The on-line Kallisto Tutorials offer to the users a fundamental introduction to structure and function of Kallisto. In different sequences the most important work steps are presented with a flash animation. Up to now the following tutorials have been released (in German – they will be translated in English at a later date). Please click on the blue arrows.


Tutorial 1 - Data files and functioning of Kallisto
Tutorial 2 - Registering of an exemplary entry, part 1
Tutorial 3 - Registering of an exemplary entry, part 2
Tutorial 4 - Making a music-incipit
Tutorial 5 - Searching for musical sources
Tutorial 6 - Kallisto and multimedia

Further sequences are under way. They deal for example with the printing of registered records.

The manual contains the RISM-rules for registering musical sources and references for the use of Kallisto (also available in german).

New publications:

Michael Jahn: Die Musikhandschriften des Pfarrarchivs St. Augustin. 283 Seiten, 4 Abb. s/w. ISBN 978-3-85450-241-8. Wien, Verlag Der Apfel 2009 (= Veröffentlichungen des rism-österreich A/11). See also http://www.verlagderapfel.at

Michael Jahn (Ed.): Aus Archiv und Oper. Fünf Jahre rism-österreich. 86 Seiten. ISBN 978-3-85450-242-5. Wien, Verlag Der Apfel 2009 (= Veröffentlichungen des rism-österreich A/12). See also http://www.verlagderapfel.at

August, 2009:

Israel Adler passed away in August, 2009. He was a member of RISM’s Commission Mixte from around 1986 till 2004. We also owe to him three volumes of Series B: “Hebrew notated manuscript sources up to circa 1840”, volumes 1 and 2, and “Hebrew writings concerning music”. We will cherish his memory.

Klaus Keil, Director, RISM-Zentralredaktion in Frankfurt am Main

The following is an obituary, originally in French, by Catherine Massip, vice-president of the Commission Mixte:


Dear Colleagues,

This is very sad news and a great loss. All who were fortunate enough to meet Israel Adler learnt firstly to value his great charisma and his warm-hearted and well-intentioned character, combined with a never-flagging enthusiasm for the positive aspects of international cooperation. Through his scholarship and passion for the early music of neighboring cultures, he continually built bridges, deepened relationships between researchers, and undauntedly championed the great international repertories like RISM. Richard Andrewes will remember much better than I the rediscovery of a magnificent “oratorio”, written in the 18th century for the synagogue in Amsterdam (if my memory serves me correctly), which thanks to the Fondation Hadassa was performed in Paris for a full concert hall (Théâtre du Châtelet) and a profoundly moved audience.* On that day we saw, thanks to the example of Israel Adler, how it was possible to convey the energy and passion for a discovery of this sort even beyond the usual specialist circles.

I am sure his death will produce many testimonies of recognition of his favourable impact on RISM and IAML.

In Grateful Memory,
Catherine Massip

* The work in question is the oratorio “Ester”, by Cristiano Giuseppe Lidarti (1730 – after 1793), the most substantial work of Hebrew art music of the 17th and 18th centuries which has yet been discovered. A video performance of the work could be seen as part of the RISM Congress of 2002 in Frankfurt.

Israel Adler (1925-2009) - Biography

April, 2009: A so far unknown manuscript of Robert Schumann was discovered in the Leopold Sophien library in Überlingen at Lake Constance. The piano piece is entitled "Ahnung". Probably it dates from 1838, when Schumann composed his "Children Scenes". This is assumed by the colleagues of the RISM working group Munich and the staff of the Robert Schumann research centre Dusseldorf (source: dpa). Read more in the relevant press article.

