Finds from the music library

A lot of things end up in the library of the University of the Arts in the Department of Music via winding paths, are donated by private individuals to the first floor of the building and are kept there by the collector.

It is actually a small piece of paper, and only a copy at that, but its size of just under 15 x 19 cm is striking. It is a contemporary document, an advertisement in black and white, a lot of printer's ink has been used to present what is depicted, in this case white on black.

It is about Berlin's eventful history, dating back to around the time of the “Greater Berlin Act”, when 20 administrative districts were formed by incorporation in 1920 and Berlin as a whole, as a metropolis, was formed in the first place.  The Königliche Hausbibliothek Berlin plays a decisive role in the find. King Frederick William IV's librarian, Charles Duvinage, suggested that a Hohenzollern house library be established, and so it was: King William I decreed in 1862/63 that the holdings of his predecessor should be used as a starting point, with 20,000 volumes being mentioned. The first step was to locate them in the rooms of the former Kunstkammer of the Berlin Palace. Soon the music from the possessions of Frederick the Great and Frederick William II from Sanssouci Palace and the New Palace were added, followed in 1865 by the holdings of Queen Luise and from the Royal Palace, the Crown Prince's Palace, the share of Frederick William III, enriched a few years later by the treasures of Frederick William II from the Berlin Palace.

The amalgamation of the various collections of the individual Hohenzollerns continued. In 1874, the art historian and librarian Robert Dohme moved the library to the second floor of the impressive Spree wing of the Berlin Palace. Further bequests of Frederick the Great from Potsdam and Breslau (Silesian Wars) were added, as were the books of Frederick William II from the so-called Gothic Library in the New Palace in 1897.

Also worth mentioning is the collection from Montbijou Palace, the “jewel” (Hohenzollern Museum since 1877), which was integrated in 1899.

The centralization of the holdings at the aforementioned location in the Berlin Palace soon reached its limits. In 1906, space constraints forced the museum to relocate some of its holdings to the New Pavilion in Charlottenburg Palace Park (this was reversed in 1923 due to climatic conditions). Nevertheless, it became possible to offer opening hours for “every educated person” from 1902 onwards, with records listing three to five hours in the morning.

The political world situation led to changes, bottlenecks and great losses from the start of the war in 1914: the Royal House Library offered a collection point at Behrenstraße 41, where books were to be made available to stock field and military hospital libraries, according to the institution's chronicle. The above-mentioned advertisement also comes into play. The find documents that it was also about the receipt of “musical items” for soldiers: sheet music was requested, especially “male choirs, piano albums, music for violin, zither, guitar, as well as military music and salon orchestras”. The delivery address is given as Sheet Music Donation Department of the Royal House Library, Berlin with the address C 2, Royal Palace. The preferred materials correspond to the taste of the time at the turn of the century: This includes a preference for male choirs and the uplifting and supportive military music. The desire for sheet music for salon orchestra is more for relaxation and entertainment. This included arrangements of movements of classical music for large salon orchestras, but also reduced versions that could be enhanced with piano direction or a standing violinist and other instrumentalists. From England came the fashion for social gatherings at “tea dances”. For decades, publishers also supplied repertoire for this, which was often geared towards certain stylistic music requests, e.g. “Dance tea with Cole Porter”.

Due to the world wars, but also the political moves of the SED regime, there were great losses among the population. Buildings were also abandoned due to ideological reservations: Berlin Palace was blown up in 1950/51 and Montbijou Palace was demolished in 1959. Not all of the removed holdings were returned to Berlin.