UNIQUE DOCUMENTS SHELVED FOR 54 YEARS
Without doubt this could not have happened anywhere else. For several decades a collection of 5,222 documents was kept at the library of what was then still the Kyiv Conservatory and then spent another 26 years at an archives museum until visited by Cristof Wolf, Harvard University professor, with his wife. Mr. Wolf told us that what we had was a unique collection of original music by Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Palestrina, et al.
The State Archives Museum of Literature and Art of Ukraine appears to store a unique collection of manuscripts and printed music of Western European composers dating from the 17th-19th cc. which no one showed any interest in for 54 years.
Most experts learned about the unique discovery very belatedly as summer vacations were in progress, yet there were several lucky ones whose friends abroad told what was happening in Kyiv. The news stunned them and many refused to believe, perhaps due to the provincial syndrome: maybe, but don't tell me these are originals! Journalists strained their deductive faculties and the collection story turned into a thriller.
The first strange aspect is that the said collection was discovered by Soviet army men on a Polish city dump (no one can remember where exactly). Indeed, it would be strange to expect Soviet troops happy to be on their way home to inspect every city dump. Even more amazing is the fact that no Conservatory experts ever bothered to dig in the archives. And most amazingly, it took Mr. Wolf literally days to come up with the stunning discovery!
This case is another proof of the mentality of most domestic researchers, their being loath to have anything to do with archives (most were kept on a strictly classified access basis under the Soviets and those accessible had — and still have — no copying equipment, so one had just to sit down and write...); no meticulous registration and description (go ahead, do it yourself if you need it so badly!), and the inferiority complex born of poor education in terms of foreign languages... Most likely, however, music experts did not deal with the collection because this was the most convenient approach; it is much easier to get a tome containing a full Bach collection than bother about two sheets of music bearing strange registration numbers — and the librarian has to hunt for them on the archival shelves. Best to order and get what is readily available.
Unlike domestic researchers, Cristof Wolf knew what he was looking for and spotting it took him considerably shorter than two decades. He must have had a detailed description, so he knew it when he found it. Hence the speed of his discovery. Of course, it is difficult to find a black cat in a dark room, but if one is sure the cat is there one will eventually find it.
Journalists were the first to see sections of Bach's treatise «Contemplation of Canons and Fugues», Symphony in D Major, Motet «Our Life is a Shadow.» Expert examination of this music will take years. For the time being, the documents must be preserved. Estimates show that a single Xerox copy of each document will cost about $150,000. In other words, even without knowing Shakespearean English, the Ukrainian side will have to answer the question, To be or not to be?
Without doubt this could not have happened anywhere else. For several decades a collection of 5,222 documents was kept at the library of what was then still the Kyiv Conservatory and then spent another 26 years at an archives museum until visited by Cristof Wolf, Harvard University professor, with his wife. Mr. Wolf told us that what we had was a unique collection of original music by Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Palestrina, et al.
The State Archives Museum of Literature and Art of Ukraine appears to store a unique collection of manuscripts and printed music of Western European composers dating from the 17th-19th cc. which no one showed any interest in for 54 years.
Most experts learned about the unique discovery very belatedly as summer vacations were in progress, yet there were several lucky ones whose friends abroad told what was happening in Kyiv. The news stunned them and many refused to believe, perhaps due to the provincial syndrome: maybe, but don't tell me these are originals! Journalists strained their deductive faculties and the collection story turned into a thriller.
The first strange aspect is that the said collection was discovered by Soviet army men on a Polish city dump (no one can remember where exactly). Indeed, it would be strange to expect Soviet troops happy to be on their way home to inspect every city dump. Even more amazing is the fact that no Conservatory experts ever bothered to dig in the archives. And most amazingly, it took Mr. Wolf literally days to come up with the stunning discovery!
This case is another proof of the mentality of most domestic researchers, their being loath to have anything to do with archives (most were kept on a strictly classified access basis under the Soviets and those accessible had — and still have — no copying equipment, so one had just to sit down and write...); no meticulous registration and description (go ahead, do it yourself if you need it so badly!), and the inferiority complex born of poor education in terms of foreign languages... Most likely, however, music experts did not deal with the collection because this was the most convenient approach; it is much easier to get a tome containing a full Bach collection than bother about two sheets of music bearing strange registration numbers — and the librarian has to hunt for them on the archival shelves. Best to order and get what is readily available.
Unlike domestic researchers, Cristof Wolf knew what he was looking for and spotting it took him considerably shorter than two decades. He must have had a detailed description, so he knew it when he found it. Hence the speed of his discovery. Of course, it is difficult to find a black cat in a dark room, but if one is sure the cat is there one will eventually find it.
Journalists were the first to see sections of Bach's treatise «Contemplation of Canons and Fugues», Symphony in D Major, Motet «Our Life is a Shadow.» Expert examination of this music will take years. For the time being, the documents must be preserved. Estimates show that a single Xerox copy of each document will cost about $150,000. In other words, even without knowing Shakespearean English, the Ukrainian side will have to answer the question, To be or not to be?
Newspaper output №:
№31, (1999)Section
Culture
