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The Library of the Milan Conservatorio di Musica has posted online a huge collection of valuable manuscripts and scores from its historical collection. However, it has blocked the download function of the website's display software.

For some inexplicable technical reason, my computer cannot even view these scores online, in addition to being unable to download them. The individual pages hang up, rather than display online. For that reason, I was delighted to see that Generoso has re-posted several scores from this collection on IMSLP. Many thanks to Generoso for making available to all on IMSLP these valuable scores -- especially the terrific cello works by Piatti.

I am able to browse this website's catalog of scores, however -- and while doing so, I made a list of what I consider to be the most interesting works in the collection. I have not checked this list against works that might already be posted on IMSLP, but I would be surprised if more than a handful were already present. Here is my list:

Bottesini, Giovanni Andante sostenuto. Archi soli
Bottesini, Giovanni Il diavolo della notte
Bottesini, Giovanni Notti d'oriente
Faccio, Francesco Antonio [1840-1891] Allegro molto
Faccio, Francesco Antonio [1840-1891] Le sorelle d'Italia
Farinelli, Giuseppe [1769-1836] No crudel per me giammai
Gariboldi, Giuseppe Capriccio da sala per flauto con accompagnamento di Pianoforte [sull'] Opera di E. Petrella I Promessi Sposi / di E. Petrella
Glinka, Mihail Ivanovic Serenata sopra alcuni motivi dell'opera Anna Bolena
Gottschalk, Louis Moreau Grand Scherzo pour le piano ; op. 57
Gottschalk, Louis Moreau Scherzo romantique pour piano
Hiller, Ferdinand [1811-1885] Bolero
Hiller, Ferdinand [1811-1885] Quatre Reveries au piano
Hiller, Ferdinand [1811-1885] Rondeau napolitain : op. 29 n. 2
Hiller, Ferdinand [1811-1885] Trois Caprices ou Etudes Caracteristiques pour le Piano Forte ... Hiller, Ferdinand [1811-1885] Trois caprices pour le Piano forte
Hiller, Ferdinand [1811-1885] Valse : Op. 29 N. 3 / composee ... par Ferdinand Hiller
Hugues, Luigi Il Carnevale di Venezia : variazioni di concerto : per due flauti con accomp.to di pianoforte
Hugues, Luigi Notturno per flauto e pianoforte op.53 / di Luigi Hugues Stabilimento Musicale di F. Lucca
Hugues, Luigi Sonata romantica per flauto con accomp.to di pianoforte op.57
Labitzky, Josef [1802-1881] Canti di primavera : walzer op. 104 / G. Labitzky F. Lucca Musica e libretti a stampa
Labitzky, Josef [1802-1881] Elena : polka op. 203 / G. Labitzky
Litolff, Henry Au pays des souvenirs : 3 morceaux caracteristiques pour Piano / Henry Charles Litolff Henry Litolff Musica e libretti a stampa
Litolff, Henry Reve d'un captif : scene dramatique pour le piano :
Litolff, Henry {Souvenirs d'Hartzbourg : Meditations musicales pour le piano
Litolff, Henry 3: Walpurgisnacht auf dem Brocken : caprice de concert : oeuv. 43 n. 5 / par Henry Litolff
Martucci, Giuseppe [1856-1909] Mazurka di concerto per pianoforte
Martucci, Giuseppe [1856-1909] Notturno (dall'opera 70)
Martucci, Giuseppe [1856-1909] Notturno N. 1 autografo