March 2009: The RISM working group Germany recently published an extremely informative brochure with advices for preventive conservation measures of music collections: "Musiksammlungen erhalten und bewahren. Eine Handreichung zur präventiven und konservierenden Pflege." It was written by Wolfgang Frühauf in cooperation with Andrea Hartmann. The booklet has 47 pages, many descriptive illustrations and motivates to check the condition of a collection under the aspect of preservation and conservation. A risk assessment checklist helps to find out risks and probably to minimize or exclude them. Here you find the table of contents. The (German-language) brochure is available free of charge. If you are interested please contact Dr. Andrea Hartmann, E-Mail: hartmann@slub-dresden.de

February 2009: In addition to the RISM-Bibliothekssigel. Gesamtverzeichnis / RISM Library Sigla (updated in October 2008) you find here a list of new RISM Library Sigla (as at 18.2.2009).

The 16th edition (14th CD-ROM) of RISM Series A/II: Music manuscripts after 1600 has been published in December 2008.

New Books:

Friederike Grigat: Die Sammlung Wegeler im Beethoven-Haus Bonn, Kritischer Katalog, 2008 (Reihe V Bonner Beethoven-Studien, Vol. 7), 359 p.

Franz Gerhard Wegeler and his wife Eleonore, née von Breuning, were close friends of Beethoven. The first authentic biography of Beethoven, written by Wegeler and Ferdinand Ries, built up the basic stock of a collection of Beethoveniana (letters, folios of the register, music prints and manuscripts, pictures). Wegelers grandchildren had contacts to Johannes Brahms and other musicians and in this way the valuable stock could be extended. The catalog describes and commentates in detail over 400 pieces and reports of the history of the collection. - For the table of contents click here.

Michael Kassler: Music Entries at Stationers' Hall, 1710-1818, Ashgate: 2004, 764 p.

The British Copyright Act of 1709 protected proprietors of books and music printed after 10 April 1710 who gave copies to the Company of Stationers in London. Upon receipt of a copy, usually within days of its first publication, the Stationers' Hall warehouse keeper entered details into a register. They included the date of registration, the name of the work's proprietor (its author or, if copyright had been transferred, its publisher), and the work's full title, which normally named the composer and the writer of any text and often named the work's performers and dedicatee. [...] Michael Kasslers book makes available, for the first time, the full text of the music entries at Stationers' Hall from 1710 to 1818 [...] (Publishers' information. Click here for more details, contents and reviews.)

December 2008: Dr. Hildegard Herrmann-Schneider, director of RISM Tyrol-South Tyrol & OFM Austria, invites to the Tyrolean Christmas concert 2008. Christmas fair and Christmas cantata form the original program beside songs and pieces from the folkmusic tradition. Place of event: Concert hall of the Tiroler Landeskonservatorium in Innsbruck, Paul-Hofhaimer-Gasse 6 (city / next to the Ferdinandeum). Date: Saturday, 20 December, 13:00 h / 16:00 h, Sunday, 21 December, 16:00 h. For detailed information see here.

November 2008: The volume RISM-Bibliothekssigel. Gesamtverzeichnis / RISM Library Sigla is here available in an updated version.

Please also read the article "RISM Library Sigla" (in english).

You need Adobe Reader to view the articles above. If you do not have it, you can get the latest version (freeware) by clicking here.

New publications:

Andreas Lindner, Musikpflege in den Oberösterreichischen Stiften. Aufbau, Organisationsstruktur und Personal vom 17. bis zum 19. Jahrhundert. 711 p., 48 fig. ISBN 978-3-85450-209-8, Wien: Verlag Der Apfel 2008 (= Veröffentlichungen des rism-österreich A/9), see also: http://www.verlagderapfel.at

Ikarus Kaiser / Michael Jahn: Das historische Notenarchiv des Linzer Doms. 280 p., 8 fig. ISBN 978-3-85450-210-4. Wien: Verlag Der Apfel 2008. (= Veröffentlichungen des rism-österreich A/10), see also: http://www.verlagderapfel.at

July 2008: Frank V. de Bellis Collection at San Francisco State
University Library from 2008-2011 not available!
The library building is about to close for a renovation and expansion project. The Frank V. de Bellis Collection items listed in RISM (RISM Library Siglum: US-SFsc) will be unavailable for at least three years from August 2008 through August 2011. Services during construction: http://www.library.sfsu.edu/about/building/services.php

Prof. Dr. Ryuichi Higuchi, RISM working group Japan, is the author of the article "The RISM-project today. Report from Einsiedeln". It appeared in September 2007 in the newsletter of IAML Japan (No. 31, 25 September 2007, pp. 19-23). Who knows Japanese, can read the article here. All the others will enjoy the beautiful Japanese characters and a couple of photos from Einsiedeln.

