MARCH 8 UPDATE: Everything looks good. The WIMA is up and running. There are still a few things to fix, but you can access it here.
FEBRUARY 27 UPDATE: There are some solutions being explored. Hopefully the WIMA will have a new home soon.
The Werner Icking Music Archive, an archive dedicated to providing thousands upon thousands of free PDF files for musicians, has suddenly (and without notice) lost its server. If anyone has any ideas about providing space for this extremely valuable corner of the internet, please either leave a comment or send me an e-mail message. I will relay the information to editor of the Archive.
Here is the message that I received this morning from the editor of the Archive (which is also in the comments):
Since 2007 WIMA has been hosted by DAIMI (The Dept. of Computer Science, University of Aarhus, Denmark). Unfortunately this has suddenly stopped. A few hours ago the DAIMI staff, without precedent warning, disabled WIMA's part of the DAIMI web server. The reason is that WIMA is causing a too high load on DAIMI's web servers, threatening the faculty activities.
For the time being WIMA takes up 16G disk space. The January Webalizer visit statistics came out to 2,165,121 total hits, and 1,628,099 total files. Here are the rest of the stats:
Hits per Hour : 2,910 (Average) 11,532 (Max)
Hits per Day : 69,842 10,2820
Files per Day : 52,519 84,621
Pages per Day : 2,164 3,571
Sites per Day: 3,935 6,069
Visits per Day : 1,279 1,436
KBytes per Day : 10,805,387 103,106,373
Perhaps someone reading this might be connected to a university (or know someone at another university) that would appreciate the prestige of hosting such an important website. The WIMA was the first website devoted to making public domain classical music available for free over the internet. It is managed superbly, and it contains a great deal of early music (pre-baroque) that is not part of the Petrucci Library, as well as a great deal of new music by living composers.
16 comments:
What does "lost its server" mean? Were they operating their own server equipment and software which has failed, or were they being hosted by a company which will no longer host them? If the later, why?
Here is the message from the Archive's administrator:
Since 2007 WIMA has been hosted by DAIMI (The Dept. of Computer Science, University of Aarhus, Denmark).
Unfortunately this has suddenly stopped. A few hours ago the DAIMI staff, without precedent warning, disabled WIMA's part of the DAIMI web server. The reason is that WIMA is causing a too high load on DAIMI's web servers, threatening the faculty activities.
Thank you for this information. I really hope they find a home; it's such an amazing site.
Is the IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library (www.imslp.org) an option?
Unfortunately it is not.
Hello! Can I help you? I can provide you as much server space as you need... Of course, absolutely free -- it is great pleasure for me to support any classical music project.
Please, write me back if you have any interest about it. my e-mail: sorokin [at] sorokin.cc
Elaine, is someone heading up looking into a new server? It has been such a wonderful resource! Please keep us posted... it is incredibly unfortunate.
This is a real loss. Is there a place to send contributions to help get this archive back up online (preferably a US 501(c)(3).
The loss of the Werner Icking site is dreadful. There's nothing half as good for free, instrumental, early-music "partitions" on the internet. Many of the items on offer are of superb quality and represent a huge effort on the part of the people involved. And all given to the world free! It made me glad to be alive in a world where such generosity existed. It simply must not be allowed to vanish. Many people would feel extremely grateful to anyone or any company who rescued it. It'd be very good publicity for whoever was willing to do it.
I must say that the Dept. of Computer Science at the University of Aarhus is miserably failing at their own "art." Can these computer nerds/geeks not figure out some way to lessen the load on their servers? (This isn't rocket science!) Could they not use this case as a research project? Have they tried to mirror the web site to other servers?
Shame on them (the Dept.) for not giving a prior warning. The WIMA is even documented on Wikipedia, meaning that it is very notable. So much for freely spreading the love of music for others to enjoy.
Speaking of Wikipedia, could the archive be turned into a wiki of sorts? Something like the cpdl?
-The preceding statements were left by an individual who holds a Bachelors degree in Aerospace Engineering and dabbles in learning to play the pipe organ. He dearly misses the WIMA and wishes it were back online. He realizes his comments tend to be sarcastic, but he means well.
It looks like CPDL is indeed the most likely candidate to house the WIMA! Christian Mondrop is working as hard as he can. We just all have to be patient: it will be back again, and as good (and useful) as ever.
I have used and enjoyed this unique archive for some years now and much of my own holding of 17th century music derives from it. Where else could you find legible editions of Rosenmuller's 1645 3-part pavans?
Any university department of music with an interest in early music and the imagination (and server space) to go with it should seriously consider whether they can take it on.
an offer to host WIMA was posted on Feb 27-
it seems this could solve the whole problem. has it been followed up on? what is the status?
thanks
steve newman, user of WIMA
---------------------------
Feb 27 post--
Hello! Can I help you? I can provide you as much server space as you need... Of course, absolutely free -- it is great pleasure for me to support any classical music project.
Please, write me back if you have any interest about it. my e-mail: sorokin [at] sorokin.cc
If you need hosting on a powerful dedicated server plus extensive technical assistance, I may be able to help you. I run several prestigious music websites, and would happily host your site in exchange for some association (placement of ads for my music profile sites) on your site. I could power your whole operation plus provide all the technical assistance you need.
If you need help, please contact me (see my website url).
Thanks
I'm having trouble displaying and printing PDF documents from WIMA site. They show really strange symbols instead of normal clef signs and notes. Is anyone else having this problem? And what might be the fix??
@frigid downbeat
Make sure you are clicking on the PDF file icon and not on the icon that leads you to the notation program!
Post a Comment