Interview with Paula Quint

In the coming months we will be introducing the employees of the three institutions who will be involved in the merger of the music collections and speaking to them about ‘their’ music collections, their favourite music and their expectations for the project.

What is your role in relation to this music collection?

I have been the music librarian at the Netherlands Music Institute since 1 May 2018. The job encompasses every aspect of librarianship, from acquisition of materials up to and including answering inquiries from clients. Not just in person or in writing, but also by digitising information and circulating it online. My goal is to publicise the NMI’s collection, but most importantly to ensure that it remains accessible to everyone.

What is your favourite music?

My musical highlights lie in the repertoire up to around 1750 and from around 1880 to the present. When I studied the lute (hence my love for the period up to 1750) at the conservatory in Maastricht, I visited The Hague several times a year to browse for new music in the NMI’s collection (which was housed in the Gemeentemuseum at the time). And I don’t ever remember leaving empty-handed. The Hague was the place to come to find exceptional music that was difficult to find anywhere else. I love to play and listen to polyphonic music from the Renaissance or Baroque periods, but I can also really appreciate contemporary works by Dutch composers.

What do you expect from the merger of the three music collections?

I naturally hope that the partnership with the library of the Royal Conservatoire and the music department of The Hague public library will raise the profile and enhance the accessibility of the NMI’s collection. But above all, I want to create a fantastic, wide-ranging music library that no one can ignore. Whatever you are looking for in the field of music, you will find it here. And if not, we will steer your search in the right direction.

Which item in the collection would you recommend?

The NMI’s collection contains a great many gems, including manuscripts by Mozart, Beethoven and Mahler and a treasure trove of early prints. All gems that make your heart beat faster. Since a lot of the material has not yet been digistised, the example I choose is the manuscript of ‘Galimathias musicum’, which Mozart composed at the age of ten during a stay in The Hague. And my choice of recording is a Ricercare by Francesco da Milano from the Siena Lute Manuscript played by Israel Golani.