Tiago Manuel da Hora, integrated researcher at INET-md, authors the article “Portuguese early music discography: context, challenges and paths dealing with discography as a primary source for historical musicology research”, published in the most recent volume of Beiträge zur geschichte der schallplattenindustrie/Contributions to the history of the record industry, edited by Tore Simonsen and Mathias Böhm.
Abstract:
The growth in research on phonographic sources or on themes connected with it has revealed that these sources are embodied with a rich and wide range of important historical information and should have a place of relevance in the framework of musicological research.
One of the fields in which discographies and the collection of discographic data are of key importance is for the research of musical production in the last 100 years, namely as a methodology to study performance practice, the performers output as well as to know more about record industry and music production and its participants (musicians, producers, engineers, etc.).
Taking in account Early Music commercial recordings produced in Portugal as a case-study and my previous PhD research (Early Music Record Production in Portugal (1957-2015), NOVA FCSH (Lisbon), 2020) – for which one of the primary sources was discography -, this article focus on methodologies used on that research and the challenges and ways of the ‘discological’ analysis (Elste 1989) in the specific context of Portuguese record industry – a small and peripherical market in record music business. In this sense, it is important to understand the context of discographies and records preservation and availability in Portugal (especially the field of Early Music/historical informed performance) and to find answers to the following questions: What are the main challenges working with discography in Portugal? Which were the ways for the critical analysis of this sources? How they were useful for new historiographical output and for the final results of research?