NSK Music Collection

NSK Music Collection is one of four special collections of NSK, the National and University Library in Zagreb, holding printed and manuscript music, along with a rich collection of music recordings on different media.

Unique musical scores, in particular music manuscripts, are a valuable source for researching Croatia’s musical history.  

Holdings  

The Collection’s resources include particularly valuable, older items dating back to the beginnings of music recording as well as Croatian contemporary music releases, which the Collection has been assembling for several decades. Its holdings currently include around 17,000 volumes of printed music, over 3,000 volumes of manuscript music scores, some 24,000 record releases, 5,800 cassettes, 11,000 CD releases and a number of born-digital music releases.  

Music manuscripts

The Collection’s greatest treasures are the manuscript scores by Croatian composers and their personal archives containing unique material, such as autograph manuscripts. Along with sheet music, these invaluable archives also include various additional research-relevant resources such as personal correspondence, photographs, concert programmes, critical reviews, etc.

Particularly standing out among these types of resources are the music manuscripts by and personal archives of the author of the first Croatian opera Vatroslav Lisinski and many other distinguished Croatian composers such as Blagoje Bersa, Ivan Zajc, Ferdo Livadić, Ivan Padovec, Božidar Širola, Jakov Gotovac, Fran Lhotka, Ivan Brkanović, Antun Dobronić, Stanislav Preprek, Croatia’s notable 20^th-century woman composer Ivana Lang, Nikola Glassl, Toma Prošev, Miro Belamarić, Miroslav Miletić, etc.

The Collection holds the original scores of well-known and frequently performed Croatian operas such as the first Croatian opera, Ljubav i zloba, and Porin, by Vatroslav Lisinski, and Nikola Šubić-Zrinjski, Mislav and Ban Leget, by Ivan Zajc.

Printed music   

Printed music in the Collection includes music scores, publications featuring compositions for various musical ensembles and instruments, anthologies and educational material such as textbooks and tutorials for individual instruments. Apart from classical music material, the Collection assembles hymnals and music of religious character, Croatian folk songs, both traditional and composed, as well as popular music releases, such as hits, pop songs and songs performed as part of music festivals. 

Music recordings   

The Collection contains a large number of music releases on different media which it has systematically been assembling since the beginning of music recording industry in Croatia. Particularly valuable among these releases are the historic shellac records dating from the beginning of sound recording and music publishing. 

The Čapka Music Collection (Fonoteka Čapka)

Exceptionally valuable among the Collection’s holdings is The Čapka Music Collection (Fonoteka Čapka), comprising more than 6,000 gramophone records, donated to the Collection by engineer Eduard Čapka, and including a wide variety of releases, ranging from the old 78 rpm shellac records to more recent vinyl records featuring both Croatian and foreign classical and popular music.

Reference collection  

The Collection’s reading room makes available an extensive collection of various reference works and other publications in the field of music.  

Digital resources 

The Collection’s digitised resources are available on the NSK Digital Collections and NSK Digitised Music websites.  

You may also research the earliest recordings in the history of Croatian sound recording on the Sounds of the Past website, which also brings overviews of the beginnings of sound recording in Croatia and digitised library material thematising that era.  

Access to collection items

Owing to their great value and the need for careful handling, resources in the Collection, including the accompanying collection of reference works, may only be consulted in the Collection’s reading room.

Listening booths with the accompanying audio-visual equipment for individual or group work are also available.  

Digitisation requests 

The Collection’s resources may be digitised upon request, for research purposes only. A filled-out digitisation request may be emailed at muzicka@nsk.hr or submitted in person, in the Collection’s reading room. 

Projects and exhibitions

The Collection and its staff contribute to the promotion of Croatia’s musical heritage by actively taking part in music-oriented projects and exhibitions as well as in concerts and similar music-related events and by creating online exhibitions spotlighting the prominent names in Croatia’s musical history such as Vatroslav Lisinski, Ivan Zajc and Ivana Lang.