New Mozart Edition: International Data-Base of Sources

The "Mozart Data-Base of Sources" is vital to the philological work of the NMA (its last volumes to be published in 2006) and likewise an indispensible tool for Mozart research in general, led in large part by the Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum in Salzburg (ISM). With a view to better coordination of the activities within the ISM - including publication of the NMA - a "Mozart Institute: Center of Mozart Research and Documentation" has been founded by the ISM, its aim being to continue the work of the present board of editors-in-chief of the NMA after 2006 (the governing board of the ISM has recently appointed a scholarly subcommittee whose task is to plan and develop the "Mozart Institute". The initial stage of the work of its four members - Dr. Ulrich Konrad, Würzburg, Dr. Christoph-Hellmut Mahling, Mainz, and as chairman, Dr. Christoph Wolff, Cambridge/MA, and qua Amt the president of the ISM - will overlap that of the NMA). So that the NMA data-base may serve the purpose for which it was conceived and for what it must newly offer, it requires substantial improvement over the course of the coming years, namely: 1) Restructuring and espansion of the existing local data-base (status June 2001: 10,000 data sets) by means of technical resources not available at the start of the first FWF-project in 1995. 2) Supplementation of the existing entries with an eye towards completeness and uniformity, likewise up-dating of the individual data-bases devoted to "Autographs", "Sketches", "Copies", "Prints" and "Libretti", which represent almost 50 years of source research by the NMA. 3) Offering of further individual data-bases via website (at present only the "Autographs" and "Sketches" are on- line) with the goal of making the entire content of the data-base available to any and every scholar with on-line access. 4) Laying of the foundation (to begin 1 January 2001) for the comprehensive keyed index to the scholarly texts of the 132 musical volumes and respective critical reports of the NMA according to work, names and places. The completion of this portion of the NMA and extended access to same (whether published in book form or possibly as a CD-ROM or on-line version) is to be viewed as the culmination of the scholarly work of the NMA. The index will not be published until 2007, that is, after the NMA has completed all musical volumes and critical reports. 5) Catchwords such as "user friendly data-base of sources", "expanded functions of the data-base after 2006" and "web presence and data-base-professional" indicate the future direction of the "Mozart Data-Base of Sources" as it strives to improve its service to the scholarly community.