Die Sammlung der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin: Katalog zur Mikrofiche-Edition, i: Oratorien, Messen, Kantaten und andere geistliche Werke

One of the most intriguing stories in music bibliography is the history of the library of the Berlin Sing-Akademie. The Sing-Akademie was founded in 1781 as a choral society and gained a reputation for the performance of historical repertory (including the revival of Johann Sebastian Bach's St Matthew Passion in 1829). Its library developed in conjunction with these concerts, accumulating a cross-section of music performed in Berlin from the late eighteenth century onwards. The Sing-Akademie also acquired much of the musical estate of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, including numerous of his own autographs as well as manuscripts that he had inherited from his father (among them the Altbachisches Archiv, an heirloom collection assembled by Johann Sebastian of vocal music by earlier members of the Bach family). Despite the importance of the Sing-Akademie's library, few scholars were granted access to it before the Second World War, and no proper catalogue was made. In 1943 the collection was evacuated to Silesia for safety during the War, and it subsequently disappeared. Only in 1999 was it rediscovered in Kiev and subsequently returned to Berlin.

For several years after the collection's return to Berlin, it remained inaccessible to all except a few privileged scholars. Now, however, Saur-Verlag is making the whole collection available on microfiche. The present publication is divided into four parts (i: oratorios, masses, cantatas, and other sacred music; ii: operas; iii: orchestral music; iv: keyboard and chamber music), each with a summary catalogue. It should be noted, however, that this set excludes the manuscripts of Bach family compositions for which the archive is most famed. These sources are available separately as Supplement ii of Saur's series Musikhandschriften der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin — Preußischer Kulturbesitz, i: Die Bach-Sammlung. (A detailed catalogue of the Bach manuscripts has also been recently published: Wolfram Enßlin, Die Bach-Quellen der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin (Hildesheim: Olms, 2006), 2 vols.) Also available separately is the significant corpus of Telemann's works in the Sing-Akademie library, among them twenty-five cantatas that are otherwise unknown.

What, then, is included in the current set of microfiche? Part 1 is rich in sacred music of the late eighteenth century, including works by Carl Heinrich Graun, Johann Adolf Hasse, and Johann Christoph Kühnau; much of this repertory is still unknown territory to most music historians. There are a few unica from the seventeenth century, including four short motets by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber. Of particular interest for historians of early-nineteenth-century performance practice are arrangements of such choral works as Handel's Messiah, made by Carl Friedrich Zelter for performance with the Sing-Akademie. Part 2 (operas) includes the stage works of Graun and Hasse that were performed in Berlin; there is also the only known source for Paris und Helena, the first opera by the Dresden Kapellmeister Johann David Heinichen. Because this microfiche edition omits the Bach manuscripts that are at the heart of the Sing-Akademie library, it does not represent the full significance of the collection; and the catalogue needs much more work to show concordances, in particular which manuscripts are copied from printed exemplars. Nonetheless, Saur's edition will permit thorough assimilation of this remarkable collection, and will facilitate bibliographical investigations and the making of critical editions.