Oswald Jonas Memorial Collection

Oswald Jonas memorial collection (MS 067)

The Oswald Jonas memorial collection is an unparalleled resource documenting the work and enduring influence of the Austrian pianist, composer, music critic and music theorist, Heinrich Schenker (1868-1935).

Schenker's papers are enhanced by the papers of Oswald Jonas (1897-1978), a distinguished pupil of Schenker's and a loyal disciple, and the papers of Moriz Violin (1879-1956), a concert pianist and Schenker's closest friend, including the monumental Schenker-Violin correspondence, which extends from 1896 to 1935.

The entire collection comprises about 75,000 leaves of largely unpublished manuscripts, including music, theoretical and analytical studies, critical essays, letters, Schenker's Tagebücher which he kept over forty years (1896-1935), biographical materials, and printed scores from Schenker's working library, often heavily annotated.

In addition there are books, pamphlets, periodical publications, corrected galley and page proofs, notebooks, drafts and fragments from Schenker's work table, photographs and other memorabilia, together with related correspondence and research materials assembled by Jonas.