LibGuides: Music History: Musical Sources (M2)

Musical Sources (M2)

"Musical source" is a broad term with several different meanings. In Library of Congress Classification, musical sources are the volumes classified in M2 through M2.3 which consist of various monuments and facsimile series. Oxford Music Online defines a monument as a "multi-volume series in which the majority of individual volumes present a unified musical repertory derived from the same or from closely related original sources." In other words, unlike a complete edition which focuses on a single composer, a monument selects works by several composers, named or anonymous, in an attempt to draw connections between them or illustrate a common theme. While monuments are often thoroughly-annotated scholarly editions, other series are facsimiles which are copied more-or-less precisely from an unedited original.

The designation "musical source" can also refer, more generally, to any music or writing on music which has come to us direct from its creators whether or not it is classified in M2. Especially in the internet age, we have the ability to view digitized reproductions of rare handwritten manuscripts and early printed editions preserved in libraries, archives, and other collections around the world from the convenience of a personal computer, tablet, or smartphone. This development has challenged the notion of the conventional print facsimile: aging, black-and-white paper copies of these sources are no longer required, nor even desirable, when the original itself can be viewed in a high resolution, color image. Nevertheless not everything has been digitized, and there is much more to M2 than only facsimiles.

See the lists below for musical sources held in the Music Collection as well as, in the final box, several online locations for digitized manuscripts. For more information on musical sources, refer to the entries for "Editions, historical" and "Sources, MS" at Oxford Music Online.

M2 Musical Sources in the Music Collection

Browse the list below for titles of some of the major musical sources held in the print Music Collection. Hover over the info icon to see the call number and a brief description of the series or volume, and follow the link for more information on its contents. Notice especially series identified as Recent Researches in Music, several long-running and prestigious series issued by A-R Editions, or those published by Garland. The German word Denkmäler, meaning "monument" or "memorial," appears in several titles as does the Latin, Monumenta. Others like Le Trésor des pianistes and The Wa-Wan Press are of special historical significance.