The Archives of the Erzdioezese Salzburg, emanated from the archives of the old "Konsistorium", rank among the largest archives of Salzburg. Dr. Eva Neumayr, employee of the new RISM working group Salzburg, presents here the history and the structure of archives (in german).

New publications:

Erich Benedikt / Michael Jahn: Die historischen Musikalien der Pfarrkirche Fischbach, Wien 2008 (= Veröffentlichungen des rism-österreich A/8), see also: http://www.verlagderapfel.at

Felix Purtov: Music prints of the 18th Century in the collection of the St. Petersburg State Conservatory N. A. Rimskij-Korsakov: Catalogue, St. Petersburg: Belvedere 2007, ISBN: 978-5-9259-0050-5 (in Russian). For further information see the author's website (in German).

Mario Giuseppe Genesi: Testi Musicali Cinque e Secenteschi nel Fondo Antico della Biblioteca Comunale "Passerini-Landi" di Piacenza: verso un Catalogo, in: Archivio Storico per le Province Parmensi, Quarta serie, Vol. LVIII - Anno 2006, Parma 2007, pp. 401-447.

Mario Giuseppe Genesi: Il Fondo musicale del Seminario Vescovile di Lodi. La nuova schedatura per "spoglio" dei singoli items, in: Archivio Storico Lodigiano 2005, pp. 319-324.

Mechelen (Belgium): The RISM working-group Belgium inventories the music-collection of the Sint-Romboutskathedraal in Mechelen with our new program "Kallisto". Here you find a pictorial report, here you find further interesting information (all in Dutch). See also: Resonant vzw, Centrum voor Vlaams Musikaal Erfgoed.

The Index of composers to RISM B/I (Recueils imprimés XVI-XVII siècles), ed. Pietro Zappalà et al. (University of Pavia, Italy), you find as pdf file here: http://philomusica.unipv.it/materiali/rism/IndexB1.pdf

The 15th edition (13th CD-ROM) of RISM Series A/II: Music manuscripts after 1600 has been published in December 2007.

November and December 2007: New Publications from the working-group Austria, Vienna: 1. Ikarus Kaiser / Michael Jahn: Das historische Notenarchiv der Pfarrkirche Altmünster am Traunsee (= Veröffentlichungen des rism-österreich A/6), 2. Erich Benedikt / Michael Jahn: Die Musikhandschriften der Klosterkirche der Barmherzigen Brüder in Wien (= Veröffentlichungen des rism-österreich A/7). 3. Andreas Lindner / Michael Jahn: Die Musikhandschriften des Augustiner-Chorherrenstifts St. Florian, Teilband 2: Die geistlichen Werke (= Veröffentlichungen des rism-österreich A/2b). All published: Wien 2007, Verlag Der Apfel, see also: http://www.verlagderapfel.at

September 2007: Dr. Harald Heckmann, Honorary President of the RISM, wrote an article entitled "Das Répertoire International des Souces Musicales (RISM) in Geschichte, Gegenwart und Zukunft" [RISM in Past, Present and Future]. It was published in: Wege und Spuren. Verbindungen zwischen Bildung, Wissenschaft, Kultur, Geschichte und Politik. Festschrift für Joachim-Felix Leonhard, ed. Helmut Knüppel et al., Berlin: Verlag für Berlin-Brandenburg 2007, pp. 597-605 (in German).

August 2007: In a message concerning the search of music treasures in Switzerland Radio Vatican appreciated on 14th of August 2007 the work of the working group Switzerland of the RISM.

