composer/librettists

[steltz]

Olmsted uploaded some of Novello's Part-Song collection, and on Cutler's ''The Village Choir'' (http://imslp.org/wiki/The_Village_Choir ... MSLP262033) he put this note:

[Admins: I suggest that IMSLP policy be changed to permit librettist credit for composers of the same work. Otherwise, it is impossible for site users to search for lyrics written by composers.]

I'm not quite sure whether he wants to list the composer as librettist under his name or under "Composer" so that one can search by librettists who are the composers of the works. I suspect the latter, but I do remember seeing "Composer" in that field.

What is the policy, and what is supposed to go in that field when the librettist is the composer?

[Davydov]

We've never actually had a formal policy — it's just a relief to find that the librettist is actually named sometimes

But just as the composer is the ultimate editor of his/her own works, so they are also the ultimate librettist, having the final say over texts prepared by others to fit their music (with only rare exceptions). So I would argue that it's unnecessary to use the "LinkLib" template for texts attributed only to the composer, in the same way that we don't use "LinkEd" or "LinkArr" when they edit or arrange their own works. In such cases I'd only put "Librettist=Composer" (unlinked) in the general information field.

We also have to be realistic about the prospects of retrospectively standardizing any of the existing fields on IMSLP's 62,606 work pages, at least not without some the assistance of a bot (something which has been ruled out more than once in the past).

[steltz]

When someone puts "composer" in the librettist field, what happens? Can someone search by it? (I'm trying now to find an example and I can't, so maybe the few we had were removed?)

[Davydov]

It used to be possible to search for the line "|Librettist=Composer", but that stopped when the search system was changed to Google only, meaning the page content is searchable but not the source code.

[steltz]

Then I think Olmsted did the page correctly - I'll PM him to find out exactly what he wanted -- I'm still unsure.

[KGill]

It used to be possible to search for the line "|Librettist=Composer", but that stopped when the search system was changed to Google only, meaning the page content is searchable but not the source code.

The built-in wikitext search function is still present in the form of the page Special:Search (this shows up for me in monobook as being tied to the 'Go' button in the sidebar). The search in question seems to work just fine.

[Davydov]

Thanks, that's very useful to know!

[steltz]

Does that mean we should put "Composer" in the field when the librettist/lyricist is the composer as well?

[Davydov]

Yes. There's no need to spell out the composer's name in full, and just leaving the space blank would suggest the librettist was unknown. Similarly we should use "Composer and {{LinkLib|John|Smith}} (1797-1868)" if the composer co-wrote the libretto.