News

Two titles have just been added to RILM Music Encyclopedias, further enriching its collection of historical and current reference works:

• Igor de Gandarias, Diccionario de la música en Guatemala (rev. ed.; Ciudad de Guatemala: Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala, 2024) xv, 193 p. — In Spanish.
• Frank Daykin, Encyclopedia of French art song: Fauré, Debussy, Ravel, Poulenc (Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2013) vi, 739 p. — In English.

These newly available texts exemplify RILM Music Encyclopedias’ commitment to comprehensive, international, and subject-specific coverage. 

The Diccionario de la música en Guatemala is the first reference work devoted exclusively to Guatemala’s musical traditions, encompassing Indigenous, colonial, and contemporary influences. The Encyclopedia of French art song offers an in-depth exploration of individual mélodies by Fauré, Debussy, Ravel, and Poulenc, connecting performance practice with rigorous scholarly research.

Together, these additions underscore the role of RILM Music Encyclopedias in preserving, contextualizing, and advancing global perspectives on musical traditions and historiography.RILM Music Encyclopedias is available via EBSCOhost and on RILM’s platform, Egret, at rme.rilm.org.

RILM will be in attendance at the Forging an American Musical Identity (FAMI) conference in New York, NY, 28–30 January 2026.

Hosted by The Barry S. Brook Center for Music Research and Documentation’s project Music in Gotham: The New York Scene 1862–1875, the conference and related events are held across iconic NYC performance and research venues, such as The Graduate Center (CUNY), the NYPL for the Performing Arts, and Carnegie Hall. The three-day event explores a broad spectrum of repertories through scholarly discussion and live performances, featuring music not heard for over a century. Together, these activities invite reflection on how music shaped 19th-century American culture and how it continues to inform our understanding of American identity today. 

RILM staff can be found at the RILM exhibition table in front of The Graduate Center’s Elebash Recital Hall and Segal Hall on 29 and 30 January, respectively.

Stop by to learn more about all of RILM’s resources. And for more details on this event, please visit the conference website on which you’ll find the conference program.

New York, NY / London, UK – RILM (Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale), a global organization dedicated to documenting and making accessible the world’s musical knowledge across all traditions, is proud to announce that it has acquired the Hofmeister XIX database from Royal Holloway, University of London, and King’s College London. This valuable resource is now hosted at hofmeister.rilm.org, continuing its mission under RILM’s stewardship to support musicological inquiry.

The Hofmeister XIX database provides comprehensive, searchable access to over 330,000 bibliographic records from the Hofmeister Monatsberichte, published between 1829 and 1900. These records represent a vital primary source for the study of music publishing, repertoire, and taste in the 19th century, and include bibliographic records for music scores, music-related books, periodicals, portraits, and other ephemera.

The database was created and developed at Royal Holloway and King’s College London (Department of Digital Humanities) by a team headed by Nicholas Cook (Director) and Liz Robinson (Project Manager), with support from the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council. Since 2007 the project has served music librarians, scholars, and others worldwide through an open-access model. RILM now assumes ownership with a firm commitment to preserving open access to the database, its quality, and its scholarly integrity. RILM will continue to credit the founding institutions prominently on the site and maintain the platform according to the high standards long associated with Hofmeister XIX.

“RILM is honored to take over this invaluable resource,” said Dr. Tina Frühauf, Executive Director of RILM. “As a UNESCO-accredited NGO under the 2003 and 2005 Conventions, we are committed to safeguarding intangible cultural heritage and promoting cultural diversity. Acquiring Hofmeister XIX aligns with this mission by preserving and disseminating a vital record of 19th-century musical life and publishing. We look forward to ensuring its continued accessibility for scholars and the public worldwide.”

Dr. Nicholas Cook, a former professor at Royal Holloway, commented: “At a time when digital resources in academia often struggle to keep up with the pace of technical innovation, RILM’s acquisition of Hofmeister XIX is the best possible guarantee of its long-term survival.”

