Catalogue

The Dionisio Toffalori collection consists of over 5000 records divided into several binders. Unfortunately, they are in a serious state of deterioration due to mould. Therefore, the sound collection is currently inaccessible.

The catalogue, typewritten, counts 535 records divided into eight sections:

• Part one: 30 cm format, cards 1 to 140bis
• Part two: 25 cm. format, cards 141 to 264
• Part three: 36, 30, 25 cm. format (Pathé record company), cards 300 to 313
• Part four: 27 cm. format, cards 330 to 340
• Part five: 18, 20 cm. formats, cards 350 to 354
• Part six: cm. 30, 27 (Società Italiana di Fonotipia record company), cards 400 to 435
• Part seven: formats cm. 25 (canzonette), cards 450 to 466
• Part eight: complete works or selections from various record companies, cards 501 to 535

 The cards from the blinder marked with the letter S have also been recovered:

• S Series

Initially, the music laboratory digitized the volume, making it available for consultation in a searchable .pdf format (available by clicking on the links in the individual sections). Recently, all the data has been manually transferred to a spreadsheet, as the original structure and handwritten additions did not allow for automated transposition. The transcription work revealed that the collector had cataloged the records according to his own needs, sometimes listing the titles of the songs according to the names he found most congenial, or in translation. As a result, there is often a discrepancy between what is written on the labels and what is in the catalogue. In other cases, we found spelling errors, particularly in titles and names in languages other than Italian. Due to the poor condition of the collection, some corrections were made to obviously incorrect data during the digital transposition, but it was not possible to carry out a comprehensive review of the information.

The catalogue data (with the exception of part 8) has been transferred to a database compatible with the structure already used for the Benedetti collection and can now be consulted online.

The original catalogue is organized into cards; each card (some examples of which are shown below) contains the following information: 

• In the upper left corner, the collection number, which corresponds to the binder number
• In the upper right corner, the corresponding section/series and the format
• The list of discs contained in the binder. The following information is provided for each side/record:

          1. Title of the recorded track
          2. Number of the disc unit inside the binder (handwritten)
          3. Title of the work and author
          4. Performers
          5. Initials of the voice or instrument for exclusively instrumental pieces
          6. Label number

The catalogue has a handwritten index (in two volumes), which follows the alphabetical order of the singers' names. Each entry is followed by a list of the discs that refer to that particular singer. The data given are: the disc size; work, author, track title; record company number; catalogue number; album number; any other related names.