phi-
lipp Kirnberger. This portion of the collection includes works by older composers such as Christian
Erbach, Frescobaldi, and Scheidt (all represented in the convolute manuscript SA 3265) and Luigi
Battiferri (SA 3262), as well as Kirnberger’s own counterpoint studies and compositional notes (SA
100 Introduction

Authenticated
3277–3288). SA 3287, a convolute manuscript mainly in the hand of Kirnberger, includes 23 canons
and exercises by J. S. Bach, W. F. Bach, C. P. E. Bach, and Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel, as well as
many by Kirnberger himself. It also contains a pedagogical exercise in four-part canon by Quantz
copied by his pupil Johann Friedrich Agricola (item no. 37), in which parallel octaves and 6/4
chords are identified in red ink. SA 3251–3294 contain primarily works that incorporate fugues or
canons, beginning with C. P. E. Bach’s six fugues for keyboard Wq 119.2–7 (SA 3251), including
as well Handel’s so-called Third Set, the Six Fugues or Voluntarys (SA 3269), both in copies by the
Prussian court keyboardist Carl Friedrich Fasch. Also in this series are W. F. Bach’s D-minor sinfo-
nia Fk 65, whose second movement is a four-part fugue (SA 3260), and sixteen ricercari by Fresco-
baldi (SA 3266), as well as works by Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg, Stölzel and others. Princess Ama-
lia is represented by a copy of her fugue in D major for two violins and bass (SA 3586).
Bach sources
Four works by members of the Bach family in the collection were overlooked when the Mikrofiche
Sing-Akademie Bach was prepared and therefore appear in the supplements: SA 4114, 4280, 4550,
and 4519. SA 4114 is a convolute manuscript comprising trio sonatas by C. P. E. Bach (Wq 145,
155, 159), Georg Anton (Jiří Antonín) Benda, C. H. Graun, Nichelmann, and Johann Abraham Peter
Schulz.7 SA 4280 is an eighteenth-century printed edition of Carl Hermann Heinrich Benda’s Sechs
Adagio’s für das Pianoforte (Berlin, no date), in which the second movement from Emanuel Bach’s
keyboard sonata in D minor Wq 50.4 is included alongside works by Mozart, Hummel, and others,
together with Benda’s pedagogical instructions for playing an Adagio. The third of these items, SA
4550, is the Fugen-Sammlung (Leipzig, 1758) published by the Berlin theorist and composer F. W.
Marpurg, which includes Emanuel Bach’s keyboard fugue in D minor Wq 119.2 and his motet
Kommt, lasset uns anbeten und knien Wq deest (H. 865).
The last and most interesting of the Bach items documented here is SA 4519, an anonymous
copy in Kirnberger’s hand of the Canon alla decima in contrapunto alla terza (Canon at the Tenth
in Counterpoint at the Third) from the Art of Fugue (BWV 1080.16).8 The manuscript has been
overlooked because it bears neither title page nor attribution. Whereas the work as published shortly
after J. S. Bach’s death appears on two staves (using soprano and tenor clefs), Kirnberger lays out
his copy on four staves in such a way as to illustrate the variety of invertible counterpoint on which
the piece is based. Measures 1–39 comprise a normal canon at the tenth, with the lower voice pre-
ceding the upper voice. At m. 40 the two voices exchange roles: the upper part, originally the
comes, becomes the dux and restates matter from mm. 1–39 an octave higher, whereas the lower
part, originally the dux, becomes the comes and restates matter from mm. 5–39 a tenth lower (in
mm. 40–43 the lower voice contains free material). As a result, mm. 44–78 comprise a restatement
of mm. 5–78 transformed into a canon at the octave. The last four measures (mm. 79–82) are a free
coda ending with a cadenza.
Kirnberger’s copy is an analytical score that presents the two halves of the piece simultaneously.
Measures 1–39 appear on the two upper staves (using treble and bass clefs); mm. 40–79 appear on
7
SA 4114 was brought to the attention of Wolfram Enßlin in time to be included in Die Bach-Quellen der Sing-
Akademie zu Berlin (see vol. 1, p. 331).
8
The handwriting in SA 4519 is identical to that in the contrapuntal exercises in Kirnberger’s hand in other Sing-
Akademie sources; cf. SA 3287 and compare the handwriting samples shown in Enßlin, Die Bach-Quellen der
Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, vol. 2, pp. 582/583 (illustrations 30/31).
Introduction 101

