Thomas Selle - Opera omnia

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Ivana Rentsch
• Subject Area: Musicology
• Term: from 2015 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 280124488

As Hamburg’s cantor for more than 20 years, Thomas Selle (1599–1663) is one of the most decisive German musicians of the 17th century. The fact that his oeuvre is not well known to the present day is owed to an adverse situation regarding sources. Thanks to the research project "Thomas Selle – Opera omnia", a digital critical edition is compiled until October 2018, which enables the first detailed analysis of Selle’s work. Based on the well-advanced project, it becomes emphatically apparent that a hybrid catalogue of works and an edition of early versions are required, in order that studies don’t remain limited to the "Opera omnia" and thus to Selle’s late work as final authorized versions. This links to the renewal proposal: All contemporary handed-down manuscripts (including a new-found archive repository of 242 compositions in Salzwedel) and original printings are supposed to be explicitly filed, the about 200 early versions of the "Opera omnia" and ten yet unknown works shall be critically edited and integrated in the augmented project database. Likewise, a three volume edition of selected works is scheduled, which will be published by the ortus publishing house Berlin containing the exposition of the groundbreaking passions and the Auferstehungshistorie along with the exceptionally considerable sources of performance practice. A close cooperation with the planned digitization project of the State and University Library Hamburg Carl von Ossietzky is intended – this cooperative work aims for the linking of the single database entries with the digital reproductions of the "Opera omnia", further handwritten scripts and early printings, as well as the adjustment of the pre-existing RISM entries. In summary, the three-part renewal proposal targets the particularized documentation of all handed-down compositions from Selle in the augmented project database, the presentation of a critical edition of all manuscripts and versions, together with the linkage of database entries and digital reproductions of the original sources. The digital provision of the entire data is complemented by a printed catalogue of works and a three volume edition of selected compositions.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants