The Musikbibliothek Peters (Peters Music Library) was the first public music library in Germany, whose valuable holdings are now in possession of the Public Library in Leipzig. The Bach Archive keeps as a permanent loan the manuscripts and original prints concerning Bach.
Max Abraham, the owner of the music publishing house C.F. Peters in Leipzig, donated the Musikbibliothek Peters in 1893, which was opened on January 2, 1894. It was intended to give students and scholars access to musical works that were difficult to obtain. Even at the beginning, the collection comprised more than 9,000 titles (reference works, complete editions, biographies, theoretical works, scores, piano reductions, etc.). There was also a small collection of autographs, including prominent titles by Bach, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Mozart and others.
After Abraham's death in 1900, his nephew Henri Hinrichsen became the sole owner of C.F. Peters and continued to expand the music library. Together with the librarian of the Musikbibliothek Peters, Dr. Rudolf Schwartz, he expanded the collection, above all by acquiring important manuscript holdings on early German music history. Of particular importance were three significant source complexes for the Bach tradition. In 1902, Hinrichsen purchased the Scheibner collection from the circle of the Erfurt Bach student Kittel, in 1904 the Mempell-Preller collection from the circle around Johann Gottfried Walther in Weimar and in 1917 the Rudorff collection from the Mendelssohn circle. With these important acquisitions, combined with the Hinrichsens' private collections of musicians' autographs, the Musikbibliothek Peters became an important research institute.
The Musikbibliothek Peters was expropriated during the Nazi era and the owner, Dr. Henri Hinrichsen, was murdered in Auschwitz concentration camp. After the war, it was initially returned to the surviving son Walter Hinrichsen, but was soon expropriated again and finally declared public property in 1950. In 1951, the Musikbibliothek Peters was transferred to the Music Library of the City of Leipzig, and since 1973 it has been part of the Leipzig Public Library.
In 1993, the C.F. Peters publishing house and the Musikbibliothek Peters were restituted to the Hinrichsen family. In order to ensure that the music library remained in Leipzig, a permanent loan and safekeeping agreement was concluded between the Leipzig Public Library and the music publishing house C.F. Peters in June 1998, although this was terminated by part of the community of heirs in 2004. After lengthy negotiations, the City of Leipzig was able to purchase the Musikbibliothek Peters in 2013.
Today, the collection comprises around 24,000 items in total, including more than 300 valuable manuscripts and first editions by important composers and musicians. The Bach Archive holds manuscripts and original prints relating to Bach on permanent loan from the Leipzig Public Library. These Bachiana from the Peters collection can also be viewed online at Bach digital, where you will find detailed descriptions of the manuscripts in addition to the digital copies.
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Of particular importance were three significant source complexes for the Bach tradition. In 1902, Hinrichsen purchased the Scheibner collection from the circle of the Erfurt Bach student Kittel, in 1904 the Mempell-Preller collection from the circle around Johann Gottfried Walther in Weimar and in 1917 the Rudorff collection from the Mendelssohn circle. With these important acquisitions, combined with the Hinrichsens' private collections of musicians' autographs, the Musikbibliothek Peters became an important research institute.