The agreement creates a good basis for the further development of the Ricordi Archive, which houses one of the world’s most valuable music collections. The new premises will improve public access to the archives and make possible more events, such as exhibitions. Last year, for example, to mark the 200th anniversary of Giuseppe Verdi, Bertelsmann displayed treasures from the Archivio Ricordi in an exhibition (“The Enterprise of Opera”) that traveled to several European cities.
The Braidense National Library in the impressive Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan city center houses valuable historical and scientific literature collections, and has been home to the Archivio Ricordi since 2003. Until now the use of the premises was subject to spatial restrictions. In the next few months, modernization work and the relocation of the Archivio Ricordi administrative offices will lead to significant improvements. The archive’s depository and offices will be merged by the end of the year, and a collaboration with the Braidense Library’s digital media center, the Mediateca di Santa Teresa, is also being sought.
Bertelsmann has owned the Ricordi Archive since 1994. Its inventory contains some 7,800 original scores to more than 600 operas – including precious original manuscripts by Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini – and around 10,000 librettos, 6,000 historical photographs and the complete business correspondence of the legendary music publisher Ricordi from 1888 until 1962. Bertelsmann is advancing the indexing of the archive using the latest scientific and technological standards. This also includes the step-by-step digitization of more than 10,000 artifacts.
