The collection contains compositions and correspondence of Ladislao, Joseph and Wenceslas Zavertal along with some Mozart ephemera.
Compositions by Ladislao include several operas and cantatas, about 20 part-songs and some 50 songs, over 60 items for orchestra or military band, over 60 pieces of chamber and instrumental music, and a number of arrangements of works by other composers. About 60 of the works held include a set of parts.
In addition, there is a considerable amount of archival material, including numerous letters. Among the correspondents are Dvork, Sir Edward German, Sir Alexander Campbell Mackenzie, and Sir Arthur Sullivan.
The holding of music by Wenceslas Zavertal comprises songs and part-songs, a number of pieces for orchestra or military band (mostly with parts), and about a dozen chamber and instrumental pieces. On the literary side are notebooks, diaries, a partial autobiography and letters, including one from Dvork and a postcard from Grieg.
There is one piece of piano music by Joseph Zavertal.
At the time that Ladislao Zavertal donated his musical works, the University benefitted also by the gift of a number of Mozart relics which had belonged to Wenceslas Zavertal, who was a friend of Mozart's son Karl. Of these, the portrait of Mozart's wife Constanze, by Josef Lange, is in the care of the Hunterian Art Gallery, while the remainder, including Mozart's penultimate letter mentioning the first performance of the Magic Flute, are in the Library.