Christina Clarke
The Choix de chansons digital critical edition has come together gradually over a number of years and several phases. I joined the project as a research assistant tasked with the first phase of the project: developing a database that would be the foundation for the digital edition. The second phase, undertaken by Pia Van Gelder, was converting that information into the online edition, and the third phase, which is ongoing and involves all parties in the project, is the interpretation of the material.
I originally conceived of the digital edition as a database which would sit behind an online user interface. In the early iterations of data modelling, I designed a linked open data (LOD) schema for the Choix de chansons and created a relational database in which to collate the data and metadata until its conversion to LOD. In anticipation of this, I created fields based on terms from existing ontologies, predominantly the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative, and used vocabularies from datasets such as the Virtual Internet Authority File and the Getty Art and Architecture Thesaurus. The edition as it stands today is essentially a hybrid of LOD principles and a relational database converted into a set of interlinked web pages. Although the Choix de chansons Digital Critical Edition is not built on a LOD database, the initial LOD schema modelling is strongly reflected in the present metadata clusters.
This appendix outlines the metadata found in the Choix de chansons Digital Critical Edition with reference to the fields of the LOD-influenced relational database from which today’s edition was built. It describes the types of fields, the LOD ontologies and vocabularies that are behind the fields, and describes how metadata was collected or generated.
Explanation of terms
Based on. Each field is associated with a term drawn from an authoritative ontology, mostly the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI). The Uniform Resource Indicator (URI) for the term is provided.
Defined by. Some fields are clarified by a second defining term taken from an authoritative vocabulary.
dc. ontology terms from Dublin Core Metadata Initiative
mo: ontology terms from The Musical Ontology
aat: vocabulary terms from Getty Art and Architecture Thesaurus
viaf: authority files from Virtual Internet Authority File
cdc: proposed new terms to be coined for a Choix de chansons ontology in the absence of existing ontologies
General Metadata
In the digital edition this cluster is found below the image metadata. This information overarches the rest of the fields.
Song Set Identifier
Based on: dc:identifier <http://purl.org/dc/terms/identifier>
The song set identifier is found in the title of each song set page alongside the title from the title page of each song set. This identifier is the primary key in the relational database for any given song set. The identifier’s format is S.#.##, where S stands for song set, the first digit stands for the book volume and the second digit refers to the number of the song set within its volume. So, for example, S.2.07, “Le pot au lait,” is the 5th song set in volume 2. Although the titles on the title pages might have been as primary keys, since each is unique, using the alphanumeric string allows one to contextualise or locate a song set easily in the database and can be used to label associated files and keep them in order. The second numeral must start with a zero if it is under ten, because machines read strings of numbers by digit position (1, 10, 11…2, 20, 21) rather than whole numbers (1, 2, 3…10, 11, 12). The identifier can also be extended to distinguish between different songs within a song set, so 2.05.1 and 2.05.2 refer respectively to the first and second songs within that song set.
Group Page Range
Based on: dc: bibliographicCitation <http://purl.org/dc/terms/bibliographicCitation>
This field identifies the volume and range of pages of a song set so that users can locate song sets in the original edition if required.
Title Page Inscription
Based on: dc:title <http://purl.org/dc/terms/title>
The text from the title pages was transcribed manually. Line-breaks are indicated by a slash offset by spaces on either side—a convention for transcribing multi-line text into single-line text which is typically seen in quotations of verse.
Published Notes
This field contains any comments on a song set that do not suit another field.
Prints
Image Description
Based on: dc:description <http://purl.org/dc/terms/description>
This field contains interpretative essays authored by project members and users of the Choix de chansons.
Plate Signature
Based on: cdc:plateSignatures
Defined by: aat:signatures <http://vocab.getty.edu/page/aat/300028705>
Each print has a print signature below the lower border comprising the artist’s signature followed by “in.”, “inv.” or similar for the Latin invenit (he/she invented) and the engraver’s signature followed by “sc.”, “sculp.” or similar for sculpsit(he/she carved). In many cases, both signatures appear to be in the same hand, presumably the engraver’s. Since all the prints in volume one were engraved by the artist, Moreau, his name alone is inscribed, along with the year of production, which is not provided in any other volume. The transcribed plate signatures are preserved in this field so that users of the critical edition can verify identities of artists and engravers against the two fields below if necessary.
Artist
Based on: dc:creator <http://purl.org/dc/terms/creator>
Defined by: aat:artists (visual artists) <http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300025103>
Artists’ names were drawn from the plate signature transcriptions and located on the Virtual Internet Authority File (VIAF). The VIAF data was used to create contributor records in the relational database which were then linked back to this field.
