Work
Description
A MusicalWork means a musical composition, that is, the instructions to performers about what sounds and silences to perform on what instruments.
It does not refer to the act of performing music. It does not refer to the sounds of the music — that is a MusicalPerformance. It does not refer to the recorded signal fixing the performance in a persistent medium. That is a TrackMaster or a Track.
The concept of MusicalWork is important in ClassicalMusic, because in many cases there are multiple recordings of the same MusicalWork. The ClassicalStyleGuide specifies that ReleaseTitles and TrackTitles identify the MusicalWork.
As of January 2008, the MusicBrainzDatabase didn't have any entities to represent a MusicalWork directly. However, the NextGenerationSchema is planned to do so.
See also:
Discussion
Jim, while I quite understand your notes here, I think this definition is a bit on the vague side. It would be quite useful to identify exactly which object(s) within the ObjectModel (as revised by MusicBrainzSummit8 in the finalized NextGenerationSchema) this refers to. -- BrianSchweitzer 16:55, 07 February 2008 (UTC)
