Library

The Ugo and Olga Levi Foundation and its Library were created by will in 1962; in 2008 the Library was named after Gianni Milner, historic president of the Foundation from 1984 to 2003.

The mission of the Library is to preserve, conserve, enrich, enhance the use of its heritage which today numbers over 40.000 volumes, 30 person funds, 3 funds in permanent deposit, constantly increasing the book, music and sound sectors with new acquisitions and thus offering a supply of music and scientific texts for the study and in-depth study of musical and musicological disciplines to support specialists and scholars of the subject.

Its strategic location in the city and its interactions with numerous musical institutions, including the Benedetto Marcello Music Conservatory, the La Fenice Theatre, the Marciana National Library and the Luigi Nono Archive, favor its function as a only for musicologists and musicians, but also for all those who are interested in and study music.

The heritage of the Library, specialized in the music sector, initially established with the bequest of the spouses Ugo Levi and Olga Brunner, also preserves the collection of music from various sources owned by the families of the two founders, a substantial and valuable historical holding of unique scores and texts: from reductions for voice and piano to librettos dating from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, partly inherited and partly collected based on their tastes and interests. This collection of scores and scores relates to the Italian production of concert and chamber music between the First and Second World Wars, when in Italy interest was predominantly tied to opera or listening to the soundtracks of films and musicals of the time. Over the years, the Library has been enriched, through bequests and donations, with musical manuscripts and printed music editions dating from the early sixteenth to the late eighteenth century; drawings and portraits of musicians; opera librettos; musicological and historical-musical texts, with specific sections dedicated to the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Baroque, polychoral music, film music and ethnomusicology. The section ofNewspaper library collects the most important specialized magazines in the sector and has an online service for the digital collection of academic magazines of JSTOR-Journal Storage for the Music section.

In the 'Gianni Milner' Library the Historical collection of the Chapel of San Marco owned by the Basilica which includes more than 4200 musical compositions from the eighteenth century to the early nineties of the twentieth century.

Through donation, bequest or purchase, the Library has increased its book holdings, among these we highlight: the Angelo Sullam and Gino Voltolina holdings (opera librettos), the Mario Labroca (manuscript and printed music of the twentieth century), the funds Giorgio Magrini (chamber music of the twentieth century), Alfredo Ceccherini (band music), Elio Borsetto (over two thousand two hundred vinyl recordings of jazz music), Guido Bianchini (manuscript and printed music from the early twentieth century), fund Gaberlotto (printed music scores of the most famous contemporary musicians: Bussotti, Mosca, Castiglioni, Nono, Sciarrino, etc.), the CEMS Fund (a collection of the printed production of the publishing house which was among the publishing companies that were most committed to the publication of a musical repertoire according to the dictates of the Motu Proprio of Saint Pius Ausonio De Lorenzi Fabris (handwritten and printed music, sketches, pewter plates), opera singers Gianni Guidetti (a collection of theater programs from Italian and European theatres) e Ginevra Vivante, by the musicians Virginia Bronzini (piano music) and Luca De Marchi (a small legacy, made up of some manuscripts of which 5 compositions refer to the composer Guglielmo Bussoli), the fund Safred (studies on stringed instruments), by the critic Guido Piamonte and the musicologist Giuseppe Massera (music criticism, musicology and history of musical theory), of the conductor and composer Giovanni Losavio (manuscript and printed music) and of the conductor and choir Roberto Cecconi, the ethnomusicologist's fund Roberto Starec, the composer's fund for film music Giovanni Fusco and the funds of the three greatest Italian exponents of criticism and history in musical cinematography: Sergio Bassetti, Sergio Miceli e Ennius Simeon.

The library participates in the project National Library Service (OPAC-SBN), promotes specific educational activities aimed at high schools and universities and offers a reference service (in person, remotely, e-mail, telephone).