Authenticated
Mary Oleskiewicz
the two lower staves (also using treble and bass clefs). Following m. 39, m. 40 also appears on the
top two staves at the end of the last page, but beneath it Kirnberger writes only two custodes indicat-
ing the initial pitches of m. 79; otherwise the last four measures are absent. Hence the copy is in-
complete and could not have been used for performance. Rather it was evidently intended for study
of the invertible counterpoint at the third or tenth that the piece demonstrates.
Telemann sources
The large number of sources and unica transmitting the music of Telemann underscores the com-
poser’s influence on musical composition and performance in 18th-century Berlin. The court com-
poser Quantz highly recommended the study of Telemann’s quartets as compositional models.9
Three additional sources for chamber works by this composer have been identified since the initial
filming of the Telemann sources in the present collection. One of these (SA 3584) is a copy of TWV
43:G6, described in Martin Ruhnke’s Telemann catalog (TWV) as a quartet whose instrumentation
includes recorder.10 Here, however, the work’s title page reads CONCERTO Per il Flauto Traverso,
Hautbois, Violino, e Basso. This set of parts, copied by the scribe known as Palestrina II, belonged
to the salonnière Sara Levy (1761–1854), whose extensive music library became part of the Sing-
Akademie collection. The same work also occurs in score form in SA 3559, in a copy by the Berlin
court scribe Johann Gottlieb Freudenberg; it is the sixth item in a convolute of 21 scores of Tele-
mann’s quartets and sonatas (including one unique work) that evidently belonged to Agricola.11 Ag-
ricola owned copies of other works by other composers in the collection, including scores for con-
certos by C. P. E. Bach, Quantz, and Handel. Telemann’s trio in E major for two flutes and bass,
TWV 42:E1 (SA 3799), attributed to Handel in the source, is also from Sara Levy’s collection. The
third and final new source documented here comprises a set of manuscript parts to Telemann’s quin-
tet in F minor for two violins, two violas and bass, TWV 44:32 (SA 3585).
Provenance
As in the cases of Kirnberger and Agricola, some of the items come from the personal music collec-
tions of the composers themselves, whereas others stem from the private libraries of music dilet-
tantes and collectors in Berlin who had close connections to the Sing-Akademie, such as Zelter’s
friend Possin; the bookseller, music lover and writer Friedrich Nicolai; and the amateur keyboard
players Carl Jacob Christian Klipfel and Sara Levy.12 Nicolai’s collection is represented by twenty-
9
See Mary Oleskiewicz, “Quantz’s Quatuors and Other Works Newly Discovered,” Early Music 31 (2003): p.
490. On Telemann’s influence on Quantz more generally, see Steven Zohn, “New Light on Quantz’s Advocacy of
Telemann’s Music,” Early Music 25 (1997): pp. 441–461.
10
Martin Ruhnke, Thematisch-systematischer Verzeichnis seiner Werke: Telemann-Werkeverzeichnis (TWV): In-
strumentalwerke (Kassel, Bärenreiter, 1984).
11
In the same convolute (SA 3559) Agricola copied items no. 1 (TWV 43:D3), 12 (TWV 43:g1), 13 (TWV 43:D1),
14 (TWV 43:G1), 15 (TWV 43:A1), 16 (TWV 43:e1), 17 (TWV 43:h1), 18 (TWV 43;d1), and 19 (TWV 43:e2).
Two items, nos. 10 (TWV 53:A2) and 11 (TWV 53:F1) were copied by a hand identified elsewhere as the Berlin
court scribe Siebe; cf. Tobias Schwinger, Die Musikaliensammlung Thulemeier und die Berliner Musiküber-
lieferung in der zweiten Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts, (Beeskow: Ortus, 2006), p. 359 (illustration 2.84). The
unique Telemann work is the seventh item in the convolute, a sonata in A major for strings and bass, TWV 44:35.
12
Klipfel’s son Carl Wilhelm was an amateur violist who became a member of the Sing-Akademie in 1810. See the
preface by Tobias Schwinger to Symphonies, Concertos and Overtures, part 3 of The Collection of the Sing-
102 Introduction

