Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart--Paul Hirsch | Paul Hirsch's annotated copy of the 4-volume catalogue of his library, and other papers and prints, 1905-1953

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart--Paul Hirsch

Paul Hirsch's annotated copy of the four-volume catalogue of his library, and other printed and manuscript items

Katalog der Musikbibliothek Paul Hirsch...Herausgegeben von Kathi Meyer und Paul Hirsch, Berlin: Martin Breslauer (printed by Poeschel & Trepte, Leipzig), 1928 and 1930 (vol.I: 'Theoretische Drucke bis 1800'; vol.II: 'Opern-Partituren'), Frankfurt am Main (published by Poeschel & Trepte), 1936 (vol.III: 'Instrumental- und Vocalmusik bis etwa 1830'), Cambridge: University Press, 1947 (vol.IV: 'Erstausgaben, Chorwerke in Partitur, Gesamtausgaben, Nachschlagewerke, etc., Ergaenzungen zu Bd. I-III')

4 volumes, 299, 335, 362, 695 pages, 4to (28 x 18.5cm), volumes I and II numbered 12 of 300, 132 plates, with numerous autograph annotations by Paul Hirsch, pencil annotations to front pastedowns and front free endpapers ("Adams Road...Handex. neben Schreibtisch"), original half vellum, vellum corners, black morocco gilt lettering pieces, top edges gilt, some joints weak, light wear to covers; TOGETHER WITH LOOSE AUTOGRAPH CORRECTION LISTS BY HIRSCH ("...übertragen in A.H. King's Ex. ..") AND TYPED AND ANNOTATED DISTRIBUTION LISTS, 23 pages in all, various sizes

together with:

Paul Hirsch's extensively annotated carbon typescript of vol.IV of his catalogue, 526 pages, 4to (26.1 x 20cm), stamp ("Paul Hirsch / 10 Adams Road / Cambridge") and manuscript entries ("Adams Rd. Copy. / This is the property of Paul Hirsch / Copyright reserved") to front pastedown, original cloth-backed boards, Cambridge, 1940-1944

Catalogue of printed music in the British Museum. Accessions. Part 53 - Music in the Hirsch Library, London: 1951, 438 pages, 4to (28.3 x 21.6cm), manuscript entry by Hirsch to front pastedown ("Copy P. H. / Recd. from B. M. Novbr. 3.^rd 1951."), with two loose slips containing 3 pages of corrections in Hirsch's hand ("Misprints..."), original green cloth gilt

including the following printed items: Katalog einer Mozart-Bibliothek. Zu W. A. Mozarts 150. Geburtstag 27. Januar 1906, Frankfurt am Main: Wüsten & Schönfeld, 1906, 75 pages, small 4to, inscribed "Meinen lieben Eltern zugeeignet. Weihnachten 1905. Paul Hirsch", illustrated gilt wrappers; Zweite Musik-Fachausstellung im Krystallpalast zu Leipzig 3. bis 15. Juni 1909. Katalog der Sonderaustellung aus der Musik-Bibliothek Paul Hirsch, [30] pages, 8vo, no.2 of 200, inscribed by Hirsch to his parents ("Meinen lieben Eltern! / Leipzig 3 Juni 1909 / Paul Hirsch"), publisher's printed card wrappers, Frankfurt am Main: Englert & Schlosser, 1909 (and a second copy); Hoch-Zeitschrift für Bücherfreunde, Jahrgang I, Heft I (1911), 12 pages, 4to, printed wrappers [a humorous publication marking Paul and Olga Hirsch's marriage and honeymoon]; Eine kleine Bücherschau für die Teilnehmer an den Hauptversammlungen der Gesellschaft der Bibliophilen, der Maximilian-Gesellschaft und der Gesellschaft Hessischer Bücherfreunde im Oktober 1920. Veranstaltet im Hause Paul Hirsch, Frankfurt a. M. Neue Mainzerstraße 57, 42 pages, 8vo, one of 10 copies on handmade paper, inscribed by Hirsch to his brother ("..meinem lieben Bruder, dem Bibliophilen Karl. Fft. M. 10 October 1920 Paul"), original paper-covered boards; Paul Hirsch, 'Musik-Bibliophilie. Aus den Erfahrungen eines Musik-Sammlers', Festschrift Fedor von Zobeltitz, Weimar, 1927, pages 247-254, wrappers; Paul Hirsch, 'Some Early Mozart Editions' [offprint], The Music Review, vol.1 no.1 (1940), pages 54-67, 8vo, printed wrappers; Paul Hirsch, 'More Early Mozart editions' [offprint], The Music Review, vol.3 no.1 (1942), pages 38-45, 8vo, inscribed "For Olga darling from Puhli", printed wrappers, some spotting (and another copy); Paul Hirsch, 'A Mozart Problem' [offprint?], Music & Letters, vol.xxv no.4 (1944), 4to, pages 209-212, wrappers; Paul Hirsch, 'The Salzburg Mozart Festival, 1906. Reminiscences of an Amateur' [offprint], The Music Review, vol.vii no.3 (1946), 8vo, pages 149-153; Edward J. Dent, Mozart's operas, London etc.: Oxford University Press, 1947, 276 pages, 8vo, signed "Paul Hirsch", original blue cloth; Paul Hirsch and C.B. Oldman, 'Contemporary English Editions of Beethoven' [offprint], The Music Review, vol.xiv no.1 (1953), 8vo, pages 1-35, gatherings stapled, inscribed "To Mrs Olga Hirsch, with kindest regards and best wishes from C. B. Oldman. Feb. 1953."; three numbers of the The Music Review from August 1946-May 1947, and two number of Music & Letters (October 1937 and January 1951), also containing articles by Paul Hirsch and Alec Hyatt King; A handlist of some articles & catalogues written or published by Paul Hirsch. With a list of publications of the Paul Hirsch Music Library, Cambridge: privately printed on the occasion of his 70th birthday, 24 February 1951, 5 pages, 8vo, one of 100 copies, blue wrappers; and a vocal score of Don Giovanni signed by Paul Hirsch, 283 pages, 4to, paper-covered boards, Munich: Theodor Ackermann, 1897