Engraver
Based on: dc:creator <http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/creator>
Defined by: aat:engravers (printmakers) <http://vocab.getty.edu/page/aat/300025165>
Engravers’ names were drawn from the plate signature transcriptions and located on VIAF. The VIAF data was used to create contributor records in the relational database which were then linked back to this field.
Year
Based on: dc:date <http://purl.org/dc/terms/date>
Only the first volume of the Choix de chansons provides production years for the prints, so this field is empty for the prints in volumes 2 to 4.
Inscription
Based on: cdc:printInscriptions
Defined by: aat:inscriptions <http://vocab.getty.edu/page/aat/300028702>
Below each image are two or three lines of text taken from the accompanying song. Where the song set contains two songs, the inscription is always taken from the first song. These were transcribed manually with each line-break indicated by a slash offset by spaces on either side, as for the Title Page Inscription (see entry above).
Keywords
Based on: dc:subject <http://purl.org/dc/terms/subject>
Each print was examined closely to manually identify objects, actions and concepts as precisely and as comprehensively as possible so that themes can be linked across all 100 prints. The bulk of the keywords are from Getty AAT, but some are from the Library of Congress Subject Headings. It was necessary to coin some new terms because equivalents could not be found in either of these vocabularies.
Texts which refer to this image
Based on: dc:isReferencedBy <http://purl.org/dc/terms/isReferencedBy>
Refers to written works or works of art which refer in some way to this image, whether via description or reproduction of the image.
Works of art quoted
Based on: dc:references <http://purl.org/dc/terms/references>
A small number of the prints depict real works of art. This field is linked to the online catalogue entries for these works.
Music
Description
Based on: dc:description <http://purl.org/dc/terms/description>
This field contains interpretative essays authored by project members and users of the Choix de chansons.
Composer
Based on: dc:creator <http://purl.org/dc/terms/creator>
Defined by: aat:composers (people in music) <http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300025671>
Only one song has the composer’s name listed: 2.22 “Le concert,” song one, the score of which is followed by the inscription “La musique est de Mylady Hamilton,” referring to English musician and composer Lady Catherine Hamilton(née Barlow) (c. 1738-82). For 4.09 “Le mort vivant” song two, a note “L’air est du Barbier de Seville,” refers to the work of French composer Antoine-Laurent Baudron (1743-1834). Similarly, for 4.15 “L’heureux songe” song two is prefaced with “Parodie sur un air d’Anette et Lubin,” a reference to 1762 Opéra comique Annette et Lubin by Marie-Justine-Benoîte Favart (1772-1772) and Adolphe Benoît Blaise (d. 1772). No other song in the Choix de chansons has a specified composer so we were initially compelled to conclude that the rest were written by Laborde himself. However, as Erin Helyard discusses in “Music and Music-making in Laborde’s Chansons pittoresques,” Laborde has, in fact, compiled a selection of both new and old chansons, the latter being folk songs drawn from earlier published collections. For example S.3.21 “La clochette” song two, both the words and melody are listed in a 1760 collection, Le chansonnier français ou recueil de chansons, ariettes, vaudevilles et autres couplets choisis volume 10. Consequently, many of the songs we cannot attribute to any specific composers.
Key Signature
Based on: mo:key <http://purl.org/ontology/mo/key>
The key signature indicates the key in which a song is composed and is inscribed at the beginning of a composition by a group of sharp or flat signs.[1] The key is the musical scale around which a piece of music is based. In the digital edition, major keys are indicated in upper-case, minor keys are indicated with lower-case and lower-case b represents a flat, ie Bb means “B-flat”.
Time Signature
Based on: mo: http://purl.org/ontology/mo/meter
Time signatures specify the metre of a song by indicating how many note values of a specific type are contained within a bar.[2] Time signatures are inscribed at the beginning of a composition. They are identified in the digital edition by the notation 2/4 3/4 6/4 3/2 6/8 or 3/8.
Expression Marks
Based on: http://purl.org/ontology/mo/tempo
Expression marks are words, phrases or marks which specify the tempo and manner of a song’s performance.[3] This field lists any expression words or phrases indicated in a composition.
Tessitura of Voice
Based on: cdc:tessituraVoice
Tessitura of voice is the range of tones within the voice part of a song.[4] Tessitura is identified in the digital edition according to the system specified in the Journal of Eighteenth-Century Music (Figure 1). Major keys are indicated with upper-case, minor keys are indicated with lower-case and lower-case b represents a flat, ie Bb means “B-flat”.