Authenticated
four examples of trio sonatas by Fux, Janitsch, Kirnberger, Telemann, Bach and others, including
unique trio sonatas by the Grauns, Schaffrath, and Christian Gottfried Krause. At least 18 scores and
parts belonging to Klipfel, which he mostly copied himself, are also cataloged here. These comprise
primarily trio sonatas and sinfonias, especially by Kleinknecht (see below). The most significant
private collection of chamber music represented in this catalog is that of Sara Levy, who studied
with W. F. Bach. Levy’s collection comprises over 183 items of chamber music, excluding numer-
ous items previously published in this series under concertos and sinfonias and those that will ap-
pear in the supplements.13 The Levy sources include a substantial number of previously lost or un-
known compositions, many in unique copies. Especially numerous among the unica are quartets by
Janitsch, sonatas and trios by J. G. Graun, and trios, overtures, and sinfonias by Kirnberger. The
scribal hands, paper, and format of certain items from her collection show that some of these
sources were copied for use in the famous private concerts of the flute-playing Friedrich II. Among
these are sonatas for flute and continuo by Friedrich himself (Spitta nos. 111, 48, 62, 21, and 12, in
SA 4061, 4062, 4069, 4070, 4071).14
Although Levy herself played the keyboard, there is a curiously strong complement of works that
feature viola or flute, or the two instruments combined, some of them important compositions in
unique copies. Apart from the three duets for two violas by W. F. Bach (SA 3921), Levy’s works
for viola included solo sonatas by Berlin court violist Balthasar Bertram (SA 3350), two solo sona-
tas by Franz Benda (SA 3357, 3358), the second of which is unique, and twelve works for two vio-
las by “Tartino” (SA 3970, 3993).15 Among the trios is one for two violas and bass by Sammartini
(SA 3858). Another, for two flutes and viola without continuo, bears an original attribution to “Sr.
Bach Bückeburg” (presumably Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach) that was later altered to “Fr: W:”
(SA 3646). The piece is certainly not by W. F. Bach, although Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach is a
possibility. Another, for flute, viola and bass, is attributed here to Schale (SA 3827) but elsewhere
to “Graun” and “Martini”.16 This is not to mention various trios for flute, viola and bass by J. G. and
C. H. Graun (SA 3667, 3676, 3694, 3759) and by Leopold Hofmann (SA 4875–4877). She also
owned trios for violin, viola, and bass by the Grauns (SA 3666, 3700), Johann Gottfried Schwanen-
berger (SA 3824)17 and Handel (SA 3803). A number of quartets by Janitsch, especially several with
fugues, feature interesting writing for the viola (SA 3431 and 3442, both unique; also 3432, 3433,
3434, and 3447). Outstanding as well for their independent viola parts are the six quartets for flute,
violin, viola and basso continuo by Quantz, which are mentioned in the composer’s biography but
were unknown until they were identified in the unique copies from the Levy collection.18 Only the
Akademie zu Berlin, pp.11/12, 17/18. See also Ingolf Sellack, “Possin, Johann Samuel Carl, Die Musik in Ge-
schichte und Gegenwart: Personenteil (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2005), vol. 13, col. 820.
13
See Axel Fischer and Matthias Kornemann, The Bach Collection in the Archive of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin,
München 2003; ibid., The Telemann Collection in the Archive of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, München 2003;
and ibid., Symphonies, Concertos and Overtures, part 3 of The Collection of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin,
München: Saur, 2008.
14
SA 4061 also transmits a court wrapper for the sonata Spitta no. 107. Other sources for Friedrich’s sonatas in
court copies not bearing Levy’s library stamp are 4063, 4064, 4067, 4068, and 4070, the latter being a direct copy
of a court score (Spite nos. 26, 67, 103, 67, and 21).
15
By “Tartino” is probably meant the violinist Giuseppi Tartini, who had been J.G. Graun’s teacher. The attribution
is in any case uncertain, as Tartini is not known to have written such pieces.
16
See GraunWV D:XV:141, which, however, omits the SA concordance.
17
Schwanenberger, a pupil of Hasse, was Kapellmeister to the Duke of Brunswick from 1762 to 1802.
18
See Mary Oleskiewicz, “Quantz’s Quatuors and Other Works Newly Discovered,” Early Music 31 (2003): 484–
505. These works were the first from the Sing-Akademie collection to be published and recorded after its return
to Berlin: see Johann Joachim Quantz: Six Quartets for Flute, Violin, Viola, and Basso Continuo, edited by Mary
Introduction 103

Authenticated
Mary Oleskiewicz
third of the six Quantz quartets is filmed in the present installment of the microfiche edition (SA
3509); the other five (SA 2930–2934) were mistakenly inventoried as part of a parcel of Quantz’s
flute concertos.
Levy’s collection is also an important source generally for flute works of Quantz, featuring more
than 80 manuscript scores and sets of parts, mainly solo sonatas19 and concertos. In addition to the
Telemann works mentioned above, Levy also owned unique copies of duets for two flutes by Tele-
mann, TWV40:141–9 (SA 3903), which were known previously only from excerpts notated in
Quantz’s pedagogical anthology of excerpts known as the Solfeggi.20 She also possessed a trio so-
nata for two flutes in G major by Kleinknecht (SA 3810) and many unique quartets with viola by
Schaffrath (SA 3537 and 3543) and Graun, not to mention a quintet and several sextets.21 Her col-
lection also includes a set of parts for a concerto for two flutes in C major (SA 4463) by Johann Ad-
olph Hasse.
Keyboard Music
The collection of chamber music overall contains numerous keyboard works, including a very large
number of items (mostly manuscript copies) containing works of C. P. E. Bach. Many of the latter,
in a hand identified as that of the collector Possin, appear to have been the products of an effort to
assemble a complete set of the composer’s keyboard works, as suggested by the copyist’s entering
near the top of many of these manuscripts numbers corresponding to those in Emanuel Bach’s “Cla-
vier-Verzeichnis” (SA 4132, see above).22 Although most of Possin’s copies have yet to be carefully
examined, a number of them appear to transmit otherwise unknown versions of the musical text, al-
though how he might have obtained unique, perhaps early, versions of C. P. E. Bach’s music cannot
be explained.23
Apart from several works in SA 4550 (described above), the Emanuel Bach keyboard music
sources have already been published in the Bach series. Many of the manuscripts and prints of key-
board music by others either contain works well known today from other sources, or else are ar-
rangements or works of little apparent significance by quite minor composers. Among the few auto-
graphs are a fantasia by Heinrich Christoph Koch, better known as a theorist (SA 4535); six unique
sonatas by Johann Ludwig Krebs, a pupil of J. S. Bach (SA 4536); and one or two unique works by
Possin, best known as a copyist of works by Emanuel Bach (SA 4507, 4624). Already published
among the Bach sources is Sebastian’s famous autograph of the D-minor double concerto of Vivaldi
arranged for organ, BWV 596, which bears a falsified attribution to Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (SA
4718).
Oleskiewicz (Ann Arbor: Steglein, 2004); and Johann Joachim Quantz: Six Quartets for Flute, Violin, Viola, and
Continuo, HCD 32286 (Hungaroton Classic, 2004).
19
In the Supplement see SA 4820–4832. Her library stamp is lacking only in SA 4820 and 4826.
20
Georg Philipp Telemann: Neun Sonaten für zwei Traversflöten ohne Bass TWV 40:141–149, edited by Ralph-
Jürgen Reipsch (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2006); see also Fischer und Kornemann, Die Telemann-Sammlung aus dem
Archiv der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin.
21
The Graun quartets in Levy’s collection include SA 3371, 3374–3385; the quintet is SA 3370; the sextetts are SA
3303–05. Levi’s collection is also the provenance of at least 68 trios by the Graun brothers.
22
Many of the individual items have been described in relevant volumes of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: The Com-
plete Works, especially vols. I/3 (“Probestücke,” “Leichte” and “Damen” Sonatas, edited by David Schulenberg)
and I/8.2 (Miscellaneous Keyboard Music II, edited by Peter Wollny).
23
See details of Possin’s readings for C. P. E. Bach’s keyboard sonatas W. 54 in Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: The
Complete Works, vol. I/3; for the composer’s keyboard concertos W. 4 and 6 in ibid., vol. III/2 (forthcoming).
104 Introduction

