Gutenberg Music expands offerings to include MusicXML

In response to user requests for a non-proprietary - and preferably text-based - music format and equally significant developments in the music software industry, Project Gutenberg now provides all music titles in MusicXML format.

http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/music

While still a relatively new standard, MusicXML has gained broad based support, and clearly responds to a well understood need for music software to interoperate. The evolving standard economically and unambiguously encodes all notes, rhythms, articulations, and expression commonly used in classic period music. It also enables the extraction of a basic MIDI performance automatically. Extensive details about MusicXML and its adoption are available from http://www.recordare.com/xml.html.

Project Gutenberg is the brainchild of Michael Hart who, in 1971, decided that it would be a really good idea if lots of famous and important texts were freely available to everyone in the world. Now, more than thirty years later, Project Gutenberg has created a collection of over 6200 eBooks. Gutenberg Music, as with the main project, any Public Domain works are fair game for the music section. Selections, thus far, are largely classical compositions.

Posted by Tom on September 25, 2003