Répertoire International des Sources Musicales
Music cataloging organisation based in Germany / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Répertoire International des Sources Musicales (RISM, English International Inventory of Musical Sources, German Internationales Quellenlexikon der Musik) is an international non-profit organization, founded in Paris in 1952, with the aim of comprehensively documenting extant historical sources of music all over the world.[1] It is the largest organization of its kind and the only entity operating globally to document written musical sources. RISM is one of the four bibliographic projects sponsored by the International Musicological Society and the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres, the others being Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale (RILM, founded in 1966), Répertoire international d'iconographie musicale (RIdIM, founded in 1971), and Répertoire international de la presse musicale (RIPM, founded in 1980).
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Focus | Historical musical sources |
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Headquarters | Editorial Center in Frankfurt, Germany; Digital Center in Bern, Switzerland |
Location |
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Origins | Robert Eitner |
Product | Database, books |
Method | Contributors in working groups around the world |
Key people | Dr. Balázs Mikusi, Director; Dr. Harald Heckmann, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Christoph Wolff, Honorary Presidents; Prof. Dr. Klaus Pietschmann, President |
Employees | 6 at the Editorial Center, 7 at the Digital Center |
Website | rism |
Shortly after its founding, A.H. King called RISM, "one of the boldest pieces of long-term planning ever undertaken for the source material of any subject in the humanistic field."[2]
The musical sources recorded are manuscripts or printed music, writings about music and libretti. They are stored in libraries, archives, churches, schools, and private collections. RISM establishes what exists and where it is kept. RISM is recognized among experts as the key place for documenting music sources all over the world.
The work of RISM in compiling a comprehensive index fulfills a twofold purpose: for one, music documents are protected from loss, and for another, they are made available to scholars and musicians.