“V.V. Bessel” Collection in the Russian National Museum of Music

Abstract

Vasily Vasilyevich Bessel (1843—1907) entered the history of Russian and world music culture as one of the largest music publishers. His company was occupying one of the leading positions in terms of production volume in the Russian music printing market in the late 19th — early 20th century. It was the company that first published many of works by Russian classical composers — A.G. Rubinstein, A.P. Borodin, P.I. Tchaikovsky, M.P. Mussorgsky, N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, and A.K. Lyadov. V.V. Bessel’s music publishing activities were connected with his works on the history of music printing in Russia and copyright. He left an extensive legacy in the form of numerous handwritten materials, now dispersed in various archives (mainly in Moscow and Saint Petersburg). The Russian National Museum of Music, Collection 42, holds one of the largest archives associated with V.V. Bessel. Major part of it makes up a separate collection called “V.V. Bessel”, which includes unofficial documents, responding mail, as well as literary manuscripts and photographic materials. Due to lack of comprehensive research of that documentary collection, this article provides a brief overview of its content, and the history of formation of V.V. Bessel’s collection. The main purpose of the research is to characterize both published and unknown sources. The article meets the relevant task of modern musicology: disclosure of Moscow and St. Petersburg archival collections. Many of the documents reviewed by the author are an important addition to the only monograph on V.V. Bessel, which belongs to the pen of N.F. Findzein. The article discusses, in more detail, the documents related to the literary weekly “Muzykal’nyi Listok [Musical Sheet]” (1872—1877), the first periodical published by “V. Bessel and Co.”, as well as the correspondence of December 1886 between V.V. Bessel and P.I. Tchaikovsky, which, at the latter’s initiative, ended all the composer’s personal and business contacts with his Petersburg publisher. This study expands the researchers’ understanding of the body of documents stored in the collection under consideration, the problems associated with them, and their prospects.