At the heart of folk song research in Austria
In addition to the numerous handwritten records of lyrics and melodies, and flyers, image and sound documents, our library holds the largest collection of books and journals about Austrian folk music, folk songs, folk dance and folk poetry.
The extensive collection has been enhanced by major bequests from researchers into folk music and folk dance, including the important collections of Georg Kotek (focusing on folk songs) and Raimund Zoder (focusing on dance).
The collections of sound documents range from shellacs, LPs, tapes and cassettes to digital tapes and CDs. They include examples of private singing and music-making recorded during fieldwork all over Austria in recent decades. The results of the “Digitisation of analogue sound documents” project are available for you to listen to and analyse in the Reading Room.
Browse through
- 15,000 books and journals
- 18,000 manuscripts
- 6000 song sheets
- 13,000 image documents
- 6000 sound recordings