Metadata — Partitura

Metadata in Partitura lives inside the metadata block within score. It supports both compact authoring forms and structured identification for full MusicXML semantics.

Compact Metadata

For common score identity fields, use the compact form:

metadata {
  title "Sonata in C Major"
  subtitle "Op. 1 No. 1"
  movement "Allegro"
  number "1"
  composer "J.S. Bach"
  lyricist "Text Author"
  arranger "Arranger Name"
  rights "Public Domain"
  source "Original manuscript"
}

Field	Description
`title`	Score title
`subtitle`	Subtitle
`movement`	Movement title
`number`	Movement number
`composer`	Composer name
`lyricist`	Lyricist name
`arranger`	Arranger name
`rights`	Rights/copyright information
`source`	Source description

Structured Metadata

When richer identification semantics are needed:

metadata {
  work {
    work-title "Sonata in C Major"
    work-number "Op. 1"
    movement-title "Allegro"
    movement-number "1"
  }

  identification {
    creator composer "J.S. Bach"
    creator arranger "Editor"
    creator lyricist "Text Author"
    creator editor "Jane Doe"
    creator translator "Translator"
    rights "Public Domain"
    source "Original manuscript"
    relation "kind" "value"
    encoding {
      software "Partitura"
      encoder "John Doe"
      encoding-date "2026-04-03"
      support {
        element "encoding"
        attribute "supports"
        type "yes"
        value "true"
      }
    }
    miscellaneous {
      miscellaneous-field "custom-key" "custom-value"
    }
  }
}

Identification Fields

Field	Description
`creator role "value"`	Creator with explicit role (composer, arranger, lyricist, editor, translator)
`rights "value"`	Rights/copyright entry
`source "value"`	Source description
`relation "kind" "value"`	Relation with kind and value
`encoding { ... }`	Encoding metadata block
`encoding.software "..."`	Software used for encoding
`encoding.encoder "..."`	Person who encoded
`encoding.encoding-date "..."`	Date of encoding
`encoding.support { ... }`	Support declarations
`miscellaneous { ... }`	Miscellaneous metadata
`miscellaneous-field "name" "value"`	Custom field with name and value

Credits

Credits represent visible score content distinct from identification metadata:

# Compact credit
credit title "Dedicated to..."

# Structured credit
credit composer {
  page 1
  text "Composed by J.S. Bach"
}

Credit Fields

Field	Description
`credit kind "text"`	Compact text credit with kind
`credit kind { ... }`	Structured credit block
`page N`	Page number for placement
`system N`	System number for placement
`text "..."`	Visible text content
`image`	Image content reference
`symbol`	Symbol content reference
`justify`	Justification alignment
`valign`	Vertical alignment
`halign`	Horizontal alignment

Canonical Order

Within metadata, the canonical order is:

work
identification
credit

Within work:

work-number
work-title
movement-number
movement-title

Within identification:

creator
rights
source
relation
encoding
miscellaneous

Within encoding:

software
encoder
encoding-description
encoding-date
support

Rules

Common score identity SHOULD be writable without forcing the author through identification-heavy structure
Metadata syntax MUST privilege musical-document concepts (title, movement, composer, lyricist, rights)
Repeated creator, rights, relation, and credit entries MUST preserve semantic order
credit MUST remain distinct from identification
Creator roles MUST remain explicit and MUST NOT be collapsed into undifferentiated text
Visible credits MUST remain distinct from document identification metadata

Next Steps

Structure — part list, part blocks, measures
Notes & Events — compact note syntax, pitch, duration, rests, chords