Tagging operas and similar

[ChrisByrd]

I've only been using MinimServer for a few days and am really impressed with its functionality and reliability. Thanks Simon for doing such a great job.

I've been reading through the various posts on tagging classical music and think I can see a way to retag my own music without too much effort. I think I understand the difference between a composition and a work. As far as I can tell Beethoven's 5th Symphony would get 'Symphony No. 5' as group and composition, for example.

Operas though are a little more complicated, and this is where I can really see the power of MinimServer. At the moment I rely on the album title to find an opera, but have a number of box sets containing several operas, e.g. I've got 2 'standalone' versions of Rigoletto, plus one in the Toscanini complete recordings. Would setting the composition tag for each version, plus the conductor tag, let me browse to a particular version? Within each version, I'd like to spilt the opera into the different acts, and ideally, scenes, and presumably I'd use groups for this. Is it possible to have some sort of act/scene hierarchy using groups, or would the group values be Act 1 Scene 1, Act 1 Scene 2, etc.?

I'm still thinking through artist and album artist, but am finding this forum invaluable for making me rethink my tagging.

[simoncn]

(25-10-2015 13:07)ChrisByrd Wrote:  I've only been using MinimServer for a few days and am really impressed with its functionality and reliability. Thanks Simon for doing such a great job.

I've been reading through the various posts on tagging classical music and think I can see a way to retag my own music without too much effort. I think I understand the difference between a composition and a work. As far as I can tell Beethoven's 5th Symphony would get 'Symphony No. 5' as group and composition, for example.

Operas though are a little more complicated, and this is where I can really see the power of MinimServer. At the moment I rely on the album title to find an opera, but have a number of box sets containing several operas, e.g. I've got 2 'standalone' versions of Rigoletto, plus one in the Toscanini complete recordings. Would setting the composition tag for each version, plus the conductor tag, let me browse to a particular version? Within each version, I'd like to spilt the opera into the different acts, and ideally, scenes, and presumably I'd use groups for this. Is it possible to have some sort of act/scene hierarchy using groups, or would the group values be Act 1 Scene 1, Act 1 Scene 2, etc.?

I'm still thinking through artist and album artist, but am finding this forum invaluable for making me rethink my tagging.

It sounds like you are on the right track. Some people like to use "disc" as an intermediate containment level between "album" and "group", so the acts would be "discs" and the scenes would be groups. With this approach, a "disc" might happen to match a physical CD in the box set but this isn't necessary.

The best approach is to try your tagging scheme on a small number of albums first. When you are happy that it's working as you want it, you can apply it to your whole library.

[ChrisByrd]

Thanks Simon, I'll experiment with that - I'm still not sure whether to bother with scenes. One other question, for opera highlights or excerpts, would you have, e.g. 'Rigoletto' (highlights)' as the composition or 'Rigoletto' as the composition and 'Highlights' as the group. I guess the latter would allow you to see everything Rigoletto related together.

[simoncn]

(25-10-2015 19:17)ChrisByrd Wrote:  Thanks Simon, I'll experiment with that - I'm still not sure whether to bother with scenes. One other question, for opera highlights or excerpts, would you have, e.g. 'Rigoletto' (highlights)' as the composition or 'Rigoletto' as the composition and 'Highlights' as the group. I guess the latter would allow you to see everything Rigoletto related together.

I would probably do the latter but there are no rules and you should do whatever seems most natural and makes it easy for you to find the music you are looking for.

[ChrisByrd]

Thanks Simon, away to experiment...