Contents
The Digital Interactive Music Edition is a fully digital edition; the music is generated as a digital image directly from the underlying code. The digital edition of Wolfgang Amadé Mozart's musical works provided in DME::Music relies on the complete encoding of the music according to the principles of the Music Encoding Initiative (MEI), a subset of XML.
Every musical feature and notational sign is individually documented and circumscribed in the code; each element receives a unique ID peculiar to that element, making it individually addressable. The code is also machine-readable and can be processed automatically.
It is a powerful tool in which a wealth of information can be stored. This information includes variant readings and editorial mark-up, annotations and comments, metadata, and linking to other data sources.
The original data used in the DME Music Edition results from optical music recognition (OMR) and proof reading processes developed and realized by The Packard Humanities Institute, Los Altos, CA.
DIME is committed to the principle that the encoding must contain all information required for the logical-musical nexus of the edition in complete and correct form: The coding is the edition. It is thus independent of the possible visualization, the so-called rendering, which is the retransmission of the code into traditional, human readable music notation. Theoretically, this task can be done by any software that is able to read and understand the digital code and to produce music notation as its output.
For the rendering of its scores, DIME offers MoVi, the Digital Mozart Score Viewer. MoVi is a specially developed user interface that visualizes the information contained in the code with a particular focus on the presentation of the music by Wolfgang Amadé Mozart.
The DIME interface is built around the software library Verovio developed by RISM-Switzerland, which is able to transfer the MEI code into common music notation (CMN).
One of the basic principles of Verovio is dynamic rendering. The visualization deliberately dispenses with the reproduction of the print layout of the original page, while the score automatically adapts to the size and format of the browser window. In addition, the display can be arbitrarily increased or decreased by selecting a specific zoom factor. With dynamic rendering the edition does away with the reference to the traditional printed page (although the information for line breaks and page breaks are stored in the code and can be activated if necessary).
In addition, the interface exploits a variety of functions inherent to Verovio built for interactive control by the user. It includes features such as the automated extraction of parts, print-to-pdf, audio playback, or the display of variant readings and editorial interventions.
The digital music edition in DIME offers digitally remastered musical texts of the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe (reference texts). Works currently available as a digital edition can be called up in the work selection menu (by Koechel Catalog numbers). In the future, DIME also intends to provide new editions (alternative texts) of selected works by Mozart.
MoVi is best viewed on desktop computers. It is executable and tested on Mac/iPad with Safari/Chrome/Firefox and on Windows with Chrome and Firefox in the latest versions.
Please note: In order to be able to enjoy the full range of functions and to ensure that MoVi remains operational, it is necessary to keep the browser up to date and to clear the cache regularly (see the individual instructions for the respective browser).
While the rendering of the music is dynamic, the user interface itself is conceived to be dynamic as well; some functions and buttons are available only for certain views or for specific types of texts (either NMA reference texts or newly edited DME alternative texts). For many features, the display has to be actively turned on; in order to turn the display of the feature off, there is a reset button that needs to be activated.
For some functions that involve the optional display of a feature, the occurrences of this feature within the movement are listed by showing the relevant page numbers ("Results occur on the following pages:"). Page numbers refer to the page in the rendering pane; changing the zoom rate or the re-sizing the browser window may result in different system breaks, page breaks, and eventually page numbers.
In some functions, an 'info button' appears on the screen. The content is displayed after clicking the button.
A basic technique used in the interface is highlighting with colors, either by tinting characters or by creating a halo around the element to be accentuated.
In some cases, the html mouse-over feature is used, e.g. in the display of dynamic markings that are split in several syllables; here, the full expression is shown by moving the mouse over the partial expression.
The main desktop of the User Interface is divided into four areas:
- Rendering Pane
- Header Bar
- Footer
- Sidebar
The central part of the desktop is the Rendering Pane where the music is displayed. It is also used for the rendering of texts (Editor's Note, Source Description, Source Evaluation).
Navigation tools such as arrows for moving from one subunit to another and overlay windows are shown in the Rendering Pane.
The header contains the following elements:
- Language Selection buttons
- Help button (MoVi User Manual):
The sidebar is a multifunction pane with three tabs (Overview, Dashboard, MEI Code) for different kinds of tools and tasks.
It is possible to hide the whole sidebar by clicking on the 3-line icon ('Hamburger button') in the right upper corner.
The upper box holds basic information and metadata such as title, Koechel Catalog number, type of edition (e.g. Autograph Version), movement, and tempo.
The interface offers options for the display of source images. Display and functionalities vary dependent on the type of edition (NMA reference text or alternative source edition) and the format of the source (score or parts).
