HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Library Božidar Kantušer, formerly known as International Library of Contemporary Music (in French: Bibliothèque Internationale de Musique Contemporaine, B.I.M.C.), was a
non-profit association A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
chartered under the French 1901 Law on associations. It was created in 1968 to promote contemporary music by facilitating access to published and unpublished scores from around the world. For this purpose, the
library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...
centralizes (without aesthetic bias) and lists the scores, and then facilitates their discovery by computerized means. At its inception the association was subsidized by the City of Fontainebleau and the
French Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture () is the ministry (government department), ministry of the Government of France in charge of List of museums in France, national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and pro ...
, further by the City of Paris and the ''Ministry of Culture''. Since 2006, the collection of ''scores'' and
recordings A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, re ...
(more than 24,500 documents in 2012) is available in ''Paris'' at the Médiathèque Hector Berlioz and through its
OPAC The online public access catalog (OPAC), now frequently synonymous with ''library catalog'', is an online database of materials held by a library or Library consortium, group of libraries. Online catalogs have largely replaced the analog card c ...
.


Goals

« The dispersion of scores of music of our time among
publishers Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...
throughout the world (and especially the fact that most of them remain in the form of
manuscripts A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has c ...
) represents an almost insurmountable obstacle for anyone wishing to obtain an exact idea of contemporary music production. Only an association of the persons actually concerned, that is to say the
composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...
s and ''music publishers'' themselves, supported by musicians and other music professionals could overcome this problem. » (Excerpt from a B.I.M.C. bulletin)


Means


Centralization and computerization

To allow the consultation of the deposited works and to establish the database necessary for the distribution of information, the library proposes to centralize the published and unpublished works of contemporary music (from the twentieth century on) and their recordings. The deposit of scores and recordings is open to all composers, without aesthetic bias, to the exclusion of pieces solely dedicated to education. The library regularly stimulates composers and publishers in depositing their works, emphasizing the promotional importance of such a deposit. In an effort of multi-centralization, of creating various consultation sites, for a few years composers and publishers were asked to submit several copies of each score. Cooperation talks were underway with the
Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5  ...
, and the effort was carried out in the form of a second center in
Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...
from 1975 to 1985 (the idea was revived in 1999, then abandoned). For each submitted work, an
index card An index card (or record card in British English and system cards in Australian English) consists of card stock (heavy paper) cut to a standard size, used for recording and storing small amounts of discrete data. A collection of such cards ei ...
was established and printed numerously. To allow multiple filing of each index card, the database for each deposited score contained the following information: name and surname of the composer, year and country of birth as well as nationality, title of the work, duration, year of composition,
instrumentation Instrumentation is a collective term for measuring instruments, used for indicating, measuring, and recording physical quantities. It is also a field of study about the art and science about making measurement instruments, involving the related ...
(
nomenclature Nomenclature (, ) is a system of names or terms, or the rules for forming these terms in a particular field of arts or sciences. (The theoretical field studying nomenclature is sometimes referred to as ''onymology'' or ''taxonymy'' ). The principl ...
), possibly the publisher and the year of publication. Subsequently the data appeared in printed directories, and was eventually entered on the site of the Médiathèque Hector Berlioz. In addition, a biographical file is opened for each composer and made accessible. All information often not being specified in the scores, one of the major tasks of the association is to obtain all the data needed to establish an entry.


Diffusion of information

The distribution of data permitting an objective and comprehensive information on contemporary works of music is done nowadays online through the ''OPAC'' of the Hector Berlioz Mediathèque. Previously, printed directories, presented in two volumes - one classified by instrumentation, the other in alphabetical order of composers, were regularly updated, reprinted and sent to subscribers around the world. They held and still hold an important place in music libraries (academic or public) in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
,
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
and
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
. Initially (starting 1968), the diffusion of information was done by sending
card catalog A library catalog (or library catalogue in British English) is a register of all bibliographic items found in a library or group of libraries, such as a network of libraries at several locations. A catalog for a group of libraries is also ...
s to subscribers, allowing multiple approaches and regular updates. The seven card catalogs offered to subscription were ordered alphabetically by composer name, by instrumentation, by nationality and alphabetically, by nationality and instrumentation, by the duration of the work, by year of composition, by publisher (unpublished works by instrumentation). One same ''index card'', printed numerously and corresponding to one score, appeared in seven different ''card catalogs'', allowing to discover each work by seven different accesses. Interested parties subscribed to one or more card catalog of their choice, updating their catalogs as and when new cards were shipped. Index cards were shipped to subscribers as new works were deposited in the library.


