In addition to the acquisition of conventional media, the services of the Specialized Information Service for Musicology (FID Musicology) also include the nationwide provision of digital resources for the musicological community in Germany. This involves selecting and licensing online resources that are highly relevant to scholarship and research.
What are FID licenses?
The FID licenses offer researchers throughout Germany access to specialized databases and selected online resources. The spectrum ranges from classic databases to streaming services and e-book packages. The offer of these licenses is limited to a defined group of users and can only be used after prior registration.
Access to the FID licenses:
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I am not yet registered. If you do not yet have an account for the FID licenses and would like to register, please follow the step-by-step instructions "Registration for the FID licenses musicology" (only available in German).
Which databases/media are considered?
Acquisitions within the framework of the FID Musicology are oriented towards the top needs of music research. The selection of licensed products is made in consultation with the FID Advisory Board and is subject to continuous evaluation with regard to the needs of science and research. Products for basic needs (e.g. online encyclopaedias such as MGG Online) are excluded. If you would like to suggest a product for licensing, you can notify us using the "Wish List" form.
The offers at a glance
After registration you have access to the following offers:
The online portal "BabelScores - contemporary music online" is dedicated to contemporary or new music. The focus is primarily on music that has been created in the last 40 years. With over 210,000 music pages, BabelScores is considered one of the most important online libraries for new music and also offers users the opportunity to listen to embedded audio recordings of the works.
Babelscores thus combines the advantages of an open-access online library and streaming service with the goal of promoting and disseminating new music.
The "Brill E-Book Collections Musikwissenschaft" offer access to selected academic literature from Brill and Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht in full text.
Available are 184 titles from the publishers/imprints Brill, Schöningh and Fink as well as 176 titles from the publishers/imprints Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, V&R Unipress and Böhlau.
The bibliographic database "Index to Printed Music" contains over 356,000 references to musical works that have been printed in editions and series on classical music. The basis is the specialist bibliography Collected Editions, Historical Series & Sets & Monuments of Music: A Bibliography, by George R. Hill and Norris L. Stephens, Berkeley: Fallen Leaf Press 1997.
In addition, over 20,000 name variations and vital records of composers, librettists, and editors are available.
"Index to Printed Music" is an ongoing project of the non-profit organization James Adrian Music Company.
The "JSTOR Complete Music Collection" was compiled especially for the needs of the FID Music and contains 111 titles from the field of musicology. It includes not only the titles integrated in JSTOR's "Music Collection", but also all music-related journals offered in the JSTOR archive program. Journals are covered from their first volume up to a so-called "moving wall" (depending on the title, up to ten years before the current volume). The collection contains journals from 16 countries, including such traditional titles as “Archiv für Musikwissenschaft”, “Musical Times”, “Revue de Musicologie” or “Studien zur Musikwissenschaft”.
Medici.tv is a streaming portal from the field of classical music. The video-on-demand offer includes concert recordings, opera recordings and ballet performances from the most prestigious institutions and competitions in the international music world - including numerous live broadcasts.
Medici.tv also includes a large catalog of interviews, documentaries and recorded master classes by renowned personalities.
The "Music Index Online" contains 1.4 million references from over 850 international musicological journals and annuals from more than 40 countries. All areas of classical and popular music are covered. Essays, conference reports, obituaries, reviews of books, performances and recordings from the reporting year 1974 are listed. Smaller amounts of data are included for the period 1952 - 1973.
The FID license includes Volumes II, III, IV and V, which build on Classical Scores Library I (freely accessible as a national license throughout Germany).
Volume II provides access to approximately 200,000 pages, including new works by contemporary composers as well as numerous previously unrepresented composers from earlier centuries - e.g. Claude Debussy, Gabriel Fauré, Maurice Ravel, Andrew Schultz, Moya Henderson, Nicholas Vines, Giovanni Sammartini and Michael Haydn. In addition, the database contains all 60 volumes of The Symphony 1720-1840, the largest full-text collection of 18th-century symphonies.
Volume III offers approximately 400,000 pages of copyrighted editions by composers worldwide. The collection includes editions from publishers such as Chester Music, Novello & Company, Faber Music, Wilhelm Hansen, Donemus, and others, numerous important choral and instrumental works for brass, woodwind, and other instrumental groups. In addition, modern editions of works by Bach, Beethoven, Berlioz, Brahms, Byrd, Gibbons, Handel, Haydn, Mendelssohn, Monteverdi, Mozart, and Purcell are presented, as well as classical works by Elgar, De Falla, Franck, Holst, Joubert, Maxwell-Davies, Musgrave, Saariaho, Sallinen, Stravinsky, or Tchaikovsky.
Volume IV, when completed in 2017, contains approximately 300,000 pages (4,000 - 5,000 works) primarily by 20th and 21st century composers. Mainly represented original publishers are Donemus (Netherlands), Hansen (Denmark), Novello and Chester Music (both UK). Included in particular are lesser-known (small and single) works by well-known authors.
Volume V builds on Volume IV and focuses on contemporary composers and works from the 20th and 21st centuries as well as a selection of scores from the Middle Ages, Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods. The collection includes scores from publishers such as Donemus, Ernst Eulenburg & Co. GmbH, Novello & Company, Chester Music, Faber Music and Schott Music GmbH & Co. KG, and the University of York Music Press.
The “Oxford Scholarship Online Music Collection” provides access to selected scholarly textbooks from Oxford University Press and other university presses. Approximately 330 titles from the Music Collection are available from Oxford University Press, the Yale Scholarship Online Music Collection, the University Press of Mississippi Music Collection, and the North Carolina Scholarship Music Collection.
The collection "ProQuest Ebook Central Music Collection" includes all titles relevant to musicology that have been published since 2013 and are offered as e-books on the aggregator platform MyiLibrary. In particular, titles from Bloomsbury Publishing, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, McFarland & Co, Peter Lang, Ashgate Publishing, Rowman & Littlefield, Routledge, etc. are represented. The title list is updated monthly.
"Recent Researches in Music Online (RRIMO)" is a full-text database for over 750 volumes of scholarly editions of musical works from the Middle Ages to the 20th century (scores and individual part editions) published by A-R Editions since 1964. They come from the nine "Recent researches" series for Middle Ages and Early Renaissance, Renaissance, Baroque Era, Classical Era, Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries, American Music, Yale University (1. and 2. series) and Oral Traditions. There is a moving wall of 5 years for the latest volumes.
The text parts of the publications are fully searchable; the volumes are additionally indexed with structural data. The music texts can be printed out or downloaded for private use.
RIPM Preservation Series: European & North American Music Periodicals is a full-text database and includes indexes to approximately 300 18th and 19th century music periodicals, more than half of which are available in full-text.
Who can register?
All personal members of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Musikpsychologie (DGM), the Gesellschaft für Musikforschung (GfM) and the Gesellschaft für Musiktheorie (GMTH). Individuals without a connection to the DGM, GfM or GMTH can register via the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, stating a research interest. Due to the contractual requirements of the license partners, a residence in Germany is generally required for all registrations. In addition, members of research institutes based abroad but funded by public institutions in Germany have the option of registering with the respective German address of the funding organization. A detailed explanation can be found in the tutorial (only available in German): "Users of FID licenses for musicology".
Report licensing request:
Would you like to suggest a specific product?
Please use our web form.
Do you have any questions?
Feel free to contact the musiconn team.