Martucci, Giuseppe [1856-1909] Scherzo per pianoforte : Op.23 / di Giuseppe Martucci
Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Felix Coro di Vendemmiatori : per voci di tenori e bassi nell'opera incompleta Lorely Op. 98 n.3 : (N. 27 delle Opere Postume)
Mercadante, Saverio A Rossini. Sinfonia a Grand'Orchestr
Golinelli, Stefano Alla pace degli eletti nell'opera Il giuramento
Cavallini, Ernesto [1807-1874] Andante e variazioni : per clarinetto con accomp.to di pianoforte sopra un tema del m.o S. Mercadante
Bignami, Carlo [1808-1848 ; compositore] L'Assaggiatore
Mercadante, Saverio Cantata a 4 voci con accompag.to di piano
Mercadante, Saverio [Concerto per pianoforte e orch
Mercadante, Saverio Elisa e Claudio
Mercadante, Saverio Giusto ciel : cavatina / del sig.r m.o Mercadante ; ridotta con accompagnamento di chitarra presso Luigi Bertuzzi
Mercadante, Saverio Inno a Garibaldi :
Mercadante, Saverio Inno a Vittorio Emanuele Re d'Italia
Mercadante, Saverio Inno a Vittorio Emmanuele 2. re d'Italia / musica del Maestro Saverio Mercadante ; ridotto per banda militare da Gaetano Cortellini
Albert, Emile Marche caprice pour piano sur un motif de l'opera Leonora de Mercadante
Mercadante, Saverio La Rimembranza. Sinfonia fantastica a grand'orchestra
Mercadante, Saverio Scena, e Finale dell'Opera ! Intitolata ! La Testa di Bronzo !
Mercadante, Saverio Sinfonia nell'opera La testa di bronzo
Mercadante, Saverio Sinfonia per orchestra / del Mo S. Mercadante
Curti, Carlo [1807-1872] Ricordanze per Violoncello con acc.to di Pianoforte sull'opera L'Africana di Meyerbeer
Bochsa, Robert Nicolas Charles Fantaisie et variations sur l'air de Don Juan Vedrai carino musique de Mozart pour la harpe
Pacini, Giovanni [1796-1867] Ivanhoe : melodramma / posto in musica dal Maes.o Cav.e Giovanni Pacini
Pacini, Giovanni [1796-1867] Medea : melodramma tragico / di Benedetto Castiglia ; posto in musica ... dal Cav.r M.o Giovanni Pacini presso F. Lucca Musica e libretti a stampa
Pacini, Giovanni [1796-1867] Quei che m'uccise il figlio : scena e duetto nell'opera gli Elvezi / del Cav.
Piatti, Alfredo Notturno per violoncello con accompagnamento di pianoforte : op. 20 / di A. Piatti Tito di G. Ricordi
Piatti, Alfredo La sera : notturno per soprano e violoncello con accomp.to di Piano-forte / poesia del cav. Maffei
Piatti, Alfredo L'abbandono : canto per violoncello con accomp.to di piano forte / composto ... da Alfredo Piatti
Ponchielli, Amilcare Composizioni inedite : per canto con accompagnamento di pianoforte / di Amilcare Ponchielli Giudici & Strada,[circa 1889]
Ponchielli, Amilcare Esame a porte chiuse dell'allievo Ponchielli Amilcare = 3 sett: 1854 autografo 1854 Musica e libretti manoscritti
Ponchielli, Amilcare Fantasia militare : per banda / di Amilcare Ponchielli Ponchielli, Amilcare Fantasia per tromba ! sopra motivi dell'opera ! La Traviata
Ponchielli, Amilcare Duetto a 2 Clarinetti
Ponchielli, Amilcare Saggio d'istromentazione fatto dall'allievo Ponchielli [a] porte chiuse il 2 Agosto 1854 Musica e libretti manoscritti
Ponchielli, Amilcare Scena Campestre ! Sinfonia autografo in parte
