The Portuguese Early Music Database allows free and universal access to a large number of manuscripts with musical notation mostly written before c. 1650 preserved in many different libraries and archives in Portugal and surrounding Spanish locations. Every manuscript is given in full-colour reproduction and entered with a general description. Fragments are indexed in full. Selected codices with monophonic or polyphonic music are also fully indexed. In a few cases sources without notation were included for comparative purposes. There are many search capabilities that are immediately available to the visitor. Under Sources, the visitor is able to search for manuscripts according to location, type and century (single or multiple choice), in addition to more detailed information such as shelf-mark, provenance, type of notation and other available criteria. Once a manuscript is selected, the researcher is presented with the contents of that source, along with its corresponding images. Under Musical items, the visitor is able to locate specific chants or polyphonic items in the indexed manuscripts, and to search by composer. Under Archives, a list of Iberian collections and libraries are listed using RISM sigla and can be searched. PEM contents (images and metadata) are published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.
The Portuguese Early Music Database is a work in progress. Please do not hesitate to report us any error, inconsistency or malfunction you might encounter by using this email.
PEM Team
Manuel Pedro Ferreira | Director
Elsa De Luca | Coordinator of Monophonic Sources
Bernadette Nelson | Coordinator of Polyphonic Sources
Alberto Medina de Seiça | Andrew Woolley | João Pedro d'Alvarenga | Zuelma Chaves | Editors
Leandra Scappaticci † | Dario Personeni | Paleography Advisors
David Burn | Debra Lacoste | Maricarmen Gómez Muntané | Owen Rees | Saul António Gomes | Susan L. Boynton | Consultative Board
Main Contributors: Alberto Medina de Seiça | Ana Sá Carvalho | Andrew Woolley | Bernadette Nelson | Carla Crespo | Diogo Alte da Veiga | Elsa De Luca | Giulio Minniti | Kathleen Nelson | Nuno Raimundo | Océane Boudeau | Zuelma Chaves
» Full list of contributors with links to the sources
Rui Araújo | Web/Database Developer
Jan Koláček | Former Web/Database Developer