Nachlaß Tappert: About the Copy of the Lute Tablature from the Schaffgotsch’s Library in Cieplice Dedicated to Cistercian Monk Father Hermann Kniebandl

The article is devoted to one of the lute music manuscript which comes from the lute tablatures collection of Krzeszów (Grüssau) Cistercians from the 18th century. It is kept now at the National Library in Warsaw (call number: PL-Wn Mus. 396 Cim.) but until World War II it was placed in the Schaffgotsch’s library collection in Cieplice Śląskie (Bad Warmbrunn). There it was made available for the public as a lute tablature with the call number K. 44. This manuscript aroused interest of, among others, a famous bibliophile, lute music lover and researcher Wilhelm Tappert (19.02.1830 – 27.10.1907). He was of the Silesian origin because he was born in Tomaszów Bolesławiecki (Thomaswaldau) in the Lower Silesia. During his research on this manuscript since July 10th, 1895 until April 8th, 1900 he stayed in neighboring Agnieszków (Agnetendorf) — since 1998 a district of Jelenia Góra city (Hirschberg). He placed his own remarks, notes, transcriptions, copy of pieces and printed brochures in his notebook which now functions as a manuscript in the „Nachlaß Tappert” collection preserved in the Staatsbibliothek Berlin – Preussischer Kulturbesitz under call number D-B Mus. ms. 40277. This manuscript has not been a subject of a detailed research until now. It has been only mentioned by researchers that it exists in general. The research has shown that the manuscript D-B Mus. ms. 40277 does not contain a copy of all pieces from the lute tablature of the 18th century. There are only 46 works, moreover, the vast majority of their genres are minuets (13). The copy of the Silesian manuscript was also a pretext to reach for Wilhelm Tappert’s collection, what allowed to pay attention to his broad journalistic, scientific, artistic and especially bibliophile activity. Nachlaß Tappert is a collection which contains not only information which present a huge spectrum of Wilhelm Tappert’s work, but it is also an extremely valuable information source for doing research on the history of lute music. While making many copies of handwriting and printed sources Tappert used the collections which are unavailable now. His huge heritage appears to be a priceless information source about the lute music history and also about the musical culture of Silesia together with folk music