Diplomatic Transcriptions Between Document and Text: Encoding Beethoven’s Sketchbooks

Sketchbooks are a special type of music document. Typically, they are not intended for readers other than the composer, and the private notation used often does not follow regular rules of music notation. This means that the traditional categories of (music) philology, document and text, have a different relation in the context of sketchbooks. For printed editions, this led to the introduction of diplomatic editions, which try to increase accessibility of sketchbooks. This article introduces a Music Encoding Initiative–based data model for digital editions, which enables a broader view on sketchbooks and other complex music documents. It integrates document‑ and text‑centric perspectives and facilitates a holistic approach that eventually enables users of a digital edition to ‘liquify’ the formerly static editions. This innovative concept of fluid transcriptions will be illustrated using Notirungsbuch K, a sketchbook that Ludwig van Beethoven used in 1823. Besides documenting the concepts and data model necessary for this, the article will also introduce the Facsimile Explorer, a web application that is used to prepare data conformant to this model.