SULAIR Home
tree

Music Library

Home » Printed music

Introductory notes

Printed music is likely the most difficult material to locate in library catalogs, because:

~ Printed music comes in a variety of formats: full conductor's scores, miniature study scores, arrangements, transcriptions, piano-vocal reductions, instrumental parts, popular sheet music compilations, "fake book" lead sheets, to name some examples. One specific musical work can exist in multiple formats.

~ A single work may be published in several languages and editions, resulting in multiple unique catalog entries.

~ Works may be published in compilations or in series, and smaller works may be components of larger works, such as individual songs within song cycles.
 

Uniform titles, unique titles assigned to all manifestations of a musical work, help to identify works with generic title information, and ensure that all editions of a work (in their various languages and physical manifestations) can be found together when searching in library catalogs. "Name/title" uniform titles further help to identify works by linking a specific composer with the title of a specific work. See "About Titles of Music Works" for more information, including a link to a uniform title tutorial.

Books and scores are arranged on the shelf by the Library of Congress classification system. Follow this link to the Indiana University Music Library page for a detailed display.

 

 

 

About titles of musical works

~ Identifying title information ~

Grove Music Online is an excellent source for identifying the proper title of a work. At the end of most individual composer biographies are lists of works by that composer, often including title information, key, opus number, and date of composition.

Other reference sources can help correctly identify musical works as well, particularly the research guides and thematic catalogs of individual composers, shelved in the Reference Room at ML134.

~ Uniform titles ~

Uniform titles are unique titles assigned to all manifestations of a musical work. They serve several purposes, including to:
 

  • Group together under a composer's name all variants of a work under a title unique to that work

Variants of Bizet's Carmen:

Carmen. (this is the complete opera)
Carmen. Selections ("highlights" on a CD)
Carmen. German & French (a printed score with the sung text in two languages)
Carmen. Libretto. German & English (text only in two languages, no musical notation)
Carmen. Danse boheme; arr. (in this case, one aria arranged for trumpet solo)
 

  • Identify specifically a work that has one or more common or generic names

Some title pages for a Beethoven violin sonata:

Violin Sonata opus 24
Sonata no. 5 : for piano and violin
Sonata in F major
"Spring" Sonata

use: Sonatas, violin, piano, no. 5, op. 24, F major

  • Identify specifically a work when the title may be published in multiple languages

The Rite of Spring
Le Sacre du Printemps
Frühlingsopfer

use: Vesna sviashchennaia (the title in Stravinsky's original Russian is preferred)



You will see a work's uniform title at the top of the Searworks record; you may copy and paste in a new search screen. Composer/uniform title combinations also display as links when they are additional titles in a printed item or on a recording. Use these links to find other manifestations of the work.

Learn more about uniform titles with this tutorial from Indiana University.

Read more in M. Koth's Uniform Titles for Music (Music Stacks: ML1 .M9876 no. 31)

View a list of popular titles & corresponding uniform titles used in SearchWorks.

E-scores

~ Stanford links ~

Classical Scores Library : over 24,000 printable scores
LibraryMusicSource includes printable solo, chamber, and orchestral parts
Byron Hoyt Sheet Music : printable scores of standard vocal, piano, and chamber music
MuseData : an electronic library of classical music scores, sponsored by CCARH
Scores and parts for Bach, Handel, Mozart, and Vivaldi, also from CCARH
Stanford songs (pdf)

Indexes:

Index to Printed Music (IPM)
Music-In-Print Online



~ Printed and manuscript scores on the web ~

The Music Treasures Consortium (Library of Congress)

The Mutopia Project
International Music Score Library Project
Sibley Music Library Scores (Eastman)
Digitized Score Collection (Bavarian State Library)
Loeb Music Library Digital Scores Collection (Harvard)
Juilliard Manuscript Collection
Choral Public Domain Library
Hofmeister XIX (digitized 19th c. catalog of printed music)
The Classical String Quartet, 1770-1840 (Duke University)
Music Library Digital Scores Collection (University of Washington)
Jewish Art Music (Jewish Theological Seminary)
Early Music Online (British Library)


Single-composer collections:

Beethoven-Haus Bonn Digital Archives
Brahms-Institut an der Musikhochschule Lübeck
Chopin Early Editions (University of Chicago)
Fryderyk Chopin Digital Collection (Polish National Library, Warsaw)
Georg Friedrich Handel Werke (Chrysander Edition ; Bavarian State Library)
Franz Liszt Werke (Carl-Alexander-Ausgabe ; Bavarian State Library)
Jean-Baptiste Lully Collection (University of North Texas)
Mendelssohn-Edition (Bavarian State Library)
Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
Ignaz Pleyel Early Editions Digital Collection (University of Iowa)
Schubert Autographs project
Robert Schumann Werke (Bavarian State Library)
Robert Schumann autographs at the University of Bonn