History

At its inception in 1968, composers such as
Henri Dutilleux Henri Paul Julien Dutilleux (; 22 January 1916 – 22 May 2013) was a French composer of late 20th-century classical music. Among the leading French composers of his time, his work was rooted in the Impressionistic style of Debussy and R ...
,
André Jolivet André Jolivet (; 8 August 1905 – 20 December 1974) was a French composer. Known for his devotion to French culture and musical thought, Jolivet drew on his interest in acoustics and atonality, as well as both ancient and modern musical influ ...
,
Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud (, ; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His composition ...
and
Henri Sauguet Henri-Pierre Sauguet-Poupard (18 May 1901 – 22 June 1989) was a French composer. Born in Bordeaux, he adopted his mother's maiden name as part of his professional pseudonym. His output includes operas, ballets, four symphonies (1945, 1949, ...
gave their written support to the library. It also received a favorable press release, particularly in
Les Lettres Françaises ''Les Lettres Françaises'' ( French for "The French Letters") is a French literary publication, founded in 1941 by writers Jacques Decour and Jean Paulhan. Originally a clandestine magazine of the French Resistance in German-occupied territo ...
, or with
Combat Combat (French language, French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent Conflict (process), conflict between multiple combatants with the intent to harm the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed (Hand-to-hand combat, not usin ...
welcoming the fortunate initiative. Many musical institutions from around the world soon began to follow with interest the development of the association. The first headquarters of the B.I.M.C. was in ''Fontainebleau''. It was situated on the first floor of the Villa Lavaurs, the basement housing technical services such as a recording studio and a press. In the early 1970s the headquarters was transferred to ''Paris''. Until 2002, the library was situated along the
Seine The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...
, on two floors of an annex to the
Cité internationale des arts The Cité internationale des arts is an artist-in-residence building complex which accommodates artists of all specialities and nationalities in Paris. It comprises two sites, one located in the Marais and the other in Montmartre. Approximately ...
, and then moved to the CNR conservatory, rue de Madrid. Since 2006 the library is part of the Mediathèque Hector Berlioz at the
Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...
. It was renamed ''Library Božidar Kantušer'' in honor of the composer
Božidar Kantušer Božidar Kantušer (Bozidar Kantuser) (December 5, 1921, Pavlovski Vrh, Slovenia – May 9, 1999, Paris) was a Slovene composer of classical music. He was a Slovenian citizen and an American citizen. Kantušer is the author of symphonic music, ...
, one of its founding members and its director from 1968 to 1999. The other founding members of the association are
Léon Barzin Léon Eugene Barzin (November 27, 1900April 29, 1999) was a Belgian-born American conductor and founder of the National Orchestral Association (NOA), the oldest surviving training orchestra in the United States. Barzin was also the founding mu ...
, Louis-Noël Belaubre, Jacques Phytilis,
Jean-Jacques Werner Jean-Jacques Werner (20 January 1935 – 22 October 2017)''La d ...
,
Pierre Wissmer Pierre Wissmer (30 October 1915 – 4 November 1992) was a 20th-century French classical composer of Swiss origin. Biography Formed at the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève, he received the advice of Robert Casadesus before perfecting his m ...
, Didier Duclos.


External links


Médiathèque Hector Berlioz site

Médiathèque Hector Berlioz ''OPAC''



Sources


IAML Electronic Newsletter No. 31, April 2009
- analysis by Dominique Hausfater.
Review by Dominique Hausfater
(o

on wayback): Conference IAML-IAMIC-IASA 2006 (paragraph 4) for the IAML French group.
Presentation of the Library Božidar Kantušer
on the Médiathèque Hector Berlioz site. {{DEFAULTSORT:Library Bozidar Kantuser Music libraries Music archives Libraries in Paris Music organizations based in France Libraries established in 1968 1968 establishments in France