Paul Sacher Stiftung

(1931–2008) 
german composer of argentinian origin

• library
• sound recordings
• films/videos
• music manuscripts: fair copies
• proof sheets/personal copies
• music manuscripts: sketches and drafts
• programs/reviews
• photographs
• typescripts
• correspondence
• instruments (on deposit at the museum für musik basel)

born september 3, 1931, in basel, switzerland
died march 24, 2021, in basel, switzerland

• music manuscripts: sketches, drafts, and fair copies
• textual manuscripts
• correspondence
• sound recordings

• internal inventories

born june 12, 1952
died july 8, 2018

[in preparation]

(*1926) 
hungarian composer

• music manuscripts: fair copies
• proof sheets/personal copies
• music manuscripts: sketches and drafts
• programs/reviews
• photographs
• typescripts
• correspondence

(*1935) 
german composer

• music manuscripts: fair copies
• proof sheets/personal copies
• music manuscripts: sketches and drafts
• programs/reviews

american string quartet, active from 1946 to 1987

archive taken over from the private collection of the first violinist, walter levin.

• proof sheets / performance copies
• correspondence
• programs / reviews
• photographs
• sound recordings

(1937–2013) 
swiss composer

• music manuscripts: fair copies
• correspondence
• music manuscripts: sketches and drafts
• photographs
• sound recordings

(1913–1972) 
french composer and musicographer of polish origin

• sound recordings
• music manuscripts: fair copies
• proof sheets/personal copies
• music manuscripts: sketches and drafts
• programs/reviews
• photographs
• typescripts
• correspondence

sammlung rené leibowitz: musikmanuskripte [rené leibowitz collection: music manuscripts], inventories of the paul sacher foundation, vol. 14 (winterthur: amadeus, 1995) – out of print

(1910–1999) 
swiss composer

• music manuscripts: fair copies
• correspondence
• music manuscripts: sketches and drafts
• library

sammlung rolf liebermann: musikmanuskripte, inventories of the paul sacher foundation, vol. 32 (mainz etc.: schott music, 2011) – out of print

born on 28 may 1923 in târnăveni, transylvania, rumania
died on 12 june 2006 in vienna, austria

the györgy ligeti collection contains practically all of the composer's posthumous estate. some of the music manuscripts, as well as correspondence and textual manuscripts, already entered the holdings of the paul sacher foundation from the ove nordwall collection in 1991. ligeti himself handed the bulk of his working papers to the foundation in 2000. further additions arrived with the clearance of his hamburg studio in 2004 and following his death in 2006.

the collection comprises manuscripts (sketches, drafts, fair copies) for most of ligeti's works, both from his early years in hungary and after his emigration in 1956, as well as a large number of sketchbooks and fragmentary works.

also included in the collection are textual manuscripts and a voluminous correspondence with over 1000 correspondents, such as h. g. adler, pierre boulez, elias canetti, carl dahlhaus, peter maxwell davies, mario di bonaventura, erich doflein, ferenc farkas, morton feldman, ernst gombrich, ernst krenek, györgy and martá kurtág, bruno maderna, gerhard neuweiler, luigi nono, ove nordwall, roman polanski, jean‑claude risset, wolf rosenberg, nelly sachs, matyás seiber, wolfgang steinecke, karlheinz stockhausen, heinrich strobel, stefan wolpe, iannis xenakis, bernd alois zimmermann and a great many institutions.

the collection also contains many photographs, sound recordings, film documents, part of ligeti's personal (sound) library and biographical documents as well as programme booklets and reviews (beginning in the 1950s).

• music manuscripts: sketches, drafts, fair copies: ca. 25.000 pages, accessible on microfilm
• textual manuscripts: ca. 2.000 pages
• correspondence: ca. 16.000 pages, accessible on microfilm (54 archival boxes, unfilmed as of april 2015)
• sound recordings: 430 magnetic tapes and 278 lps
• films and videos: 70 videos
• programmes and reviews: 32 archival boxes
• photographs: information to be supplied

ca. 1938 to 2006

• sammlung györgy ligeti: musikmanuskripte, inventare der paul sacher stiftung, vol. 34 (mainz: schott music, 2016) – out of print
• an internal microfilm index can be consulted at the pss
• internal lists can be consulted at the pss

• 2023: ligeti labyrinth: a guided tour through the œuvre of györgy ligeti - catalogue
• 2023: ligeti labyrinth: an exhibition celebrating the centenary of györgy ligeti’s birth - info
• 2007: györgy ligeti, gesammelte schriften, 2 vols., ed. monika lichtenfeld, veröffentlichungen der paul sacher stiftung, vol. 10

research articles in mitteilungen der paul sacher stiftung (for pdf files click here):

