Attempting to add my first classical release

MusicBrainz
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Hello, I’ve added my first classical release, but I’m not sure if I did everything right. I used the official style guideline for reference: Style / Classical / Release Artist - MusicBrainz

The release is a performance of the Cantigas de Santa Maria, which is usually credited to Alfonso X of Spain, but he’s not listed anywhere on the packaging save for a brief mention in the booklet, so I didn’t credit him. I’ve added the full artwork to the release. Most of the text is in German. I have a vinyl rip of this particular release, hence my reason for wanting to add it here and tag my files with Picard.

Here’s the Discogs release I used: https://www.discogs.com/release/28176499-Mittelalter-Ensemble-Der-Schola-Cantorum-Basiliensis-Montserrat-Figueras-Josep-Benet-Joaquim-Proubas

And the already-existing release group: Release group “Cantigas De Santa Maria” by Mittelalter-Ensemble Der Schola Cantorum Basiliensis / Montserrat Figueras / Josep Benet / Joaquim Proubasta / Thomas Binkley - MusicBrainz

And the release I ultimately came out with: Release “Cantigas de Santa Maria” by M. Figueras, J. Benet, J. Proubasta, G. Francsec, Das Mittelalter-Ensemble der Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Thomas Binkley - MusicBrainz

What’s confusing me is that Schola Cantorum Basiliensis is featured prominently on the cover, but with the “Documenta” suffix it’s also the name of a series. I considered just making it a single artist release, but after reading the style guidelines it doesn’t seem like that would be right.

As you can see, some performers are listed on the cover:

cover
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In the end, I went with the following for the release artist: “M. Figueras, J. Benet, J. Proubasta, G. Francsec, Das Mittelalter-Ensemble der Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, Thomas Binkley.” “Das Mittelalter-Ensemble der Schola Cantorum Basiliensis” translates to “The Medieval Ensemble of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis” and Thomas Binkley is the conductor. The guideline article recommends that you use a semicolon to separate writers from performers, but nobody here is technically a writer, even though they improvise during the performance, so I just used commas.

The Discogs release page and the other release in MB for this album lists the ensemble first, but I’m not sure if that’s right. Regardless, the metadata looks ridiculous now with the release group clashing with my release entry:

Screenshot from 2025-11-10 02-47-27
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Did I tag this album properly, and if so should I edit the release group data to match my formatting? Thanks

Edit: I’ve just read the guideline article on track artists, which makes a lot more sense; the track artist is supposed to be the composer. However, with this release Alfonso X is not listed on the cover, back, or disc labels. He is only mentioned in the booklet. This brings me back to my original idea of tagging Schola Cantorum Basiliensis as the artist for each track. But what to do with composer credits then? Alfonso X didn’t actually compose the Cantigas, he only comissioned them. Still, he is typically credited as the author of these works, as there’s no one else to credit them to, and I really don’t think this should fall under the [unknown] umbrella. I also would prefer to have this show up under ‘Alfonso X’ in any music library software after tagging.

1 Like
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Exactly what I would have done. Since there’s no composer credited on the front cover, the only thing you do is to credit the performers (without the semicolon, as you already did).

This is a borderline case where there’s no clear guideline to follow. For the sake of consistency, I would still use “Alfonso X el Sabio” as a track artist. There are still a huge number of other releases crediting him as a composer, as all of these songs are traditionally credited to him. You also wouldn’t expect to see a performer listed there on classical releases.

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I’d probably do the same, yeah :slight_smile:

Also, ideally you would add relationships to the release. That way, the performers and the works performed are linked in a clear way and it specifies what each person and group did too :slight_smile:

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I agree, I would use “Alfonso X el Savio” as the track artist, but I don’t agree that it is a borderline case.

The relevant statement from the guideline is this:

The Track Artist field should contain just the composer; not the performer(s). Use special artist [unknown] if you cannot find out who the composer is (the name of the composer is often printed directly above the track or group of tracks on classical releases).

It doesn’t specify that it should come from the artwork – it implies, if not explicitly, that you can find out who the composer is wherever you can.

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Fine by me, I will change the track artist to Alfonso X.

One thing that’s still bothering me is the album artist field. Does it really make sense to have ‘M. Figueras’ as the first name in the list, when his name isn’t even shown prominently on the cover? Most music software with a library view will sort by album artist (or albumartistsort), and having this filed under ‘F’ does not make much sense to me. I can think of 2 solutions:

  1. Add “Alfonso X El Sabio;” to the beginning of the release artists with the semicolon
  2. Move either “Schola Cantorum Basiliensis,” or “Das Mittelalter-Ensemble der (The Medieval Ensemble Of) Schola Cantorum Basiliensis,” to the beginning of the release artists with the comma separator. The ensemble name is featured prominently on the front cover, although it does appear a second time in smaller letters with the medieval credit. This seems to be the way Discogs does it on their release page.

I think that either of these would make more sense for sorting purposes. What say you?

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hi, if you find that the recording titles don’t meet the style guidelines, you can modify them. XD. Just check the box for “Update the recording title to match the track title.” By the way, I’m not sure if this tracklist is in Spanish or Portuguese (maybe? Romanian), but I’m sure it’s not the German! So i edited the language to blank. Edit #135728045 - MusicBrainz

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I didn’t notice that anywhere, do you have an example? I thought the guidelines say to keep any extra text like “Op. 100” or in this case “Cantiga 260”

You’re right, I misunderstood the usage of the language option. Most of the packaging is in German since it’s a German release, but the track titles I believe are in Portuguese. Thanks

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The Cantigas are in Galician–Portuguese - Wikipedia which is archaic and not really Galician nor Portuguese as we currently have, but either of those seem closer than German anyway :slight_smile: On the other hand, leaving it blank might still be the least bad option… :confused: