NEMLA Fall Meeting 2011 Jonathan Manton BrittenPears Foundation Summary of the project A publicly available fully integrated online research resource presenting for the first time a complete chronological set of individual records spanning Benjamin Brittens entire compositional ou ID: 235025
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Slide1
The Britten Thematic Catalogue
NEMLA Fall Meeting 2011
Jonathan Manton
Britten-Pears FoundationSlide2
Summary of the project
A publicly available, fully integrated online research resource presenting – for the first time – a complete chronological set of individual records spanning Benjamin Britten’s entire compositional output, both published and unpublished, including all juvenilia.
Catalogue records will initially include:
Composition details (date, revision, dedicatee, text set, etc)Brief composition history (for complex works)Details of manuscript sourcesPublishing informationIncipits (in both audio and notation form)Recording, broadcast and performance historiesSlide3
Timeline 2005-2009
2005: Planning
Decision to create an online thematic catalogue of Britten’s manuscripts in time for the composer’s centenary in 2013
Application to AHRC with University of East Anglia to fund the project Award granted for three years2006: Project beganProject staff appointed – Dr Lucy Walker (Research Assistant), Jonathan Manton (Cataloger) 2006-2007: Project scopingProject aims established Initial investigation of source materialsCreation of database schema and cataloging system
Decision to dedicate first three years to Britten’s Juvenilia due to the volume of material and lack of previous research
2007-2009: Juvenilia
Research and cataloging of juvenile manuscript sources
Development of the resource’s technical infrastructure
Typesetting and recording of notation and audio incipits
Beta version released April 2008 –
www.brittenproject.org
Slide4
Timeline 2010-2013
2010: Second phase
Britten-Pears Foundation takes over funding of the project following the end of the AHRC grant phase
Staffing change – Dr Lucy Walker (Director of Learning and Development), Jonathan Manton (Technical Support Officer – based in USA), Sarah Nicholls (Cataloger)2010-2013: Mature works and technical developmentMature works cataloged Additional research data integratedFurther incipit preparationUsability and overall design of the resource Chronology finalized (all works will eventually bare a BTC number)
2013: BTC launchedSlide5
The material
Non Holograph material:
e.g.
-Copyists’ manuscripts-Instrumental parts
Holographs
:
e.g.
-Sketches
-Composition
drafts
-Fair
copies
Interim material: e.g.-Dyelines-Proofs
TO CATALOG:
Libretto material: e.g.- Typescripts- Handwritten- Annotated text sourcesSlide6
Cataloging structure Slide7
Database and Data Entry Tool
Online Data Entry Tool to create and populate BTC
records
Database online delivery processSlide8
Incipit recording update
Recording projects with a variety of musicians in both the USA and UK
Diller-Quaile School of Music – students and
resident string quartetBirmingham Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra (UK)BPF staff and visiting musicians to the libraryIncipit crowdsourcing tool - http://www.brittenproject.org/incipit-recordingsFurther reading: Jonathan Manton , “ ‘Some Quite Nice Little Tunes’: An Overview of the Preparation and Recording of 'Incipits' for the
Britten Thematic Catalogue
”,
Notes
67, no. 2 (December 2010): 249-62
Slide9
2010 User Survey
User survey conducted of potential users
Made available for a month via Beta Version
Mailing lists – IAML, MLA, AMS, RMA etcStudents and faculty at selected UK institutions including Kings College, London and Cambridge65 RespondentsSurvey assessed three principal areasContentUsabilityDesignSubsequent comparative survey of:
The Aaron Copland Collection (Library of Congress)
Beethoven-Haus Bonn : Digital Archives
Chopin Institute : Works Catalogue
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Survey Results - Content
Digitized Manuscript sources to be removed from the resource for now
Current images need to link to a higher resolution copy of each manuscript
Users would prefer to view complete manuscript sources not just the cover pageAnalytical tool needed for closer inspection of materialsSurvey suggestions not possible at the this stage. Images will therefore be dropped for now Hopefully added at a later date following a designated digitization projectTraditional length incipits to be addedSurvey suggested having both traditional length and extended incipitsShorter incipits more easily referenced by the researcher
Slide11
Survey Results - Usability
Browsing
More prominently displayed browse parameters
Additional Genre browse optionMore entries per results pageNavigation bar to enable browse results to be narrowed furtherCategory browse to be added to delineate different groups of works SearchingBasic keyword search found to be highly effective
First version of advanced search engine now operational but not available to the public
Slide12
Survey Results - Design
Manuscript source information layout
Remove any archival terminology
Addition of color coding for levels within the cataloging structureLink to documentation about the cataloging structure on each pageTagged dataCurrent use of links to be maintained despite survey Links should be a color other than blue so as not to be confused with hyperlinks directing the user to a different page Slide13
Remaining tasks before 2013
Finish cataloging manuscript sources including all published works, operas, and film and stage work scores
Finalize the BTC chronology, including all unfinished, unachieved and missing works as well as realizations and arrangements
Create notation incipits for all juveniliaRecord audio incipits for as many unpublished juvenile works as possibleUpload digitized scores and audio extracts for all published works Add publication, performance and broadcast historiesInclude links to upcoming performances and bibliographies for each work Slide14
Remaining tasks (cont)
Technical
Finalize the advanced search engine, browse facilities and filtering
Finalize design and overall usability Ensure alignment with current W3C accessibility guidelines and devise an accessibility statement Documentation Background to the projectHow to use the BTCCataloging and musicological decisions / justificationPlans for the future expansion of the resourceSlide15
Possible future additions
MEI encoded incipit images to enable thematic searching
Ability to print out, in print-friendly form, 'booklets' of specific groups of works – i.e. a mini catalogue of operas
Ability to interrogate catalogue data to produce graphic illustrations of compositional trendsIntegration of other current or future BPF projects detailing:Correspondence (TEI encoded) Diary entries (TEI encoded)Digitized manuscript sourcesPhotographsProduction materials (costumes, set designs, programs)
Concert programsSlide16
Beta Version and Feedback
www.brittenproject.org
j.manton@brittenpears.org
@jonmanton@britten_project Slide17
www.brittenpears.org