ISWCs for classical pieces

MusicBrainz Classical
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I noticed that some classical music pieces have been assigned ISWCs. For example, if you search CISAC’s ISWC Network for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 (filtered by his IPI number: 00002507239), you’ll actually find 30 compositions listed. Many of them appear to be arrangements by later composers, but there are two that only list Beethoven (and “DP”) as the composer:

SYMPHONY NO 5

  • ISWC: T-902.570.042-9
  • Creators:
    • VAN BEETHOVEN LUDWIG (IPI: 00002507239)
    • DP (IPI: 00039657154)
  • This one has many alternate titles (“SYMFONI NR 5 C-MOLL”, “5TH SYMPHONY”, etc.) and performers linked

SYMPHONY NO 5

  • ISWC: T-932.416.993-9
  • Creator:
    • VAN BEETHOVEN LUDWIG (00002507239)
  • This one has two performers linked and no alternate titles.

Is one of these the “canonical” or “preferred” ISWC? Should both ISWCs be added to the MusicBrainz entry or just the canonical one? In general, I’d be keen for someone to search for ISWCs for classical/public domain compositions and add them to MusicBrainz in bulk, and they could be copied over to Wikidata as well.

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I would enter all matching ISWCs, except those that are already marked as “merged”.

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