Publications

Robert Eitner, an autodidact in matters of music, began his musicological activities in 1868 with the foundation of the Gesellschaft für Musikforschung, which is still in existence today. He initiated several publication series before devoting himself to the seminal Quellen-Lexikon—a pioneering work in its size and ambition. At the time when Eitner conducted his work in libraries throughout Europe, many of them did not have a separate music catalogue. Eitner’s achievement was truly remarkable, especially in that he recognized the necessity of establishing an inclusive indication of sources. He was a pioneer in music source documentation, coining the famous phrase that “music bibliography is the foundation of all historical knowledge” (Preface). Eitner’s work retains its validity even today, even though the premises for source documentation have fundamentally changed through revolutionary technological developments. Numerous collections cited by Eitner were lost or destroyed during the wars, and thus his references remain the only ones (many not even included in RISM). The work is much more than a listing of manuscripts and prints. With its perspective on the sources in their local and supraregional context, it provides insights about known and unknown compositions, personalities, and music institutions. In turn, it is itself a piece of music history. A lexicon of sources, the “Eitner”, as it has become known, is a classic in musical source study and an essential reference for musicologists.