Figure 1. Pitch identification system specified for use in the Journal of Eighteenth-Century Music. Source: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/eighteenth-century-music/information/author-instructions/preparing-your-materials.
Tessitura of Instrument
Based on: cdc:tessituraInstrument
Tessitura of instrument is the range of tones within the instrumental part of a song.[5] Tessitura is identified in the digital edition according to the system specified in the Journal of Eighteenth-Century Music (Figure 1). Major keys are indicated with upper-case, minor keys are indicated with lower-case and lower-case b represents a flat, ie Bb means “B-flat”.
Strophic
Based on: cdc:strophism
A strophic song is one in which all stanzas of text are sung to the same music. A non-strophic song has a different piece of music for each stanza.[6] These are identified in the digital edition with the terms “strophic” or “non-strophic.”
Related Compositions
Based on: http://purl.org/dc/terms/relation
Refers to compositions which are related to the score, such as other published versions.
Text
Song Transcription
Based on: mo:lyrics <http://purl.org/ontology/mo/lyrics>
Most song text was transcribed manually. Verses of some songs were re-published in nineteenth-century chanson collections which are available online with machine-encoded text. Some transcription labour was reduced by scraping these publications then proofing to ensure idiosyncrasies in the Choix de chansons text were retained, such as spelling or variation in wording.
Text Description
Based on: dc:description <http://purl.org/dc/terms/description>
This field contains interpretative essays authored by project members and users of the Choix de chansons.
Incipit
Based on: dc:title <http://purl.org/dc/terms/title>
The first line of each song, its incipit, was drawn from the song transcriptions to be used to refer to each song. Since so many song sets contain two songs, it was not feasible to use the text from the title pages to refer to individual songs.
Author
Based on: dc:creator <http://purl.org/dc/terms/creator>
Defined by: aat:authors <http://vocab.getty.edu/page/aat/300025492>
Authors were identified from the author inscriptions in the scores, where these were available, and identified on VIAF where possible. Apart from a few outliers like Voltaire, most of the attributed authors were minor. There was some investigation necessary to interpret some authors’ names, for example that the initials “M.D.F.” inscribed at the end of the scores for “Mais pourquoi” (S.1.08), “Par un beau matin” (S.1.24) and “Lelong des Eaux sur l’herbette” (S.4.21) probably refer to author and philospher Bernard de Fontenelle (1657-1757). One author referred to in the scores as “M. Prieur” or “M. Le Prieur,” who wrote 11 poems across the four volumes, seems to be unidentifiable. Thus far, the only references to him that I have located are brief references in Laborde’s 1780 Essai sur la musique ancienne et moderne and a 1787 volume, Correspondance secrète, politique & littéraire, ou Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire des cours, des sociétés & de la littérature en France, depuis la mort de Louis XV, by Louis-François Metra. Eighty-six songs do not have an author inscribed, but, rather, a series of three or four asterisks where the author’s name would. A note inscribed at the end of each volume’s index explains that “les paroles des chansons marquées par *** sont de L’Auteur de la Musique.” For much of the project, before we realised that Laborde had not composed any of the songs himself, we assumed that this meant that Laborde himself was the author of these poems. Now, like the scores, we can attribute these to unknown authors.
Text Keywords
Based on: dc:subject <http://purl.org/dc/terms/subject>
At the date of publication, this field is yet to be filled. Keywords for each song might be identified using an automated text-reading process and linked to the set of keywords used to describe the prints. This would enable keywords to be analysed across prints and songs.
Sources that refer to song text
Based on: dc:isReferencedBy <http://purl.org/dc/terms/isReferencedBy>
This field refers to publications that mention the text of the song.
Sources that song text refers to
Based on: dc:references <http://purl.org/dc/terms/references>
This field refers to texts published elsewhere that are mentioned or in a song.
[1] “Key signature,” in Grove Music Online, https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.14954.
[2] Richard Rastall, “Time Signature,” in Grove Music Online, https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.27980.
[3] David Fallows, “Tempo and Expression Marks,” in Grove Music Online, https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.27650.
[4] Owen Jander, “Tessitura,” in Grove Music Online, https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.27741.
[5] Owen Jander, “Tessitura,” in Grove Music Online, https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.27741.
[6] Michael Tilmouth, “Stophic,” in Grove Music Online (2001), https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.26981.
