ROMANCE LANGUAGES DISCUSSION GROUP

ALA ANNUAL MEETING – CHICAGO – SAT. JULY 8, 2000, 2:00-4:00 P.M.

THE PALMER HOUSE’S CRYSTAL ROOM

ITALIAN STUDIES 2000

IN HONOR OF

MARIO CASALINI (1926-1998)

The Opera Libretto – accessing, researching, cataloging & other issues

Accessing Dante – The Princeton Dante Project

The Albert Schatz Libretto Collection and the U.S. RISM Libretto Project: Questions of Cataloging and Access

Abstract: The U.S. RISM Libretto Project to catalog over

12,000 items in the Albert Schatz Collection provides a

level of bibliographic control and access normally not

found in monographic cataloging. This presentation will

show examples of librettos from the Schatz collection,

provide an overview of the cataloging guidelines used

during the Project, and answer questions about accessing

the information contained in the libretto cataloging via

Eureka (the RLG Union Catalog) or the University of

Virginia's online catalog (http://virgo.lib.virginia.edu)

Presenter: Jane Edmister Penner received her M.L.S degree from the University at Buffalo (SUNY) in 1988. She started work at the University of Virginia in January, 1988, as Bibliographer/Cataloger for the U.S. RISM Libretto Project. During that year, Jane supervised the cataloging of the 19th century Italian librettos in the Schatz Collection. In 1989, she became U.Va's Assistant Music Librarian and is currently Head of the Music Library.

Building a Home for Librettos –or Fifi’s Adventures

Presenter: Lyle Neff -- the creator of the Libretto Homepage --

is presently a Clerical Aide, UD Online [i.e., distance learning],University of Delaware; organist, First Presbyterian Church; pianist, Mid-Atlantic Ballet Academy, Newark,DE; supplemental faculty, Music Department, University of Delaware; he is also co-Editor and editorial board member of H-MUSTXT: H-Net List for Musico-Textual Studies . Lyle Neff is a Ph.D. candidate in Musicology, at Indiana Univ., Bloomington, IN; dissertation pending tentative title: Story, Style, and Structure in the Operas of César Cui. Besides composing, he has also published articles on opera, and translations of Russian opera libretti.

Abstract: The web site "Public Domain Opera Libretti and Other Vocal Texts" --http://php.indiana.edu/~lneff/libretti.html -- came about as a natural parallel to other web-based collections of literary texts. Although its primary purpose is to provide links to libretti at this and various other sites, the site also includes some bibliographies of printed sources of and about libretti, as well as links to sites devoted to art song, oratorio, and liturgy. The convenience offered by these online texts is most useful to the opera listener, who, if unfamiliar with the language while reading libretti on the web, may take advantage of online translation sites to get an idea of the meaning. Web access and machine readability of these texts provide a ready source that can be downloaded for incorporation into projected titles and printed program booklets. Despite the positive aspects, online libretti, like online literature in general, are limited in a practical extent by the realities of copyright law, which also affects the availability of modern translations. These kinds of limitations, in addition to variants in format, are intimately tied up with the voluntarism of numerous contributors. In addition, as with so much content on the web, links change or become obsolete, creating problems for the patron and librarian alike. But one can hope that this kind of data source will not only continue to be a useful addition to the bibliographic corpus, but also expand its own creative possibilities for the art of opera.

FULL TEXT OF LYLE NEFF'S PRESENTATION

• Responding – Lois Schultz, Head, Monographic Cataloging Section, Duke University Libraries
• FULLTEXT of Lois Schultz's response

The Princeton Dante Project

Presenter: Dr. Robert Hollander, Professor in European Literature at Princeton University, who has published several books and articles concerning the work of Dante Alighieri. The former include Allegory in Dante's "Commedia"* (Princeton 1969), Studies in Dante (Longo, 1980), Il Virgilio dantesco (Olschki, 1983), an edition (in collaboration with Jeffrey Schnapp and others) of Bernardino Daniello's commentary on the Commedia (UPNE, 1988),and more recently, Boccaccio's Dante & the Shaping Force of Satire (Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, 1997).

The Princeton Dante Project opened for local use in Princeton on 18 May 1999.

The PDP combines a traditional approach to the study of Dante's Comedy with new techniques of compiling and consulting data, images, and sound. The text of Dante's poem is always at the center of the user's attention, and he or she is able to consult, within the confines of the PDP itself.

Questions or suggestions? Contact Heleni Pedersoli at hp4@umail.umd.edu