User:PBryan/Work/Draft 1

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In MusicBrainz terminology, a work is a distinct intellectual or artistic creation, which can be expressed in the form of one or more audio recordings. While a work in MusicBrainz is usually musical in nature, it is not necessarily so. For example, a work could be a novel, play, poem or essay, later recorded as an oratory or audiobook.

Overview

Distinctiveness

A work’s distinctiveness is based on the artists who contributed to its final output, and whether a work is derived from another original work. Examples of works that are distinct:

  • a work that is written by an individual songwriter
  • a song that is the result of a collaboration between composer and lyricist
  • an instrumental work where an artist later adds lyrics
  • translation of an original work into a different language
  • a parody of an original work with differing lyrics
  • a medley of multiple original works
  • a remix of an original work
  • a mashup of multiple original works

Types of works

Works are represented predominantly at two levels:

Discrete works
An individual song, musical number or movement. This includes recitatives, arias, choruses, duos, trios, etc. In many cases, discrete works are a part of larger, aggregate works.

Aggregate works
An ordered sequence of one or more songs, numbers or movements, such as: symphony, opera, theatre work, concerto, and concept album. A popular music album is not considered a distinct aggregate work unless it is evident that such an album was written with intent to have a specifically ordered sequence of related songs (i.e. a “concept album”).

Attributes

A work has the following attributes:

Name
The canonical title of the work, expressed in the language it was originally written.

Comment
A comment that can disambiguate the work from others with the same name by the same artist(s).

ISWC
The international Standard Musical Work Code assigned to the work by copyright collecting agencies.

Type
The type of work.

Aliases

If a discrete work is known by name(s) or in language(s) other than its canonical name, these are specified in the work’s aliases.

Relationships

A work is associated with artists, recordings and other works through advanced relationships.

Work-to-Artist relationship

A work can be associated with one or more composer, arranger, instrumentator, orchestrator, lyricist, librettist, translator and publisher.

Work-to-Recording relationship

A work can be associated with one or more recordings. This provides the indirect association between a work and its performance and production artists.

Work-to-Work relationships

A work can be associated with one or more other works. There are two types of work-work relationships:

Part-of-work relationship
A work can be expressed as a part of another work.

Derivative work relationship
A work can be expressed as being derived from one or more other works. Examples: instrumental work with lyrics added later, translation of a work into a different language, remix, mashup.

Artists

Works do not have an artist of their own, all artists are derived from the work's relationships. A work will show up under the works tab for any artist directly linked to a work (e.g. composers, lyricists). Any works linked to the artist's recordings will also be shown there.

Style guidelines

Opera works

Opera works have specific guidelines regarding work granularity and titles.

Granularity

Operas and their acts, parts, tableaus and scenes, are represented as works in a hierarchical structure. The majority of operas have either explicitly defined numbers or pieces that are commonly performed independently; such pieces are represented as independent works, linked as a sub-work of a higher-level work in the opera’s work hierarchy.

Titles

The naming of a work follows the Opera style guideline to the extent the work is represented in the naming. For example, various entries within Mozart’s Don Giovanni work hierarchy would be entitled:

Don Giovanni, Op. 500
Don Giovanni, Op. 500: Act I
Don Giovanni, Op. 500: Act I, Scene III
Don Giovanni, Op. 500: Act I, Scene III. Duettino “Là ci darem la mano” (Don Giovanni, Zerlina)

See also