Ponchielli, Amilcare Sulla tomba di Garibaldi : elegia per banda / di Amilcare Ponchielli ; riduzione per pianoforte a 2 mani di R. Vitali
Ponchielli, Amilcare Sulla tomba di Garibaldi : elegia per banda / di Amilcare Ponchielli
Cesi, Beniamino [1845-1907] Manon Lescaut di G. Puccini / trascrizione per pianoforte di Beniamino Cesi
Raff, Joachim Valse champetre : pour piano : op. 166, n. 2 / Joachim Raff
Rode, Jacques Pierre Joseph Quatrieme theme varie pour Violon principal sur un mouvement de Marche avec accompagnement de Piano Forte seul / composee par P. Rode
Rolla, Alessandro Sinfonia ! Del Sig.or Alessandro
Rolla, Alessandro Sinfonia ! Del Sig.r Alessandro Rolla
Rolla, Alessandro Sinfonia No 4
Rubinstein, Anton Grigor evic Serenade
Scarlatti, Domenico
Sgambati, Giovanni Gavotte
Spontini, Gaspare Originale ! Messa a due Voci ! Concertata con Organo
Thalberg, Sigismund Ballade op. 76 / de S. Thalberg Titus de J. Ricordi
Thalberg, Sigismund Fantaisie pour piano sur des themes de l'opera Moise de Rossini
Thalberg, Sigismund Tarentella pour piano op. 75 / par S. Thalberg
Toscanini, Arturo Berceuse per pianoforte / di Arturo Toscanini
Verdi, Giuseppe 6 romanze con accomp.to di piano forte / di G. Verdi F. Lucca Musica e libretti a stampa
Golinelli, Stefano Andante nei Lombardi di Verdi : variato per pianoforte
Verdi, Giuseppe Aroldo : libretto in quattro atti di F.M.Piave
Bignami, Carlo [1808-1848 ; compositore] L'Assaggiatore : riduzioni variate per violino ... / da C. Bignami F. Lucca
Sormani, Pietro [1860-1913] Capriccio per violino su motivi dell'opera Otello di G. Verdi
Curti, Carlo [1807-1872] Divertimento per violoncello con accompag. di pianoforte composto sopra motivi dell'opera Il Trovatore del celebre Verdi
Verdi, Giuseppe Ernani / musica del maestro Giuseppe Verdi ; ridotta per pianoforte e violino da P. Tonassi
Verdi, Giuseppe L' esule / poesia di Temistocle Solera
Cesi, Beniamino [1845-1907] Falstaff di G. Verdi : pezzo per Pianoforte
Lovreglio, Donato Fantasia per oboe con accomp.to di pianoforte sull'opera Un Ballo in maschera di G. Verdi : Op. 44
Ponchielli, Amilcare Fantasia per tromba ! sopra motivi dell'opera ! La Traviata
Verdi, Giuseppe Figlia]...Mio padre] : duetto nell'opera Rigoletto / di G. Verdi ; ridotto per flauto, violino e pianoforte da G. Rabboni Giovanni Ricordi
Verdi, Giuseppe La forza del destino ... / di Giuseppe Verdi ; pezzi trasportati di tono e ridotti senza cori e pertichini ad uso di ariette da cameratti
Verdi, Giuseppe Grido di guerra : inno popolare / di Giuseppe Verdi ; Parole di G. Mameli
Wagner, Richard [1813-1883] Marcia / R. Wagner ; [trascrizione di] Guido Papini F. Lucca Musica e libretti a stampa
Wagner, Richard [1813-1883] Preghiera : Oh] vergin santa / R. Wagner ; [trascrizione di] Guido Papini F. Lucca Musica e libretti a stampa
Wagner, Richard [1813-1883] Romanza : Forier di morte / R. Wagner ; [trascrizione di] Guido Papini
Yvon, Carlo [sec.18.2.meta-19.1.meta] Capriccio per tre oboe / composto ... da Carlo Yvon a
Yvon, Carlo [sec.18.2.meta-19.1.meta] Sei studj per oboe : con accompagnamento di piano forte /
Yvon, Carlo [sec.18.2.meta-19.1.meta] Sonata per corno inglese e pianoforte / composta ... da Carlo Yvon

