Station 04 - Former Peters Music Library

The Musikbibliothek Peters (Peters Music Library) was founded by Max Abraham, proprietor of the music publishing house, C. F. Peters. On opening, in early 1894 in Königstraße 26 (today the Goldschmidtstraße), it was the first public, specialist library of its kind in the world. Furthermore - an additional worldwide first - its doors were even open to female patrons. (Max Abraham also placed the upper floors, rent-free, at the disposal of the Ladies' Commerce Association.)

Abraham decreed testamentarily that, on his death, the Library should assume the form of a foundation, with the City of Leipzig as beneficiary. This wish was respected and executed by his nephew and successor, Henri Hinrichsen, and embraced by the city.

In the aftermath of the Kristallnacht ("The night of broken glass") in 1938, Hinrichsen, a Jew, was subject to an occupational ban; the publishing house was compulsorily sold and "aryanised". Henri Hinrichsen and two of his sons were put to death in Nazi concentration camps.

Following the collapse of the Nazi regime, Hinrichsen's son, Walter (in the meantime an American citizen), returned to Germany and was granted ownership of both the publishing business and the Library. Hinrichsen set to work transferring a substantial amount of the documentary assets either abroad or into the American-occupied zone of Germany. In 1950, Walter Hinrichsen established Edition Peters with his brother, Max, in Frankfurt.

By this time, the communist East-German government had declared the publishing house a "people-owned enterprise". The new management of the Library offered ownership to the City of Leipzig. So it was that, in 1954, the remaining material resources of the Musikbibliothek Peters were integrated into the stock of the City Music Library.

Following much restructuring over the years, the City Music Library is now a department of the City Library (Stadtbibliothek).

In 1990, following the fall of the communist regime and the subsequent reunification of Germany, Walter Hinrichsen's widow applied for reinstatement of the ownership of the publishing house and the Library to the family - the claim was deemed legally justified. In 1998, the City of Leipzig succeeding in securing Frau Hinrichsen's contractual agreement to the indefinite loan of the Peters Library's assets, ensuring they remain in Leipzig. This contract was, however, terminated in 2004 by Hinrichsen's heirs. Since this time, the stock of the Library is threatened with auction and, potentially, separation across all corners of the globe.

Of particular worth is the Peters Library's collection of approximately 500 autograph scores, including manuscripts of works of Bach, Haydn, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms and Grieg.

This Leipziger Notenspur station serves additionally as a tribute to Leipzig's status as city of historically significant libraries and music collections. Among the most prominent are the Universitätsbibliothek (University Library), founded in 1543, the Stadtbibliothek (City Library) founded in1677 and the Deutsche Bücherei (German Library) founded in1912, today a branch of the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek (German National Library) and soon to house the Deutsche Musikarchiv (German Music Archive).

Internet: University Library (Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig)  | City Library (Stadtbibliothek Leipzig)  | German National Library (Deutsche Nationalbibliothek)