Répertoire international de la presse musicale

Founded in 1980 by H. Robert Cohen with the collaboration of Marcello Conati, Elvidio Surian, and Christoph-Helmut Mahling, RIPM is one of the four Répertoires (or "R" projects) established by the International Musicological Society (IMS) and the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and Documentation Centres (IAML); these include Le Répertoire international des sources musicales (RISM), Le Répertoire international de littérature musicale (RILM), and Le Répertoire international d’iconographie musicale (RIdIM). RIPM was established by these societies to address two problems: (1) the limited availability of the journals themselves, as most are found in very few libraries and in incomplete runs and/or poor physical condition, and (2) the difficulty in accessing the content in a journal once a copy has been located.

RIPM profits from a network of scholars, librarians, and archivists in more than 20 countries and maintains an editorial headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland (the RIPM International Center). To collect and complete runs of journals, RIPM works with a network of partner and participating libraries in the United States and Europe. With only rare exceptions, RIPM makes available complete runs of music journals, many of which represent the only complete copy available anywhere.

The RIPM Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals began as a print publication in 1988. Print publication of the Retrospective Index ceased in 2016, with 318 volumes published, but continues to be published in an online database. The original three-part publications — consisting of annotated tables of contents, keyword-in-context/author indexes, and introductory studies — generated much of the content of the now-online Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals. As of March 2022, 335 music journals have ben indexed with over 1.03 million annotated citations. All RIPM indexing is done in the language of the original journal.

RIPM Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals with Full Text is a searchable collection of digitized full-text journals indexed in the Retrospective Index. This archive contains complete runs of over 230 rare journals available online.

RIPM Preservation Series is a searchable database of full-text journals that are not indexed like journals in the Retrospective Index. As of March 2022, the Preservation Series consists of 138 journals.

RIPM Jazz Periodicals is a searchable database of full-text jazz periodicals that includes full citations. As of March 2022, RIPM Jazz consists of 119 journals.

All RIPM publications are updated regularly. See list of Music Periodicals Treated by RIPM for a complete inventory.

H. R. Cohen: “An Introduction to the Fourth “R”: Le Répertoire international de la presse musicale du dix-neuvième siècle (RIPMxix),” Periodica Musica 1 (1983): 1-2.

H. R. Cohen, “The Nineteenth-Century Press and the Music Historian: Archival Sources and Bibliographical Resources,” 19th-Century Music 7 (Fall 1983): 136-42.

H. R. Cohen, “On the Structure of the Repertory: RIPMxix Series A and Series B,” Fontes Artis Musicae 30 (1983): 66-68.

RIPMxix Commission Members, “Periodicals Selected for Priority Indexing. I: Western Europe, II: North America,” Periodica Musica 1 (Spring 1983)

H. R. Cohen, “RIPM: An Overview. A Paper Presented at the Conference of the Music Library Association, 6 March 1985,” Periodica Musica 3 (1985): 31-32.

H.R. Cohen and M. Conati: “Le Répertoire International de la Presse Musicale,” Acta Musicologica, lix (1987), 308–24

H. R. Cohen, “Le Répertoire international de la presse musicale (RIPM) et la Belgique,” Revue Belge de Musicologie 44 (1990): 177-89.

H. R. Cohen, “RIPM: A Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals (1800-1950),” Dokumenterat 33, Bulletin från Statens musikbibliotek (December, 2002): 7-11.

Veslemóy Heintz, “RIPM I Norden,” Dokumenterat 33, Bulletin från Statens musikbibliotek (December, 2002): 11-14.

H. R. Cohen, “RIPM: The First Twenty-Five Years,” Periodica Musica 10/11 (2005): 1-2.

M. Buja: “A Quarter-Century of Success: an Interview with H. Robert Cohen, Founder and Director of the Répertoire international de la presse musicale (RIPM),” Fontes Artis Musicae, liv (2007), 385–90

H.R. Cohen and B. Knysak: “RIPM Online Archive of Music Periodicals (1800–1950),” Fontes Artis Musicae, liv (2007), 391–420

Reports delivered to the General Assembly at annual IAML congresses (1981-) and at the bi-decadal IMS congresses (1987-) are available on RIPM’s website.[1][2][3][4][5]

• Official website
• R-MusicProjects.org