Navigation on the website
How and what can be searched?
he website offers the reader several search options. The SOURCES menu displays the processed manuscripts on the left, which can be clicked to view the characteristic neume set of the given source. In addition, all the data of the source are revealed here. The order of the sources can be changed (in alphabetical order by source type, source name, RISM siglum, age, provenance, notation, collection).
Under SEARCH for NEUMES, the results can be listed in several ways. Enter the chosen parameter for the source (this can be AGE, NOTATION, SOURCE TYPE, etc.), then select the neume type you are looking for. After clicking on the neumes in the list of results, these signs can also be displayed on the right side of the screen, arranged side by side, so that the differences in the description of the given note from source to source can be observed even more apparently.
It also seemed useful to insert a comprehensive page into the system: the OVERVIEW menu contains the neumes of all the sources of the database, resulting in a really spectacular summary. By clicking on them, the neumes appear in a larger size. With new sources, the tables and the database behind the website are constantly updated.
Frequently asked questions
Why do the neumes of some manuscripts appear in black and white?
When processing the sources, we do not always possess high-quality color photograph material in the Digital Collection of the Early Music History Department of Institute of Musicology. At the moment, many of our sources are only available in black-and-white or lower-quality digital photo. We tried to overcome this problem by correcting the image segment of the neumes and displaying them in the most readable form possible. Unfortunately, we were not able to change the color of a black and white photo. In the future, our goal is to get as many high-quality, color digital copies as possible and to replace the black-and-white / low-resolution parts step by step.
How can we connect to online manuscripts?
In case of direct online access to the codex (it is gratifying that more and more manuscripts are available freely), we indicate the URL of the given source. Thus, not only a short cut-out illustration, but also the entire source is revealed to the reade
Is the usage of photocopies a legal issue?
Apparently, displaying larger details of photographs from manuscripts would raise problems. This was eliminated by using only basic elements abstracted from the original context: this selection is the first step in scientific analysis as well as the first result. Besides, the Hungarian Copyright Law offers the possibility to use a short excerpt as an illustration in a work for scientific purposes, highlighting the overall picture of the music notation of a source.
The instances of free use (Act LXXVI of 1999 on copyright)
"Section 34
(1) Anyone shall be entitled to quote, true to the original and to the extent justified by the character and purpose of the recipient work, parts of works on the condition of indicating the source and the author specified in the original work.(2) Part of a published literary or musical work or of a film, or small entire works of such nature as well as pictures of works of fine art, architecture, applied art and industrial design creations, and photographic works may be borrowed for the purposes of illustration for school education and scientific research, while indicating the source and the author named in such work, to the extent justified by the purpose and on the condition that the recipient work is not used for commercial purposes. Borrowing shall mean the use of a work in another work to an extent exceeding quotation"
(https://www.hipo.gov.hu/en/legal-sources/copyright)
Which online projects do we work together with?
Our neume catalogue is primarily related to the Fragmenta Manuscriptorum Musicalium Hungariae Mediaevalis website http://fragmenta.zti.hu/, a project of the Momentum Digital Music Fragmentology Research Group, which publishes and examines Hungarian codex fragments with musical notation from inland and foreign collections.