and a number of manuscript items, including: an autograph letter by C.B. Oldman to Olga Hirsch, thanking her for a copy of the booklet containing addresses delivered at Paul's funeral ("...I shall treasure this gift as a vivid record of one of the kindest men it has been my privilege to know..."), 2 pages, 8vo, London, 16 April 1952; two autograph letters signed by Percy Grainger and Gian Francesco Malipiero to Paul Hirsch, 4 pages in all, 8vo and 4to, the Malipiero letter dated 18 October 1930

various sizes, some newspaper cuttings, photocopies and typed correspondence, Paul Hirsch's German and English printed papers on music in this lot contained loose in a folding red morocco gilt box, stamped "24.II.51" and presented to Hirsch on his 70th birthday, Frankfurt, Cambridge and elsewhere, 1906-1953

The private music library, comprising over 18,000 items, of the German industrialist, bibliophile and Mozartian Paul Hirsch (1881-1951) was one of the finest collections of printed music and musical literature assembled anywhere in the twentieth century. For many years it was sumptuously housed in a wing of Hirsch's palatial Frankfurt residence, at Neue Mainzerstrasse 57, where it was freely accessible to musicians, scholars and students. Daringly transported out of Nazi Germany in 1936, and housed temporarily at the University Library in Cambridge, the library was acquired by the British Museum in 1946, with the assistance of Professor Edward J. Dent, for the sum of £120,000 (equivalent to over £6,000,000 today). The Paul Hirsch Music Library now forms one of the most outstanding discrete collections of printed music held in the British Library.

Only the rarest and most significant items from Hirsch's library were included in the magisterial four volume catalogue (Katalog der Musikbibliothek) prepared by Hirsch and his Frankfurt librarian Kathi Meyer (1892-1977), and which is regarded as a model of its kind. The remainder of the library - some two thirds of the total - was catalogued in two British Museum publications which appeared in 1951 and 1959. The earlier of these two catalogues, included here, bears an autograph entry by Hirsch dated 3 November 1953, just 20 days before his death.

Hirsch's favourite composer was Mozart, and by 1906 he had assembled a fine collection of printed editions of the composer, issuing privately an exquisitely printed catalogue of it, one which he had compiled himself (included in this lot). One sensational manuscript treasure in Hirsch's collection united two of his twin passions, chamber music and Mozart: the autograph manuscript of Mozart's great D-major string quintet, K.593 (now in the Bodmer Library, Cologny-Geneva). Another was a stunning autograph sketchleaf containing a probable draft for the finale of Mozart's E flat piano quartet, K.493 (1786): see lot 147. See also lots 5, 6, and 148.

PROVENANCE: By descent from Paul Hirsch to the present owner

LITERATURE:

Alec Hyatt King, 'Paul Hirsch and his music library', The British Library Journal, vol.7 no.1 (1981), pp.1-11