The Excellencies of Musick exhibition opens at the National Library showcasing rare books, prints and manuscripts

Published on 29 Nov 2024

A new exhibition is opening at the National Library of Australia, featuring exquisite and intriguing rare books, prints and manuscripts relating to music. These were printed or handwritten in Britain between 1636 and 1850. The Excellencies of Musick: Highlights from the Jamie and Michael Kassler Collection exhibition is open from 3 December 2024. Entry is free.

Old book sitting open on a black cushion. On the left page is a portrait of a man with large rolled hair, on the right is the title page with text reading 'Orpheus Britannicus; A collection of all the choicest songs for one, two and three voices, composed by Mr. Henry Purcell'

Henry Purcell, Orpheus Britannicus : a collection of all the choicest songs for one, two, and three voices, 1702, nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn8656424 

Henry Purcell, Orpheus Britannicus : a collection of all the choicest songs for one, two, and three voices, 1702, nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn8656424 

Enter the musical world of Stuart and Georgian Britain, a world of concert-going, music-makers and thinkers, of printers and publishers. The exhibition features rare works by famous composers, theorists and philosophers, as well as portraits, engraved tickets and trade cards. Highlights include a broadside advertising an 1817 performance of Handel’s masterpiece, The Messiah, and a libretto of Haydn’s oratorio The Creation, still in its original sewn binding of 1803.

The items in the exhibition have many stories to tell. Some of the items are very rare. They include tickets and trade cards that tell of small moments in the lives of people living centuries ago. Other items in the exhibition are quite beautiful examples of printing techniques—engraving, lithography and mezzotint.

Dr Susannah Helman, Rare Books and Music Curator at the National Library

Items in The Excellencies of Musick exhibition are drawn from the collection of musicologists and longstanding National Library patrons Dr Jamie Kassler and Dr Michael Kassler. Assembled over half a century, their collection includes books on the practice of music, intonation and acoustics, theories of harmony and composition, histories of music, biographies of musicians, dictionaries of musical terms, and music periodicals. The Kassler Collection greatly extends and deepens the National Library’s collections of rare prints and books, music, pictures and manuscripts from the musicological world of 17th to early 19th century Britain. The Collection is being transferred to the National Library in stages and has enormous research potential.

The Kassler Collection is the working library of two people passionate about the history of music in Britain. The Excellencies of Musick exhibition offers an introduction to this research collection.

Dr Susannah Helman, Rare Books and Music Curator at the National Library

The National Library’s rare books collections include around 150,000 titles, with more in its maps, pictures and Asian collections. These printed collections date from the earliest years of moveable metal type in Europe (early 1450s) to the 2020s. The National Library’s music collections are also rich and span all the way from European printed scores to the manuscript scores of great names in Australian music of past and present.

The Excellencies of Musick exhibition will delight anyone, especially those interested in the history of music and the history and technology of the book and printing. The free exhibition can be found in the collection-in-focus area of the Treasures Gallery at the National Library of Australia until August 2025.

Additional information

Images for media use are available for download via Dropbox.

Contact

Caitlin Nelson, Media Liaison, National Library of Australia

M: 0401 226 697

E: media@nla.gov.au

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