MS.

Mark, can you post the link to the catalog front page where some of these might be viewed?

The link generoso posted on the other Milano thread was http://www.consmilano.it/index.php?id=416.
This is an alphabetical listing by composer. You can also search the catalog and check "Risorse Digitali" at http://biblioteche.regione.lombardia.it/OPACMI09/cat/SF
On the results page, if you click on the little green logo at "Tipo materiale" you get the scan viewer.
On the right side at the arrow you can get a little navigation drop-in window to open with a + button to zoom in to a very high resolution color scan. On a mac, you can maximize the display on your screen (best if you have one of those huge cinema displays) and take 6-12 screenshots with command-shift-4. Some work to manually align those pics in photoshop, but this is also how I assembled the Molter scan from BLB Karlsruhe, another library with no download option (yet?).
There is also another way: The viewer allows to open the image (i.e. a single tile of 256x256 pixels) in a separate window (on my mac by ctrl-clicking the image). For the Yvon Capriccio it is http://caronte.codex2.cilea.it/cntCaron ... 90&jtl=2,0
You can then change to a higher resolution by changing the url, and e.g. access a 300dpi color scan in 221 successive tiles by changing the url successively from jtl=5,0 to jtl=5,220.
(with jtl=4,0 to jtl=4,62 you can get the image at 150dpi resolution, with jtl=3,0 to jtl=3,19 you can get the image at 75dpi resolution). The actual number of tiles may differ from one of the scans to another, but that should be easy to adjust with a few tries. You can even change the pages displayed in the url (cnt=1 ff).
To assemble that many tiles manually is very cumbersome, but this process should be possible to automate, since the tiles are successive parts of the image without overlap. Anyone able to write a program for this purpose?

P.S.: Unfortunately the Yvon originals are in pretty bad shape. I just had better luck at SBB, they had later reprints of the Capriccio and the Eh Sonata from the same plates that I was allowed to photocopy and will post soon.

At the present, the number of scores posted in the site of Milan Conservatorio is about 820. The library hosts about 500,000 between scores and books !
The full catalogue is available thru the general index of italian libraries at

http://opac.sbn.it/opacsbn/opac/iccu/musica.jsp

where the titles in Milan library are marked with the code MI0344

I access the Website of the Conservatorio di Milano at

http://www.consmilano.it/index.php?id=b ... a_digitale

The catalog of musical scores can be found at

http://www.consmilano.it/index.php?id=379

The pages of all scores have been scanned as separate images, not as continuous works.

As I mentioned, for some mysterious reason, I cannot view the pages of these scores on my computer, but apparently some others on IMSLP have been able to do so -- although no one can use the website's disabled download feature.

For those of you who use Windows 7, that OS includes a special tool called Snip, that one can access and run through the "search programs and files" box. Snip can quickly copy/save selected portions of any displayed page in relatively high resolution. I have used Snip with great success to copy the extraordinary images of museum paintings on Google's Art Project (which also are not otherwise downloadable.) However, because each page of score in the collection of the Milan Conservatory is a separate file, copying a musical work -- especially an extended work such as an opera -- can be laborious.

From first-hand experience, I can say that Italy is virtually drowning in tons of precious musical manuscripts and valuable early editions. The archives in the Conservatories of Rome, Bologna, Venice, Naples and Parma -- in addition to the vast collection in Milan -- contain untold treasures...untold, because access to most these works has remained for centuries extremely difficult if not impossible for all but a handful of musicologists and musical bureaucrats. Add to those scores the fabulous riches in the Ricordi archives, plus those of lesser-known publishers, such as Curci, Suivi Zerboni, etc., and you have in Italy the musical equivalent of King Tut's Tomb.

On the webpage of the Library of the Milan Conservatory is a photograph of a recently-purchased huge photographic scanner capable of reproducing historical documents with no damage. Let's hope the purchase of this equipment and the creation of the Biblioteca Digitale by Dott. Borelli signals the debut of a long-term project to make available to the world the hidden riches of Italy's vast musical heritage. Equally important, let's hope that Dott. Borelli makes this and other Italian musical websites much easier to use and download than the present Biblioteca Digitale -- which is a nightmare.

MS

Just to say that

1) Dr.Borrelli is no more the President of the Conservatorio (since 2010)
2) Ten days ago, for reasons unknown to me, the adiministration council of the Conservatorio suspended any activity regarding the scanning on demand

Hope to come with better news.

Those scores I just uploaded to IMSLP from the Milan Consi of Music took an extreme amount of time to do. Just downloading each page from screen captures (each page takes from 3 to 6 screen shots, depending on size)... And then "pasting" these bits together (Photoshop)...And the removing the Library markings (Photoshop)... And then making into a B/W high quality tiff... Removing spots and/or splotches and every thing else that is not part of the original printing (sometimes pixel by pixel)....
All this work does get pretty good results but takes (it seems at times) forever!!