Authenticated
Taken as a whole, the collection of keyboard works constitutes a remarkably wide-ranging selec-
tion of the keyboard music that was evidently available in northern Europe and used especially by
amateur players during the decades around 1800. Thus the collection contains a substantial portion
of the keyboard works printed by north-German composers of the later eighteenth century, such as
Georg Benda, Carl Fasch, Nichelmann, Johann Wilhelm Häßler, Hertel, and Daniel Gottlob Türk, as
well as anthologies published by Marpurg, Johann Carl Friedrich Rellstab, and others. There are al-
so significant numbers of Austrian keyboard compositions, including printed works by Haydn and
Beethoven, and manuscript copies of suites by Wagenseil. A few earlier printed works are also in-
cluded, among them publications by Handel and several French clavecinistes that perhaps remained
in the repertoire of at least a few Berlin keyboard players throughout the period.
Evidently an important category of music for members of the Sing-Akademie were overtures and
symphonies arranged for piano (for two or for four hands). Marpurg published such arrangements as
early as 1761, and the Berlin publishing offices of Rellstab and Hummel provided further examples,
represented here, that mark a continuation into the nineteenth century of the tradition of playing or-
chestral and operatic music at the keyboard, presumably for private or domestic use rather than in
public concerts. Even more numerous are copies and prints of dances, character pieces, and other
short, probably pedagogic works by Kirnberger, Carl Fasch, Ernst Wilhelm Wolf, and Türk, as well
as other north-German composers’ sonatas, sometimes alongside those of Emanuel Bach (as in SA
4260). Printed collections, such as Marpurg’s Raccolta delle più nuove omposizioni [sic] di Clavi-
cembalo (Leipzig 1756 und 1757) (SA 4557), contained works of court composers Bach, Nichel-
mann, Schale, Seyffarth, Kirnberger, Rackemann and others, claiming to present works in the taste
of amateurs or, as in Carl Benda’s Sechs Adagio’s mentioned above, to educate the latter in expres-
sive playing. Another popular category of the time is the accompanied sonata, represented here by a
relatively small number of items, mostly by south German or Austrian composers such as Haydn
and Pleyel.
Possibly the most important of the keyboard items is the Froberger manuscript SA 4450, a copy
probably of the late seventeenth century containing toccatas, suites, and other pieces, all previously
known but given here in some cases in uniquely authoritative texts and with otherwise unknown
headings and other rubrics.24 Also in the collection are exemplars of two rare early Froberger edi-
tions (SA 4440 and 4446), as well as several suites with fanciful titles such as “Der Naseweise Or-
gelprobierer” and “Der Clavier Trampler” that bear doubtful attributions to him (SA 4442–4445), in
copies by the Berlin organist Johann Peter Lehmann. Another group of manuscripts bearing the na-
me of a major Viennese composer, many of them unica, is a long series of suites attributed to Gott-
lieb Muffat (SA 4531, 4573–4595).
The significance of the collection
These sources have already begun to change our understanding of many composers and of chamber
music in eighteenth-century Berlin. New concordances for important works by Carl Philipp
Emanuel Bach have provided the basis for a new edition of his sonatas for flute and continuo (SA
4775, 4808–4816), works which until now existed primarily in unique copies.25 Autographs and
24
See the facsimile edition with transcription, edited by Peter Wollny and the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, as Johann
Jacob Froberger: Toccaten, Suiten, Lamenti: Die Handschrift SA 4450 der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin: Faksimile
und Übertragung. 2., durchgesehene Auflage (Berlin: Bärenreiter, 2006).
25
Edited by Mary Oleskiewicz in Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: Solo Sonatas, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: The Com-
plete Works, vol. II/1 (Los Altos: Packard Humanities Institute, 2008). Further sources from the Sing-Akademie
Introduction 105

