MGG Online, the online resource based on the extensive and authoritative German music encyclopedia Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart (MGG), is now also available to personal subscribers. Upon its launch in November 2016, it was offered exclusively to institutions.

MGG Online contains the second edition of MGG, edited by Ludwig Finscher and published in 29 volumes between 1994 and 2008, now extensively revised and expanded. Among the 19,000 articles, written by 3500 authors from 55 countries, more than 18,000 are biographical. dealing with composers, singers, instrumentalists, and theorists. Many articles cover non-Western composers, musicians, and writers, including many jazz and popular music personalities, instrument makers, publishers, musicologists, writers, librettists, and visual artists. More than 1300 subject articles present music aesthetics and theory, epochs and genres, church music and pop music, instruments and manuscripts as well as cities and countries. Other contributions cover institutions (including music libraries), music iconography, and music related to history, art, literature, philosophy, law, natural sciences, and much more.

MGG Online contains all this content in a constantly updated and growing database. All article versions remain permanently accessible and clearly labeled. More than 200 articles were already revised or rewritten before launch (November 2016). New entries have been added since then. By the end of 2018, more than 170 articles will have been substantially revised or entirely rewritten, and 30 new entries will be available.

MGG Online was founded, financed, and implemented by the publishing houses Bärenreiter (Kassel), J.B. Metzler (Stuttgart), and Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale (RILM, New York). The general editor of MGG Online, the renowned musicologist Laurenz Lütteken (Zurich), works with an international advisory board, the MGG editorial team, and authors from all over the world to continuously update and add content.

MGG Online resides on a powerful platform that provides state-of-the-art search and browse functionality. For example, the detailed MGG works lists can be sorted according to various criteria. Other features include easy toggling between article versions, customizable user accounts (where bookmarks and annotations can be created, saved, and shared with others), integrated translation from German into more than 100 languages, and links to the comprehensive RILM Abstracts of Music Literature.

Personal annual subscriptions cost $195 USD plus tax, where applicable.

„MGG Online“ (https://www.mgg-online.com), die Online-Datenbank auf der Basis der Maßstab setzenden deutschsprachigen Musikenzyklopädie „Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart“ (MGG), ist nun auch für Privatkunden erhältlich. Beim Start im November 2016 wurde sie zuerst Bibliotheken für ihre Nutzer angeboten.

„MGG Online“ enthält die zweite Ausgabe der MGG, herausgegeben in 29 Bänden zwischen 1994 und 2008 von Ludwig Finscher, nun gründlich revidiert und erweitert. Unter den mehr als 19.000 Artikeln, verfasst von 3.500 Autoren aus 55 Ländern, befassen sich mehr als 18.000 biographische Einträge mit Komponisten, Sängern, Instrumentalisten und Theoretikern. Viele Artikel behandeln nicht-westliche Komponisten, Musiker und Schriftsteller, darunter zahlreiche Persönlichkeiten aus Jazz und populärer Musik, außerdem Instrumentenbauer, Verleger, Musikwissenschaftler, Schriftsteller, Librettisten und bildende Künstler. Über 1.300 Sachartikel stellen Musikästhetik und -theorie dar, Epochen und Genres, Kirchenmusik und Popmusik, Instrumente und Manuskripte sowie Städte und Länder. Weitere Beiträge umfassen Institutionen, musikikonographische Themen und Musik in Bezug auf Geschichte, Kunst, Literatur, Philosophie, Recht, Naturwissenschaften und vieles mehr.

„MGG Online“ enthält alle diese Inhalte in einer ständig aktualisierten und wachsenden Datenbank. Bereits vor dem Start im November 2016 wurden über 200 Artikel revidiert oder neu verfasst. Seitdem wurden auch neue Einträge hinzugefügt. Bis Ende 2018 werden mehr als 170 Artikel revidiert oder neu verfasst sowie 30 neue Einträge zu finden sein. Alle Artikelversionen bleiben dauerhaft zugänglich und als solche gekennzeichnet.

