Theodor Dumitrescu (Universiteit Utrecht / UC Davis), Project DirectorMarnix van Berchum (Universiteit Utrecht), Associate DirectorInternational Advisory Board
Welcome to the CMME Project, a scholarly initiative to offer free online access to new, high-quality early music scores produced by today's leading experts. Based at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, the project represents a collaborative development effort of specialists in musicology, information science, and music retrieval. The major purpose of the enterprise is to produce and maintain an online corpus of electronic editions, in addition to software tools making them accessible to students, scholars, performers, and interested amateurs. Here, the brilliant polyphonic styles known to the modern world through the works of such masters as Dufay, Josquin, Machaut, Palestrina, and Tallis can come to life again in the central medium of the 21st century. The CMME Project is not associated in any way with the printed series Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae, the American Institute of Musicology, or A-R Editions. It is a research project funded in the past by organizations in France and the Netherlands, and currently housed at Utrecht University.
Latest news:
Why online editions?
|
Format | Early music representation grammar (XML-based markup language, .cmme.xml) |
Software |
Music editor (Java-based transcription tool) Music viewer (Java-based score-viewing program) Web-accessible database of scores and information on sources/composers/etc. ("meta-data") |
Data | Music repository (corpus of transcriptions) |
Knowledge of the details of the CMME representation format (the way the scores are structured and stored electronically) is entirely unnecessary in order to use the system. Experts in both musicology and information retrieval, however, will recognize the usefulness of having musical score data available in the transparent, human-readable format offered by XML markup, which puts CMME scores at the disposition even of users who do not wish to employ our software. The formal specification is publicly available (in XML Schema) here, but this scheme is subject to change without notice during the current development phase (particularly as we modify the format to include different dialects of mensural notation). When the format has reached a stable state in 2009, a more verbose description of the standard will be made public.
The Java programs for creating and viewing scores offer users the advantages of a straightforward, platform-independent software experience. To view the scores in the online CMME repository, there is no need to install any special software from us; any modern web browser with support for Java applets (including the current versions of Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari) will handle the software automatically, whether running under Windows, MacOS, Unix, etc. For those who wish to create their own scores with the CMME Editor tool, a beta version may be obtained by contacting the developers. After the current period of interface development and user-feedback analysis, a more finalized version of the CMME Editor will be made directly available for download on this site. Eventually the entire source code and specifications of the programs will be accessible under an open source licence.
The web interface is intended to provide simple, unrestricted access to our collection of music editions, while situating these in a broader manuscript/print context to facilitate exploration of source materials. As mentioned above, the CMME repository of meta-data (contents listings of manuscripts, biographical information on composers, contextual historical information on compositions, etc.) will soon form part of a large multi-project dataset shared with DIAMM, the Motet Online Database, and the Base chanson. Each project has its own needs, and provides different modes of presenting and manipulating this underlying information. As far as the CMME is concerned, an uncomplicated and easily-understood interface will remain in place to guide users to the project's key element: our music transcriptions. Created by scholars and musicians who are professional-level experts in the repertories of their specific Editorial Projects, these are the first online early music editions truly compatible with the demands of 21st-century publication.
1999 |
The CMME Project was initiated by Theodor Dumitrescu as an undergraduate honors thesis in the Department of Computer Science at Princeton University, under the supervision of Perry Cook and Peter Jeffery. The initial development work produced two main components: 1) a formal grammar for describing basic mensural notation data in an organized, hierarchical fashion (i.e., a way to store score data electronically); and 2) the initial version of the score-viewing Java program, for displaying CMME files as musical scores within a web environment. |
2000-2004 |
The project remained largely dormant while Dumitrescu pursued doctoral studies at the University of Oxford. 2001 saw the publication of "Corpus Mensurabilis Musice 'Electronicum': Toward a Flexible Electronic Representation of Music in Mensural Notation," in Computing in Musicology 12, based on the Princeton thesis. |
2005-2006 |
Thanks to a post-doctoral research fellowship from le STUDIUM, the CMME was re-opened for further development by Dumitrescu at the Centre d'Études Supérieures de la Renaissance (Université François Rabelais - Tours), supervised by Philippe Vendrix. During this phase, the system was completely revised and expanded in significant ways, with the goal of preparation for release as a public resource: 1) the representation grammar was converted to XML and reworked to encompass all of the major elements peculiar to standard 15th-/16th-century mensural notation (e.g., arbitrary rhythmic proportions, coloration, mensuration signs, early and modern texting styles, etc.); 2) the graphical transcription tool was first developed, with which musicologists can create editions in a "What You See Is What You Get" environment; 3) the web-based access system was completely overhauled, allowing readers to explore not only music editions, but also a network of contextual information on manuscripts, composers, works, etc. |
2006-2009 |
The project moved to Utrecht in September 2006, where it is currently funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research and developed by a research team under the guidance of Karl Kügle. With the finalization of the first release details, the first official CMME Editorial Project has been made public, and the project now moves into a three-year schedule of advanced development. |
Conference appearances of the CMME:
Scheduled: CMME Project Hands-on workshop on digital editions, Medieval-Renaissance Music Conference, Royal Holloway, University of London, 5-8 July 2010 | ||
2009: | CMME Project Hands-on workshop on digital editions, Medieval-Renaissance Music Conference, Utrecht University, 1-4 July 2009 | |
Heden, verleden en toekomst van de Nederlandse muziekwetenschap [Present, Past, and Future of Dutch Musicology], Koninklijke Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis (KVNM) Winter Meeting, Utrecht, 1 February 2009 | ||
2008: | Early Music Editing: Principles, Techniques, and Future Directions, Utrecht University, 3-5 July 2008 | |
Digital Editions: Perspectives for Editors and Users, University of Copenhagen, 19 January 2008 | ||
2007: | Digitale Edition zwischen Experiment und Standardisierung, Paderborn, 8 December 2007 | |
Koninklijke Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis (KVNM) Spring Meeting, Utrecht, 2 June 2007 | ||
2006: | Digitale Medien und Musikedition, Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, Mainz, 17 November 2006 | |
2005: | Medieval-Renaissance Music Conference, Tours, 15 July 2005 | |
2002: | 17th Congress of the International Musicological Society, Leuven, 3 August 2002 | |
1999: | Graduate Exchange Conference, Oxford, 20 November 1999 |
Theodor Dumitrescu, "Corpus Mensurabilis Musice 'Electronicum': Toward a Flexible Electronic Representation of Music in Mensural Notation," in The Virtual Score: Representation, Retrieval, Restoration, ed. Walter B. Hewlett and Eleanor Selfridge-Field, Computing in Musicology 12 (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001), pp. 3-18.
