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----- Original Message ----- From: Eugene Hertz >Hi all, I am new to reading discographies and was wondering if there are certain discographical "standards" >for notation and structure of an entry. For example a title entry such as: >LA TRAVIATA (Giuseppe Verdi / Francesco M. Piave), II/ 5: Duetto (Germont) "Pura siccome un angelo" <1> >I can figure a few things out "La Traviata" is the title, Verdi wrote the music, Piave wrote the (words?) >what does II/5 mean and the rest? what does <1> mean? Sadly, there are no standards, especially in classical-music references. "La Traviata" is the title of the work, and Verdi the composer, and I'd guess "Pura siccone un angelo" the title of the individual piece being recorded as it appears on the label. I don't know enough about the classics to know who Piave was (did they have separate composers and lyricists?). II/5 might refer to Act and Scene... or to the record in a set. No idea who/what is indicated by "Germont" or "<1>" In general, you have to look at the key for the specific book (or web site) you are referring to! >For an Artist entry: >Premier (mV4) [John H. Bieling (T), Billy Murray (T), Steve C. Porter (Bar), William F. Hooley (Bs)], (O) A little easier...but only because I know a bit more about popular records! "Premier (Quartet)" is the name of the group; "mV4" probably indicates "Male," "Vocal" and 4 members (i.e. a quartet). The four names listed are the singers on that particular side...T/Bar/Bs their parts in the group...and "(0)" refers to something specific in that source. >Any way, I didnt know if there was a book somewhere that detailed these notations and if there are >"generally accepted" standards for these notations, or if they are completely at the diecretion of the >discographer. To my knowledge, there is no standardization of formats, field names/sizes, abbreviations or anything else in either discographies or record cataloguing. This is an area which I've been suggesting ARSC try to create even advisory guidelines for a decade or two...so far to no avail. The closest we have come to standardization is when a single discography becomes widely used (i.e. the books by Brian Rust) and its format becomes a de facto standard! Steven C. Barr