Response to papers by Jane Penner and Lyle Neff

By Lois Schultz

Head, Monographic Cataloging Section
Monographic Cataloging Dept.
Duke University Library
(and music cataloger for 20 years)

WESS Romance Languages Discussion Group
Sat., July 8, 2000 2:00-4:00
Palmer House, Crystal Room

I am very pleased to respond to the preceding papers. On the one hand we have a project to catalog a huge number of libretti using standard (and even enhanced) bibliographic control and access. This wonderful cataloging doesn't lead you directly to the libretto, though. You still have to go to the library to look at it. On the other hand, there is a new vision of providing the full text, but the cataloging or indexing isn't as elegant. In either case, there is a need to connect the actual libretto with the person who wants to read it. Whether you provide access through an online catalog, web pages, or some kind of indexing system, many of the same problems remain. If you have only limited time or resources, you opt for the system that provides the greatest indexing for the amount of time you have and hope that, in time, you'll be able to enhance the access. On Lyle's web site, you can look at the list of operas arranged by composer and sub-arranged by title. Keyword searching (or "Find" in your browser) works very well on web pages, as far as it goes. But suppose you are interested in the librettists? If their names aren't on the page, no amount of searching will lead you to them. Or perhaps you are looking for operas based on the work of a particular author - Bret Harte, for instance. By going through the initial list by composer, you wouldn't know that Lyle himself has written an opera based on a Bret Harte's story. You find that out when you actually look at the libretto. So, while access to information on web pages is improving, there still is a need to provide some kind of indexing as well as organization. To try to provide access to all the librettos that are available on the web is a monumental undertaking for an individual! As I'm sure Lyle knows, keeping the links active and adding new sites is a huge task, without providing advanced indexing capabilities.

There are some other things to consider as well. Some people simply want to read the words of the opera so that they may understand the action on the stage and are not concerned about the "authenticity" of a particular version. For others, knowing which specific performance is represented by the text makes a big difference. During the period that Dr. Elisabeth Bartlet was working on Etienne-Nicolas Mehul and opera : source and archival studies of lyric theatre during the French Revolution, Consulate and Empire (published in 1999), she insisted that it is necessary to always include the date of the performance on the cataloging record. And, she has very good reasons for wanting to see this information before she spends time waiting for us to retrieve the libretto or traveling to another library. During periods of political upheaval in France, the official censors regularly "edited" the text. Occasionally though, they didn't see the political implications of the words until AFTER the premier! So, the subsequent performances may have required a revision of the libretto. The presence of information about date, performers, etc. might be very important to her research.

Version can also be important for current opera projects as well. In the case of Lyle's opera, I see that he has posted the 4th draft - from June 2, 1995. If someone saw the first production, which was in May, 1981, would they recognize the differences? Then there are the problems of "edition". Traveling opera troupes performed all over the United States and sold libretti that provided the original language and the English translation. For these performances, libretti were sold that promoted the opera company, the publisher, and anything else worth selling. There is even a problem in knowing who is the actual publisher. The cover and various advertisements may indicate the F. Rullman was the publisher, but the actual title page (in much plainer type, of course), gives the publishers as G. Ricordi and Boosey & Co. The covers also frequently presented grand phrases like: The only correct and authorized edition. Such phrases make bibliographers and musicologists roll their eyes, as it is hard to imagine a Rullman performance of Tosca being anything like the original.

Probably one of the biggest drawbacks to sophisticated cataloging is the amount of time it takes to research information about the work, look up all the names of people associated with it, create the record, etc. Even with grants to support the cataloging, it is still hard to include all of the information that would be useful to patrons. Compromises about the extent of description and access have to be made in order to process the material in a reasonable amount of time. At Duke, we have certainly had to make adjustments too. We have two sizable collections of libretti or information about them: the Jane L. Berdes Collection and the Guido Mazzoni Pamphlet Collection. The Berdes Collection contains information about librettists that was gathered while she worked on the Ospedali Grandi, four Venetian welfare institutions that provided education and training for women. Our finding aid for the collection provides very little detail about the libretti (which are mostly photocopies) that it is difficult to even identify material needed for research. (For finding aids at Duke, visit the Rare Books, Manuscript, and Special Collections website: http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu)

