About the project
The Répertoire International des Sources Musicales (RISM) - International Inventory of Musical Sources - is an international, non-profit organization that aims to comprehensively document extant musical sources worldwide: manuscripts, printed music editions, writings on music theory, and libretti that are found in libraries, archives, churches, schools, and private collections. RISM’s over 1.5 million records can be searched at no cost through the RISM. RISM was founded in Paris in 1952 and is the largest and only global organization that documents written musical sources.
In 1953 (Munich) and 1955 (Berlin, later Dresden), two German working groups began their activities and, as part of what has since grown to over 35 country groups worldwide, worked on cataloguing sources important for music research. Decades of project funding, most recently through the Union of Academies of Sciences under the leadership of the Academy of Sciences and Literature in Mainz, enabled productive and intensive cataloguing work. After more than 70 years, the funding will end in 2026/27 and the German working groups will be dissolved.
The cataloguing of music manuscripts of polyphonic music from around 1600 to the mid-19th century was the focus of the work of both German offices. The music sources relevant to RISM are mainly located in public and church archives and libraries. RISM staff members have identified the locations and examined the music sources preserved there, and have also described the source material in accordance with an international regulatory framework. In principle, the collections were examined in person so that all bibliographic information could be taken from the original documents.
Since June 2010, the database has been freely accessible via Internet as RISM Catalog. Over the decades, the data underwent several steps on its way to digitisation: some holdings had been published in book form before the first electronic edition appeared and were gradually transferred to an electronic RISM database. The catalogue entries, which were initially created on index cards, were also transferred to the computer. Until 2008, the results were published on an annual CD-ROM; finally, the transition to the current online catalogue took place. In addition, individual catalogues were also published for selected collections.