On 3/9/2011 3:09 PM, Jonathan Rochkind wrote:
I am _definitely_ no music cataloger.
But depends on what you mean by "the work" and "the whole string".
Mozart, Leopold, 1719-1787. Cassation, orchestra, G major. Selections;
arr.
Not being an expert in classical music, I'm not even sure what
"cassation" means, if it's a particular symphony or a descriptive
word. What is "the work" being identified, and is "arr." really part
of it? Or is the work just the particular symphony regardless of
whether it's "arr." or not? How about the "Selections" part, is that
identifying "the work"?
I don't know how much detail you really want on this, but here goes
something (fairly brief). Per the New Grove Dictionary, cassation is "A
term used between 1750 and 1775 in southern Germany, Austria and Bohemia
as a title of a composition or of a single movement...." As such, it
falls into the music cataloging concept of a "type of composition" as
opposed to a composition having a distinctive title (such as
"Appalachian spring").
Instructions in AACR2 and RDA that concern creating uniform titles (or
authorized access points) make a distinction between these two
categories of titles. In the "type of composition" case, additional
identifying elements are supplied as a matter of course to make the
character string naming the work unique.
That explains everything up to the period in the Leopold Mozart example
above. "Selections" is added because in this instance the work is not
complete. "arr." is added because in this case, the medium of
performance differs from the original.
This may not be a great example, because I'm not entirely sure what
I'm talking about. But I think the important point here is that these
uniform titles aren't exactly meant to "identify the work", they are
meant to take the user to a certain point in an alphabetical listing
in a card catalog or bound catalog. Which works great when you have a
card catalog or bound catalog or other interface that is only
alphabetical listings of headings.
Generally speaking, AACR2 uniform titles without qualifiers such as
"vocal score" "selections" or "arr." do name a work. (As such, they
probably also "identify the work" -- especially in the context of FRBR
user tasks.) This would also be true of RDA authorized access points
that name works.
One of the complications is naming or identifying expressions. When
elements such as "selections" are added to the work's access point
character string, then they do not (normally) name a single expression,
but rather a "cluster" of expressions. (Note that this is true outside
of music as well.)
But that's not where we are anymore. It's got to be grappled with.
We've got to figure out what we're actually doing, semantically,
beyond "creating a heading to take the user to a certain point in an
alphabetical listing." I think RDA is to be commended for trying.
Kathy Glennan
Chair, Music Library Association's Bibliographic Control Committee
Head, Special Resources Cataloging / Music Cataloger
University of Maryland
