BuschBrothersArchive

The Busch Brothers Society was founded in 1964. In the three past decades it has assembled in the BuschBrothersArchive an extensive collection of scores, letters, programmes, photographs, pictures, books, and recordings, documentating the life and work of the conductor Fritz Busch (1890-1951), the violinist and composer Adolf Busch (1891-1952), the actor Willi Busch (1893-1951), the cellist Hermann Busch (1897-1975) and the pianist and composer Heinrich Busch (1900-1929).

The close personal as well as artistic relationship between Max Reger and particularly Fritz and Adolf Busch, who emigrated in 1933 and had lasting consequences for the reception and interpretation of the composer's works, rendered appropriate a connection with the MRI in order to further scholarly evaluation of the collected materials. At the general meeting in the autumn in 1995 the Busch Brothers Society - including descendants of the Busch families - voted to give the archive - first as a permanent loan, since 2003 as a donation - to the MRI. Since its move into the Alte Karlsburg Durlach, the BuschBrothersArchive is housed with the Institute's other materials, and is available to scholars, artists and other interested persons. A tiny portion of the holdings of the BuschBrothersArchive is on display at the BrüderBuschGedenkstätte (Busch Memorial Rooms) in Siegen.

The discographies of Fritz Busch (PDF) and of Adolf Busch (PDF) prepared by Gert Schäfer and Professor Dr. Klaus Schöler in collaboration with the BuschBrothersArchive is intended to give a comprehensive overview of all recordings known by the conductor and the violinist, including lesser-known broadcasts and privately owned acetates.