14. About the history of the mdw University Library (ub.mdw*) – Stolen Sheet Music Prints and Provenance Research

[Detailed catalog text in german]

With the resolution of Emperor Franz Joseph I., on 1 January 1909, the Conservatoire of the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna was nationalised and renamed to Imperial-Royal Academy of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. Since the extensive and valuable holdings of the Society of Friends of Music collection remained in the possession of the Society, a separate library was founded at the Academy. The musicologist, pianist, and composer Gustav Donath (1878–1965), who had been working at the library since 1908, was tasked with establishing a collection of books and sheet music. After the ‘Anschluss’ of Austria in March 1938, Gustav Donath was deemed to be of “mixed race person first-degree” (“Mischling 1. Grades”) under the Nuremberg Laws on account of his father and grandfather had been of Jewish faith. He was initially given a leave of absence in September 1938 before he was finally retired in July 1939.  His successor was Curt Otto Rotter (1881–1945), who was an active folk song researcher and librarian from 1920 and who took his own life in April 1945 at the Jewish section of the cemetery in Döbling (19th district of Vienna). In May 1945, Gustav Donath was reappointed as the director of ub.mdw* until his retirement in 1949.

Between 1933 and 1945, an estimated 15,000 volumes (mainly sheet music prints) were inventoried in the ub.mdw* collection. As it was the case for other libraries, many of these volumes were acquired illegally during the National Socialism. After 1945, other publications were obtained by the ub.mdw* through purchases from music dealers, bookstores and antiquarians or through – often anonymous – ʻdonationsʼ. Inventory books that have been preserved since 1909 provide details on how and from which sources items were acquired. Since 2012, the working group on Provenance Research at the mdw has been attempting to identify stolen sheet music prints, books and musical instruments and to determine their former owners so as to return them to their rightful heirs.