But some of these pieces can not be found else where....So....

Enjoy!

Generoso
(I am always interested in the music with a cello in it)...

Hi Generoso

Once again, many thanks to you for the uploads from the Milan Conservatory -- especially the Bottesini Andante sostenuto (B. is a special interest of mine.)

If you plan on downloading any more pieces from the website, I suggest you try my tip concerning the Snip Tool in Windows 7 (that is, if you use Windows 7.) It saves much time over Photoshop or any additional program. New/Select/Save. That's all there is to it.

It seems to me that the Biblioteca digitale of the Milan Conservatory was deliberately set up to make the site as difficult to use as possible to discourage copying of manuscripts, even though these works are all long in the public domain. Once again, a library is attempting to establish secondary copyrights on scanned images of PD works, both in manuscript and in early editions. And what is the result? A vast horde of PD music of considerable historical interest is virtually inaccessible by the public (both in Italy and in all other countries.) Anyone who wants to work with, or play, these manuscripts has to do so on its site, laboriously, page-by-page. If they (the library) are posting these works on the Internet, what is the point of trying to protect them by throwing obstacles in front of the users?

Regards,
MS

Thanks Starrmark and others on this thread:

Sheet Music Treasure Trove in Italy

I'm not sure whether it's a good idea to emphasize activities aimed at extracting images from the Conservatorio's website and make scores to be published on IMSLP. I wonder whether this may bring everything offline. As discussed in another thread, the Conservatorio's collection might be probably regarded as a database of scanned manuscripts, and databases are protected in the EU regardless the copyright status of the items contained in the database. Evidence of unauthorized use of the database may be a possible reason to justify removal of web access by the Conservatorio. Let's cross fingers...

Max

Choralia wrote:I'm not sure whether it's a good idea to emphasize activities aimed at extracting images from the Conservatorio's website and make scores to be published on IMSLP. I wonder whether this may bring everything offline. As discussed in another thread, the Conservatorio's collection might be probably regarded as a database of scanned manuscripts, and databases are protected in the EU regardless the copyright status of the items contained in the database. Evidence of unauthorized use of the database may be a possible reason to justify removal of web access by the Conservatorio. Let's cross fingers...

Max

This situation is weird:

(a) Why would a library choose to place scores online - at considerable expense - in such a way that they can't be downloaded and played? Better imo to spend the money on more librarians, a better catalogue, repairing the library roof, etc.

(b) The database -->> contents of database distinction sounds like a lawyer's charter. Why would a library choose to structure their online collection so legal uncertainty is inserted between user and collection?

Why not email the library to ask if they object to the screen-grab -->> pdf conversion technique being applied to their collection?

The other thread.

You are right, that it is strange that a library spends considerable funds for an online presence but tries to block every use except as reference. At the moment, every library with an internet offering of digitized holdings seems to work out another procedure for their holdings, lets hope there will be soon some common policies. I hope precedents like Sibley, SLUB and SBB will be the standard for others to follow, rather than a system were access to usable scans is seen as a source of income for the library.
I could come up with two explanations for restrictions on direct downloads of high resolution images, bandwidth and the possible unlicensed commercial use of the images.
In both instances imslp (a non-commercial site) as a much more easily and widely accessible mirror of a digitized score of is actually working in favor of the library.
The prominently displayed link to the original scan should then tell every commercial user where to apply for a relevant license (if in the EU), and in countries like the US that do not recognize this type of "copyright" there are often already older photocopies of the scores available and are frequently used for publications without a libraries consent.

See my Tutorial http://imslp.org/wiki/Music_from_Flash-Based_Websites

Generoso

Hi all,

please continue this discussion, if interested, in this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5075

Unfortunately (for me I don't have time enough to follow more than one thread.


Gabriele Gamba
Conservatorio di Milano - Biblioteca
( http://www.consmilano.it/index.php?id=367 )