Reformationstidens salmemelodier i den digitale verden: Editionsfilologiske og tekniske principper og udfordringer

Presenting sixteenth-century music notation in a truly digital edition poses a number of questions and challenges of a philological, technical, and pedagogical nature. In a digital edition, some of these issues are closely intertwined. The degree of modernisation, for instance, is not only a question of the edition’s purpose and the material involved; it also raises technical questions which in turn may influence usability or sustainability. The essay outlines general features of user interaction with music notation in the digital edition of Danish sixteenth-century hymn and mass books and the accompanying melody database. Furthermore, the essay discusses the choices made regarding the encoding format and encoding practice in an attempt to balance philological principles, usability, and data preservation against the limitations of project resources and current software. Finally, the essay deals with approaches to melodic search and explains the principles behind the various modes of melodic search implemented in the digital edition and the melody database.