• no. 29, 2016: heidy zimmermann, "smuel ligeti" – spuren einer zionistischen episode in györgy ligetis frühwerk
• no. 26, 2013: márton kerékfy, a folkloric collage jettisoned: the original version of the first movement of györgy ligeti’s violin concerto (1990)
• no. 25, 2012: bianca tiplea temes, tracking down ligeti’s unfinished third and fourth string quartets
• no. 22, 2009: jennifer iverson, shared compositional techniques between györgy ligeti's pièce électronique n° 3 and atmosphères
• no. 21, 2008: ferenc lászló, ein frühes ligeti-autograph: burját aratódal (1945)
• no. 20, 2007: martin scherzinger, remarks on a sketch of györgy ligeti : a case of african pianism
• no. 18, 2005: simon gallot, symétrie et asymétrie dans «the lobster quadrille» de györgy ligeti: au rythme d’une danse dégingandée
• no. 16, 2003: jonathan w. bernard, a key to structure in the kyrie of györgy ligeti’s requiem
• no. 15, 2002: stefan fricke, fluxus-musik mit metronomen
• no. 15, 2002: yulia kreinin, «to arrest the process»: moving clusters by györgy ligeti and witold lutoslawski
• no. 10, 1997: maria kostakeva, die asemantische semantik in der vokalmelodik györgy ligetis (am beispiel der aventures & nouvelles aventures)

editor: schott music

4 february 2019

(1903–1983) 
swiss church musician of dutch origin

• correspondence
• photographs
• music manuscripts: fair copies
• sound recordings
• library

(1892–1966) 
american composer of russian origin

• music manuscripts: fair copies
• typescripts
• music manuscripts: sketches and drafts
• photographs
• correspondence
• programs/reviews

(1913–1994) 
polish composer

• films/videos
• music manuscripts: fair copies
• typescripts
• music manuscripts: sketches and drafts
• photographs
• sound recordings
• correspondence
• programs/reviews

(1920–1973) 
italian conductor and composer

• sound recordings
• music manuscripts: fair copies
• proof sheets/personal copies
• music manuscripts: sketches and drafts
• programs/reviews
• photographs
• typescripts
• correspondence

sammlung bruno maderna: musikmanuskripte [bruno maderna collection: music manuscripts], inventories of the paul sacher foundation, vol. 6 (winterthur: amadeus, 1990) – out of print

(1890–1974) 
swiss composer

• library
• sound recordings
• music manuscripts: fair copies
• proof sheets/personal copies
• music manuscripts: sketches and drafts
• programs/reviews
• photographs
• typescripts
• correspondence

sammlung frank martin: musikmanuskripte [frank martin collection: music manuscripts], inventories of the paul sacher foundation, vol. 10 (winterthur: amadeus, 1990) – out of print

(1906–2002) 
swiss composer

• music manuscripts: fair copies
• correspondence
• music manuscripts: sketches and drafts
• programs/reviews
• photographs

• hermann meier collection: music manuscripts (11 september 2020) – pdf online
• internal inventories

born september 5, 1906, in lenzburg, switzerland
died december 7, 1990, in aarau, switzerland

peter mieg was a universally cultured and multi-talented homme de lettres equally renowned as a composer, writer, and visual artist. the peter mieg collection consists of the musical part of his posthumous estate.

born into a bourgeois family with a rich tradition, mieg enjoyed a musical education from early childhood and was already in contact with basel’s musical life as a high school student. he trained as a pianist with emil frey in zurich, at the same time studying art history, music history, and french and german literature. in 1929-30 he spent semesters in paris and in basel, where he formed a friendship with paul sacher and had several meetings with the harpsichordist wanda landowska. after taking his doctorate with a dissertation on the modern swiss aquarelles of morgenthaler, moilliet, and epper (1933), he settled in basel, where he reported on art, literature, and music for the basler nachrichten until 1939.

in 1935 mieg attended a course on the performance of contemporary music, held by wladimir vogel. the same year witnessed the earliest performances of his own compositions, including concerto no. 6 for two pianos. in 1939 he acquired the country home ‘sonnenberg’ on lenzburg castle hill, where he lived to the end of his days. during the war years he continued to report on culture for the neue zürcher zeitung, the frankfurter allgemeine zeitung, die weltwoche and the cultural magazine du, among other periodicals, and cultivated formative relations with frank martin. his breakthrough as a composer came in 1955 with the performance of concerto da camera for strings, piano, and timpani (1952) at the swiss musicians festival and concerto veneziano for string orchestra (1955) at the venice biennale. from then on, composing became his first priority, bolstered by commissions from radio basel, the zurich tonhalle society, the festival strings lucerne, and the zurich chamber orchestra, among other organizations. paul sacher performed his works on various occasions and commissioned his combray (1977), based on proust’s remembrance of things past. mieg’s affinity to french culture is manifest throughout his oeuvre. deeply influenced by neoclassicism, his music receives its personal touch through lucidity, a concertante ethos, and romantic esprit.

