[ARSCLIST] Cataloging art and popular songs

[Steven Smolian <smolians@xxxxxxxxx>]

The needs of private collectors are badly met my professional library cataloging, no matter how "user friendly" it may be.

Classical music is poorly served when professional cartaloging has to mee rules concerning firts publication titles of the printed music rather than the common-sense ones relating to how they are normally used.  Songs should not be under Lieder, Gesaenge, Balladen, etc., but grouped alphabetically by title under Songs.  Same for similar French designations.  

There are many more similar examples, but this is a short look at why what they do simply won't do.  WERM (Worl Encyclopedia of Recorded Music) does a far better job.

Many song texte were set and reset by the same composer (Schubert, for one), and by a multiplicity of composers.  Many are given titles but are best known by the beginning of the first line.  A set of cross indexes must therefore be part of the catalog to help identify the selection recorded.  Some Schubert songs bear the same title and their texts are by different poets.

Sets of "complete" recordings of a composer's genre come out regularly.  Hyperion has done yeoman service in this regard, with its 37 or so CDs of Schubert's song output.  The private collector must be given the tools as part of his catalog to find his way among these. 

I hope to describe various uses of catalogs by private users and explore what needs to be done to best allow those uses.  Stay tuned.

Steve Smolian



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