Until 2015 the Dutch Song Database contained the metadata of a vast amount of songs, but relatively few full song texts. In the project Dutch Songs On Line 50,000 songtexts from the period until 1900 have been made available in digital form, in cooperation with the DBNL (Digital Library of Dutch Literature), Utrecht University, and the National Library. During the project, the DBNL had the texts digitized, first in the form of scans from the originals which later were transcribed by hand into a digital format. The Meertens Institute produced the correct metadata for the sources and the songs. Finally, the individual song texts and their metadata were linked in the two databases. Thus the user has access to the full text in the DBNL for each song s/he found in the Dutch Song Database, and the other way around, for each song text read in the DBNL one can consult the metadata in the Song Database, e.g. for finding the melody, or the oldest source, or to establish the popularity of the text in question, or its melody. A top 100 of most reprinted songbooks was used for the selection of the sources, in combination with the availability of materials.
As part of the project two congresses were organised:
– The international congress Identities, Intertextuality, and Performance of Song Culture, 1500-1800 (17-19 October 2012, Goethe Instituut, Amsterdam).
– The national congress De zingende Nederlanden. Actualiteit, identiteit en emotie in de vroegmoderne liedcultuur (The singing Low Countries. Topicality, identity and emotions in early modern song culture; 24 August 2013 in the National Library, The Hague).
Every year in early May, from 2010 through 2015, a study day was organised: the Dag van het Nederlandse lied (Day of Dutch Song).
Dutch Songs On Line was presented to the public on 19 June 2015 in the Lutherse Kerk, Utrecht.
Dutch Songs On Line received an Investment Grant NWO Medium, matched by the Meertens Instituut, DBNL, Utrecht University, and the National Library.
Collaborators |
