Two search forms are available: basic and advanced.
Base Search
Basic Search allows you to freely enter search keys, as in any web browser.
Two types of search are available: Works and Books.
Select the chosen search button and enter one or more search keys for the selected search type.
These are the searchable fields:
Works: author (composer and poet), incipit (first line), year, poetic form and musical form;
Books: author, title, edition, place, printer, year, dedicatee, reference repertory identifier (New Vogel and RISM; RISM abbreviations should be placed in quotation marks: "M 3453"; in RISM B/I and in those of Vogel's multi-author collections, the year is separated from the number in exponent by the sign "|": "1582|5").
One or more search keys may be entered for the search, and they are linked by the operator "AND"; e.g., a search for "Monteverdi Marino" returns all of Monteverdi's works on texts by Marino.
Words should be entered complete with the apostrophe: "l'estremo," "s'io," "d'ogni," "dolc'e".
Advanced Search
The advanced search allows more precise searches on certain fields.
Two types of searches are also available for the advanced search: Works and Books.
These are the searchable fields:
Works: author (composer and poet), incipit (first line), text, genre (“musica” or “poesia”), musical genre, poetic form, year, reference repertory identifier of the book.
Books: title, text of the poem, names (authors, dedicatee, dedicator, printer), year, place, type of document, reference repertory identifier (New Vogel and RISM; RISM abbreviations should be placed in quotation marks: "M 3453"; in RISM B/I and in those of Vogel's multi-author collections, the year is separated from the number in exponent by the sign "|": "1582|5"), edition and library.
Advanced Search is started by pressing either of the Works or Books buttons in the box on the left margin, above.
The search string has to be built step by step, entering one field at a time: you select the field, enter the value to search for and press the Find text button to start the search; if you want to add a new search field you have to move the mouse in the white space to the left of the remove button, select one of the two available logical operators or or and, select the new field and enter the value to search for; the search results page is then updated and you can continue by adding more search criteria or by modifying the search keys you set.
To modify the search string created, it is possible to delete one of the rows displayed by pressing the remove button or modify one of the values sought by moving the mouse over the value to be deleted and replaced; the set value is canceled by pressing the appropriate "X" button, then the new value to be searched for is entered.
Results Page
In the search results, records are presented in chronological and alphabetical order by title.
The displayed records can be further selected through filters. A filter string can be entered by entering it directly into the Filter results field provided, and it is also possible to select one or more of the preset filters that appear in the left margin by pressing the Show Filter button.
To access the descriptive tab simply use the link on the title.
Search results can be saved to a .csv format file by pressing the Download as CSV button.
Warning: if the search returns no results, no informational message appears.
Work Page
In the box at the top of the page are the identifying data of the work, in the one below the descriptive data; the asterisk in front of the poet's name indicates that it is an attribution.
Sections list the sections into which the work is divided. A click on the incipit of the section displays the full text alongside.
The TEXT button displays the full text.
The TEXT TRADITION: POETRY VERSIONS AND MUSICAL SETTINGS button presents the complete list of ascertained versions of that text and all its musical settings.
Pressing the icon with the two overlapping pages in the Compare column, at the bottom of the row, opens a new page that allows you to compare the texts in the different sources, side by side in two columns; in the box below are listed the sources of the text displayed, in the next box the other works on the same text, listed in chronological order. To view the text of a particular intonation in the comparison box, above, simply select the author.
At the bottom of each column are listed, if any, the different versions of the same text, identified by a code. The link on the code allows you to select the version you wish to examine, and the text is displayed in the top pane.
(The "Search on Youtube" and “Search on IMSLP" links in the top pane search for the work on their respective sites and open a new web page with the search results).
Book page
In the top box are the book's identifying data, in the one below the descriptive data.
The next one shows the title page of the book and buttons are available to view other sections of the book: the dedication, other preliminary texts, and the colophon.
The Contents of the book are listed below, indicating: sequence number, page, composer, poet, incipit, part, musical genre, and poetic form.
In reprints that repeat the same content from earlier editions, the content is not listed.
Below is the list of Exemplars with an indication of the libraries and the surviving partbooks for each exemplar (e.g.: C.A.T.B.5. [compl.]). If present, there are links to the digital reproduction and the library catalog card.
Finally the Bibliography, with links, if any, to the corresponding catalog cards, and a list of Other coeval editions of the same book.