RISM (Répertoire International des Sources Musicales) is an international joint enterprise whose aim is to provide comprehensive documentation of existing music manuscripts throughout the world. For the RISM A/II series Music Manuscripts after 1600 all music manuscripts in each country are recorded and information on them stored in the database at RISM’s editorial headquarters. Two editions of a database index on microfiche were produced before a completely revised database was first published on CD-ROM in 1995. The CD-ROM contains RISM’s complete database in which each manuscript is registered with its musical incipit given in musical notation and can be accessed via comprehensive indexes. ...

The Contents

The CD-ROM edition contains 4 databases which are linked together:
1. Music Manuscripts after 1600. The main database covers about 455,000 records of works by more than 18,000 composers, from all over the world. These records are based on manuscripts housed at 684 libraries in 31 countries.
2. Composers from the RISM Series A/I and A/II, in total ca. 26,000
3. Library codes from all RISM Series, in total ca. 6,200.
4. Literature used in the Series A/II, in total ca. 3,000
The CD-ROM contains a total of 490,200 entries.

Each individual manuscript is described in detail with up to 100 categories available. The most important of these categories are:

• Name of composer, arranger etc., with biographical dates
• Title of work in standardized form
• Music incipit (opening of musical text in musical notation)
• Exact transcription of the title
• Musical form (score, individual parts etc.)
• Location of manuscript and library shelf mark

Indexes

• Composer
• Filing title
• Alternative title and text
• Arrangement
• Work register
• Key
• Name
• Autograph
• Date of manuscript
• Music incipit
• Role
• Provenance
• Library
• Shelf mark
• Keyword

Help function
Context-sensitive help can be called up to explain the content and research possibilities of the window you are currently working in.

Saving and editing
Individual manuscript descriptions or groups of manuscript descriptions can be printed out or saved on floppy disc.

Users
• Musicologists find the CD-ROM a mine of information to use for research purposes; the CD-ROM provides a basis for those producing registers of works and editions of music texts.
• Librarians can use the CD-ROM to trace parallel sources of works existing in their own libraries.
• for musicians, the CD-ROM opens up an unparalleled range of music from which to select lesser known works; these can be used for unconventional concerts outside the usual music repertoire.

As new titles are continuously registered, cumulated editions of the CD-ROM will appear at regular intervals in the future.