Establishing an Index of Musical Instruments and Musical Subjects in Works of Western Art; Some Personal Suggestions

Abstract

Cataloging techniques for musical instruments and musical subjects depicted in works of art are, or at least should be, in the Let-onehundred-flowers-bloom, Let-one-hundred-schools-of-thought-contend phase. The amount of material which can be indexed is virtually endless, and it can be analyzed in an infinite variety of ways. No one cataloging system can possibly satisfy the needs of every user. No matter how minutely one catalogs, someone will always come along wanting to know about something one hasn't included, such as how often lutes and delphinium appear in the same picture. For some time to come, each library will probably want to devise its own cataloging system for musical subjects in the way that will make its particular collection most useful to its particular clientele. Likewise, each scholar will doubtless want to organize his material in the manner that will best serve his unique scholarly needs. The trouble with making up one's own indexing system is that one has to index several thousand items before one really knows how to go about it. It is therefore useful, before beginning, to know as much as possible about other indexing projects. Descriptions of two projects concerned specifically with musical iconography are currently available: Howard Mayer Brown and Joan Lascelle's Musical Iconography: A Manual for Cataloging Musical Subjects in Western Art Before 1800 (Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1972) and the Instructions for the RIdIM [Repertoire International d'Iconographie Musicale] Master Catalogue Card (available from the Research Center for Musical Iconography, City University of New York, 33 W. 42d St., New York 10036). 1I would like to present here some suggestions based on my own experience in tending an index of musical subjects in works of art. Some of these suggestions are almost the same as procedures