Finding Musical Scores and Sheet Music
In library catalogs, pieces of music are given added, preferred titles, so that one search finds every version of a piece. Preferred titles (aka uniform titles) are especially useful because pieces could have: titles in multiple languages (Brandenburg Concertos vs. Brandenburgische Konzerte); form titles and numbers (Sonata no. 3); well-known but unofficial descriptive titles (Moonlight Sonata); collective titles (Songs; Works).
Need to check a title or opus number? Use reference sources such as:
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Oxford Music Online This link opens in a new window
Formerly Grove Music Online, it offers full text of the 29-volume print edition with the added benefit of sophisticated search capabilities, one-click cross-referencing, and an ever increasing network of web-links to musical sites around the world.
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Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online This link opens in a new windowComprehensive online resource devoted to music research of all the world’s peoples. More than 9,000 pages of material, combined with entries by more than 700 expert contributors from all over the world, focused on world music.
Digital Score Collections
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Music Online: Classical Scores Library This link opens in a new windowMusic Online: Classical Scores Library is a source for in-copyright digital scores of the classical canon, as well as a resource for the discovery of diverse and lesser-known contemporary works. This collection encompasses all major classical musical genres and time periods from the Middle Ages to the 21st century and includes full, study, piano, and vocal scores.
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International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)IMSLP (The International Music Score Library Project) holds thousands of digitized scores from collections around the world. The site is governed by Canadian copyright law; not all available scores are in the public domain in the United States.
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Library of Congress Music Treasures ConsortiumThe Music Treasures Consortium provides online access to the world's most valued music manuscripts and print materials, held at the most renowned music archives, in order to further research and scholarship.
Sheet Music Online
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Sheet Music Consotium200,000+ pieces of sheet music from the collections of 22 institutions. Sign up for a free account to make your own private or shared portfolios of sheet music from the site.
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Library of Congress Collections with Notated MusicA wealth of collections that contain sheet music from the Library of Congress.