Range #1: Analytic Symphony to Recent Researches

Analytic Symphony Series M2 .A5 Includes piano arrangements of major symphonies by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Dvořák, and others
Anthologie des maîtres religieux primitifs des XVe, XVIe, et XVIIe siècles M2 .A516 1981 Sacred music by Giovanni Gabrieli, Josquin des Prez, Orlande de Lassus, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Tomás Luis de Victoria, and others
Antiquitates musicae in Polonia M2 .A533 Pre-Modern music from Poland, including organ music and sacred choruses
The Old English Edition M2.A6 O4 Edited by G.E.P. Arkwright, this series includes masques, masses, madrigals, and works in other genres by composers such as Thomas Campion, Christopher Tye, and Thomas Weelkes.
Treize livres de motets parus chez Pierre Attaingnant M2.A87 L5 1973 A facsimile edition of the motets printed by the French publisher Pierre Attaingnant in 1534 and 1535
The Music of the Bay Psalm Book, 9th Edition M2 .B318 No.5 Selections from the Bay Psalm Book of the American Puritans
Monumenta musicae Byzantinae M2 .B99 A collection of materials for the study of earlier Byzantine notations. The Music Collection holds volumes 7 "Specimina notationum antiquiorum" and 8 "Hirmologium Sabbaiticum."
Classici musicali italiani M2 .C633 Italian classical music from across the centuries, including selections by Claudio Monteverdi, Benedetto Marcello, Pietro Locatelli, Luigi Boccherini, and others
Music of the Florentine Renaissance M2 .C685 Includes collected works of Bernardo Pisano, Alessandro Coppini, Francesco de Layolle, Francesco Corteccia, and others
Corpus of Early Keyboard Music M2 .C8 Edited by Willi Apel and spanning 20 volumes held in the Music Collection
Corpus of Early Music M2 .C85 Facsimile of the edition published by Tylman Susato in 1555. Includes music in part books by Clément Janequin, Orlande de Lassus, Philippe de Monte, Jacobus Clemens non Papa, Philippe Verdelot, and others.
Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich M2 .D36 More than 100 volumes of Austrian music across several centuries, including works by Ludwig Senfl, Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, Leopold Hofmann, Joseph Lanner, and many others
Denkmäler deutscher Tonkunst M2 .D3915 Approximately 65 volumes of German music across several centuries, including works by Samuel Scheidt, Johann Kuhnau, Georg Böhm, Georg Philipp Telemann, Christoph Graupner, and many others
Le Trésor des pianistes M2.F242 T7 1861 A Reprint of series issued in 1861 by Aristide and Louise Farrenc. Includes keyboard music by Johann Jacob Froberger, François Couperin, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, and many others.
The English Madrigal School M2 .F4 Includes madrigals by Thomas Morley, Thomas Weelkes, John Wilbye, John Bennet, and others of their era
The English School of Lutenist Song Writers M2 .F42 In several series. Includes music by John Dowland, Robert Dowland, Thomas Campion, and their contemporaries.
Publikation aelterer praktischer und theoretischer Musik-Werke M2 .G39 1966 "Publication of older practical and theoretical music works"
Hispaniae schola musica sacra M2 .H67 Compiled by Felipe Pedrell, this eight-volume series includes sacred music by Cristóbal de Morales, Antonio de Cabezón, Francisco Guerrero, Ginés Pérez de la Parra, and other Spanish composers.
Italian Secular Song, 1606-1636 M2 .I883 1986 Edited by Gary Tomlinson and published by Garland, this seven-volume series, largely organized by city and geographic region, reprints in facsimile Italian songbooks published in the years 1606 to 1636.
The Wa-Wan Press M2 .L284 Five volumes of facsimiles from Arthur Farwell's Wa-Wan Press, 1901 to 1911, in which he and colleagues sought to incorporate Native American music into their compositions
Les Maîtres musiciens de la Renaissance française M2 .M23 Series in approximately twenty volumes dedicated to composers of the French Renaissance, including Pierre Attaingnant, Guillaume Costeley, Clément Janequin, Pierre de La Rue, Claude Le Jeune, Jean Mouton, and others.
Masters and Monuments of the Renaissance M2 .M27 Five-volume set including the collected works of Antoine Busnoys, Robert Morton, Philip van Wilder, and other compositions
Monumenta monodica medii aevi M2 .M48193 Contains monophonic composed music from the Middle Ages, including hymns, tropes, antiphons, alleluias, troubadour/trouvere music, sequences, etc.
Monumenta polyphoniae liturgicae M2 .M4843 Facsimiles of Catholic polyphony across several centuries and including Mass settings by Guillaume Dufay, Johannes Ockeghem, Johannes Tinctoris, and others.
Monumentos de la música española M2 .M4845 Edited by Felipe Pedrell and Higinio Anglés, this series includes the complete works of Cristóbal de Morales and Tomás Luis de Victoria plus works for keyboard, harp, and vihuela by Antonio de Cabezón.
Monuments of Renaissance Music M2 .M489 Contains sacred and secular music of the Renaissance, including volumes dedicated to Masses for the Sistine Chapel, sacred music from the Trent Cathedral, a collection of polyphony from the Americas, motets written for Lorenzo de' Medici, etc.
Musica antiqua Bohemica M2 .M637 Series of more than 60 volumes of music by Bohemian composers especially of the 18th and 19th centuries, including Franz Benda, Jan Ladislav Dussek, Anton Reicha, Franz Xaver Richter, Johann Stamitz, Paul Wranitzky, Jan Dismas Zelenka, etc.
Musica Britannica M2 .M638 More than 80 volumes of British music across all eras, including works by John Blow, John Eccles, John Field, Maurice Greene, Hubert Parry, Peter Philips, etc.
Musikwerk Anthology of Music M2 .M94512 A collection of complete musical examples illustrating the history of music. Each volume focuses on a different musical genre and includes textual introductions.
Nagels Musik-Archiv M2 .N25 Series of 17th and 18th-century instrumental music by composers such as Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Johann Christian Bach, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, Johann Joseph Fux, George Frideric Handel, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Johann Joachim Quantz, Samuel Scheidt, Carl Stamitz, Georg Philipp Telemann, etc.
The Old Hall Manuscript M2 .O55 A collection of 15th-century music by English composers transcribed and edited by Andrew Hughes and Margaret Bent
Polyphonic Music of the Fourteenth Century M2 .P652 Sacred and secular music of the 14th century spanning national schools, including English, French, German, and Italian. Several volumes are dedicated to major composers like Johannes Ciconia, Francesco Landini, and Guillaume de Machaut.
Musica Divina M2.P93 M9 1973 Eight volumes of sacred music edited by Carl Proske
Recent Researches in American Music M2 .R2375 Edited by H. Wiley Hitchcock from 1976 to 1994 and currently by John Graziano, this prestigious series encompasses a wide variety of genres, styles, and epochs that define the music of the United States from its earliest days through the twentieth century. More than 80 volumes are at Bracken Library, including two in oversize.
Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era M2 .R238 Edited by Alexander J. Fisher, this prestigious series of over 100 volumes includes a vast store of music that reflects the musical richness of the Baroque era. Each volume provides an historical introduction, a critical report, and English translations of foreign texts.
Recent Researches in the Music of the Classical Era M2 .R2381 Edited by Neal Zaslaw, this prestigious series spanning approximately 100 volumes includes a rich array of musical sources and genres that originated between roughly 1740 and 1830 for performance in church, chamber, and theater. Each volume in the series provides a historical introduction, critical report, and English translations of foreign texts.

