RIPM

(Edinburgh 2000)

This has again been a productive year for RIPM. Over the past twelve months eleven volumes have appeared—eight French, two Spanish and one Polish—bringing the total number of RIPM volumes to 133. The French volumes complete RIPM’s most extensive publication to date, namely, La Revue et Gazette musicale de Paris (13 vols.) prepared by Doris Pyee-Cohen and Diane Cloutier. The Polish volume by Barbara Zakrzewska-Nikiporczyk treats three music journals published in Warsaw: Tygodnik Muzyczny [Musical Weekly], Pamiêtnik Muzyczny Warszawski [Musical Memorial of Warsaw] and Gazeta Muzyczna i Teatralna [Musical and Theatrical Gazette]. The two Spanish volumes were prepared by Esperanza Berrocal, and treat journals published in Madrid, La Zarzuela and La España Artística.

In addition to a number of ongoing subventions there were two new major grants this year, one from Poland’s Komitet Badan Naukowych [Committee for Scientific Research], and the other from the National Endowment for the Humanities in the United States.

Released on 1 July 2000, RIPM Online and RIPM on CD-ROM were demonstrated for the first time at a conference session. The database—which will be updated every six months—contains over 380,000 annotated records in twelve languages and offers a cumulative index to 127 of RIPM’s 133 volumes, namely all RIPM volumes except (for the moment) those in Russian. Like RIPM print publications, RIPM Online and RIPM on CD-ROM are published by the National Information Services Corporation (NISC).

RIPM Online and on CD-ROM offer rapid access to over 8,000 biographical studies and obituaries, some 190,000 reviews, an almost daily chronicle of music and musical life throughout Europe and North America, and a monumental bibliography of music.

While the journals treated date in large part from the nineteenth century, the subject matter is not limited to this period. For, the Romantic era’s interest in history is clearly reflected in the press. For this reason there are some 2707 records for Bach, 5005 for Handel, 2867 for Haydn, and 6021 for Mozart. And, understandably the number of records for contemporary figures is immense: for example, Beethoven 7368 records, Bellini 3308, Verdi 7754, Wagner 3777, Weber 2893, Mendelssohn 5836, and Rossini 6586. Also of importance is the number of records for lesser-known composers. There are, for example, 112 records for Bargiel, 562 for Boieldieu, 451 for Czerny, 112 for Gernsheim, 989 for Hiller, 544 for Hummel, 237 for Onslow, 312 for Raff , 973 for Rubinstein and 738 for Thalberg. Also of interest is the sophisticated level of search engines which bring rapid access to highly specific queries.

To what extent do RIPM Online and on CD-ROM increase access to documentary resources? If, for example, one compares (albeit with a somewhat apples and oranges comparison) the number of entries for Thalberg, Clementi and Boieldieu in Grove, MGG, RILM and RIPM, we find that respectively 93%, 70% and 89% of the total number of entries appear in RIPM; and if we make the same comparison with Raff, Marshner and Ries, we find that the same principle applies at the level of 81%, 69% and 80% respectively. Clearly, the amount of accessible documentation for nineteenth-century studies has, with the appearance of RIPM Online and RIPM on CD-ROM increased exponentially. Finally, mention should be made of our intention to begin this year integrating into RIPM’s two electronic publications, full-text retrieval on a title by title basis.

For additional information consult RIPM’s extensive website www.nisc.com/RIPM

H. Robert Cohen