Werner Icking Music Archive shut down
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,700
    http://icking-music-archive.org/

    The Werner Icking Music Archive, what I believe to be the largest free-data base of music on the internet, has been shut down. The website suggests that hosting the site with the University of Aarhus is no longer possible.

    This site, if you weren't there, was absolutely amazing. Music for orchestras, solo instruments, choirs, solo voices, secular, sacred, and everything in between. The site really made cpdl.org look small. It's a huge loss. I found many, many organ pieces there and stuff for string/brass quartets that have become parish-favorites.

    If any really technologically advanced person has any ideas for this site to continue, the email address of the archive editor is reccmo@daimi.au.dk
  • RagueneauRagueneau
    Posts: 2,592
    I'd never heard of this site --- I'm very sorry to have missed it --- so it was really good?

    bandwidth is so cheap these days---surely something can be done
  • BruceL
    Posts: 1,072
    Was it for copyright reasons? A real tragedy!
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,700
    No, it was all "Classical" music that would be public domain by now.

    It was shut down because the University it was hosted under wouldn't host them anymore. There's a note explaining the situation on the website reccmo@daimi.au.dk

    It was really one of the best on the internet, with lots of organ pieces that you probably won't find anywhere else. I never advertised it much because I, selfishly, didn't want some of the pieces to spread... or for the site to get slow like cpdl.org does.
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,700
    For example, I have a beautiful PDF of the Benaut Organ Mass in C Minor, all movements, prints well...

    Where else on the internet would one find that for free?

    We need to help these people.
  • Pes
    Posts: 623
    Does the editor speak English? I'd be glad to write. That was a very useful archive! Maybe musicasacra could host the files? Or CPDL?

    Mirror sites are always a good idea.
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,700
    I'm sure he does. He wrote the note, the site was in English, and someone who knows about 'internet stuff' should contact him. reccmo@daimi.au.dk
  • Erik P
    Posts: 152
    .
  • Pes
    Posts: 623
    Paging Aristotle...
  • Carl DCarl D
    Posts: 992
    The first thing to do in this situation is to go to the Wayback Machine, which has some archived copies of this site.

    I haven't used Wayback very often, and don't have time to scour through all this today, but I did a little nosing around and started to find some scores. A lot of broken links, but some which have actual content.

    So if you have some inspiration and time, go to the link above and start looking around.
  • Daniel Bennett PageDaniel Bennett Page
    Posts: 835
    The was an utterly fantastic site: lots of PD material, lots of semi-scholarly transcriptions, composers' arrangements, interesting versions, etc.
    It was also a very democratic institution, not dissimilar to CPDL, but with a focus on instrumental music.
    It's a big loss.
  • ChristopherMcCloskey
    Posts: 26
    It appears that the site is up and running again.
  • Michael O'Connor
    Posts: 1,637
    Tons of recorder music. I hope it resurfaces.
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,700
    It seems they're partnering up with (or at least being helped by) CPDL. What a wonderful thing. I'm very happy that it's back online.
  • G
    Posts: 1,400
    This would be a tragedy if it were to be lost.
    Almost all my organ music was theirs.

    (Save the Liturgy, save the World)
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