 

~ Sheet music on the web ~

Sheet Music Consortium
19th-Century California Sheet Music (UC Berkeley)
Digital Archive of American Popular Music (UCLA)
Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music (Johns Hopkins University)
Historic American Sheet Music (Duke University)
Digital Sheet Music (University of Colorado)
Sheldon Harris Sheet Music Collection (University of Mississippi)


MusicNotes.com (purchase popular sheet music downloads)


The American Memory Project at the Library of Congress includes the following collections:

African American Sheet Music, 1850-1920
"We'll Sing to Abe our Song": Sheet Music about Lincoln, Emancipation, and the Civil War
Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music, 1820-1860 & 1870-1885
Historic American Sheet Music, 1850-1920
America Singing: 19th-Century Song Sheets

 

Microform sets

The sets below include printed and manuscript scores; books on music; and technical drawings.

Each title listed below may be searched in SearchWorks for detailed bibliographical and holdings information.

Some sets also include links to electronic guides.

M/F = film
M/F 1: = fiche
MCDI = CD-ROM
MUSRR = printed guide in Reference Room


Bibliothèque nationale, catalogues du Départment de la musique, Bibiothèque nationale, catalogue du Départment de la musique, fonds du Conservatoire
1838 microfiche
(Shelved in Reference Room)

The Broadwood Archive: the business records of John Broadwood & Sons, piano makers, 1794-1901
95 microfilm reels
M/F 2284

The Early Printed and Manuscript Music in the Westminster Abbey Library
200 items on 32 microfilm reels.
M/F 1924
MUSRR ML136 .L8 S77 1903a

[Keyboard music in selected Dutch libraries]
1457 fiche
M/F 1:291
MUSRR ML136 .H14 G36 v.4;
MUSRR ML136 .H14 G38 1987

Lincoln Cathedral Library Music Collection: 17th-19th centuries
34 microfilm reels
M/F 2222

Music from Dutch Libraries, Part V: Historical Organ Collection
107 microfiche
M/F 1:344
MUSRR ML136 .M86 PT.5 1995

Musikhandschriften der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz:

Die Bach-Sammlung
1119 microfiche, 8 CD-ROMs
M/F 1:341, MCDI 52
MUSRR ML136 .B4 D52 1997

Die Telemann-Sammlung
356 microfiche
M/F 1:351
MUSRR ML136 .B4 D53 2001

Die Beethoven-Sammlung
271 microfiche
M/F 1:356
MUSRR ML136 .B4 D54

Die Mozart-Sammlung
1163 microfiche
M/F 1:369
MUSRR ML136 .B4 S76 2005

Sammlung die Sing-Akademie zu Berlin
T.1: Oratorien, Messen, Kantaten, und andere geistliche Werke
T.2: Opern
T.3: Sinfonien, Konzerte, und Ouverturen
T. 4: Kammermusik und Klaviermusik
M/F 1:368
MUSRR ML136 .B4 S77 2005


The Oster Collection: Papers of Heinrich Schenker
47 microfilm reels
M/F 2423

The Pembroke choir books and other music manuscripts from Pembroke College, Cambridge
3 microfilm reels
M/F 2455
MUSRR ML136 .C21 P46 1996

Pre-1801 Books about Music and Related Topics in the Library of Congress Collections as listed in RISM
220 microfilm reels
M/F 1923

Technical drawings of musical instruments in public collections of the world
544 microfiche
M/F 1:339

Thomas A. Edison Collection of American Sheet Music, from the Music Library, University of Michigan
119 microfilm reels
M/F 2457
MUSRR ML136 .A56 U5 2000
electronic guide
 

Unpublished Music Manuscripts from the Great English Collections:

The Music collection of Christ Church, Oxford: Part 1-3, Unpublished music of the 16th and 17th centuries
60 microfilm reels
M/F 1674
MUSRR ML135 .O98 B82
electronic guide

The Music collection of St. Michael’s College, Tenbury, Parts 1-3, Unpublished music manuscripts of the 16th and 17th centuries
24 microfilm reels
M/F 1692
MUSRR ML136 .T4 S14
electronic guide

The British Library Music Manuscript Collection: Part 1, Section A, Polyphonic music before c. 1640
15 microfilm reels
M/F 1718
MUSRR ML136 .L8 B72
electronic guide

Venetian Opera Libretti
1286 libretti on 41 microfilm reels
M/F 2439
MUSRR ML136 .L842 U682 1993
electronic guide

The Women Composers Collection, from the Holdings of the Women Composers Collection, the Music Library, University of Michigan
28 microfilm reels
M/F 2424
MUSRR ML128 .W7 W664 1998
electronic guide

 

 

Music special collections

Please contact the Music Library to arrange for use of these collections.