Royal Holloway’s Director of Research and Innovation, Sue Starbuck, noted: “We are thrilled that Hofmeister XIX will thrive under RILM’s custodianship. Their infrastructure, global reach, and deep commitment to musicology ensure a strong future for this resource.”

Dr. Arianna Ciula, Director of the King’s Digital Lab, commented: “With the support of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities leadership at King’s College London, King’s Digital Lab has made every effort to sustain digital resources of value to the research community. The migration of this important resource to its new home is a great example of what trustworthy collaboration and a holistic archiving and sustainability programme can achieve.”

As of today, the original site can be accessed through the new URL https://hofmeister.rilm.org, marking a seamless transition for the academic community and general public.

For more information, please contact:

• RILM
  Dr. Tina Frühauf
  Executive Director
  info@rilm.org
  
• Royal Holloway, University of London
  Sue Starbuck
  Director of Research and Innovation
  Sue.Starbuck@rhul.ac.uk
  
• King’s College London
  Dr. Arianna Ciula
  Director, King’s Digital Lab
  kdl-info@kcl.ac.uk
  

RILM will participate in the joint meeting of the American Musicological Society and Society for Music Theory in Minneapolis, 6–9 November 2025. 

On Thursday, 6 November, at 5:00pm CDT, Editor Stella Li will present her research in a paper titled “Jazz queens in women’s magazines: Negotiating femininity in occupied Japan” as part of The “New Woman” and Popular Song in World War II China and Japan panel. Also on Thursday, 4:00–5:30pm, Editor Ralph Whyte will chair the panel Cultural Imaginings in Global Organology. 

On Friday, 7 November, 10:45am–12:15pm, Executive Director Tina Frühauf will chair the panel In the Shadow of the Holocaust. That evening, 6:00–8:00pm, RILM and RIPM will host a joint reception for all conference attendees.

On Saturday, 8 November, 9:00–10:30am, Stella will chair the panel Cultural Representation and Artistic Agency in Asian Popular Music. That afternoon, 2:15–3:45pm, Ralph will lead a workshop on research techniques and bibliography. The workshop will consider how music scholars–especially graduate students and other junior scholars–navigate databases, reference works, and other research tools. Finally, later that day, 4:00–5:00pm, Stella will lead a workshop on abstract writing titled Mastering the Art of the Abstract. 

Throughout the conference, RILM staff can also be found at the RILM booth in the exhibition hall. Stop by to learn more about all of RILM’s resources. 

And for more details on this event, please visit the conference website on which you’ll find the conference schedule.

RILM will participate in the 70th annual meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology in Atlanta, Georgia, 23–26 October 2025.

On Thursday, 23 October, at 8:00am local time, Editor Beatriz Goubert will present her paper “Scenes behind the zines: Global music connections in the pre-Internet era”, which features an analysis of some of the 1980s popular music fanzines in the RILM Archive of Popular Music Magazines (RAPMM) digital archive.

On Thursday, 23 October, at 4:00pm local time, Editor Stella Li will present her research in a paper titled “Jazz queens in women’s magazines: Negotiating femininity in occupied Japan” as part of The “New Woman” and Popular Song in World War II China and Japan panel.

On Friday, 24 October, at 4:00pm EDT, Editor Russell Skelchy will conduct a workshop titled Research Tools for Ethnomusicology: Navigating Bibliography, Historiography, and Ethnography. The workshop will be dedicated to developing research techniques with a focus on bibliography, historiography, online databases, and other research tools relevant to ethnographers and practitioners in the field of ethnomusicology, especially graduate students and junior scholars.

RILM staff will also be present at the RILM booth in the exhibition hall throughout the conference. Stop by to learn more about all of RILM’s resources. We look forward to seeing you in Atlanta!

View the full conference schedule here.

Executive Editor Zdravko Blažeković will be present at the EBSCO Open Day Torino on 22 October 2025. Held at the Palazzo Reale, this year’s meeting is dedicated to the theme The 2030 Agenda for a Sustainable Future. It provides a forum through which to reflect on the challenges and opportunities related to sustainability and the strategic role that academic libraries, businesses, government agencies, research institutions, and international publishers are called upon to play. Zdravko will be joined by DEUMM Online General Editor Daniela Castaldo.

