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DATE: May 25, 2023
REVISED:
NAME: Recording Numeric Designation of Musical Expressions in the MARC 21 Bibliographic and Authority Formats
SOURCE: Music Library Association (MLA)
SUMMARY: This paper suggests changing the name of and defining an indicator for Field 383 (Numeric Designation of Musical Work) in the MARC 21 Bibliographic and Authority Formats to allow for recording numeric designations of musical expressions.
KEYWORDS: Field 383 (BD, AD); Numeric Designation of Musical Work (BD, AD); Field 383, 1st indicator (BD, AD); Numeric designation of musical expression (BD, AD)
RELATED:
STATUS/COMMENTS:
05/25/23 – Made available to the MARC community for discussion.
06/28/23 – Results of MARC Advisory Committee discussion: MAC was generally supportive but expressed various concerns regarding the details of the paper. There was reservation about implementing the proposed changes prior to changes in RDA. The RSC representative indicated, however, that it is unlikely that they would entertain a corresponding proposal to enhance the granularity of expression level identifiers in RDA. Discussion reiterated that MARC is agnostic with respect to content standards. Any parallelism with the presence of these numeric designations for representative expressions was rejected on the ground that the numeric designations were still functioning at the work level; that the only elements distinctly applicable for the identification of the representative expression in the context of music would be key and medium of performance values. The suitability of indicator values was also raised. It was conceded that indicators would be warranted at the bibliographic but not the authority level. The paper will return as a proposal.
Numeric designations, which include serial numbers, opus numbers, and thematic index numbers, are typically associated with musical works. However, in some instances, numeric designations could be associated with musical expressions, such as Franz Liszt's arrangements of other composers' works which are assigned their own numbers in thematic indexes of Liszt's works. These numbers may be recorded in authority records for musical expressions, as well as bibliographic records for manifestations containing those expressions.
Field 383 in the MARC 21 Bibliographic Format is currently defined as follows:
FIELD DEFINITION AND SCOPE
A serial number, opus number, or thematic index number assigned to a musical work by the composer, publisher, or a musicologist. May be used to differentiate a musical work from another with the same title.
The definition of Field 383 in the MARC 21 Authority Format is exactly the same, minus the presence of subfield $3 (Materials specified).
As currently defined above, this field can only contain numeric designations for musical works, not expressions. This paper will discuss a revision to this field in order to accommodate numeric designations of musical expressions in bibliographic and authority records.
Numeric designations for musical works are vital pieces of data because they often are the only way of uniquely identifying a particular piece of music. For example, take the following three access points representing works by Joseph Haydn:
100 1#$a Haydn, Joseph, $d 1732-1809. $t Symphonies, $n H. I, 31, $r D major
100 1#$a Haydn, Joseph, $d 1732-1809. $t Symphonies, $n H. I, 42, $r D major
100 1#$a Haydn, Joseph, $d 1732-1809. $t Symphonies, $n H. I, 53, $r D major
Without the thematic index numbers recorded in subfield $n above, there would be no way to differentiate these three works, as they are all symphonies by Haydn in the key of D major.
While much rarer, numeric designations for musical expressions are equally important to record, because they help identify the exact expression on hand. Take the following example of an authority record for a musical expression of a work by Franz Schubert, arranged by Franz Liszt:
010 ##$a n 2018000419
100 1#$a Schubert, Franz, $d 1797-1828. $t Songs. $k Selections; $o arranged $s (Liszt : 1860)
383 ##$c LW N63 $d Eckhardt $2 mlati
383 ##$c S. 375 $d Searle $2 mlati
383 ##$c R. 651 $d Raabe $2 mlati
While not present in the access point, the thematic index numbers recorded in the three 383 fields help ensure that the cataloger is assigning the correct access point to the manifestation they are cataloging. Note that this is clearly an expression authority record, as indicated by the presence of "arranged" in subfield $o of the access point. Furthermore, the thematic index numbers in the 383 fields are associated with the arranger, Liszt, rather than the composer in subfield $a of the access point.
RDA does not currently have elements for numeric designations for musical expressions, but they are needed there as well for the reasons mentioned above. Concurrently with the submission of this Discussion Paper, the Content Standards Subcommittee of the Music Library Association's Cataloging and Metadata Committee is working on a proposal to submit to the RDA Steering Committee to add these elements to RDA. Working on these proposals in parallel will ensure that there will be both a definition for these data elements and a place to record them in MARC at roughly the same time.