Lully Lully Archive

[view the inventory list]

The Lully Archive is a repository of primary sources on microfilm originally gathered in support of publication of the complete works of Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687). The acquisition of the materials was funded by two grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The grants also supported the cataloging of sources, although this was not fully completed.



scores Women's Philharmonic Collection

The Women's Philharmonic was a professional orchestra from 1981 to 2004 based in San Francisco for the promotion of women composers, conductors, and performers. It has presented works by more than 160 women composers, including 134 premieres and 47 commissioned works. This incomparable collection includes over 25 linear feet of music scores to orchestral works, many of which were performed by The Women's Philharmonic at concerts and at the New Music Reading Sessions, and music scores to chamber works. Among the 500 composers represented in the collection are Wilhelmina von Bayreuth, Francesca Caccini, Lili Boulanger, Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, Florence Price, Camilla de Rossi, Germaine Tailleferre, Libby Larsen, Ellen Taafe Zwillich, Peggy Glanville-Hicks, Amy Beach, Gwyneth Walker, and Joan Tower. The collection contains 1250 cassette and DAT recordings, over 40 reel-to-reel tapes, 95 video recordings, and CDs of The Women's Philharmonic concerts, New Music Reading Sessions and pre-concert talks, along with approximately 30 LP recordings of works by women. Materials may be found in SearchWorks by doing a subject search for "women's philharmonic collection." Approximately 100 linear feet of archival materials related to the planning, promotion, production and press coverage of The Women's Philharmonic concerts and other events from throughout the organization's history, including correspondence with composers, publishers, conductors and others, program notes about the works performed, documentation of Board meetings, press clippings, newsletters, photographs, posters, awards, and etc. will be available for study at Stanford's Department of Special Collections.


kronos Kronos Quartet Collection

[search the database]

The Kronos Quartet has donated part of their collection of chamber music to the Music Library. Some of the scores are integrated into the collection but can be identified in SearchWorks by doing a subject search, “kronos quartet collection.” A large part of the collection has been inventoried and is stored offsite.

~ Please allow 2-3 business days for items to be paged and delivered to the Music Library ~



cowell
Henry Cowell Collection

[view the inventory list]

Mrs. Sydney Cowell donated published scores and recordings of her husband’s music to the Music Library. Cowell lived in nearby Menlo Park for many years. The scores are integrated into the collection and can be found in SearchWorks by doing a subject search, “henry cowell collection.” A small collection of print materials is housed in the Music Library Locked Stacks.

The portrait at left hangs in the Music Library Reference Room:

Anne Parker Wigglesworth. Portrait of Henry Cowell. 1964. Oil on canvas, 92 x 60 cm. Gift of Henry Cowell Coolidge Wigglesworth.



lute Ben Schmidt Collection of Music for Lute

[view the inventory list]

The Schmidt Collection contains primarily photocopies of original and transcribed music for lute from a variety of libraries and archival repositories. These materials are not represented in SearchWorks, and are available for in-house use only.

~ Please allow 2-3 business days for items to be paged and delivered to the Music Library ~



placeholder George Antheil Correspondence

[view the finding aid]

Dates range from 1920 to 1959. All but one of the letters are photocopies.

~ Please allow 2-3 business days for items to be paged and delivered to the Music Library ~



placeholder Julio de Osma Collection

[view the finding aid]

The collection includes over one hundred music manuscripts by Spanish composer Julio de Osma, three publications of his songs, and several dozen photocopied documents dealing with his family history and professional life.

~ Please allow 2-3 business days for items to be paged and delivered to the Music Library ~



harris plate Lucie King Harris Collection of Sheet Music

[view the inventory list]

Lucie King Harris, born in Sonoma in 1883, was an arts patron, a philanthropist, and an ardent horsewoman. She helped found the San Francisco Opera Association in 1922 and was a governor of the San Francisco Symphony Association, as well as a founder of the San Francisco Choral Society. After her death in 1974, her son Lawrence W. Harris, Jr. and his wife Jane chose to honor her through a book fund for music materials. The Lucie King Harris Books for Music Fund was the first endowed fund in Music at Stanford.

This collection of piano/vocal and solo piano music belonging to Lucie King Harris is held in the Music Library Locked Stacks.



Underwood Florence Underwood Collection

[view the finding aid]

Florence Underwood studied with Darius Milhaud at Mills College in the 1940s. In February of 1953, her composition "The Hopi Indian Legend" was premiered by the San Diego Philharmonic Orchestra. Several of her compositions were performed by local orchestras, and she also composed original music for amateur theater groups in the San Francisco Bay and Portland areas. She taught piano and composition privately and at Multnomah College in Portland.

The Underwood collection consists primarily of Florence Underwood's written music and research conducted to write the music. In addition, scrapbooks, personal and legal papers make up a portion of the collection.

~ Please allow 2-3 business days for items to be paged and delivered to the Music Library ~


Syndicate content
« Back