Paul Hirsch (bibliophile)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Paul Adolf Hirsch (born February 24, 1881 in Frankfurt am Main ; † November 25, 1951 in Cambridge ) was an industrialist and around 1930 owner of the largest private music library in Europe.

Life

Paul Hirsch was the fourth of five children of Anna Pauline, b. Mayer and Ferdinand Hirsch (1834–1916) born into a wealthy Jewish merchant family; the father ran an iron wholesaler in Frankfurt. Paul Hirsch had two brothers, Robert von Hirsch and Carl Siegmund Hirsch. Paul Hirsch became an industrialist and director of his father's tubes and pig iron company, Hirsch und Compagnie, founded in 1867 . He married Olga Ladenburg in 1911 and lived first on Beethovenstraße, later on Neue Mainzer Straße 57 . They had four children.

Hirsch was an avid lover of music (he played the violin very well) and musical writings. He was a member of the Weimar Society of Bibliophiles . The foundation of the Frankfurter Bibliophilen-Gesellschaft in 1922, of which he was chairman, goes back to his initiative. Since 1896 he has been collecting historical musical works privately, which he has brought together to form a music library. In 1928 and 1929 he bought Werner Wolffheim's music library with around 15,000 works. As a result, he became the owner of the largest and most well-maintained private music library in Europe with around 20,000 volumes, which was housed in a side wing of his house on Neue Mainzer Straße.

In 1930 he became Vice President of the Frankfurt Chamber of Commerce and Industry . Hirsch was a member of the German People's Party .

When the National Socialists came to power in 1933, the situation for Hirsch became difficult due to his Jewish origins. The bibliophile societies were to be subordinated to the Reichsschrifttumskammer , Jews could no longer occupy executive positions; in 1934 Hirsch resigned from the chairmanship of the society and became one of the founders of the Kulturbund Deutscher Juden in Frankfurt.

In 1936 Paul Hirsch finally emigrated to Cambridge, expelled by the National Socialists. Despite efforts by the Mayor of Frankfurt, Friedrich Krebs , to withhold the collection illegally and, if possible, to confiscate it, Hirsch was able to transfer almost all of his library to Cambridge. Until recently, his house was a center of musical life in Frankfurt. His library had its own concert hall, in which important musical performances took place, for example for the Stravinsky Festival in 1925 or for World Music Day 1927 of the International Society for New Music .

After his emigration, Hirsch made his collection available to the Cambridge University Library until he sold it to the British Museum in 1946 . In 1973 the holdings were finally transferred to the British Library .

He wrote numerous scientific publications based on his collection. In 1906, for example, the catalog of a Mozart library appeared, he presented parts of his collection at specialist exhibitions, and from 1928 he published the catalog of the Paul Hirsch music library.

Publications (selection)

  • An unknown song by WA Mozart. In: Die Musik, Vol. 5 (1906), pp. 164f.
  • The situation of the German iron market. In: Communications from the United Chambers of Commerce Frankfurt a. M.-Hanau, 1921.
  • Music bibliophilia. From the experiences of a music collector . In: Of books and people. Festschrift for Fedor von Zobeltitz on October 5, 1927, Weimar: Society of Bibliophiles 1927, pp. 247–254.
  • Bibliography of the music theory prints of Fanchino Gafori . In: Festschrift for Johann Wolf on his 60th birthday, Berlin: Breslauer 1929, pp. 65–72.
  • The situation of the wholesale trade in 1930, with special reference to the Frankfurt district . In: Annual report of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Frankfurt a. M. 1930.
  • The Frankfurt Bibliophile Society. In: Zeitschrift für Bücherfreunde, Vol. 36 (1932), pp. 2-4.
  • Contributions to music bibliophilia . In: Festschrift Carl Ernst Poeschel on the occasion of his 60th birthday on September 2, 1934, Leipzig: Poeschel & Trepte 1934, pp. 58–66.
  • A Discrepancy in Beethoven (concerning the C minor Symhphony) . In: Music & Letters, Vol. 19 (1938), pp. 265-267.
  • Some Early Mozart Editions . In: The Musik Review, Vol. 1 (1940), pp. 54-67.
  • More Early Mozart Editions . In: The Musik Review, Vol. 3 (1942), pp. 38-45.
  • Mozart's Great Mass in C Minor (K. 427). In: The Cambridge Review, 63 (1942), 1552, 344.
  • A Mozart problem (concerning Piano Fantasy K. 397) . In: Music & Letters, Vol. 25 (1944), pp. 209-212.
  • The Salzburg Mozart Festival, 1906. Reminiscences of an amateur . In: The Music-Review, Vol. 7 (1946), pp. 149-153.
  • Dr. Arnold's Handel Edition (1787–1797) . In: The Music Review, 8, 106-116 (1947).
  • together with Kathi Meyer-Baer (ed.): Catalog of the Paul Hirsch Music Library, Frankfurt a. M .:
    • Vol. 1: Theoretical prints up to 1800 , Berlin: Breslauer 1928 [reprint 1993].
    • Vol. 2: Opera scores , Berlin: Breslauer 1930 [reprint 1993].
    • Vol. 3: Instrumental and vocal music until around 1830 , Frankfurt a. M. 1936 [reprint 1993].
    • Vol. 4: First editions, choral works in score, complete editions, reference works, etc. Supplements to Vol. 1–3 , Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1947.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Carl Siegmund Hirsch; † 1938 in Buchenwald
  2. ↑ a b Andreas Hansert: Georg Hartmann (1870-1954): a biography Frankfurter Schriftgiessers, and Bibliophilen art patron. Böhlau, Vienna 2009, ISBN 3-205-78322-0 .
  3. ↑ Olga Ladenburg was also a bibliophile and collected colored papers , endpapers and special book covers , The British Library Journal dealt with the Olga Ladenburg collection of decorated papers in 1981 . Online at bl.uk (PDF, English; 2.2 MB)
  4. ^ Fritz Homeyer: German Jews as Bibliophiles and Antiquaries. Excerpts online at Google Books
  5. ^ British Library: The British Library journal, Volumes 7-8 British Museum Publications, 1981. p. 1
  6. ^ Catalog of a Mozart library in the holdings of the German National Library
  7. ↑ Second specialist music exhibition in the Krystallpalast in Leipzig, June 3 to 15, 1909: Catalog of the special exhibition from the Paul Hirsch Music Library, Frankfurt am Main. Holdings of the German National Library
  8. ^ Catalog of the Paul Hirsch Music Library in the holdings of the German National Library
personal data
SURNAME Hirsch, Paul
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hirsch, Paul Adolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Industrial, bibliophile music collector
DATE OF BIRTH February 24, 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH November 25, 1951
Place of death Cambridge