The Henselt Library of Nineteenth-Century Piano Music

at European-American University

An online free-to-download archive of rare and otherwise unavailable scores

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The Henselt Library at European-American University houses over 2,000 rare scores of nineteenth-century piano music, many of which are not generally available elsewhere. As an online library, it is committed to the principle of making this key archive material publically available for download free of charge using easily available file formats.

The Henselt Library consists of public domain scores that are mostly for piano 2 hands, with a small number of concerto scores and reductions. Both original works and transcriptions are represented, ranging from miniatures and salon pieces to major sonatas and extended tone-pictures. This variety reflects the importance of the piano in both public concert life and in more intimate surroundings.

All of the music is "rare" in the sense that the majority is both unknown today and extremely difficult to obtain, and in many cases remains unrecorded and unperformed. It has been made available in the Library thanks to the dedicated work of many enthusiasts around the world who have shared a commitment to the open distribution of nineteenth-century music.

News and updates

Works of Alexander Dreyschock

The Henselt Library is most grateful to Mathieu Poirier for sharing with all of us his collection of rare Dreyschock scores.

Collected works of Sigismond Thalberg

The Henselt Library is most grateful to Mathieu Poirier for sharing with all of us his collection of rare Thalberg scores.

Scans with missing pages, unclear reproduction and related problems

The Library is aware that, in a situation well-known to its physical counterparts, a few of its volumes have missing pages and some are difficult to read, often because of the delicate or poor quality of the source scores. Unfortunately, our best efforts to repair the files cannot always ameliorate problems with the original scan, which may in some cases be some years old and of an original score that resides in a library halfway round the world. We appreciate the efforts of any readers who can supply improved scans or help with missing pages. Please do assume we are aware of these problems rather than contacting us to tell us about them - every volume has been checked through carefully before and after upload. However, we take the view, particularly given the rarity of this material, that an imperfect file is better than none at all.

Launch

The Henselt Library goes live to the public for the first time.

Resources

A portrait of Adolf von Henselt (1814-89), piano virtuoso and composer, after whom the Henselt Library is named. Henselt's compositions are outstandingly technically advanced for their era. He suffered severe stage-fright and had given up both performance and composition by the age of 33.

Scores

Other than by composer

The Henselt Library of Nineteenth-Century Piano Music

at European-American University

An online free-to-download archive of rare and otherwise unavailable scores

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