Research Guides: Music Research: Scores

Browsing by Call Number

Library of Congress Classification

Collections, Critical Editions: M1-5

M1 - Anthologies

M2 - Collections by two or more composers (Historical Sets or Monuments)

M3 - Collected works of individual composers

M3.1 - Selection

M3.5 - First editions

Instrumental Music: M5-1490

M5-190 - Solo instruments

M191-990 - Chamber music

M1000-1160 - Orchestra

M1200-1270 - Band

M1350-1366 - Jazz

M1376-1420 - Instrumental music for children

M1450 - Dance (ballet, folk)

M1470-1480 - Aleatory, electronic, with color

Vocal Music: M1495-2199

M1495 - Collections

Secular vocal music: M1497-1998

M1528-1529.5 - Vocal chamber music

M1530-1609 - Choruses

Sacred vocal music: M1999-2199

M1999 - Collections

Subject Headings for Scores

Below is a list of selected subject heading examples for scores that you can use as a guide when searching:

Band music – Scores

Orchestra music – Scores

Chamber orchestra music – Scores

String orchestra – Scores

Musicals – Vocal scores with piano

Masses – Vocal scores

Concertos (Saxophone with band)

Selected Bibliography

Collected Editions, Historical Series & Sets & Monuments of Music: A Bibliography by George R. Hill and Norris L. Stephens
Call Number: Ref. Collection, ML113 .H55 1997
A Handbook of Music and Music Literature in Sets and Series by Sydney Robinson Charles
Call Number: ML113 .C45
Historical Sets, Collected Editions, and Monuments of Music: A Guide to Their Contents, 3rd ed. 2 vols. by Anna Harriet Heyer
Call Number: Ref. Collection, ML113 .H52 1980

Databases

Music Online Classical Scores Library This link opens in a new window
Contains 400,000 pages of classical scores from both in-copyright and public domain editions. It includes the works of major and lesser known composers from the Renaissance to the 21st century, with full scores, study scores, piano and vocal scores and piano reductions.

Other Sources for Online Musical Scores

International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
Thousands of public domain scores for free.
Choral Public Domain
More than12,000 public domain score pages. The repertoire is as varied as possibly can.
Contemporary Music Score Collection, UCLA Music Library
Published by the UCLA Music Library in eScholarship, the Contemporary Music Score Collection includes the digital, open access scores from the Contemporary Score Edition series, the first open access edition of new music published by a library, and scores from the Kaleidoscope 2020 Call for Scores, an open access collaboration with the UCLA Music Library.
Digital Resources for Musicology
This website provides links to substantial open-access projects of use to musicians and musicologists. With a burgeoning number of digital resources available, remembering titles of sites and pathways to them can be difficult. Digital Resources in Musicology (DRM) is organized topically and provides a rapid search tool for specialties within heterogeneous collections. Neither the links nor their descriptions are exhaustive.
Mutopia
Public-domain music scores in several formats; includes some audio.
Public Domain Song Anthology
The Public Domain Song Anthology by David Berger and Chuck Israels is a collection of 348 popular songs with modern and traditional harmonization for both study and performance. This open educational resource was curated by two leading jazz repertory experts and consists of songs in the US public domain. This anthology is the first of its kind and is free for students and performers to use, adapt, remix, and share. The songs, many of which are at risk of being forgotten, are free of copyright restrictions and are available in multiple formats to promote greater usage and dissemination.
Sheet Music Websites
Sheet music is differentiated from scores by their smaller instrumentation and shorter length. Digital collections of sheet music often have an emphasis on American popular music, especially song.

Definitions

Formats

Full score: complete composition with each part displayed on separate staff

Conductor's score: full score of sufficient size to be read by a conductor

Miniature score (study score, pocket score): size reduction of a full score generally for study purposes

Condensed score (particella): principal instrumental parts printed usually two to four staves to provide basic melodies and harmony, with instrumentation shown by exact indications within staves

Performance score (playing score): full score intended for use in place of a part during performance, usually used by a pianist in chamber music; not intended for scholarly study, may not discuss editorial decisions

Score and parts: usually for chamber music, contains score and all parts issued together

Parts: music issued for a single instrument or voice

Piano reduction (piano score): full orchestration reduced for keyboard with a separate staff for the soloist; also an orchestra score reduced to a piano version

Vocal score (piano vocal score, organ vocal score): separate lines for vocal soloist and chorus with reduced instrumental accompaniment

Chorus score: choral parts are displayed with no accompaniment or accompaniment reduced for keyboard

Close score: used for vocal music, puts all vocal parts on two staves

Editions

Definitive edition, critical edition, scholarly edition: intended as a scholarly, authoritative source based from primary sources and the composers intent; contains commentary to explain editorial differences and explanation

Complete edition/works, collected edition/works, Gesamtausgabe, sämtliche Werke, opera omnia: considered critical or scholarly, typically published in multiple volumes

Historical edition/set, monument, Denkmal: critical edition that includes compositions by various composers that are somehow connected

Urtext edition: originally meant to be free of editorial intervention, it now often contains editors' reconstructions of composers' original texts

Facsimile: photographic reproduction or original manuscript or print copy

Practical edition: intended for performance, omits historical and critical notes

Online Composer Collected Works and Primary Sources

Composers' Collected Works

Manuscripts and Early Editions