Corsage from the collection of costumes related to Anna Pavlova’s ballet troupe. 1933. Owned by Anna Priede. RTMM 776323

The Museum of Literature and Music’s (MLM) collection of music history features 170,269 holdings of value and significance to the nation. Those holdings that are not recordings (including sheet music manuscripts, letters, documents, posters, photographs and keepsakes, among others) cover the entire history of Latvian music and dance from the mid-19th century to the present day.

The collection of music is composed of holdings from collections related to 826 different people, institutions and themes. Of these, the most significant are those relating to Jāzeps Vītols, Jānis Zālītis, Emīls Dārziņš, Emilis Melngailis, Alfrēds Kalniņš, Teodors Reiters, Leonīds Vīgners, Anna Priede and Velta Vilciņa, as well as the collections of the Latvian National Opera, the National Opera and Ballet Theatre of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, and the Song Festival, among many others.

After the restoration of the independence of the Republic of Latvia, the music collection was supplemented by cultural history heritage items related to the Latvian people that had been carefully gathered and collected by Latvians in exile. The most significant collection of this kind is the collection gifted by Margarita and Ēriks Biezaitis from Australia.

Head curator of the music history collection Dana Filipsone
Phone: 672356260
dana.filipsone@rmm.lv