The historical archive of the Schott music publishing house in Mainz, Germany is one of the largest and most significant music archives both locally and on a larger, worldwide scale. Since 2017 the Bavarian State Library (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek) along with the Berlin State Library (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz) and other German institutions has been working on its documentation and online presentation. The diversity and volume of the material in both rare editions and music manuscripts dating from ca. 1770 till the middle of the 20th century, as well as in business records, correspondence and local indexes signify the value and challenges involved in the project. The presentation attempts to delineate the role of scientific documentation in the research of music resources by taking Schott’s publishing history into account. Moreover, the specific steps being followed in rare material cataloging – from the moment of acquisition till its digitization – are being discussed and analyzed. Special emphasis is given on the use of reference materials for the purpose of determining dates of publication as well as on those factors that should be taken into account when designing and implementing the final online portal.

1. Schott Archive
D O C U M E N TAT I O N A N D P R E S E N TAT I O N O F I T S M U S I C C O L L E C T I O N

2. .Mainz1770 | Foundation
1780 | Privilegium Exclusivum (Mainz)

3. Munich
Bavarian
State Library
Focus on scores and administrative records.
Additionally it has received manuscripts as part
of the Production Archive (Herstellungsarchiv).
Some represented composers:
Joseph Haas (1879-1960)
Werner Egk (1901-1983)
Karl Amadeus Hartmann (1905-1963)
D R . S A B I N E K U R T H
B AY E R I S C H E S TA AT S B I B L I O T H E K | B S B

4. Berlin
Berlin
State Library
Focus on valuable manuscripts.
Some represented composers:
Hans von Bülow (1830-1894)
Luigi Nono (1924-1990)
Bohuslav Martinů (1890-1959)
Harald Genzmer (1909-2007)
Jean Françaix (1912-1997)
First draft of Richard Wagner’s libretto “Die
Meistersinger von Nürnberg”
D R . R O L A N D S C H M I D T- H E N S E L
S TA AT S B I B L I O T H E K Z U B E R L I N | S B B

5. .Akademie der Künste | Berlin
.Beethoven-Haus | Bonn
.Fondation Hindemith | Blonay
.Carl-Orff-Stiftung | Dießen
.Max-Reger-Institut | Karlsruhe
.UniBibliothek J. C. Senckenberg | Frankfurt

6. ca. 1787-1950
62000 Scores
22000 Manuscripts
P R O D U C T I O N
A R C H I V E
H E R S T E L L U N G S -
A R C H I V
Structure of
the Archive
Hauptbuch 1787-1808/09
Journal 1788-1808
4 Plate Registers
34 Print Registers
Administrative records
Correspondence (ca.
850000 pages)
other catalogs
Valuable correspondence,
music manuscripts and
autographs
600 Manuscripts
35000 Letters
ca. 1925-1950
4850 Scores
F I R S T E D I T I O N S
A R C H I V E 1 9 2 5 - 5 0
E R S TA U S G A B E N -
A R C H I V 1 9 2 5 - 5 0
4000 sources unrelated to Schott:
Manuscripts
Scores
Books
other documentation
O L D S C H O T T
A R C H I V E
A LT E S S C H O T T-
A R C H I V
B U S I N E S S &
C O R R E S P O N D E N C E
G E S C H Ä F T S A R C H I V
S A F E A R C H I V E
S A F E A R C H I V
B S B
B S B
S B B
B S B
B S B

7. Historic Musicology

8. G U I D O A D L E R
„ U m f a n g , M e t h o d e u n d Z i e l d e r M u s i k w i s s e n s c h a f t “ , i n :
V i e r t e l j a h r s s c h r i f t f ü r M u s i k w i s s e n s c h a f t 1 ( 1 8 8 5 ) , S . 1 6 F.

9. Publishing History
Distribution

10. Plate number is the number (with or without
initials) at the foot of the pages of engraved
music, which indicates the numerical position
of the score in its publisher’s output and
provides one of the few reliable clues to its
original publication date.
Additional sources for estimating the date of
publication are:
P L AT E N U M B E R S &
P U B L I C AT I O N D AT E
H O F M E I S T E R X I X ( 1 8 2 9 - 1 9 0 0 )
P U B L I S H E R ’ S A D D R E S S C H A N G E S
D E D I C AT I O N S
C U R R E N C Y
O T H E R R E F E R E N C E S O U R C E S

11. Plate Registers (Stichbücher ) Print Registers (Druckbücher )

12. Within the Production Archive are also scores
of other publishers to be found - Carl and
Georg Zulehner (Mainz / Eltville), Makarius
Falter (Munich) - whose plates were re-used by
Schott for his own production. These re-issues
would have an altered or brand new title page.
Titelauflagen as documentation tool:
Information gain from the title page of the
other source (e.g. in cases of missed or
destroyed title page).
Estimation of publication date (by means of
comparison between original and re-issue).
Contribution to research regarding
publishers’ relationships.
T I T E L A U F L A G E N
( R E - I S S U E S W I T H N E W T I T L E PA G E )

13. Zulehner, ca. 1813 Schott, 1818?

15. Antwerpen
Brussels
Paris
London
Sydney
S U B S I D I A R I E S
© t w i t t e r ( F L I C K R I M A G E # 8 7 9 8 0 2 2 0 1 9 | D E TA I L )

16. S U B S I D I A R I E S &
R E P R E S E N T E D W O R K S / C O M P O S E R S
V I S U A L I Z AT I O N

17. A Francfort sur le Mein, chez J. C. Gayl. | rue Weissadlergasse Let: F. No. 14
BIBLIOTHEK des Grossherzogl. Schullehrerseminars zu Friedberg
C. F. RICHTER | MAGASIN DE MUSIQUE A St PETERSBOURG
OTTO MAASS | Musikalien & Instrumenten-Handlung | WIEN | VI. MARIAHILFERSTR. 91
DEPT. D. MONT-TONNERRE 3 c
P R O V E N A N C E
S E A L S

18. Restauration
Digitization

19. Institute for Conservation
and Restoration (IBR)
Munich Digitization
Center (MDZ)

21. Mirador is a configurable,
extensible, and easy-to-integrate
image viewer, which enables image
annotation and comparison of
images from repositories dispersed
around the world. Mirador has
been optimized to display resources
from repositories that support the
International Image
Interoperability Framework (IIIF)
API’s.
It provides tools for bringing in
metadata, images, structures, and
can create, edit, delete, and view
annotations in Open Annotation
Format.
Mirador

22. .Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
.Bibliothèque nationale de France
.British Library
.The J. Paul Getty Trust
.Harvard University
.Indiana University
.MIT Libraries
.University of Oxford
IIIF

23. Schott Herstellungsarchiv
Musikabteilung | Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
Ludwigstr. 16
80539 München
e-mail: ilias.kyriazis@bsb-muenchen.de
I L I A S K Y R I A Z I S