Guido Mazzoni was professor of Italian literature at the University of Padua and University of Florence. We acquired his pamphlet collection in 1948, but only completed access to it in 1995. Included are 471 libretti with publication dates ranging from 1693 to 1938, most of them dating from the 19th century. Many of the pieces were published expressly for a performance, and give the names of the principal cast, directors, choreographers, and stage designers. The libretti are for operas, oratorios, per le nozze, and any kind of melodramma with some music. Individual composers and librettists represented include: Giovanni Gori Savellini, Vincenzo Bellini, Giuseppe Verdi, Felice Romani, Gaetano Rossi, Ettore Berlioz, Arrigo Boito, Lorenzo Da Ponte, Filippo S. Neri, Domenico Cimarosa, Richard Wagner, Josef Haydn, Gaetano Donizetti, Francesco Maria Piave, Gioacchino Rossini, and Pietro Metastasio. Instead of individual records in our online catalog, we created an in-house database (not yet publicly available on the web, although it will surely be linked from the information about the Mazzoni Collection). The indexing doesn't follow standard cataloging procedures and, contrary to "AACR2" cataloging rules, the librettists name appears as the "author." The composer, along with other names, is indexed in the "other names" field. The index doesn't even include the publisher! When I wanted to know what the 1693 libretti are, I had to go to Special Collections, access the database from there, and even then couldn't identify the publisher for one of them (the other had been scanned for an online exhibit, so I could look at the title page). While these shortcuts allowed us to provide access to many titles within a short period of time, there is still the problem that researchers have to know about this collection and come to Duke to even use the index. Fragmentation of access, by which I mean that patrons can’t access all materials in the library through a single indexing system, is still a great problem. Now that we can access the texts themselves, not just the indexing to them, it is even more important that we promote the use of appropriate standards and persuade our institutions that the amount of time is worth the cost.

Further information about works discussed above:

Neff, Lyle.
Starbottle for the plaintiff : an opera in three scenes / music and libretto by Lyle Neff.
Date of composition, 1980-1891, First production, May, 1981. 4th draft June 2, 1995
Based on a story by Bret Harte.

Bartlet, Elizabeth.
Etienne-Nicolas Mehul and opera : source and archival studies of lyric theatre during the French Revolution, Consulate and Empire. Heilbronn : Galland, 1999.

Duke University, Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library

Finding aids may be found through this web page: http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/

Guido Mazzoni Collection

Prototype database (this may or may not be available outside Duke): http://scribe.lib.duke.edu/mazzoni/database

Two oratorio libretti published in 1693 (information from the database)

Music: Sign. Giovanni del Violone di Roma
Text: Filippo Neri
Title: Il martirio di S. Vittoria (oratorio)
Item Number: D.136.X
Title: IL MARTIRIO DI S. VITTORIA: ORATORIO A QUATTRO VOCI DA CANTARSI NELLA CHIESA DÉPADRI DELLA CONGREGAZIONE DELL'ORATORIO DI S. FILIPPO NERI DI FIRENZE, MUSICA DEL SIGNOR GIOVANNI DEL VIOLONE DI ROMA
Author:
Other Name: DEL VIOLONE, GIOVANNI
Date: 1693
Per Nozze: no
Subject: Librettos.
Notes: DISPLAY: VERY EARLY LIBRETTO [This item is scanned as part of an exhibit on the Mazzoni Collection]

Music: Bernardo Pasquini
Text: Filippo Neri
Title: L'Ismaele (oratorio)
[Firenze : Vincenzio Vangelisti, 1693.]
Item Number: D.311.X
Title: L'ISMAELE: ORATORIO A CINQUE VOCI ...
Author: PASQUINI, BERNARDO (MUSIC)
Date: 1693
Per Nozze: no
Subject: Librettos.