This option is available whenever scores from the NMA are selected. A click on 'View score in the NMA Online' opens the page of the NMA Online in synoptic view (half of the rendering pane). The digital edition is aligned with the NMA Online in such a way that pages turn synchronously when using the arrow buttons in the footer or the arrow keys on the keyboard. If the 'Original line breaks' option is activated before going into the viewing mode, a click on 'View score in the NMA Online' opens at the same page as the score in the rendering pane. Leave the synoptic view by clicking the 'close icon' in the left upper corner of the NMA Online.
Note that in most cases, the NMA Online shows the first issued edition of an NMA volume and may differ from the edition shown in MoVi which is usually the most recent edition. For the display of different editions see 'Choose edition'.
This option is available whenever an alternative edition is selected. Before activating this option, it is necessary to check the "Original line breaks" box. The source image is displayed as an overlay window covering the rendering pane and the sidebar. The image viewer has a zoom function; it can be moved in order to allow the synoptic view of the source and the edition.
This option is currently available for sources in score format only.
If the movement on display is part of a multi-movement work, the movement selector lists the movements of the work in a numbered order and allows the selection of an individual movement of that work.
Some movements may be subdivided into smaller units such as minuets and their trios. In these cases, a click on the movement will show the subunits:
If DIME provides more than one edition of the same work, e. g. a source edition in addition to the NMA reference text, alternative editions are listed here.
The dashboard panel itself is dynamic; different tools and tasks are available for digitally remastered musical texts of the NMA (reference texts) and specific views in the DME New Editions (alternative texts).
The following options are available:
- Texts
- Select staves
- Audio
- Actions
- Navigator
- Regularizations (DME alternative texts only)
- Editorial interventions
- Annotations
- Collate DME editions
- NMA Editions (NMA reference texts only)
- Configure MEI Inspector
This menu gives access to the paratexts: An Editor's Note is displayed for all texts in the Rendering Pane. For DME alternative texts, a Source Description and a Source Evaluation are available.
The Editor's Note is a brief explanation of the source texts that have been used for the encoding as well as a concise statement on the coding itself. It also links to the Editorial Guidelines. It is not considered a substitute for the information given in the printed volumes of the NMA, available, among other places, through the NMA Online.
This option allows the selection of individual parts or combinations of parts from the score. Check any box or selection of boxes and click the 'Apply filter' button in order to display individual parts or the selected combination in short score view.
In order to return to the full score, choose 'Select all' and 'Apply filter'.
Audio output is currently available as MIDI (in piano sound).
The player opens and playback starts immediately once the Audio button is clicked.
The playback can be paused and stopped. During playback, notes in the score are highlighted marking the current playback position. Clicking on any note while playing makes the playback restart from that position.
Default behavior is the highlighting of individual notes ('Highlight every currently played note') which can be changed to 'Highlight current measure'.
The Midi Audio player does not play repetitions, grace notes, and embellishments; it does not distinguish between prima and seconda volta endings.
Some functions such as the MEI Inspector are suspended during playback.
For a limited number of editions, audio alignment with selected sound recordings from the Mozart Audio Visual Collection is available. During playback, the position within the score is highlighted in the rendering pane and pages turn automatically.
Available actions are 'Print score (PDF)', 'Download', and 'Metadata'.
The 'Print score' option creates a PDF-file of the complete score or a specific selection created with the 'Select staves' option which is either automatically downloaded into the default download folder or is called up when clicking the print button depending on the web browser settings. Available page orientation is landscape (oblong) or portrait (upright) format.
The 'Download MEI File' option allows the download of the file on display. The file receives the file extension '.mei' and is automatically saved to the user's default download folder after clicking the 'Download MEI file' button.
Along with the file, a link to the MEI file is created functioning as application programming interface.
The 'Metadata' option creates a dataset in the bibliographic standard of Dublin Core from the MEI-header of the file on display.
This option, available only in DME alternative texts, displays all measures that have been adopted in order to convert the historical notation of the source into a modernized and regularized text.
Basic formal normalizations (e.g. the standardized spelling of performance markings, some shorthand notation) are marked in the code with a simple tag and can thus be highlighted during visualization.
In more complex cases such as the horizontal positioning of dynamics, the historic or modern use of accidentals, or the resolution of copymarks, it is possible to display the original reading of the source in addition to the regularized versions.
Additions made by the editors of the NMA or, in the case of DME alternative texts, by the DME editors can be highlighted by clicking the 'Additions' button. Elements are highlighted by shading in purple. Highlighting is turned off by clicking the 'Reset' button.
