Schwann Song

I just mentioned, in my last post, how online access to a whole world of information seems to have put a very large stake through the heart of the old-fashioned encyclopedia.  Not that that's a complete disaster, however.  Those huge sets of books would set you back quite a lot of money, and would be out of date by the time they were delivered to you.  Besides, you can still find certain encyclopedias online, which would seem to offer a better way of accessing that sort of material.

I was saddened, though, when I checked just now on the health of another longtime friend in the publishing world -- the old "Schwann catalog" of classical music, which in its later years came to be known as "Schwann Opus" -- and found it had passed away about 10 years ago.  The Schwann was an invaluable source as a listing of available recordings, but I used it less for that purpose than for another:  Simply trying to keep straight the composers and their works.   Since I hadn't seen a copy in a bookstore in years, I assumed it wasn't being published any longer, but in checking on the internet I was hoping - no, actually, I was assuming -- that it would survive in an online version that people could access on a subscription basis.   No such luck.  I will miss it, but I'll keep and treasure my last copy as a guide to classifying the infinite variety of classical music.

You never know what you'll find, though.  While one unique and useful reference somehow can't make the leap to the internet, another one - the "VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever" -- an equally invaluable quick guide to movies that contains ratings/synopses, and lets you look up a flic by title, theme, main actors, or producers -- much to my surprise has survived without migrating to the internet, and is still being produced as a physical book.  You never know, though, how long that can last, so I plan to get a copy of the 2012 edition, just in case it turns out to be the last. 

Comments

[Mark Delman]

Oh my, this brings back memories. When I was in high school I ordered a small pamphlet from Schwann. I forget the title, but it was a list of the best pieces by the most famous composers. It was intended to be a beginners guide to classical music. The guide was the basis for my first record collection and introduced me to composers I would not have known about otherwise. It may still be in my library somewhere. Sorry to see you go.