Executive Director Tina Frühauf will be present at various events in Barcelona, Spain, 26 September–1 October 2025. She will first join the Àgora Cívica, a civil society forum to MONDIACULT that convenes debates and exchanges on cultural rights, cultural and language diversity, technologies and artificial intelligence in culture, culture and peace, cities and the role of culture in sustainable development, and cultural ecosystems and governance models. She will attend the Fair Culture pre-event (during which the German Commission will present the Fair Charter). She will then take part in MONDIACULT 2025, the world’s leading conference on cultural policies and sustainable development, addressing themes such as cultural rights, digital technologies in the cultural sector, culture and education, the economy of culture, climate action, and heritage in times of crisis, with special focus on Culture for Peace and Artificial Intelligence & Culture. Across all events, Dr. Frühauf will represent RILM in discussions, presentations, and forums that resonate with the organization’s mission—particularly in digitization, access to cultural heritage, and the intersections of scholarship, archival practice, and digital technologies—while engaging with international peers and decision-makers on the future of culture, sustainability, and inclusion.

RILM will participate at the eighth biennial conference of the International Musicological Society Regional Association for East Asia (IMSEA) in Nanning, China, 19–21 September 2025.

The aim of IMSEA is to provide a forum for exchanges among music researchers in the region, regardless of their areas of specializations and subjects of studies.

On Saturday, 20 September, 2:00–2:30 pm local time, Executive Editor Zdravko Blažeković will present his paper “Michael Alphonsius Shen Fu-Tsung 沈福宗 and his sheng” on the panel Transmission and Adaptation of Instruments.  

Please feel free to find Zdravko and ask questions, provide feedback, or say hello. For more details on this event, please visit the conference website on which you’ll find the conference schedule.

RILM will participate at this year’s meeting of the German group of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and Documentation Centres (IAML) in Dresden, Germany, 16–19 September 2025.

This event represents the group’s annual working and training conference for professionals from all areas of the German music library system.

On Wednesday, 17 September, at 1:00 pm local time, Editor Georg Burgstaller will give a presentation on RILM’s newest product, the RILM Archive of Popular Music Magazines. 

In addition, Georg will be present at the RILM exhibitor’s booth throughout the conference. Please feel free to come by to ask questions, provide feedback, or just say hello. You can find more details on this event on the conference website, which includes the conference schedule.

In January 2026, RILM Music Encyclopedias will welcome significant additions to its expanding collection of historical and current reference works:

• Igor de Gandarias, Diccionario de la música en Guatemala (rev. ed.; Ciudad de Guatemala: Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala, 2024) xv, 193 p. — In Spanish.
• Frank Daykin, Encyclopedia of French art song: Fauré, Debussy, Ravel, Poulenc (Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2013) vi, 739 p. — In English.
• Hugo Riemann, ed., Musik-Lexikon (5th edition; Leipzig: Max Hesse’s Verlag, 1900) xxiii, 1284 p. — In German.

These titles underline RILM Music Encyclopedias’s hallmark of offering comprehensive, international, subject-specific coverage through full-text content. 

The Diccionario de la música en Guatemala is the first reference work dedicated to the nation’s diverse musical traditions, encompassing Indigenous, colonial, and contemporary influences. The Encyclopedia of French art song provides an in-depth exploration of individual mélodies by Fauré, Debussy, Ravel, and Poulenc, bridging performance practice with scholarly research. Complementing these region- and genre-specific volumes is the fifth edition of Hugo Riemann’s Musik-Lexikon; this edition joins the eleventh (edited by Alfred Einstein). Together, these additions highlight RILM Music Encyclopedias’ critical role in preserving, contextualizing, and deepening global understandings of musical traditions and its historiography. 

RILM Music Encyclopedias is available via EBSCOhost and on RILM’s platform, Egret, at rme.rilm.org.

For further information, please contact encyclopedias@rilm.org.