August 2007: "Digitales Archiv der Musikgeschichte. Ein Besuch in der Zentralredaktion des Internationalen Quellenlexikons der Musik" is the title of a report about a visit in the RISM-Zentralredaktion. It was just now published in VivaVoce No. 77 / summer 2007, pp. 12-13. Editor of the VivaVoce is the archive "Woman and Music" in Frankfurt on the Main. Author of the article is the musicologist Dr Simon Rettelbach.

July / August 2007: The RISM-report 2006 from Klaus Keil was recently published in:
1. Forum Musikbibliothek, vol. 28, 2007 / 2, pp. 128-131 (in German) and in
2. Acta Musicologica LXXIX / 1 (2007), pp. 253-260 (in German and English).

July 2007: Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Christoph Wolff, President of the RISM, wrote an article about the actual situation of the RISM in the newest edition of the journal Fontes Artis Musicae (No. 54/2, 2007, pp. 198/199; in English).

July 2007: Press report about the RISM Days at the IMS-Congress: "Blick in eine 'Schatztruhe'. Musikalische Kulturgüter Südtirols in der Schweiz präsentiert." The South Tyrol Newspaper "Dolomiten" ( 21th/22th of July 2007) reports about the RISM-meeting in the Benedictine monastery Einsiedeln July 13th 2007.

July 2007: RISM Days at the IMS-Congress in ZURICH (July 13–15)

On 13th and 14th of July 2007, special RISM activities will take place within the Congress of the International Musicological Society. The Swiss working group has organised a RISM meeting for Friday July 13th for the teams directly involved in the project. Klaus Keil will talk about the new work structures to be set up with the new data-collection programme „Kallisto“. The president, Prof. Dr Christoph Wolff, will chair a round-table discussion on the subject. This function is not open to the public. The official programme of the Congress includes the event on Saturday July 14th with five talks on the subject “Quellenerschließung und angewandte Forschung” – Projekte und Forschungsergebnisse auf der Basis der Arbeiten des RISM. (“Source-Tapping and Applied Research” – Projects and the results of research on the basis of RISM work.) This activity is public. – Both events will take place in the Benedictine monastery Einsiedeln (Switzerland). Here you find the agenda of the RISM Days. More information at: http://www.musik.uzh.ch/static/ims2007/html/kongressprogramm.html
http://www.musik.uzh.ch/static/ims2007/html/exkursionen__14_07_.html#Einsiedeln

July 2007: RISM at the IAML-Conference in SYDNEY (July 1–6)

From July 1–6 the IAML-Conference will take place in Sydney, Australia. Klaus Keil, director of the RISM-Zentralredaktion, there will report news about RISM.
Thursday July 5th 2007, 11.00 am–12.30 pm
Répertoire International des Sources Musicales (RISM)
News and new publications
(Open session)
Chair: Klaus Keil (RISM-Zentralredaktion, Frankfurt am Main).
Here you find a short outlook of the session.
For more information see: http://www.iamlaust.org/sydneypro.htm

June 2007: As volume 2 of the publication series "Music Collections from Gdańsk" recently was published: Thematic Catalogue of Music in Manuscript from the Former Stadtbibliothek Danzig. Kept at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin - Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Musikabteilung mit Mendelssohn-Archiv, ed. Danuta Slagowska (RISM-Working group Gdańsk) in collaboration with Barbara Długońska, Danuta Popingis and Jolanta Woźniak. Kraków / Gdańsk 2007.

June 2007: A music-historical discovery of international importance, which makes beat faster the hearts of all music lovers, was made recently in Brixen (South Tyrol). The musicologist Dr. Hildegard Herrmann-Schneider, director of RISM West Austria & department South Tyrol, discovered a manuscript for the debut performance of Mozarts' "Spaur Mass". The "Brixen" manuscript with "KV 257" is considered now internationally as primary source to a main sacred composition of Mozart! Further information to this sensational discovery you find in this press release. Downloads of commentated photos and more advices are available on the website of the Institut fuer Tiroler Musikforschung Innsbruck (there in German and Italian).

