Staatsbibliothek Zu Berlin Research Articles

"Johann Friedrich Fasch und sein Wirkin für Zerbst," International Scholarly Conference on the Occasion of the Fifth International Fasch Festival, Zerbst, Germany, 18 and 19 April 1997

Friedrich und sein Wirkin fur International Scholarly Conference on the Occasion of the Fifth International Festival, Zerbst, 18 and 19 April 1997. Twenty scholars from Canada, the United States of America, Great Britain, Russia, and South Africa met on the occasion of the Fifth International Festival in Zerbst to present their research results on the life and works of Zerbst Court Kapellmeister Johann Friedrich (1688-1758). In contrast to two previous international conferences in 1993 and 1995 which have done little to advance our knowledge regarding Fasch's musical environment and his compositional process,1 the International Society headed by president Konstanze Musketa had lined up a number of specialists and paired them with experts on music of his contemporaries. Wolfgang Ruf (Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg) opened the conference with the provoking Friedrich - Meister zwischen den Epochen. His thesis is that Fasch's position is determined not by the technical innovations that are anticipated in his oeuvre, but by the crafted quality of his instrumental works and by the perfect fulfillment of his stylistic and generic norms of his time, i.e., by the late Baroque, provided a kind of leitmotif which resurfaced several times throughout the conference, particularly in the - at times animated - discussions after papers. Michael Saffle (Virginia Tech) examined Kapellmeisters and Musical Life in EighteenthCentury Germany, giving special attention to J.F. Fasch, G. P. Telemann, and J. S. Bach. Daniel G. Geldenhuys (University of South Africa) considered Friedrich and Catharine: A Russian-French and German Relationship and drew parallels between the courtly musical activities in St. Petersburg and Zerbst. Die hofische Musik am Zerbster Hof vor Johann Friedrich Fasch was the main focus of the presentation by Hans-George Hofmann (Halle); he reconstructed a chronological overview of the various types of musical performances which were offered at the Zerbst court prior to the year 1722 when assumed the position of Court Kapellmeister. Barbara Reul (University of Victoria) had examined a relatively unknown primary source held at the Landesarchiv Oranienbaum, the Konsistorium Zerbst 15a IXa chronicle which enabled her to provide dates for Fasch's largest collection of sacred cantatas at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preuβischer Kulturbesitz: the majority dates from 1735-36. Moreover, she pointed out that had repeated both his own cantata cycles and those written by other composers such as Telemann, G. H. Stolzel, and F. W. Zachau up to six times throughout his tenure. Ute Poetzsch (Zentrum fur Telemann-Pflege und -Forschung, Magdeburg) attempted to identify works by Telemann which had listed in a Zerbst music inventory in 1743, the Concert-Stude des Zerbster Schloβes; in addition, she determined the extent to which provided a modern and appealing repertoire for his audience. Elena Sawtschenko (Irkutsk, University of Leipzig) reflected on Das Schaffen von J. S. im Lichte der pietistischen Frommigkeit - Pietismus und Musik, comparing the theological structure of cantata texts authored by with those of contemporary poets and identified a connection to pietist devoutness in Fasch's cantata libretti. Nigel Springthorpe (University of Surrey) examined Zerbst Passion Tradition, specifically the Passion works performed by Court Chapel between 1720 and 1767, making provisional suggestions as to their composers. The chorale settings of J.F. Fasch's Passio Jesu Christi - their placement within the overall structure, the poetic choices and harmonic language compressed to some of the other settings of the well-known text by Brockes - were discussed in detail by Mary Terey-Smith (University of Western Washington). Brian Clark (Dundee, Scotland), the recipient of the 1997 Award of the City of Zerbst, focused on Fasch's reworking of masses for Zerbst (When brevis just isn't short enough) and discerned a number of time-saving compositional devices that employed to shorten the available time for special music during the service as requested by the Zerbst court authorities. …

Towards a Grammar of the Heart: al-Qušayrī's Naḥw al-qulūb

The article provides an edition of the shorter version of al-Qušayrī’s Naḥw al-qulūb, based on the apparently oldest manuscript, preserved in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (Ms. or. oct. 3805). This treatise represents a serious attempt to present Ṣūfī thoughts in a form analogous to an acknowledged science which had been then on the curriculum of teaching institutions for a long time. Naturally, the seriousness of the attempt does not mean that it may be considered fully successful as well. It is, however, worth studying since it reflects many interesting basic features of Ṣūfī thinking and their way of linguistic expression.

The Berlin State Library/Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin: A Library in Transition

The division of Germany after the war led to the former Preussischer Staatsbibliothek (PSB) being split between the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek (DSB) in East Berlin and the Staatsbibliothek Preussischer Kulturbesitz (SBPK) in West Berlin. Following the country's unification, the collections are being reunified in one institution, the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, which will be the biggest library in Germany. Both buildings will continue to be used, since neither is large enough to hold the entire collection, both are architecturally significant, and a new building is out of the question. Reintegrating the post-war collections is much less of a problem than the treatment of post-war acquisitions of the two libraries. Large numbers of books (many of them lacking in other major Germany libraries) are duplicated, and it is difficult to achieve a sensible allocation of materials between the buildings. It has been decided to use the older building (DSB) for holdings up to 1955, for consultation only, while the other building (SBPK), which dates from 1978, will house material from 1956 and serve as a lending library. The catalogue sittuation is equally complex. The DSB had a complete record of the pre-war collection of printed books, but the major part of the collection was either in West Berlin or lost; on the other hand, in the west, where 1.7m. volumes of PSB's holdings were concentrated, the SBPK had to start without any catalogue at all. The aim is now to carry out a complete retrospective conversion of all the varied existing catalogues within the next seven years. To add to these complications, the entire older building is being restored to acceptable standards and the former central reading room is being reconstructed; during the lengthy process a storage building is having to be rented. The greatest challenge of all, however, is the integration of staff.

Die Sammlung deutscher Drucke 1450-1912–eine Zwischenbilanz

At the suggestion of Bernhard Fabian the Volkswagen-Stiftung finances since 1990 the project Collection of German imprints. By purchasing and recording antiquarian original editions and reproductions the project aims to diminish stock gaps caused by the fact that in Germany lacks a national collection center. Five great german libraries (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich, Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbuttel, Niedersachsische Staats- und Universitatsbibliothek in Gottingen, Stadt- und Universitatsbibliothek in Frankfurt am Main, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin) have accept this task by splitting it up in different time segments. The present article reports first success, problems and perspectives.