For more than forty years Professor John Bergsagel, retired Professor of Musicology at the University of Copenhagen, has been a frequent guest at the Danish Institute in Rome when researching and writing. Whereas he maintains that it is the ideal place at which to study and write, he has also been known to regret the somewhat limited resources of the Institute’s library in the field of music. Consequently, as he now approaches his hundredth year and failing eyesight prevents him from reading, he has donated his entire musicological collection of books, historical editions and periodicals to the Danish Institute in Rome. It is not the library of a collector, of first editions, of a particular composer or subject, but a general working library that reflects the wide spectrum of Prof. Bergsagel’s own interests and activities during a long lifetime of study and teaching. The Danish Institute attracts a variety of students and performers, which it is hoped will find this addition to the Institute’s library useful and interesting.

On Monday, 9 November at 10:45 a.m., the John Bergsagel Collection of Musical Literature will be inaugurated. 

A drinks reception will follow.