IEEE 1599-2008 is an XML-based format
aimed at a comprehensive description of music information. This
format has been mainly developed at LIM (Laboratorio di Informatica Musicale
- Dipartimento di Informatica e Comunicazione - Università
degli Studi di Milano). The work has
been endorsed by the international research program Intelligent Manufacturing
Systems and financially supported by the Commission for Technological
Innovation of the Swiss Federal Government through the University for
Applied Sciences of Southern Switzerland, SUPSI.
The outcoming format is a response to IEEE Project Approval Request
1599 (P1599) - "Definition of a Commonly Acceptable Musical
Application using the XML Language". This recommended practice is aimed at developing an XML-based application
which defines a standard language for symbolic music representation.
The language is a meta-representation of music information to describe,
link and synchronize music information within a multi-layered environment.
The purpose is achieving integration among symbolic, structural,
notational, computer performance, and digital sound levels of representation.
Furthermore, the proposed standard should integrate music representation
with already defined and accepted common standards. This standard
should be supported by any kind of software dealing with music information,
e.g. applications for score editing, Optical Music Recognition (OMR),
music performance, multimedia databases, computer-aided composition
and musicological research.
Since September 2008, the format known as IEEE 1599-2008 is an international standard.