First, it is possible to preselect ‘Manuscript’ or ‘Composition’. Second, there is a list of other filter possibilities below: holding institution, category (plainchant, polyphony, carillon, and texts and treatises), format (choirbook, partbook, other codex, bundle, fragment, roll), origin, provenance (later repositories or owners), support (paper or parchment), miniatures, as well as number of voices, composer, and genre. 

This list is adaptive: when preselecting ‘Composition’, for example, only the relevant filters ‘voices’, ‘composer’, and ‘genre’ will be visible. When selecting ‘Manuscript’, only the first seven filters appear. Similarly, selecting one or more of the filters will automatically select either ‘Composition’ or ‘Manuscript’. 

For example, selecting the ‘Magnificat’ option within ‘genre’ will cause the ‘Composition’ option to be selected as well. Consequently, the results list will only display Magnificat compositions. (Conversely, typing the term “Magnificat” in the search box will result in a list containing these Magnificat compositions but also the manuscripts in which they are found.)

For the filters which contain longer lists of items, such as ‘holding institution’ and ‘composer’, ‘origin’, ‘provenance’, ‘composer’, and ‘genre’, a scroll bar has been provided as well as a search box.

When using one or more of the filters, the chosen filters will be shown above

the results list on the right-hand side of the page. At the same time, the filter list on the left will adapt accordingly by showing only those options that allow to narrow down further the search.

Category

‘Format’ filters operate on two levels: they indicate both the physical form of the object (codex, roll, fragment, or bundle) and, in the case of codices with polyphony, their function as a choirbook or partbook. 

Composer

When selecting one or more specific composers from the list, search results may appear with the name of another composer: this is mostly due to a double or conflicting attribution of a given composition. The reason for this is explained in the ‘additional information’ field in the composition description.

Genre

As in the ‘format’ filter, the ‘genre’ filter combines various levels of genres and subgenres: e.g., both ‘mass’ and its subgenre ‘Requiem’, both ‘chanson’ and the typical formes fixes occurring within the genre (ballade, rondeau, virelai), or both ‘motet’ and its subgenres ‘hymn’, ‘Salve regina’, ‘sequence’ or ‘Stabat mater’ (defined on the basis of their text, text genre, and plainchant genre).

Single searches may include any terms occurring in the text fields of the records. These include alternate names or spellings of composers not included in the browse filter on the left. 

It is important to use quotation marks for the literal retrieval of word combinations because this affects the search results. For example, the search terms mille regretz (without quotation marks) will lead to Pierre de la Rue’s chanson Cent mille regretz, to Cristóbal de Morales’s Missa Mille regretz, and to their corresponding sources (i.e., V-CVbav Capp. Sist. 17 and V-CVbav Pal. lat. 1982).

The search results, however, will also include the manuscript V-CVbav Capp. Giulia XIII.27, in which the words “mille”and “regretz” are found among the chanson titles, but not in the same chanson: De la Rue’s Mille regretz does not occur in this manuscript. 

Combined searches allow a first search to be combined with specific composer(s) and/or title(s). To return to the default settings for a new search, use the ‘Reset’ button below the search boxes.

3   Reading the search results

Results can be sorted by relevance, by holding institution, and by shelfmark (the latter two options ascending or descending), as chosen from the drop-down menu. The default selection is by holding institution in ascending order.

The number of results is shown above and below the list. When the results span multiple pages, the number of pages is also shown, together with buttons that allow navigation to the following or preceding page(s). It is also possible to type in the desired page number in the box.

Identification

The identification field contains the subfields ‘holding institution’, ‘shelfmark’, ‘format’, ‘category’, ‘content’, and ‘language(s)’.

Context

The context field contains the subfields ‘origin’ and ‘date/date range’. 

Material description

The material description field contains the subfields ‘support’ (the writing support, such as paper, slate, or parchment), ‘folios’ (number of folios), ‘height’, ‘width’ (in cm), and ‘illumination’. The last subfield indicates only their presence (yes/no).

Clicking the ‘detailed information’ button will show further details about the manuscript’s context (date, origin, and provenance) and illumination (description of illumination and heraldry), along with bibliographical references.

Inventory

Inventories of polyphonic sources are available; those of plainchant and carillon sources will be added in the future.

Clicking the composition title will open the composition record. 

Clicking the folio numbers will lead to the corresponding folios in the Mirador viewer. 

Clicking the downward-facing arrow will open the contents of the corresponding composition, displaying sections, subsections, and the corresponding folio numbers. As a default setting, the inventory of the first composition of the manuscript is shown.

For a mass composition, for example, the inventory will display the mass sections such as Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei, and their respective subsections, such as Et in terra pax, Qui tollis, etcetera. In motet compositions, these will be the prima and second partes; in hymns and Magnificats, the different verses of the text.

Bibliography

Although efforts have been made to add an extensive bibliography, it does not claim to be exhaustive.  As a default, only the first four bibliographical items will be shown. Clicking the ‘show more’ button will display the full bibliography. Articles published in the Yearbooks of the Alamire Foundation, the Journal of the Alamire Foundation and any other open access publication will be shown as a URL, directly linking to the publication online. When applicable, the last bibliographical item is a link leading to the corresponding record in professor Herbert Kellman’s Renaissance Archive of the School of Music (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign). 

Copyright

The copyright field contains the subfields ‘images’ and ‘metadata’, and the corresponding copyright statement and licence for both. Further information can be found on the Terms & Conditions page.

Permalinks

Clicking the URL in the metadata box will automatically copy the link to the clipboard. 

Images

To view the images of any source, it is required to log in.

Title and composer

Titles and composers are spelled as they appear in Oxford Music Online.

Alternative titles refer to the same composition also known by other names (rather than spelling variants). These may include, but are not limited to, contrafacts of the composition.

Credited' composer names refer to attributions in (concordant) sources. 'Stylistic' attributions refer to attributions on musicological grounds. 'Contested' attributions are attributions in (concordant) sources that are generally not accepted.

Appears in

Per composition, the concordant sources in IDEM are listed.

Structure

This field displays the structure of the sections and subsections of the composition.

Additional information

This field lists all relevant information per manuscript, including the mention of a composer’s name in the index and/or in the manuscript itself, variant spellings of titles and composer names, (conflicting) attributions and voice labels, with the corresponding bibliographical references. 

Permalinks

Clicking the URL in the metadata box will automatically copy the link to the clipboard.