in the 1960s, mieg also began to exhibit his paintings in public. after his death, his posthumous estate was administered by the peter mieg foundation, which he himself established in lenzburg. at first it was housed in his ‘sonnenberg’ estate until 2018, after which it found a home in the müllerhaus in lenzburg. there his paintings and journalistic work are still preserved today, along with biographical and family documents.

the peter mieg collection comprises drafts and fair copies of all his compositions, a selection of textual manuscripts related to music, many unpublished sound recordings, and a complete documentation of his music in program booklets and reviews. his contacts with musicians, artists, and writers are reflected in correspondence with contemporaries such as gottfried von einem, günter grass, hermann hesse, silvia kind, frank martin, albert moeschinger, marcel mihalovici, meret oppenheim, hans rosbaud, alexander tcherepnin, and thornton wilder. the collection also contains isolated letters from johannes brahms and clara schumann as well as music manuscripts by boris blacher, gottfried von einem, frank martin, and mieg’s great-aunt, fanny hünerwadel.

• music manuscripts: 147 folders, 1 folder with juvenilia
• printed scores: 88
• textual manuscripts: 1 archival box
• correspondence: 44 archival boxes
• programmes / reviews: 20 archival boxes
• photos: ca. 100
• sound recordings: ca. 150

1922–1990

• 2018 collection enters the pss holdings

• internal inventories

homepage: www.petermieg.ch

9 october 2019

(1898–1985) 
french composer of rumanian origin

• music manuscripts: fair copies
• proof sheets/personal copies
• music manuscripts: sketches and drafts
• photographs
• sound recordings
• typescripts
• programs/reviews

(1910–1988) 
italian music critic and journalist

• correspondence
• music manuscripts: fair copies

(1892–1974) 
french composer 

• music manuscripts: fair copies
• proof sheets/personal copies
• music manuscripts: sketches and drafts
• typescripts
• correspondence

(1921–1998) 
swiss composer

• music manuscripts: fair copies
• music manuscripts: sketches and drafts

(*1943) 
swiss composer

• music manuscripts: fair copies
• proof sheets/personal copies
• music manuscripts: sketches and drafts

(1912–1997) 
mexican composer of american origin

• films/videos
• library
• instruments
• music manuscripts: fair copies
• typescripts
• music manuscripts: sketches and drafts
• photographs
• sound recordings
• correspondence
• programs/reviews

(1908–1993) 
austrian pianist

• typescripts
• correspondence
• music manuscripts: fair copies
• programs/reviews

born november 20, 1961, in córdoba, argentina
died september 14, 2019, in basel, switzerland

in 2022, the paul sacher foundation received as a gift from erik oña's widow, helena bugallo, an extensive collection of documents related to oña's compositional work. the collection includes all of the surviving manuscripts of the composer's own works, beginning with the first pieces still premiered in argentina, such as viviendas propias (1985), avatar (1988), aspectos (1988) and aspectos ii (1991). on the basis of the sketch documents, major individual works such as tiger und patriarch (1994), euler sonaten (2001) or das gold des rheins (2012) can be studied in detail, likewise as the structural connections within the three-part group of works consisting of jodeln (1996–99), andere stimmen (2003) and lokaler widerstand (2006). furthermore, the collection contains manuscripts of oña's arrangements (including pieces by mahler, mozart and especially conlon nancarrow) as well as a stock of recordings and concert programmes.

in addition to his own composing, erik oña's musical activities also included conducting and teaching composition. right after completing his studies in composition and conducting at the universidad nacional de la plata (1982–88), he began teaching composition and orchestration at the same place (1988–93). the situation was similar at his next destination, the state university of new york at buffalo, where a teaching position again followed his studies in composition (1993–99 with a phd).

further visiting professorships took oña to the kunitachi college of music in tokyo (composition and computer music, 1995/97/99) and to the university of birmingham in england (composition, 2001–03). in 2003, he was appointed professor of composition and head of the electronic studio at the basel academy of music, where he remained until his premature death.

in parallel, oña conducted various ensembles and orchestras in europe, and north and south america, not only at his places of study and teaching. in so doing, he premiered more than 150 works, many of which with the cologne thürmchen ensemble, to which he belonged as a permanent conductor as of 1996.

• music manuscripts: sketches, drafts, fair copies of works and arrangements
• photos: small amount
• movies / videos: small amount
• sound recordings
• programs

1985–2019

• 2022 collection enters the pss holdings

• internal lists can be consulted at the pss

[none]

• homepage: www.erik-ona.com
• editor: thuermchen verlag

matthias kassel / heidrun ziems

18 december 2023