Data Model¶

MerMEId MeLODy uses a Linked Open Data model based on established musicological and bibliographic ontologies. All metadata is stored as RDF/Turtle files, one per entity, in a Git repository.

This section documents the conceptual and technical foundations of the data model.

Sections¶

Ontologies — the external vocabularies the data model is built on, and the MeLODy ontology
FRBR Hierarchy — the core bibliographic hierarchy: Work, Expression, Manifestation, Item
Entity Types — all 13 supported entity types with fields and repository structure

At a Glance¶

The data model is centred on the FRBR hierarchy as formalised in LRMoo and directly aligned with the MEI (Music Encoding Initiative) XML Schema (v5.1). The RDF structure is specifically designed to map seamlessly to MEI elements, ensuring that complex thematic work and source catalogue metadata can be reliably transformed into well-formed MEI/XML. Extended with contextual entities for persons, places, events, and bibliographic references, the model ensures both semantic precision and MEI standards compliance.

Work                     ← abstract creative work
 └── Expression          ← a specific realisation (score, arrangement, version)
      └── Manifestation  ← a published or distributed edition
           └── Item      ← a single physical or digital copy

Person  Place  Venue  Institution  PerformanceEvent  Event Instrumentation  Bibliography  Letter

All entity classes are defined in the MeLODy ontology (melod: → https://lod.academy/melod/vocab/ontology#).