Repertoire International d'Iconographie Musicale (RIdIM).

Baldassarre, Antonio

Three years of new activities

After its official foundation in 1971 and some prosperous years of work, the Repertoire International d'Icono graphie Musicale (RIdIM) has primarily functioned through activities of individuals and institutions in many countries, doing scholarly research and cataloguing often at their own expenses and with minimal support, particularly from the late 1980s onwards. Thanks to the joint activities of three sponsoring societies IAML, IMS and CIMCIM it was possible to re-establish stable and transparent structures, which finally resulted in the appointment of a new Commission Mixte in December 2004. The Commission Mixte immediately tackled necessary steps to re-enhance RIdIM's prestige as a serious partner within the scholarly community around the world and has therefore met already five times since its appointment: in Paris in 2004 and 2006, in Warsaw in 2005, in Goteborg in 2006 and in Zurich in 2007. Thanks to modern communications means the Commission Mixte was also able to process many issues by meetings in cyberspace, so to speak. I would like to highlight at least a few of the successful activities the Commission Mixte has accomplished or has been processing since its establishment.

In February 2006 the International RIdIM Center at the Institut national d'histoire de l'art (INHA) has officially started its activities. Thanks to the agreement with INHA, RIdIM was able to appoint a RIdIM Administrator who is managing the International RIdIM Center. For further information about the activities of the RIdIM Adminis trator and the International RIdIM Center in Paris, I would like to call your attention to the RIdIM website at http://ridimtest.uncc.edu. Although it is still under construction, it already provides a large amount of useful information. Also in 2006 RIdIM published the first issue of the RIdIM Newsletter that is providing a forum for contributions and information about both cataloguing and research issues. The RIdIM Newsletter will soon be available online via the RIdIM website. If you are interested in subscribing to the RIdIM Newsletter please contact the RIdIM Administrator at ridim-paris@inhas.fr. There have been numerous positive reactions for the two published RIdIM Newsletters. After years in which the RIdIM project was believed to be dead, it is, colloquially spoken, back on track. Sadly, Imago Musicae, the International Year of Musical Iconography and the official organ of RIdIM since 1982, has stopped its appearance with vol. XXI-XXII (2004/2005). The Commis sion Mixte is, however, determined to find a solution to continue its publication.

Already in its first meeting, the Com mission Mixte decided to continue the tradition of organizing scholarly meetings to provide a forum for the exchange of results of research and cataloguing projects. RIdIM organized a session during the IMAL conference in Warsaw in 2005, primarily focusing on cataloguing issues, and during the IAML conferences in Goteborg in 2006 that was joint by IMS and IAMIC, and in Sydney in 2007 where sessions focused on research projects in music iconography. It is a pleasure to announce that RIdIM will organize in collaboration with the Research Center for Music Iconography, an international conference entitled Music, Body, and Stage: The Iconography of Theatre and Opera. The conference will take place at the Graduate Center from 11 to 14 March 2008 and is intended to provide a forum for a discussion of iconographic sources for opera, dance, and music theatre of the East and West. The call for papers and further information are published at http://web.gc.cuny.edu/rcmi. Abstracts may be submitted before 1 November 2007. Prior to the conference a two-day workshop (9 to 10 March 2008) will be offered on cataloguing of visual sources, with special attention to the iconography of theatre and opera.

One of the most challenging proj ects the Commission Mixte was facing since its first days in office was the development of the RIdIM database for cataloguing musicrelated objects. Needless to say, such a proj ect not only involves complex technical aspects but also crucial decisions about its structure and content. After two years of intense work and with the support of true experts, the Commission Mixte has been able to successfully conclude the alpha-test phase of the database and to present the results at its meeting in Zurich in 2007. The official launching of the database is planned for the end of 2007. The major advantages of the RIdIM Database are the following: The database is free of charge, platform-independent (it runs on any computer with a standard web browser), and provides full Unicode. A detailed style guide will help cataloguers to resolve questions. The database supports multiple languages, international metadata standards, and provides a powerful and flexible search interface with controlled vocabulary. It allows for the uploading of images to the server where copyright related authorization is given and provides the possibility to search within multiple database fields and with keyword search, Boolean search, and truncation. Search results can be downloaded and sent by e-mail. The RIdIM website gives access to the RIdIM database and--via links--to existing large databases which cannot or do not want to migrate.

To conclude this report I would like to express my gratitude to all who have supported the work of RIdIM during the last three years, particularly the members of the Commission Mixte and its advisory members, the sponsoring societies, INHA and so many other individuals around the world.

Dr. Antonio Baldassarre

President Commission Mixte

Repertoire International d'Iconographie

Musicale