The adoption of variant readings from secondary sources by the editors of the NMA may be indiscriminately displayed together with free additions, but may be filtered. For the way additions and variant readings are treated in a particular edition see the Editor's Note and the Editorial Guidelines.
This option is available only in DME alternative texts. In DIME, conjectures are defined as the re-interpretation of notational elements already existing in the source such as the adjustment of a slur or the repositioning of a dynamic marking. Since DME alternative texts are, by definition, source editions based on one single source, conjectures do not relate to evidence from other sources or to free additions that are at the discretion of the editor. For this reason, conjectures in the sense of DIME usually allow the display of the adjusted reading, the conjecture along with the 'original' reading of the source.
The 'Annotations' button is only visible in those cases where the edition actually has annotations.
DIME uses different categories of annotations. In remastered texts from the NMA, only a limited range of footnotes, those regarding performance aspects of the piece underpinned by readings in the underlying sources, are preserved and labelled as 'NMA-notes'. Footnotes that reference the Critical Report or other parts of the NMA are excluded; ossia readings in footnotes or above staves are integrated into the edition as variant readings.
In DME alternative texts, there are three categories of annotations: 'DME-comments' report difficult readings in the sources and the ensuing consequences for the edition or interpretations; 'DME-observations' mostly inform about findings and readings of the source, e.g. genetic information, without direct consequences for the interpretation; 'DME-references' point at specific places in the score or at secondary sources.
This option allows a basic comparison between NMA reference texts and DME alternative texts. The point of reference is always the NMA reference text; currently, it is not possible to compare one DME alternative text with another. At this stage, the detections and display of differences is limited to differences spanning one measure. Occurrences are displayed synoptically in an overlay window; differing elements are highlighted. These elements may appear unvaried; the full difference is possibly only visible in the underlying code which may be displayed by clicking on the highlighted element.
This option lists the NMA editions and Critical Reports used for the digital edition in reverse chronological order. In many cases, NMA volumes have been reissued in amended second or third editions. By default, MoVi displays the last documented edition in the NMA series, usually the most recent edition, but earlier editions can be selected as well. In some cases, the most recent version results from the combination of the Addenda and Corrigenda listings in the Critical Report and the corresponding musical text in the NMA. In these cases, the Editorial Office of the DME applied the corrections to the existing music edition. Clicking the 'show' button lists all the pages where differences between editions occur:
Differences between all available editions are displayed synoptically in an overlay window after clicking on the info button.
A click on the desktop – now gray – outside the overlay window, turns the overlay window off.
As an alternative to the display of the full MEI code (tab MEI Code), MoVi offers the MEI Inspector. The MEI Inspector is a tool for the display of small units of MEI code, e.g. a note or a slur, directly in the Rendering Pane.
By moving the mouse over an element in the score, the color of the element turns purple; when the element has changed color, a click will show the MEI code of the element in a square framed window. At the same time, the button "Copy to clipboard" will appear in the right upper corner of the Rendering Area which allows copying the code to the clipboard for further use.
Individual snippets of code such as the xml:id may be copied by highlighting and copying the code (e.g. with key shortcuts, according to the operating system in use) directly in the display window.
The window remains visible until the white space between staves is clicked. The display window is floating; it can be shifted by moving the mouse over the frame (till a hand symbol appears) and dragging it to the desired position.
In order to be displayed, the element must have an xml:id.
Users can configure the Inspector by choosing from three levels of granularity:
- Inspect only currently clicked element (note, rest etc.)
- Inspect whole current layer
- Inspect whole current measure
In the case of the first level of granularity, only the code of the element itself and possibly other elements that are nested into it are shown, but no other element that may be wrapped around it, e.g. a <supplied>
element. For this purpose, it is recommended to use the option Inspect whole current layer which shows the code for the whole layer within the measure in question. For the display of all elements within a measure, use the option Inspect whole current measure.
Opening the MEI Code tab displays the full MEI file including header and body, filling the whole sidebar. Scrollbars may appear to the right and on the bottom.
The Rendering Pane and the MEI Code in the sidebar pane are coordinated; a click on any notational sign in the rendering area makes the MEI Code pane move to the corresponding line (opening tag) in the code. The line in the code is highlighted; the highlighted line is vertically centered. At the same time, the full code is displayed in the rendering area through the MEI Inspector according to the configuration of the MEI Inspector. Vice versa, a click on any element of a regular notation sign in the code, highlights the element in the rendering pane and opens the Inspector.
The function is limited to notes, rests, slurs and ties, dynamics and other markings, ornaments and fermatas under the condition that they have an xml:id
. It does not work with staves
, layers
, chords
, beams
, or accidentals
.