The classical music repertoire is of course at the heart of the classical music world.
There’s a reason all the wonderful compositions by well-known composers are played again and again through centuries. As the Danish composer Carl Nielsen replied when asked “what is good music?”:
Good music bears to be heard again.
It therefore makes sense to organise all existing classic music that we will hear for the coming centuries. Now, various websites and publishers have gathered sub-sets of the repertoire. But Clazzig is in the process of mapping the whole repertoire systematically. We are focused on long-lasting quality of the information. So, before publishing, we are currently refining the data about 3-400 000 works of more than 47 000 classical composers!
The multilingual challenge
Names of composers appear in various language variations all over the world. Just take the spellings of this beloved composer:
- Shostakovich (en)
- Schostakowitsch (de)
- Šostakovič (it)
- Sjostakovitj (da)
- Sjostakovitj (se)
- Chostakovitch (fr)
- Shostakóvich (es)
- Sjostakovitsj (nl)
- Šostakovitš (fi)
- Шостакович (ru)
- Szostakowicz (po)
Searching for Shostakovich therefore not always yields desired results since it can be spelled in so many different ways. In Clazzig, a composer is a unique entity with an id and names are stored in all possible languages so that we can consistently and easily find the right composer.
The same goes for titles of works. Here it is even more confusing since languages cross boarders. Tradition is engrained in that most of the world use the German title for “Ein Heldenleben” of Strauss. Very seldom is it listed “A Hero’s Life” although it happens – sometimes. And most music lovers won’t immediately recognise “The Ocean” before you say the French title “La Mer”. Clazzig maps work titles to both languages and areas of use. Because some titles are translated into local languages.
Works are identities
Each classical Work deserves to be honoured by its performances. Clazzig will track all performances of all works so that we can follow the trails of its impact in the world. Also to see who conducted it, which orchestras played, in what venues – and over time even; by which musicians. Special circumstances could have surrounded a performance of a Work and Clazzig will make it possible to document those as though the Work had its own identity and interacts in the classical music world on its own. We should be able to have discussions and ask/answer questions about a work, and Clazzig is about to offer this.