Authenticated
Mary Oleskiewicz
copies of works by his brother Wilhelm Friedemann will serve a similar purpose, although impor-
tant sources known to have been in the Sing-Akademie archive, including autograph scores for a
number of his keyboard sonatas and for his trio sonatas for two flutes and continuo, remain missing.
Already published in the series of Bach works are several other sources, notably the remarkable
manuscript SA 3650, which contains not only fragments of two trio sonatas of Friedemann Bach in
autograph scores but a set of counterpoint studies written jointly by Friedemann and his father Jo-
hann Sebastian during the 1730s.26 An anthology of keyboard sonatas, the Œuvres mêlées published
by Haffner (Nuremberg, 1755/56), includes a work by Kleinknecht alongside music by C. P. E.
Bach and others (SA 4600).27
An intense cultivation of works of the Graun brothers in Berlin is not surprising. The large num-
ber of newly available compositions by the two will undoubtedly help to sort out thorny questions
of style and attribution between Johann Gottlieb and Carl Heinrich Graun. Already, work on the
Graun sources has begun to clarify one area of activity special to Berlin and uniquely documented
by items in the Sing-Akademie collection: trio and quartet sonatas that feature the viola da gamba
alongside other string instruments and continuo.28 Also valuable in these sources is the documenta-
tion of performance practice, as in a set of Berlin performing parts for a trio sonata (GraunWV
B:XV:54, here, however, in C-Dur), for oboe, violin and basso continuo, which features a rare ex-
ample of the double cadenzas played by two melody instruments at the end of a first, slow move-
ment. Not unlike those provided by Kleinknecht (see SA 3807, below), this cadenza further substan-
tiates an important aspect of Berlin performance practice described by Quantz, but which is other-
wise difficult to document concretely.29
New concordances for known works will continue to be identified, such as a trio E-flat major for
two flutes composed at Dresden by Quantz (QV 2:17), previously known from a single Dresden
manuscript and falsely attributed to “Benda” in the Sing-Akademie source (SA 3345). 30 The large
convolute manuscript SA 3888, which contains over 40 anonymous works for two flutes, contains
further concordances for Quantz’s Dresden trio sonatas, including one in D major for two flutes
(QV 2:15, as item no. 38). Other works identified in the convolute thus far are by Pichler, Hasse,
Heinichen, Telemann and Boismortier.
In addition, manuscript scores and sets of parts trio sonatas bearing the attribution di Kleinknecht
– presumably referring to Johann Friedrich Kleinknecht, the best known composer of the family – in
the hands of Berlin scribes show the importance of these works in the Berlin chamber music orbit.
This is not surprising in view of the close relations between the courts of Berlin and Bayreuth, whe-
re Friedrich’s sister Wilhelmine and her husband Markgrave Friedrich of Kulmbach-Bayreuth, a flu-
collection will inform vols. II/2.1–2 (trio sonatas) and 3.1–2 (sonatas for obligato keyboard and one melody in-
strument) in the edition.
26
Further discussion by Peter Wollny, “Ein Quellenfund in Kiew: Unbekannte Kontrapunkstudien von Johann Se-
bastian Bach und Wilhelm Friedemann Bach” in Bach in Leipzig – Bach und Leipzig: Konferenzbericht Leipzig
2000, edited by Ulrich Leisinger (Hildesheim: Olms, 2002), pp. 275–287.
27
See Enßlin, Die Bach-Quellen der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, pp. 406/407.
28
See Michael O’Loghlin, Frederick the Great and His Musicians: The Viola Da Gamba Music of the Berlin
School (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008).
29
For this and other cadenzas, see Mary Oleskiewicz, “The Art of the Cadenza: Improvisation and Composition in
Eighteenth-Century Sonatas and Concertos for Flute,” in Geschichte, Bauweise und Spieltechnik der Querflöte:
27. Musikinstrumentenbau-Symposium Michaelstein, 6. bis 8. Oktober 2006, hrsg. von Boje E. Hans Schmuhl mit
Monika Lustig (Augsburg: Wißner, 2008), 237–262. This cadenza is transcribed on p. 258.
30
The trio QV 2:17, which is also known as QV 2: Anh. 10, has been edited (from the only previously known
source) in Johann Joachim Quantz: Seven Trio Sonatas, edited by Mary Oleskiewicz (Middleton: A-R Editions,
2001).
106 Introduction

