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

Metadat-Set of 1,340 records of the shelfmark group "Rar. Libr." (including the 1,162 libretti from the Giazotto Collection, 655 of which form the holdings of early Venetian prints). A further 200 libretti were donated 2007 and have never been catalogued before. Financed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and executed in cooperation with the DHI Rome and the Bavarian State Library in Munich, the project aimed 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. 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.