Theodor Dumitrescu and Marnix van Berchum, "The CMME Occo Codex Edition: Variants and Versions in Encoding and Interface," in Digitale Edition zwischen Experiment und Standardisierung: Musik - Text - Codierung, ed. Peter Stadler and Joachim Veit (Beihefte zu Editio; Tübingen: Niemeyer, 2009), pp. 129-146.
Eleanor Selfridge-Field, "XML Applications in Music Scholarship," in Music Analysis East and West, ed. Walter B. Hewlett and Eleanor Selfridge-Field, Computing in Musicology 14 (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006), pp. 21-40.
Joachim Veit, "Musikwissenschaft und Computerphilologie - eine schwierige Liaison?" Jahrbuch für Computerphilologie 7 (2005).
CMME Viewer applet: choose how you want our scores to appear
CMME Editor: transcription in an early-notation environment
View music in unscored separate parts as it appears in the sources
Support for notational features such as arbitrary proportions and colors
Easily visualize variant readings, both on the score and in a configurable
critical apparatus window
Do I need to pay to use the CMME?
Do I need to register myself to use the CMME?
How do you plan to make money from the CMME?
How can I contribute editions to the database?
Why do you have listings for manuscripts and compositions which have not
yet been edited for the CMME database?
Features
What are the next features to be added to the system?
Will feature X or Y be introduced in the future?
Technical issues
Do I need to install special software to view CMME editions?
What format do you use for storing the musical data of CMME
editions? Are the formal specifications publicly available?
Can I download the score files to view/analyze on my own computer?
Do I need to pay to use the CMME?
No. Everything in the database - editions, meta-data, text - is openly available and
free of charge.
Do I need to register myself to use the CMME?
No, you can look at the Database and editions directly.
In the future, we plan to
offer an optional system with which you can save your own viewing/database
configurations and control a personal workspace, which will require you to
create a (free) user account.
How do you plan to make money from the CMME?
We don't. Development work on the software and system infrastructure is supported
through academic grants, and music-editing work is carried out by individual scholars
on a project-by-project basis. We feel that restricting access to electronic resources by
charging individuals and institutions significantly reduces the social utility of online
information distribution.
How can I contribute editions to the database?
The CMME Advisory Board is responsible for deciding which editions are of a
suitable scholarly standard to enter the public repository. Our transcriptions are all
produced from primary sources by experts in the chosen repertories. If you wish to
submit a proposal for an edition project, please contact us for further details.
Why do you have listings for manuscripts and compositions which have not yet been
edited for the CMME database?
The idea of including meta-data for a much wider array of works than has currently
been edited is to facilitate the user's exploration of the source context of works which
they would normally encounter as isolated scores. See the discussion above.
Features
What are the next features to be added to the system?
A wide array of new capabilities is envisioned for the future development of the
CMME system. At the current moment, the extensions and features we're working on
include the following:
* Options for score visualization in fully modern notation
* Individualized online user workspaces
* Automated music/incipit searching
Will feature X or Y be introduced in the future?
This is the most common set of questions received about the CMME. The potential of
computerized editions to offer new modes of interaction with musical materials is
nearly limitless, and understandably many users have ideas for new elements they
would like to see introduced. Our current development schedule has set in place a
broad outline of features to be created through 2009, but individual ideas are always
welcome; simply use the feedback form on this site.
Technical issues
Do I need to install special software to view CMME editions?
In most cases, no. Modern web browsers with built-in support for Java applets will
open the CMME Viewer automatically when you click on a "View score" link.
Otherwise, you will need to download and install Sun's
Java runtime system for use
with your web browser.
What format do you use for storing the musical data of CMME editions? Are the
formal specifications publicly available?
The CMME format is a dialect of XML tailored
specifically to representing music
in mensural notation (and converting it automatically to various forms of modern
notation). The formal specification is available here
in XML Schema, but as mentioned above, this format will
be changing without notice over the next few years.
Can I download the score files to view/analyze on my own computer?
The XML file (.cmme.xml) for every score is available on the database page for that
individual composition, through the link entitled "XML score data." To obtain a
standalone application version of the CMME Viewer (for viewing score files from
your local filesystem, rather than our website), please contact us.
The CMME Project is not associated in any way with the printed series Corpus Mensurabilis Musicae, the American Institute of Musicology, or A-R Editions. It is a research project funded in the past by organizations in France and the Netherlands, and currently housed at Utrecht University.