Postkarte (coloriertes Foto) mit montieren Personen und Fahrzeugen, 1913

Postkarte Blick vom Wienfluss auf das Wiener Konzerthaus, 1914

Postkarte Wiener Konzerthaus Fassade Lothringerstraße, 1945

Postkarte Wiener Konzerthaus, ca. 1955

Postkarte Wiener Konzerthaus, Straßenbahnschienen, ca. 1960

About the Archive

The handkerchief with which Sir Simon Rattle wiped the sweat from his brow following the memorable performance of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s «Gruppen» on 23rd March, 1996, is carefully preserved in the archive of the Wiener Konzerthaus. So, too, is part of the bull’s skull which was famously shattered on stage during the world premiere of George Lopez's «Schatten vergessener Ahnen» on 24th  October 1996. The archive is open to the public and visitors can of course study individual pieces of important musical history: letters (for example by Richard Strauss and Johann Strauß,, Dvorák, Bruckner, Wolf, Nono, Ligeti, Cerha, Stockhausen and many more), signed scores, historical manuscripts, as well as programmes, posters, concert reviews, records and CDs, historic photographs and specialist literature about music.

Key activities

One of the main focuses of the archive’s work is documenting the concerts and events held in the Konzerthaus, with particular interest in the general artistic and financial set-up. This places the history of the house itself, which was built in 1913, but whose institutional roots date back to the 19th century, at the centre of the archive’s work. The aim is to sift through information and material and process and classify it in such a way that it is able to answer the widest possible range of questions visitors might have.