Introduction to the Beethoven Thesaurus

Content of the Beethoven Thesaurus

In order to facilitate use by the largest audience possible, the Thesaurus terms were derived from Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) and subdivisions whenever possible. Additional headings more specific to Beethoven studies were created when necessary to lead users to subjects that they cannot search with LCSHs. The category headings were generally based on Genre Terms: A Thesaurus for Use in Rare Book and Special Collections Cataloguing (1983), the list prepared by the Standards Committee of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries and the American Library Association. As needed, these Category terms were supplemented with music and Beethoven-related terms.

The Beethoven Thesaurus currently consists of eight hierarchies, listed below. Following each term are scope notes, instructions on usage, and lists of associated terms.

• Categories [formerly titled “Book genres”]: Terms to describe the type or format of books or other literature being indexed (e.g. Academic dissertations; Iconographies; Bibliographies; etc.). These terms are used in Category searches and limits.

• Documents: Terms that identify or describe Beethoven’s manuscripts, autograph scores not in Beethoven’s hand, and other documents of his life and work, as well as terms associated with study of those documents (such as Sketches; Conversation books; Correction lists; Watermarks; etc.) This hierarchy excludes letters, which have been moved to a new hierarchy currently under development.

• Free-floaters: Terms used as subdivisions to Beethoven’s name that describe Beethoven as a person, such as his physical appearance and character traits, relationships with other people, views on musical and non-musical subjects, his own performance and compositional practices, and daily activities and events of his life (e.g. Alcohol use; Conducting; Guardianship; Travels; Views on critics; etc.).

• Free-floaters supplemental: Terms used as subdivisions to names other than Beethoven, including individuals (e.g. Franz Liszt) and institutions (e.g. Beethoven-Haus) to identify specific activities, events, or ideas associated with the name.

• Geographical subjects: Terms that may be used alone to identify locations where Beethoven lived and worked (such as Heiligenstadt) or as geographic subdivisions to topical headings (such as Travels--Prague; Romanticism--Literature--Germany; etc.).

• Music terms: Terms that describe aspects of Beethoven’s musical compositions (such as Heroic style; Metronome markings; Key relationships; etc.) or approaches to study of these works (e.g. Analysis; Harmonic rhythm; Key relationships; etc.).

• General topical subjects: Terms from fields external to the field of music, such as general history, medicine, psychology, sociology, philosophy, etc. (e.g. French Revolution; Economics--Vienna--1800, etc.).

• Works list: Terms that classify Beethoven’s complete works by genre (such as Symphonies; Concertos; etc.) in an alphabetical listing of all works by Opus, WoO, Hess, or other thematic catalog numbers, with cross-references. These terms may be used in Major Subject or Subject searches and limits. The genre terms or opus numbers may also be used to search for editions of Beethoven’s works in the “Beethoven Scores” index.

Online searching of the Beethoven Thesaurus

An online version of the Beethoven Thesaurus is available using ViewChoir, a thesaurus construction program created by WebChoir.

The main window of the Beethoven Thesaurus lists the nine sections and number of terms in each section:

After clicking on the name of the section, you can expand the section to display an alphabetical list of main terms:

Some terms might display with an adjacent plus sign, indicating the existence of narrower terms in relation to the main term. Click on the plus sign to further expand the list.

To view the thesaurus entry for a term, simply click on the term name in the left window. The right window will then display the full entry, showing the preferred term and cross references, with any scope notes, related concepts, possible subdivisions or other usage notes, the name of the hierarchy to which the term belongs, and an authority record number for the term's entry in the Beethoven Gateway. At this time, there are no direct links from terms in the Beethoven Thesaurus to the Beethoven Gateway, or vice-versa.

 

 

 

To search for words in the Beethoven Thesaurus, use the search window in the left frame of the Viewchoir page. The search function allows you to locate any term (including phrases) within the entire Thesaurus that might use a particular word. This will help you identify the perferred term used in the Beethoven Gateway, and well as cross references from unused forms. For example, a search on "Waldstein" retrieves the thesaurus entry for "Opus 53," the preferred term used in the Beethoven Gateway for the "Waldstein Sonata." You can also search for words in first lines of texts of Beethoven's works.

The keyword search allows you to indentify any term in the Thesaurus that might be pertinent to your search. In the thesaurus entry for a particular term, a list of related terms also directs you to other terms in the thesaurus that might be more pertinent to your search. For example, a search on the term "form" leads you to several possible matches, such as "hybrid forms," as well as terms related to the general topic of form, such as "repeats."

 

 

 

Printing and emailing Thesaurus records

The Viewchoir interface allows you to email or print the displayed Thesaurus entry. To email entries, you must first set up your personal options (click on the "Options" link above the email/print icons). Enter the SMTP server for your email provider, your email address, and your account name. Save this information. Then when you click on the email icon you should be able to enter an email address where you want the data delivered.

The "html" and help functions of ViewChoir are not currently activitated.

Using the Beethoven Thesaurus to track down Beethoven manuscripts

Although the Beethoven Gateway does not yet include original Beethoven manuscripts (except those located at the Beethoven Center), the Beethoven Thesaurus can be useful in tracking down sources for particular works. The Documents section of the Thesaurus attempts to identify and briefly describe all known manuscripts, including sketches, autograph manuscripts, corrected copies, and other original sources. In most cases, the terms used to name these sources are comprised of the work number followed by the type of document. For example, Beethoven's manuscript for the "Waldstein" Sonata is listed in the Thesaurus as "Opus 53--Autographs." In the cases where more than one autograph source exists for a particular work, the holding library's name for the source, or other identifying element might be used. For example, a search on "Opus 125" for the Ninth Symphony reveals a list of at least 23 manuscript sources of varying types. One manuscript, a fragment of an autograph for the last movement, is identified as "Ms 43" because that is the name assigned to it by the holding library, the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. The Thesaurus entry for each document includes the name of the current owner (mostly institutions but some private collectors also) in the scope note.