The Brahms Institute at the University of Music 欧洲杯网投_欧洲杯哪里投注-官网直播 (MHL) is aimed at musicologists, musicians and a musically interested public. The institute was founded in 1991 with the acquisition of the world's largest private Brahms collection, the Hofmann Collection. It is affiliated to the MHL as an ‘affiliated institute’. In the summer of 2002, the institute moved to the neo-classical Villa Brahms (formerly Eschenburg) in front of 欧洲杯网投_欧洲杯哪里投注-官网直播's castle gate. With concerts, lectures, theme evenings and exhibitions, the institute has opened itself up to a wider audience and is now a cultural beacon that radiates beyond the Hanseatic city.
The basis of the Institute's work is its unique collection of sources, whose profile extends far beyond its namesake. In addition to Johannes Brahms, the collection focuses on Robert and Clara Schumann, Theodor Kirchner and Joseph Joachim as well as lesser-known performers and composers from Brahms' circle. The holdings primarily comprise sources of musical works: precious manuscripts, engraver's copies, first and early prints. In addition, there are extensive personal documents (letters etc.). Another focal point is the iconographic collection of photos, pictures and drawings (including a large part of Brahms' personal photo collection). The collections of programme notes for numerous premieres, first performances and subsequent performances preserve important documents from the history of reception. Here, too, a large part comes directly from the Brahms estate. A large part of the collection is now available digitally (www.brahms-institut.de).
Collecting is an obligation!
True to this motto, it is the Institute's task to expand, preserve and academically catalogue the holdings through targeted acquisitions. Thanks to the generous support of numerous foundations, it has been possible to add a number of high-calibre sources to the manuscript collection in recent years. Numerous publications by the Institute, including standard works such as the Brahms Handbook, have enriched Brahms research in recent years. The institute library is open to scholars, students and interested laypeople: Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 9am to 1pm and by appointment.
In addition to making the sources available in digital form, the collection is also presented in changing exhibitions. The museum is open on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 2 to 6 pm. Since its foundation, a whole series of research and cataloguing projects have been realised at the Brahms-Institut. Thanks to the support of various foundations and state funds, the partial estates of Brahms' friends Joseph Joachim (Hermann Reemtsma Foundation), Julius Stockhausen (Wessel Foundations, Gemeinnützige Sparkassenstiftung zu 欧洲杯网投_欧洲杯哪里投注-官网直播, Possehl Foundation) and Theodor Kirchner (State of Schleswig-Holstein) have been catalogued and largely digitised. The most important projects include the Brahms-Briefwechsel-Verzeichnis (BBV), funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) from 2006 to 2009, the development of a digital inventory database funded by the state of Schleswig-Holstein from 2018 to 2020 and the major Brahms Portal project funded by the Possehl Foundation and the state of Schleswig-Holstein, which has been underway since 2022.