Authenticated
te pupil of Quantz, intensely cultivated chamber music. Kleinknecht served at Bayreuth alongside
two of his brothers until 1769, when he became court composer at Ansbach.
Kleinknecht’s chamber works in the archive include both scores and parts (mostly trio sonatas for
flutes or flute, violin, and continuo, a number of them unique) from Klipfel’s collection (SA 2372,
2375, 2376, 2378, 3807, 3808). One of these, a copy of a unique trio in F major for two flutes (SA
3807, missing its first flute part), is especially interesting for its cadenza for two flutes, presumably
by the composer and transmitted in full in the second flute part.31 A further set of manuscript parts
(SA 3535) transmits Kleinknecht’s three trios for two flutes and basso continuo (here anonymous),
published in 1749 in Nuremberg. A manuscript copied by Johannes Ringk, organist of the Berlin
Marienkirche, contains a concordance to Kleinknecht’s trio sonata in D major (D Bha Sig Flotow),
here in the previously lost version for flute and obligato keyboard. The score to a flute concerto cop-
ied by Klipfel bears the inscription “B[erlin] d[en] 2 Marti 1758” – possibly the date of a perform-
ance – as well as the attribution da Giac. Fed. Kleinknecht (SA 2780).
Other items of special interest include SA 4060, a huge manuscript of lute music by de Launay,
Ennemond Gaultier, Jacques Gallot, and others. The convolute SA 4125 (item no. 9) includes a
unique sonata for flute or recorder and continuo by Vivaldi (RV 806)32, alongside numerous
anonymous and also possibly unique works.
Performance and Musical Life in Berlin
These sources are invaluable not only for preserving many otherwise unknown compositions but for
the light they shed on the musical life of Berlin during the later eighteenth and early nineteenth cen-
turies. They document not only the repertory of the Sing-Akademie and the many collectors from
whom individual items were acquired, but also the repertory heard in the city’s diverse public and
private concerts. Many of these sources were undoubtedly used in performances at court or by the
various musical academies that hosted weekly concerts in the city; some items bear performance
dates showing evidence of use by Zelter’s Ripienschule, the instrumental ensemble founded by Zel-
ter in 1807 that complemented the Sing-Akademie’s vocal activities.
In addition to playing at the opera and in the private concerts of Friedrich II, which took place in
his palaces at Potsdam, Charlottenburg and Berlin, musicians of the Prussian court participated in
numerous performances at other courtly and private locales in the capital. Various members of the
royal family sponsored court concerts from the 1740s, although during the Seven Years’ War
(1756–63) these concerts took place less frequently. Queen Mother Sophia Dorothea held concerts
at Monbijou palace and at the Berlin city palace (Stadtschloss), where in 1753 Emanuel Bach play-
ed for the court on a new keyboard instrument, the Bogen-Clavier;33 these concerts were reported,
albeit only cursorily, in the Berlin newspapers.34 Friedrich’s queen Elisabeth Christine also spon-
sored frequent concerts involving members of the royal Kapelle at Schloss Schönhausen and the
Stadtschloss. Princess Anna Amalia, a keyboard player, composer, and collector of musical scores,
31
This cadenza is transcribed in Mary Oleskiewicz, “The Art of the Cadenza,” p. 259.
32
RV 806 has been recorded by the Modo Antiquo Ensemble, Vivaldi – New Discoveries, NAI 30480 (Naive,
2008).
33
The instrument was built by Johann Hohlfeld (1711–70); see Heinrich Miesner, “Aus der Umwelt Philipp Ema-
nuel Bachs” Bach-Jahrbuch 34 (1937): 142.
34
A list of concerts announced in the Berlin press is given by Christoph Henzel, “Das Konzertleben der Preusischen
Hauptstadt 1740–1786 im Spiegel der Berliner Presse” Jahrbuch des Staatlichen Instituts für Musikforschung
Preußischer Kulturbesitz 2004 (Mainz: Schott, 2005), p. 229–291.
Introduction 107

Authenticated
Mary Oleskiewicz
had her own music rooms (furnished with house organs) in the Berlin Stadtschloss and in her later
residence at Unter den Linden 7, where chamber music was no doubt performed. She too hosted
concerts at various palaces in the city and was known to accompany solos by members of the
Kapelle and honored guests.35 Friedrich too sometimes hosted chamber concerts in the Stadtschloss,
and Schloss Oranienburg provided still another venue for concerts.
From the 1740s onward, concerts were given also by members of the nobility, including Mar-
graves Karl and Heinrich of Brandenburg-Schwedt. Concerts were also given by high-ranking mili-
tary officers such as Georg Siegmund von Schweinichen, a major in the regiment Gens d’Armes,
and his brother Georg Friedrich, a Stabskapitan in the regiment of Margrave Karl.36
Such concerts created additional demand for chamber music in Berlin. Already in 1738, when
Nichelmann moved to Berlin, he found that the “frequent concerts and music-making in various
houses created for him the opportunity to acquire many patrons and friends.”37 Marpurg, in his de-
scription of the Berlin concert scene in 1754, noted that one could frequently hear music performed
and that amateurs had ample opportunity to study music with skilled masters. Marpurg reported not
only that concerts were frequently given in large and private houses, but that a number of musical
academies had been formed in the city for the promotion of music.38 Musicians from the royal and
princely Prussian courts, including Quantz, the Bendas, Emanuel Bach and others appeared at these
concerts in performances of their own compositions.
The Berlin music academies had their beginnings in Rheinsberg, where the crown prince’s bass
player Johann Gottlieb Janitsch founded a public concert series for the town’s amateurs and the
court’s musicians. In Berlin these concerts continued at Janitsch’s home every Friday under the na-
me “Die Akademie.”39 Two court musicians followed Janitsch in establishing weekly concert series
in Berlin: the cellist and keyboardist Schale, whose “Assemblee” met every Monday, and the singer
and court composer Johann Friedrich Agricola, who hosted “Das Concert” on Saturdays.40 Vocal
music was heard at the latter, but otherwise the academies seem to have cultivated primarily instru-
mental music. Beginning in 1749, the Berlin Cathedral organist Johann Phillip Sack hosted an acad-
emy that gathered for three hours on Sundays. Called the “Musikübende Geselleschaft,” the society
comprised twenty official and honorary members, including court musicians (the flutist Riedt, who
for a time served as its director, and the violinist Seyffarth), Prussian military officers, and a mer-
chant banker.
Eyewitness accounts of such concerts are rare, but a student of C. P. E. Bach and Franz Benda
confirms Bach’s participation in an unnamed local concert. In October 1745 the violinist and key-
board player Hertel, from nearby Neustrelitz, heard Emanuel Bach perform his newly published
concerto Wq 11 on the harpsichord (Flügel), in addition to performances by the king’s opera singer
Paolo Bedeschi (“Paulino”) and the violinists Franz, Georg, and Joseph Benda:
35
A newspaper report shows that Amalia accompanied the cellist Antonius Hock in 1752 in a concert that she
hosted at Monbijou; in 1753 she accompanied the lute-playing Prince August Ludwig of Anhalt-Cöthen at the pi-
ano (Henzel, “Das Konzertleben der Preußischen Hauptstadt” pp. 246, 248).
36
Johann Wilhelm Hertel: Autobiographie, edited by Erich Schenk (Graz: Hermann Böhlaus Nachf., 1957), p. 34.
37
Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg, “Lebensläuffe verschiedener lebenden Tonkünstler” in his Historisch-Kritische Bey-
träge, vol. 1 (Berlin, 1755; facsimile, New York: Olms, 1970), p. 435.
38
Marpurg, “Entwurf einer ausführlichen Nachricht von der Musikübenden Gesellschaft zu Berlin,” Historisch-
Kritische Beyträge, 1: 386.
39
Pippa Drummond and Tina Dreisbach, “Janitsch, Johann Gottlieb” Grove Music Online, <www.grovemusic.com>,
accessed 12 June 2006.
40
Marpurg, “Entwurf einer ausführlichen Nachricht von der Musikübenden Gesellschaft zu Berlin” Historisch-
Kritische Beyträge, 1: p. 387.
108 Introduction

