Research Guides: Music: Musical Scores & Sheet Music

Overview

A large collection of musical scores can be found on the 8th floor of Healey Library, with call numbers starting with the letter M. In browsing the shelves it is useful to know the call numbers for the complete works by a specific composer begin with M3, followed by the first letter of the composer's name. For example, the most recent complete edition of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach is found under the following general call number: M3.B1133 (Neue Bach Ausgabe).The most recent complete edition of the works of Mozart is shelved under the call number M3.M896 (Neue Mozart Ausgabe). Similar collected editions exist for most major composers.

Collections or anthologies of scores that sample works from a specific time period (such as the middle ages) or by composers from a specific geographical region have call numbers that begin with M2, followed by the first letter of the anthology's title. For example, a large collection sampling a wide variety music by German composers (including sample works by Johann Adolph Hasse, Dietrich Buxtehude, Hans Leo Hassler, and many others) was published in the collection Denkmaeler Deutscher Tonkunst (Monuments of German Music). Accordingly, these scores all begin with the call number M2.D39.

Yale University Library has a good research guide, Finding Scores Online, that can help you find scores and sheet music online.

Scores - Editions

The Music Research: Scores web page at Central Michigan University provides useful definitions of the various score formats and also defines the different score editions (facsimlie; urtext; historical; etc.). Under Browse the shelves, there is an outline of the M classification scheme, which can be helpful in locating genres of music on the library's shelves.

A more complete discussion of these editions may be found in Grove Online (access via Oxford Music Online) under such subject entries as Editions, historical and Urtext. The Bibliography section of the Historical editions entry attempts to list all of the major historical editions of composers works; those that are complete and those still in progress.

Oxford Music Online This link opens in a new window
A more complete discussion of these types may be found in GROVE ONLINE under such subject entries as Historical editions and Urtext. The Bibliography section of the Historical editions entry in Grove online attempts to list all of the major historical editions of composers works; those that are complete and those still in progress.
RISM: International Inventory of Musical Sources This link opens in a new window
Index and guide to music manuscripts produced after 1600. This source is an online database that describes original scores in libraries throughout the world.

UMBrella

Tips for using UMBrella to locate scores at Healey Library

To find a score: Try an "Author" search using the composer's name, last name first (the result will be everything by the composer: scores, books, recordings, etc.) OR

Try a "Title" search using the name of the composition, omitting any leading articles (a's and the's; e.g. Art of the Fugue, not The Art of the Fugue). OR

Limit search results to only show scores by clicking Show More under Material Type, then selecting Scores.

Historical Sets, Collected Editions, and Monuments of Music: A Guide to Their Contents by Anna H. Heyer
Call Number: REF ML 113 .H52 1980
ISBN: 083890288X
Publication Date: 1980-01-01

Scores and Sheet Music Available Online

African American Sheet Music
The sheet music in this digital collection has been selected from the Sheet Music Collection at the John Hay Library at Brown University. The full collection consists of approximately 500,000 items, of which perhaps 250,000 are currently available for use. It is one of the largest collections of sheet music in any library in the United States. The sheet music, primarily vocal music of American imprint, dates from the 18th century to the present day, with the largest concentration of titles in the period 1840-1950.
ChoralWiki
Home of the Choral Public Domain Library
Classical Scores Library
Only available to those with Boston Public LIbrary eCard
400,000 pages of scores both in-copyright and public domain editions. Major composers represented as well as several lesser known composers.
Digital Scores and Libretti (Harvard University)
The scores and libretti in this Virtual Collection include first and early editions and manuscript copies of music from the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries by J.S. Bach and Bach family members, Mozart, Schubert and other composers, as well as multiple versions of nineteenth century opera scores, seminal works of musical modernism, and music of the Second Viennese School. Many, such as variant editions of nineteenth century operas and related libretti, fall into intellectually related sets that are meant to be seen and used together. As a group, they give scholars a window into the study of historical performance practice that cannot be duplicated using the holdings of any one other library.
Eastman School of Music - Sibley Music Library > Musical Scores
Scores and books in the public domain. Many of these are unique to the Sibley Music Library collection.
Library of Congress: Collections with Notated Music
MuseData
The MuseData database is a project of the Center for Computer Assisted Research in the Humanities (CCARH). The database was created by Walter Hewlett. Data entry has been primarily done by Frances Bennion, Edmund Correia, Walter Hewlett, and Steve Rasmussen.
Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music, ca. 1870 to 1885
Consists of over 47,000 pieces of sheet music registered for copyright during the years 1870 to 1885. Included are popular songs, piano music, sacred and secular choral music, solo instrumental music, method books and instructional materials, and music for band and orchestra.
Music Library Digital Scores Collection
The Music Library Digital Scores Collection contains manuscript musical scores dating from the 17th through 19th centuries. The majority of the collection is comprised of 17th and 18th century operas, opera excerpts, and other vocal music. The original manuscripts reside in the Music Library’s Rare Book Collection at the University of Washington.
Mutopia
"The Mutopia Project offers sheet music editions of classical music for free download. These are based on editions in the public domain."
Petrucci Music Library
International Music Score Library project "virtual library containing all public domain music scores as well as scores from composers willing to share their music without charge"
Ragtime
ScorSer - Search system for musicians
Sheet Music Consortium
Sheet Music Consortium: Sheet Music on the Web: a group of libraries building an open cross-searchable collection of digitzed sheet music