Databases of musical works

The CMBV databases serve two purposes: they are a methodological tool for researchers, all material published on the Philidor portal being validated, classified and editorialised, and the catalogue of authors and genres acts as a valuable reference tool.

Apart from bibliographical and codicological input, narrative material is also amassed relating to the performance, identification and history of each work.

Bibliography database

The most ambitious database seeks to describe the life and times of the musicians and their interaction with society. Thanks to the host of data gleaned from archives about their lives, and help from computer tools, it is possible to draw up a wide yet detailed picture of musicians.

This prosopography approach has been applied to the database about Les musiciens à Rome de 1570 à 1750 (Musicians in Rome from 1570-1750) based on research by Jean Lionnet, and to the project about church musicians in 1790 (Muséfrem) on research under the editorship of historian Bernard Dompnier.

Other data

Philidor is also gathering data about the performing arts, the study of music and CMBV issues such as chronological databases.