Authenticated
Here he heard Mr. Paulino sing, not only Mr. Franz Benda, but also his two younger brothers
Georg and Joseph on the violin and Mr. Philipp Emanuel Bach, who recently entered Prussian ser-
vice, who played a concerto on the keyboard, and namely the printed one in D major.
Hier hörte er den Herrn Paulino singen, nicht nur den Herrn Franz Benda, sondern auch seine
zween jüngste Brüder Georg und Joseph auf der Violine und den kurz vorher in Königl. Dienste ge-
tretenen H. Philip Emanuel Bach ein Concert auf dem Flügel, und zwar das gedruckte aus dem D
Dur spielen.41
During the Seven Years’ War, public concerts of chamber music mostly ceased, although the
lawyer and amateur musician Christian Gottfried Krause, a friend of Quantz’s, began to host private
concerts on Wednesdays. Friedrich Nicolai reports that he heard Quantz perform most of the flute
concertos he had composed up to that date in these wartime concerts.42 Available details about
Sack’s academy illustrate the context in which solos, trios, and concertos were heard and performed.
As in the grosse Hofkonzerte in Berlin, each concert began with a sinfonia or overture, followed by
seven to eight other selections in which players alternated in the performance of concertos, trios,
and solos; the society collected the best examples of such music.43
The Prussian court flutist Riedt and other members of the Kapelle regularly composed new works
to perform at these events. It is noteworthy that all the official members played flute, violin, or key-
board, as did many of the visitors; these were the instruments called for in the vast majority of solos
and trios by the Grauns, Emanuel Bach, Janitsch, Quantz, and other court musicians,44 as also in
most of the chamber works in the Sing-Akademie collection. The latter includes a few works by
both Riedt and Seyffarth for flute, violin, and keyboard. SA 3821 transmits a copy, previously ow-
ned by Possin, of Seyffarth’s C-major trio for flute and violin. Riedt is represented by sonatas for
one or two flutes and continuo, as well as sonatas for keyboard published in Marpurg’s Musi-
kalisches Allerley (Berlin, 1760–3; in SA 4565); trios for two flutes or flute and violin (Leipzig,
1758; in SA 3860 and SA 3859, both formerly owned by Friedrich Nicolai); and by a possibly
unique flute duet (SA 3525). In 1756–7, Sack himself published dance movements for keyboard as
part of Marpurg’s Raccolta (SA 4557) mentioned above, and, in 1760, songs (SA 4452).
Members of Sack’s Musikübende Gesellschaft performed every week, but other musicians and
amateurs were admitted to concerts, provided that they gave advance notification.45 A blind Berlin
musician named Friedrich Erlach is reported to have performed frequently at Sack’s concerts during
1754–5.46 Visiting members of the king’s Kapelle who performed regularly included Johann Joseph
Friedrich Lindner and Georg Wilhelm Kodowsky (flute), Zarth (flute or violin), the horn players
41
Johann Wilhelm Hertel: Autobiographie, p. 24.
42
Friedrich Nicolai, “Anekdoten von König Friedrich dem Zweiten von Preußen (1788–1792)” in his Gesammelte
Werke, vol. 7 (Hildesheim: Olms, 1985), 162fn. For Krause’s biography, see Carl Freiherrn von Ledebur, Ton-
künstler Lexicon Berlin’s von den ältesten Zeiten bis auf die Gegenwart (Berlin: Ludwig Raub, 1861), p. 297.
43
Kritische Beyträge, 1: p. 396.
44
The society’s official rules and proceedings name the following players for the smaller chamber works: flute:
Philipp Bogeslav von Heyden, George Christoph von Arnim, Friedrich Wilhelm Riedt (Royal Prussian Chamber
Musician); violin: Johann Gabriel Seyffarth (Royal Prussian Chamber Musician), Adolph Friedrich Wolff,
George Friedrich Reinbeck, Paul Jeremias Bitaubee; keyboard (Flügel): Philipp Sack, Christoph Wilhelm von
Schwerin, Johann Abraham Caps. See Marpurg, “Entwurf einer ausführlichen Nachricht von der Musikübenden
Gesellschaft zu Berlin” Historisch-Kritische Beyträge, 1: p. 408.
45
Kritische Beyträge, 1: p. 398/399.
46
For Erlach’s biography, see Carl Freiherrn von Ledebur, Tonkünstler Lexicon Berlin’s von den ältesten Zeiten bis
auf die Gegenwart (Berlin: Ludwig Raub, 1861), p. 138.
Introduction 109

