Boston Baroque Publishes Free Resource Library

Boston Baroque has introduced its Resource Library, a digital archive of performance sources, including program notes written by Boston Baroque Founder and Music Director Martin Pearlman, orchestration charts, and more, for free on its website. With more than 30 composers and 235 musical works, the digital resource is a significant contribution to the early music field.

"It is a great pleasure to share these program notes and charts online," says Pearlman, who is internationally recognized as one of the leading interpreters of Baroque and Classical music on period and modern instruments. He created all the program notes and music charts available in the Resource Library. "I was pleasantly surprised to see the volume of this material that I wrote over a period of nearly 50 years, and I hope that it becomes a resource for interested music lovers, as well as for musicians and others in our field."

A few highlights from the Resource Library include orchestration charts that give a breakdown of the acts, scenes, and pieces within a larger work, as well as information on the soloists and instruments included in each section; a complete performance history of Handel's Messiah, performed by Boston Baroque 73 times since 1981; and a wealth of information on many well-known pieces, such as Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, and J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concertos.

The Resource Library is organized by composer with easily navigable sub-sections. An example is a robust collection Mozart's operas, with notable inclusions being Don Giovanni, Così fan Tutte, The Marriage of Figaro, The Philosopher's Stone, and The Magic Flute. The detailed program notes are accessible to music enthusiasts and novices alike.

The Resource Library is available online for free on Boston Baroque's website at https://baroque.boston/resource-library. Organizations or individuals that are interested in publishing any of the content in Boston Baroque's Resource Library for public consumption, such as in program books or online, should contact Boston Baroque directly for more details.