This book fills a longstanding gap in our knowledge about one of the leading collectors of the late Renaissance, Johann Georg von Werdenstein, particularly in offering a detailed catalogue of the music in his collection. In 1592 Werdenstein sold more than 9,000 volumes from his library, including close to 500 music items, to the Duke of Bavaria. As the author demonstrates, most of that music can still be found in the Bavarian State Library in Munich. Chapters preceding the catalogue shed light on Werdenstein’s interests as a bibliophile and examine the contents, significance, and history of his music collection, the dimensions of which were unknown until now.

About the Author

Richard Charteris is professor in historical musicology at the University of Sydney.  He has published many studies on sixteenth- and seventeenth-century topics and edited the complete works of Giovanni Gabrieli, Alfonso Ferrabosco the Elder, Domenico Maria Ferrabosco, Giovanni Bassano, all in the Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae series, and music by John Coprario, John Hingeston, and Thomas Lupo.  His recent monographs include Giovanni Gabrieli: A Thematic Catalogue... (Pendragon, 1996), Newly Discovered Music Manuscripts from the Private Collection of Emil Bohn (AIM/Hänssler, 1999), and An Annotated Catalogue of the Music Manuscripts in the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C. (Pendragon, 2005).  Richard Charteris is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (London) and serves as a governor of the Dolmetsch Foundation.

DSMB 87 /  272p / 0-89990-134-4 / 2006 / $36.00

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REVIEWS

“One of today’s leading scholars of manuscripts and collections…gives us an examination of archival materials that sheds light on an important sixteenth-century collector…His description of each print is so detailed and precise it is the next best thing to looking at the document oneself…A catalogue like this should interpret the inventory, not simply list it, and Charteris does that admirably.  The amount of detail provided…is staggering…Anyone interested in sixteenth-century prints, publishing, and collecting would find this volume useful and interesting.  It would certainly prove valuable to a library’s collection…”

Fontes Artis Musicae

“Charteris has performed yet another valuable service to music bibliography in bringing Werdenstein to our attention…There is a welcome abundance of documentation here, clearly and accurately presented.”

Music & Letters