Digital Opera and Ballet: A Case Study of International Collaboration
2014; Volume: 61; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2471-156X
Autores Tópico(s)Diversity and Impact of Dance
ResumoBackground of the Collaboration The project started at Brigham Young University (BYU), where a close partnership with the Internet Archive (2) dates back to 2009. The Harold B. Lee Library at BYU maintains a Digital Imaging Lab equipped with a variety of options for digital conversion including scanners, high-resolution photography, and multiple Book Scribes (the photographic workstation developed by the Internet Archive). Scanning of music materials at BYU began with historical dictionaries and other reference works in the public domain. These reference-oriented materials and related documents scanned by other institutions are indexed in the MusRef database (musref.byu.edu). Another earlier digital initiative sponsored at BYU involved scanning about 2,400 harp scores, including solo and chamber works. The digital conversion of BYU's extensive holdings of opera and ballet materials began in 2012. BYU's collection encompasses the French, Italian, German, English, and Portuguese repertories dating from the 17th through the early 20th century. Materials include full scores, reduced scores, orchestral parts, librettos, concert announcements or programs, and correspondence. Highlights include autograph full scores of operas and ballets by Giovanni Paisiello (1740-1816), Charles Simon Catel (1773-1830), Victor Masse (1822-1884), and Alexandre Luigini (1850-1906). Copyists' manuscripts originating from the copisteria of Luigi Marescalchi (1745-1805) from late 18th- and early 19th-century Naples are also well represented. Archival strengths include original letters by Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791-1864) and Victor Masse. Selections from the private collection of Wright Thurston held on deposit at BYU include many rare editions, manuscripts, libretti, and composer's letters. To date, almost all of the scores and librettos held at BYU and found in the Thurston Collection, totaling more than 3,500 items, are scanned and available online. Remaining composers' letters, concert programs, and other archival documents will be made available in the future. The beginnings of the collaboration between the Belgium partners and BYU stem from this author's research with the collection of performance scores and parts from the Theatre de la Monnaie now preserved at the City Archives of Brussels (3). As the repertory of a single opera house, the collection is comparatively large, representing more than six hundred operas, about one hundred and sixty ballets, and an excess of sixteen hundred early 19th-century vaudevilles. The materials include full orchestral scores, piano-vocal scores, sets of orchestral parts, and other valuable resources such as mise en scene, costume designs, personal vocal parts for lead roles, chorus parts, and stage band music (musique sur scene). These materials date from the mid [18.sup.th]- to the mid [20.sup.th]-centuries. While the repertory is primarily French and imported from Paris, the collection does include substantial performance materials used for staging original local productions. During the summers of 2012 and 2013, a BYU mentoring environments grant, together with supplemental funds provided by the BYU library and private donors, enabled the establishment of an Internet Archive scanning station at the City Archives of Brussels. Permission to install the scanning station was granted by the administration of the City Archives and a subsequent formal endorsement of the collaboration was received from the City Council and Mayor of Brussels. Creation of the scanning center in Brussels involved the cost of transporting an Internet Archive Book Scribe from the United States. The BYU library funded the transport costs and provided a donation of the necessary cameras. Generous funding also made it possible to bring a crew of student employees to Brussels to assist with the scanning effort. During the first summer from June through August 2012, a crew of five students assisted with the scanning and other related research for a catalogue of the collection. …
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