Research

The most important composer of Liechtenstein is Josef Gabriel Rheinberger (1839-1901). His musical estate is kept in the Bavarian State Library in Munich. His private estate as well as the documentation of his creative work and his works can be found in the Landesarchiv.

The history of the holdings

In order to maintain and document the artistic work of the composer and teacher, Walter Kaufmann and the princely music director Severin Brender founded a Rheinberger archive in Vaduz in 1944. Printed music, literature, sound recordings and other documents related to the composer were collected. After Severin Brender's death, Harald Wanger took over the archive in 1960, which was based in the composer's birthplace in Vaduz. The Rheinberger family supported the promotion of Rheinberger research and made significant loans to the archive (including letters to the family, photographs, memorabilia, musical instruments). In 1998 the holdings passed to the Landesarchiv which has since been responsible for the care and development of the collection, while the International Rheinberger Society (IRG) is responsible for disseminating the work and supporting performances.

The structure of the collection

The Rheinberger Archive holds two different holdings in terms of provenance:

The Josef Gabriel Rheinberger Archive, Vaduz (RhAV), is a Rheinberger documentation collection created through the activities of the archive. The holdings, with the shelfmark RhFA, contain original documents on the life and work of the composer Josef Gabriel Rheinberger, which were segregated from the Rheinberger family archive, Vaduz, and made available to the Rheinberger Archive on loan.

E Archive

On e-archiv sources on the history of the Principality of Liechtenstein are published.

e-archiv.li provides access to selected documents from the Liechtenstein National Archives as well as from other archives. The published contents are work results of various projects and cooperations of the National Archives, the Historical Association for the Principality of Liechtenstein, the Liechtenstein municipalities and the Rheinberger Archives. The sponsor of e-archiv.li is the Office of Culture.

Liechtenstein Document Book

Liechtenstein charters from the period 1417 to 1510 are available digitally in the Liechtenstein Charters Book (LUB II). Earlier documents are available in print and on eliechtensteinensia and with an extended search option on e-archiv.

The scientific edition of the documents from the reign of the Barons of Brandis is carried out by the Historical Association for the Principality of Liechtenstein. The editor of the book of documents, Claudius Gurt, is based in the National Archives. The edition was begun in 1997 and includes sources from domestic and foreign archives relating to the present-day territory of Liechtenstein.

The Liechtenstein National Archives have an extensive reference library on the history of Liechtenstein as well as on archival science. The media are freely available in the reading room

You can also search the reference library online via the Catalog of the Liechtenstein National Library