„MGG Online“ wurde von den Verlagen Bärenreiter (Kassel), J.B. Metzler (Stuttgart) und Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale (RILM, New York) gegründet, finanziert und umgesetzt. Der Herausgeber der „MGG Online“, der angesehene Zürcher Musikwissenschaftler Laurenz Lütteken, arbeitet mit einem international besetzten Beirat, der MGG-Redaktion sowie Autoren aus der ganzen Welt zusammen, um kontinuierlich Inhalte zu aktualisieren und hinzuzufügen.

„MGG Online“ nutzt eine leistungsstarke Plattform, die den Inhalt anhand hochmoderner Such- und Browse-Funktionen erschließt. So können beispielsweise die ausführlichen Werklisten nach verschiedenen Kriterien sortiert werden. Weitere Funktionen ermöglichen leichtes Umschalten zwischen Artikelversionen, individualisierbare Benutzerkonten (in denen Lesezeichen und Anmerkungen erstellt, gespeichert und mit anderen geteilt werden können), integrierte Übersetzungen aus dem Deutschen in mehr als 100 Sprachen und Links zu den umfassenden „RILM Abstracts of Music Literature“.

Der Preis für Privatkunden, die ab sofort abonnieren können, liegt bei jährlich US $ 195 (ggf. zzgl. MwSt.).

Please join Insia Malik and Jim Cowdery for a free lunch at the annual SEM conference in Albuquerque, on Friday 16 November 2018 from 12:15–1:45 pm in Gathering Room 1, Hotel Chaco. We will give insight into RILM’s strong commitment to international and multilingual scholarship, and inclusion of global non-music resources that are relevant to ethnomusicologists. We will also provide useful information on RILM Abstracts of Music Literature with Full Text, the full-text enhancement of the unrivaled music bibliography; RILM Music Encyclopedias, the continually expanding full-text repository of global musical reference works, with five new titles coming out in 2019; and MGG Online, the continuously updated online resource of one of the most extensive music encyclopedias in the world. To reserve lunch and a seat, please send a message to conferences@rilm.org with the subject heading “SEM lunch”, and include your name and institution. RSVP is needed by Monday 5 November.

Georg Burgstaller will participate in the annual congress of the Association Européenne des Conservatoires, Académies de Musique et Musikhochschulen (AEC) held at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, Austria, from 8 to 10 November 2018. The theme of the congress, Strengthening Music in Society, is also that of the association’s new EU-funded Creative Europe initiative, which seeks to broaden access to music, arts education, and cultural participation. Dr. Burgstaller will be available to meet with conference participants to engage in discussions how AEC’s mission intersects with RILM’s resources, which make music scholarship accessible across all disciplinary and cultural boundaries. For an appointment, please contact Georg Burgstaller at gburgstaller@rilm.org.

You are invited to a lunch meeting with RILM at the American Musicological Society’s and Society for Music Theory’s joint conference in San Antonio. On Friday, 2 November, from 12:00 to 2:00 pm, RILM will present, “Searching Across Disciplines: The RILM Suite and MGG Online for Music Theorists and Musicologists” in Bowie B at the Grand Hyatt in San Antonio, Texas. Associate Executive Editor Tina Frühauf will open the meeting with an update on recent developments at RILM, sharing news and relevant information on RILM Abstracts of Music Literature with Full Text, an expansion and enhancement of the unrivaled global bibliography of writings with full-text content from more than 200 key periodicals; RILM Music Encyclopedias, the continually expanding full-text compilation global online repository of music reference works with five new titles coming in 2019; and MGG Online, the continuously updated digital version Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, with revised and new articles. Product Manager Naomi Perley will report on RILM’s takeover of the Index of Printed Music. All interested persons are invited to this presentation. RSVP is required by Tuesday, 23 October, to reserve lunch and a seat. Please send an email to conferences@rilm.org, including your name, institution, and “AMS/SMT”.

Tina and Naomi can also be found at booth #402 in the Exhibit Hall.