However, the lack of accommodation in official RDA at this very moment should not be justification for delaying this revision to MARC; after all, the MARC formats can be used to encode metadata adhering to a variety of content standards, not just RDA. Additionally, most of the examples given in this Discussion Paper are taken from bibliographic and authority records currently containing numeric designations related to expressions, which means these records are technically inaccurately coded until this issue is addressed in MARC.
Both indicators in Field 383 are currently undefined. The first indicator could be defined to indicate the type of entity the numeric designation refers to, as shown in section 3.3 below.
All current data in 383 fields would become coded as "no information provided." Future records entered could be coded to include this data, and perhaps retrospective adjustment to the first indicator for previously existing records could be possible.
Make the following changes to field 383 in both the Bibliographic and Authority Formats:
Rename Field 383 to expand its scope to include expressions (changes in bold brackets):
383 - Numeric Designation of Musical Work [or Expression] (R)
Make the following revisions to the field definition and scope (changes in bold brackets):
A serial number, opus number, or thematic index number assigned to a musical work [or expression] by the composer, [arranger,] publisher, or a musicologist. May be used to differentiate a musical work [or expression] from another with the same title.
Define the first indicator, which is currently undefined, as follows:
Make the following revisions to the definitions for subfield $a, $c, and $e (changes in bold brackets and strikethroughs):
$a - Serial number
A number used if works [or expressions] with the same title, or with the same title and the same representative medium of performance, are consecutively numbered by the composer [or arranger], or are consecutively numbered in reference sources.$c - Thematic index number
A number assigned to a work [or expression] in a recognized thematic indexin the case of certain composers.$e - Publisher associated with opus number
Brief identification of publisher associated with number recorded in $b. Used only where different publishers assigned different opus numbers to the same work [or expression], or when different publishers assign the same opus number to different works [or expressions].
This example is taken from a bibliographic record created by the Library of Congress. It contains three 383 fields for different thematic index numbers associated with the expression.
010 ##$a 2017569064
100 1#$a Dessauer, Josef, $d 1798-1876, $e composer.
240 10$a Songs. $k Selections; $o arranged $s (Liszt)
245 10$a Dessauer's Lieder : $b für das Pianoforte / $c übertragen von Fr. Liszt.
383 1#$c LW A130 $d Eckhardt $2 mlati
383 1#$c S. 485 $d Searle $2 mlati
383 1#$c R. 150 $d Raabe $2 mlati
This example, also from the Library of Congress, contains two 383 fields, one for the publisher-assigned opus number for the expression, and another for the thematic index number of the expression. Note that the thematic index number in 240 $n relates to the work and is different than the thematic index number for the expression in the second 383 field. The ability to encode the type of entity to which the numeric designation in each 383 field relates helps clarify this difference.
010 ##$a 2018571716
100 1#$a Viotti, Giovanni Battista, $d 1755-1824, $e composer.
240 10$a Trios, $m violins (2), cello, $n W. III, 7-9; $o arranged
245 10$a Trois duos concertans : $b pour deux violons : œuvre 4e / $c Viotti.
383 1#$b op. 4 $e Pleyel
383 1#$c W. IVa, 1-3 $d White $2 mlati
This example is taken from an authority record in the Name Authority File. Brackets indicate that the thematic index number of this expression is not currently coded in the record, possibly as a result of the limited definition of field 383.
010 ##$ano 98075730
100 1#$aSchubert, Franz, $d 1797-1828. $t Am Tage Aller Seelen; $o arranged $s (Liszt)
[383 1#$c S. 562/1 $d Searle $2 mlati]
This example, also from the Name Authority File, contains two 383 fields for numeric designations associated with the expression: a publisher-assigned opus number and a thematic index number.
010 ##$a n 2019070655
100 1#$a Boccherini, Luigi, $d 1743-1805. $t Quintets, $m violins (2), viola, cellos (2). $k Selections; $o arranged $s (Herold)
383 1#$b op. 2 $e Pleyel
383 1#$c G. 154 $d Gérard $2 mlati
In BIBFRAME, numeric designations for musical works (which include LRM expressions) are expressed in statements with properties musicSerialNumber, musicOpusNumber, or musicThematicNumber. Broadening the definition of MARC field 383 to accommodate both works and expressions, in addition to all the benefits already discussed, will allow greater interoperability with BIBFRAME.
6.1. Has the need to be able to record numeric designations of musical expressions in both the Bibliographic and Authority Formats been sufficiently established?
6.2. Does enacting this change in MARC before these elements' adoption into official RDA pose any issues?
6.3. Do the recommended language changes in the field's title, definition and scope, and the guidance for indicators and subfields succeed in expanding the scope of this field to include expressions?
6.4. Are there any potential issues caused by making these changes which this paper does not address?
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