Indexing and digitization of German-language oratorio libretti from the 17th to the 20th century

Project lead and contact person: Prof. Dr. Dominik Höink, Apl. Prof. Dr. J. Cornelis de Vos

Faculty and Department:

• University of Paderborn: Faculty for Arts and Humanities – Musikwissenschaftliches Seminar
• University of Münster: Faculty 01 Protestant Theology – Institutum Judaicum Delitzschianum

Project duration and funding agency: 

• Application stage, planned for two years for a pilot project on the 19th century only.
• Aimed sponsor: German Research Foundation (DFG), funding program "Digitization and Indexing"

Research question:

For the time being, there is no question, because only digitization and indexing are taking place. As is well known, oratorio libretti are not only important in the history of music or literature, but are also important evidence of the reception history of biblical texts.

Project Abstract:

Although some printed textbooks – especially from the 19th century – are already available as scans (for example, via digital collections of the major libraries in Berlin and Munich), a complete indexing and digital transfer according to the guidelines of the Text Encoding Initiative is still missing. The planned project is intended to close this gap, initially for the German-language oratorios written between 1800 and 1900, and to make accessible not only those textbooks that are available in contemporary prints, but also those that have survived in handwritten archival sources. In addition, a parallel indexing of different textbook variants is planned, for example when a modified textbook was created for a specific performance.

Digital methods to be used:

• Scanning
• Preprocessing
• Text recognition
• TEI markup

Role of SCDH in this project:

• Technical support
• Advice on the funding application