Range #2: Recent Researches to Women Composers

Recent Researches in the Music of the Classical Era M2 .R2381 Edited by Neal Zaslaw, this prestigious series spanning approximately 100 volumes includes a rich array of musical sources and genres that originated between roughly 1740 and 1830 for performance in church, chamber, and theater. Each volume in the series provides a historical introduction, critical report, and English translations of foreign texts.
Recent Researches in the Music of the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance M2 .R2383 Edited by Rebecca Maloy, this prestigious series presents editions of music from the thousand-year period extending from c.500 to 1500 C.E. Accordingly, the series offers an array of music that is correspondingly rich and diverse, encompassing the principal types of both monophony and polyphony that were composed during the period. The editions include a discussion of historical context and performance practices, complete translations of texts, and a critical report.
Recent Researches in the Music of the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries M2 .R23834 Edited by Francesca Brittan, this prestigious series which spans over 100 volumes covers a period when music publication became much more widespread, piano manufacture increased, and there was much music-making in private middle class homes and public concert halls. The music in this series reflects this situation with works in many genres and styles and by composers of many nationalities, both famous ones and lesser lights.
Recent Researches in the Music of the Renaissance M2 .R2384 Edited by David Crook, this prestigious series which spans over 100 volumes brings to press many volumes devoted to the music of the "long" sixteenth century. Each volume in the series provides a historical introduction, critical report, and English translations of foreign texts. Together they represent all of the principal genres of the period.
Seventeenth-Century Italian Sacred Music M2 .S48 Series of nine volumes published by Garland and focusing primarily on Masses by composers like Maurizio Cazzati, Giovanni Antonio Grossi, and Giovanni Legrenzi. Also includes two volumes dedicated to Vespers and Compline music.
Sixteenth-Century Motet M2 .S57 Thirty-volume series published by Garland and featuring previously unpublished full scores of major works from the Renaissance. Includes selections from manuscripts as well as publications by Susato and Ghibellini.
The Squarcialupi Codex M2 .S72 A modern print notation version of the manuscript which in the 15th century belonged to Antonio Squarcialupi
The Symphony, 1720-1840 M2 .S95 A sixty-volume series published by Garland which traces the origins and early development of the symphony through full score editions.
Der getreue Musikmeister M2.T46 G4 Eight volumes of music with parts by Georg Philipp Telemann
Three Centuries of Music in Score M2 .T57 A thirteen-volume facsimile series published by Garland and created under the auspices of the Works Projects Administration (i.e., Works Progress Administration)
Codex Tridentinus M2.T85 C6 Facsimile reproduction of the Codex Tridentinus kept in the Museum of the Castle Buon Consiglio in Trent. Seven volumes.
Trois chansonniers français du XVe siècle M2 .T865 1978 Reprint of the 1927 edition published in Paris and including polyphonic songs by Antoine Busnoys, Johannes Ockeghem, Johannes Tinctoris, and other French and Franco-Flemish composers of the 15th century
Tudor Church Music M2 .T92 1963 Ten-volume series surveying the sacred music of Tudor England and including compositions by William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons, Thomas Tallis, John Taverner, and others
The Cypriot-French Repertory M2 .T95 1960 Four-volume series collecting late medieval Masses, motets, and polyphonic songs from the Court of Cyprus and preserved in the manuscript of Turin
Women Composers: Music through the Ages M2 .W653 1996 Seven-volume series featuring annotated, modern performance scores by women composers from the 9th through the 20th centuries. Contains explanatory essays, biographical and musical notes by various editors, and texts of vocal works with English translations.

