Libretti of the Music History Department of the German Historical Institute in Rome

Retro-conversion and Digital Imaging of the Libretti-Collection

Financed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and executed in cooperation with the DHI Rome and the Bavarian State Library in Munich, the project aims at a digitisation of the Music History Department’s Libretti-Collection. In 1979, the DFG had made the acquisition of an anthology of librettos from private collectors possible. Including rare librettos of operas, oratorios, cantatas and festive music from the 17th, 18th and 19th Century, the anthology documents the early phase of public opera in Venice (1637-1734) almost completely. The Institute also holds additional period and modern libretti prints. Due to its elevated source value, the libretti inventory is in high demand by library users. Thanks to this project, the libretti holdings have been inserted in the online catalogue of the DHI Rome’s Music History Department and the Virtual Library of Musicology. Linking the catalogue entries to the digitized files offered online by the Bavarian State Library since 2011, a convenient full text search within the libretti is now possible.

Database access