After being under construction for a spell, our online tool for submitting RILM records is functioning. It is again possible to submit your work directly to the RILM database using the tool at RILM Submissions. If you have not created an account already, you will need to do so. You can also use the tool to submit additional data to existing records. And if you have questions, do not hesitate to ask, at info@rilm.org.

On Friday, 12 October, Subscription Manager Naomi Perley will discuss how RILM’s resources can aid performers, educators, and researchers in a wide variety of tasks, from locating music editions and researching program notes to compiling bibliographies for your classes. The focus group will take place at noon in the Oak Room (conference level). To secure your spot and lunch, RSVP to conferences@rilm.org by Tuesday, 25 September.

RILM’s Executive Editor Zdravko Blažeković will attend the second symposium of the International Council for Traditional Music Study Group on African Musics, “African Music Scholarship in the Twenty-first Century: Challenges and Directions.” The symposium takes place at the School of Performing Arts, University of Ghana, Legon from 9 to 12 August 2018. On Friday, 10 August, from 21:00 to 22:00, a special RILM session will be held at the Drama Studio that will give insight into RILM’s coverage of African music. It is followed by a brief Q&A led by Imani Sanga and a reception hosted by RILM.

RILM will be an active participant at this year’s meeting of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and Documentation Centres (IAML) in Leipzig, 22–27 July 2018.

On Thursday, July 26, at 16:00, Barbara Dobbs Mackenzie, RILM’s Editor-in-chief and Past President of IAML, will chair the RILM open session and present an update of the latest happenings with RILM and its resources (among other IAML duties). Yun Fan, Editor at RILM, will present the paper “Users’ Free-text Queries vs.Controlled Vocabularies: A Study of RILM User Data”, co-written by Zdravko Blažeković, RILM’s Executive Editor, will chair the RILM Business Meeting for National Committees.

Please feel free to find any of us and ask questions, provide feedback, or just say hello.

Click here for the conference program.
Click here for the conference website.

From 11 to 14 July, several RILM staff members will be attending the 3rd International Music Forum, chairing sessions and giving papers. Devoted to the theme Approaches to Research on Music and Dance in the Internet Era, the Forum hosts scholars from six major scholarly music societies (ICTM – SEM – IMS – IAML – IASPM – STMC) and this year meets at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. On Thursday, 12 July 2018, Editor Yun Fan and Developer Christopher Antila will participate in the 9:00 morning panel “New Digital Possibilities”. Yun will speak about developments in the RILM music thesaurus and Christopher Antila is a co-presenter on “Musicology and Composition on the Web with nCoda”. In a parallel session titled “Ethnographic Approaches”, Associate Executive Editor Tina Frühauf will give a paper titled “Researching Belly Dance beyond the Dancefloor: Ethnographic Approaches in the Digital Age”. Editor-in-chief Barbara Dobbs Mackenzie will chair the 14:00 session on music manuscripts. In the afternoon Developer Andrew Horwitz will give a paper, titled “Using the RILM Bibliographic Network API in Digital Humanities Research”. On Saturday, 14 July, at 11:00 in the morning, Barbara Dobbs Mackenzie will give a RILM presentation at the round-table discussion “International Music Resources: Navigation Key for Music Scholarship”, chaired by Executive Editor Zdravko Blažeković.

For the first time RILM and IAML join forces in Asia, at the one-day conference on 16 June, “Music Information in Asia and Advancement of International Collaboration: Searching the Music Source and Connecting the Music Libraries”. Supported by academic societies, each organization separately collects, preserves, and references information on music sources, and disseminates knowledge, collaborating predominantly with Europe and the US. This conference aims to include Asia in the processes and discussions to create meaningful ties and develop various levels of collaboration for the future. For the schedule, please visit https://iamlrilmrikkyo2018tokyo.jimdo.com/ and feel free to attend if you are in Tokyo on 16 June. Editor-in-chief Barbara Dobbs Mackenzie and Executive Editor Zdravko Blažeković would be happy to meet with you during their extended stay in Japan.