German Ballad Catalog
Numbering
There are a lot of numbers in a catalog. In the final analysis the numbers are not particularly significant apart from their being locating and citing devices like page numbers and their use in the data banks. Since this has been an on-going project, the numbering systems have remained open-ended. Revisions and testing have caused occasional gaps or decimal extensions, but nothing is actually "missing," and sequencing is preserved.
The classification system in the Thesaurus (cf. the Overview) is ordered into 10 major sections indicated by the hundreds' series (100, 200,...). Themes classified into these sections are numbered accordingly, e.g., everything between 600 and 699 has to do with "Death and Disaster." Within a section, one Theme is not particularly related to another: "620: Accidents, Strokes of Fate, Natural Disasters" does not encompass "650: Killing, Murder, Manslaughter."
Subcategories of the Themes: Decimal extensions:
Descriptive Narrative Unit details can make the Themes which they imply more precise. For example, the Narrative Unit detail of "Iniquity" certainly implies violation of common social norms, as when the sister denies bread to her starving sister. Narrative Units like Iniquity are indicated by decimal extensions to their Themes: "245.1".
|
THEME |
. EXTENSION |
|
245 |
. 1 |
|
Themes |
|
|
Mores & Morals / Loyalty & Betrayal |
. heinous trespasses iniquities and crimes |
Aspects are another type of "decimal extension." Aspects indicate whether a Theme is expressed positively (e.g., the courtship is successful: 110.b) or negatively (the courtship is unsuccessful: 110.a).
In this case, she says "yes:"
|
THEME |
. EXTENSION |
|
110 |
. b |
|
Themes |
. Aspect |
|
Courtship & Seduction |
. accepted |
and they end up getting married: Theme 110.7 . If she had said "no," (110.a) it might have been because he wasn't upper class (110.3).
These decimal extensions become important when using the "Advanced Search" (see below) as it enables more direct and precise searches. In any case a search for just the Theme (e.g. "110" or "245" in these examples) will return either song, irrespective of which (or whether) there are any decimal extensions of any sort.
Ballad identification Numbers (Their Addresses in the DBK)
The ballad descriptions in this catalog are ordered by their categories in Rolf Brednich's "Freiburg System," a list which was still in development when I inherited it. Since then I have added, removed or recombined individual songs in his list, but left the organizing arrangement of his list unchanged, as a way of ordering a "to-do" list . Each file containing the full description and example of each ballad in the resulting data base was given a unique number according to that system. For computer and data base compatability, roman numberals were converted to arabic and leading 0's added to correct sorting.
For instance:
03.E5a-05 identifies the ballad type "Der Hammerschmiedssohn:"
03 The first two digits reflect the 11 major categories. (i.e., 01. through 11.).
. A period divides the major categories from the subcategory sections
E5a The next few numbers and letters (different sections have different systems) reflect where I found them within their sections and subsections (e.g., ".3" or ".C6a" or ".N").
- A dash divides the subsections from the individual ballad types
05 The last numbers are the running numbers given the individual ballad types within that subsection (e.g., "-11" or "-05").
These last numbers might have an additional "a" or a "b", etc. if different versions of a ballad type ended up being split off from the original Freiburg placement during my classification ("-11a" or "-11b").
By the same token some ballads in the Freiburg list ended up being treated as one song, so that the file name here might end in something like "-04-05."
Gaps in the series are intentional and a result of processing.
Some further examples would be:
04.10-04 "Der ermordete Müller:" (being the fourth ballad type listed under the category "Adultery" under "04 Family Events")
06.N-01 "Verraten und verkauft von Bazaine:" (being the first ballad type in the "Addenda" (German: "Nachlass", thus "N") of the "06 Historical Ballads.")
03.B2b-03-04 "Halewijn:" (being the joined third and fourth ballad types on the list under the category "Seduction by Persuasion" within "Forced Initiation of a Love Affair or Marriage" under "03 Love.")
And see the Ballad Catalog List's Table of Contents Introduction.
Entering ballad "numbers" into the advanced "Search by DBK Number in the Ballad Catalog" will retrieve individual ballad type descriptions and examples. Entering partial numbers will retrieve larger or smaller ballad sections or subsections.
For a brief explanation of the folder system the DVA uses, see Catalog Table of Contents Introduction.
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