Authenticated
Mary Oleskiewicz
Horzitsky and Menges, and the bassoonists Dümler, Lange, and Rühltau. The society’s rules explic-
itly allowed women as guests, and Marpurg even mentions performances on keyboard by a Hof-
dame from the queen’s court. Famous out-of-town musicians sometimes attended, including the el-
der Fasch from Zerbst (who heard one of his violin concertos performed) and the Zerbst concert-
master Höck. 47 Violin works by the latter are represented in several large convolute manuscripts
containing capriccios, many of them unique (SA 4040, 4044, and 4055), and by several sonatas with
basso continuo, in SA 4046 and 4047. Fasch himself is represented by a unique trio sonata for two
flutes in E minor that may well have been intended for this organization.48
Following the Seven Years War, new venues for public concerts arose in the city, as well private
house concerts too numerous to be documented here. In 1770 Ernst Friedrich Benda, violinist in the
royal Kapelle and nephew of the composer Georg Benda together with the violist Carl Ludwig
Bachmann founded the so-called “Liebhaber-Concerte,” which took place on Fridays during winter
and once a month during summer. After Benda’s death in 1785, these concerts continued until 1797
under Bachmann’s leadership. As in Sack’s academy, a predominantly amateur orchestra was ador-
ned in performance with virtuoso soloists. Similar but shorter-lived venues included the “Concert
spirituel,” founded by Reichardt, and the “Concert für Kenner und Liebhaber,” founded in 1787 by
the music publisher Johann Karl Friedrich Rellstab, son of a Berlin book printer and pupil of Agri-
cola and Fasch.49 These concerts featured not only instrumental works by Emanuel Bach, Haydn,
and Zelter, but also excerpts from opera and large choral works with orchestra and soloists, in which
dilettantes, especially members of the Sing-Akademie, including Zelter, and court musicians par-
ticipated. Despite the high musical level of these performances, the expense of the concerts cause
them to be discontinued, but Rellstab continued thereafter to hold private, biweekly house concerts
in his home until the outbreak of war in 1806.
How the present sources relate to such activities will become clearer as scholars continue to iden-
tify and evaluate these sources. There can be no question that careful investigation of the chamber
music listed in this volume will reveal further information about the history of musical performance
not only in Berlin but elsewhere in eighteenth-century Europe.50
47
Kritische Beyträge, 1: pp. 408–410.
48
In SA 2184, cataloged in Sinfonien, Konzerte und Ouvertüren, part 3 of Die Sammlung der Sing-Akademie zu
Berlin. On this work, see Mary Oleskiewicz, “Eine wieder entdeckte Triosonate von Johann Friedrich Fasch” in
Musik an der Zerbster Residenz: Bericht über die Internationale Wissenschaftliche Konferenz vom 10. bis 12. Ap-
ril 2008 im Rahmen der 10. Internationalen Fasch-Festtage in Zerbst (Beeskow: Ortus, 2009), pp. 269–280.
49
For Rellstab’s biography, see Carl Freiherrn von Ledebur, Tonkünstler Lexicon Berlin’s von den ältesten Zeiten
bis auf die Gegenwart (Berlin: Ludwig Raub, pp. 451–453.
50
I am grateful to Axel Fischer and Mattias Kornemann of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin for information that was
valuable for the preparation of this essay.
110 Introduction

Authenticated

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Myths and legends:

The restitution of the Berlin Sing-Akademie Archive1

By Axel Fischer and Matthias Kornemann

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Cataloguing the archive

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Sacred vocal works 17,8 %

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Brought to you by | UCL - University College London

Brought to you by | UCL - University College London

Brought to you by | UCL - University College London

Brought to you by | UCL - University College London

Brought to you by | UCL - University College London

Brought to you by | UCL - University College London

The genesis of the collection

The Fasch era

Brought to you by | UCL - University College London

The Zelter era

Brought to you by | UCL - University College London

Brought to you by | UCL - University College London

The Zelter catalogue

Brought to you by | UCL - University College London

Brought to you by | UCL - University College London

Zelter Presumed contents Remarks

Brought to you by | UCL - University College London

Zelter Presumed contents Remarks

Brought to you by | UCL - University College London

Important source complexes 32

The “Alt-Bachisches Archiv”

Johann Sebastian Bach

Brought to you by | UCL - University College London

Wilhelm Friedemann Bach

Brought to you by | UCL - University College London

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

The instrumental music

Brought to you by | UCL - University College London

Brought to you by | UCL - University College London

The vocal music

Brought to you by | UCL - University College London

The remaining Bach family

Brought to you by | UCL - University College London

Brought to you by | UCL - University College London

Brought to you by | UCL - University College London