Also in German and Italien is the report from Herrmann-Schneider "Im 'Herz der Alpen': Tiroler Musikimpressionen aus der Mozart-Zeit / 'Nel cuore delle Alpi': impressioni musicali dal Tirolo ai tempi di Mozart", published in: Vokalmusik zur Zeit Mozarts. Bericht zum Salzburger Symposium der Arbeitsgemeinschaft alpenländischer Chorverbände im Juni 2006, ed. Chorverband Salzburg in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Tiroler Volksliedarchiv Innsbruck, Salzburg 2007, pp. 11-24 (German) and pp. 25-38 (Italian).

April 2007: The volume RISM-Bibliothekssigel. Gesamtverzeichnis / RISM Library Sigla, published in 1999, is available in an updated version (April 2007). See here.

Please also read the article "RISM Library Sigla" of our colleague Birgit Grün.

March 2007: On Tuesday 6.3. appeared an article about RISM on the website of the city of Frankfurt. It was written by the journalist Hermann Wygoda, Frankfurt, who is very interested in our work. You find the article here. Some days later the article was also published by the online-magazine "Frankfurt - live.com". The "Offenbach-Post" (9.3.2007, p. 24) and the "Frankfurter Neuen Presse" (12.3.2007, p. 21) brought a short version of the article.

Another long article about RISM appeared on 21 March 2007 in the "Frankfurter Rundschau".

The 14th edition (12th CD-ROM) of RISM Series A/II: Music manuscripts after 1600 has been published in December 2006.

Dezember 2006: The Roman Collection database online.
As part of a digitization project at the Swedish National Collections of
Music the Johan Helmich Roman Collection at the Music Library of Sweden is now freely available for searching, dowloading or printing at
http://www.muslib.se/ebibliotek/roman/index.php?lang=en.The collection
contains almost all of the extant works of the "Father of Swedish Music",
Johan Helmich Roman (1694-1758), in autographs or contemporary copies, and
is the foundation for all subsequent studies and editions (for further
details see http://www.muslib.se/hand/rare.html#roman). Any missing pages or other errors can be reported to: rarecoll@muslib.se. Two other digitization projects are
available at http://www.muslib.se/ebibliotek/elib.html

2006: New Publications from the working-group Austria, Vienna:
Michael Jahn: Die Musikhandschriften des Domarchivs St. Stephan in Wien. Mit einer Einführung von Melitta Ebenbauer. Wien: Verlag Der Apfel 2005 (= Veröffentlichungen des rism-österreich A1). - Andreas Lindner / Michael Jahn: Die Musikhandschriften des Augustiner-Chorherrenstifts St. Florian. Teilband 1: Die weltlichen Werke. Wien: Verlag Der Apfel 2005 (= Veröffentlichungen des rism-österreich A2a). - Erich Benedikt / Michael Jahn: Die Musikhandschriften des Pfarrarchivs Wien-Lichtental. Wien: Verlag Der Apfel 2006 (= Veröffentlichungen des rism-österreich A3). - Michael Jahn / Angela Pachovsky (Hg.): Figaro là, Figaro quà. Gedenkschrift Leopold M. Kantner (1932-2004), Wien: Verlag Der Apfel 2006 (= Veröffentlichungen des rism-österreich A4) There pp. 315-394: Michael Jahn: Die Musikhandschriften des Pfarrarchivs St. Peter und Paul in Wien. - Ikarus Kaiser / Michael Jahn: Das historische Notenarchiv der Pfarrkirche Weyer an der Enns, Wien: Verlag Der Apfel 2006 (= Veröffentlichungen des rism-österreich A5). See http://www.verlagderapfel.at

November 2006: The CD-ROM „RISM Series A/II: Music Manuscripts after 1600“ is available in these libraries and institutions (worldwide). Additions and corrections please mail to: rism@ub.uni-frankfurt.de