Range #15: Oversize -- Elías to Le Roman de Fauvel

Elías, José (c.1678-c.1755): Obras Completas M2 .B2 Complete edition for Catalan organist and composer José Elías, edited by José M. Llorens and Julián Sagasta y Montserrat Torrent
Early Bodleian Music M2 .E11 Introduction and facsimiles of some of the oldest Latin musical manuscripts in the Bodleian Library of Oxford University, including sacred and secular music ranging from c.1185 to c.1505
Das Erbe deutscher Musik M2 .E68 This series, whose title translates as "The Legacy of German Music," includes music by many lesser-known German composers of the 16th through 19th centuries, including Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer, Andreas Hammerschmidt, Ignaz Holzbauer, Heinrich Marschner, Johann Mattheson, Johann Friedrich Reichardt, Ludwig Senfl, and Carl Friedrich Zelter.
Masters of the Violin M2 .M2584 Six-volume facsimile series focusing on 18th-century violin music, including works by Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Johann Jakob Walther, and others
Monuments of Music and Music Literature in Facsimile M2 .M488 Facsimile editions of keyboard music by composers and compilers, including Jacques Champion de Chambonnières, Jean Henry D'Anglebert, Ottaviano Petrucci, and Henry Purcell.
Paléographie musicale M2 .P35 Ser. 2 V.1/2 Facsimile edition of the Hartker Antiphoner stored at the Abbey of St. Gall in Switzerland
Recent Researches in Music M2 .R2375 to .R2384 Several volumes from the various Recent Researches series are shelved in oversize
Le Roman de Fauvel M2 .R66 1990 A reproduction in facsimile of the complete manuscript Le Roman de Fauvel in the edition of Mesire Chaillou de Pesstain held at the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris

M2.3 Musical Sources by Region or Country

The vast majority of musical sources are classified in M2. There are, however, several additional sources in M2.3 where they are separated by region or country as indicated by their first cutters (i.e., U6 = United States). These can be found in Range #2 immediately following the M2s. There are no oversize or miniscores for M2.3.

The Worcester Fragments M2.3.G7 D5X Facsimile edition of the largest extant repertory of English polyphonic music of the 13th and early 14th centuries
The Italian Cantata in the Seventeenth Century M2.3.I8 I82 Series published by Garland and including secular vocal music by composers such as Giacomo Carissimi, Antonio Cesti, Luigi Rossi, Alessandro Scarlatti, Alessandro Stradella, and Barbara Strozzi. Six volumes are in the Music Collection.
The Bicentennial Collection of American Music M2.3.U6 B52 Facsimile edition of American vocal and instrumental music with added historical information on each work. Created in celebration of the Bicentennial of the United States in 1976.
Democratic Souvenirs: An Historical Anthology of Nineteenth-Century American Music M2.3.U6 D4 1988 Selected by Richard Jackson and with a foreword by Virgil Thomson, this volume includes American music in a wide variety of styles and genres, including songs, piano pieces, theatrical, choral, chamber, and orchestral music. Among the composers are Amy Beach, Stephen Foster, Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Scott Joplin, Edward MacDowell, John Knowles Paine, George F. Root, and John Philip Sousa.
Three Centuries of American Music M2.3.U6 T57 Facsimiles of American music across several genres, including chamber music, keyboard works, opera, orchestral music, sacred music, song, and wind band

M1 Miscellaneous Collections

Although not strictly musical sources, there are several related titles and series classified in M1 miscellaneous collections. Most are shelved in Range #1 immediately preceding the M2s while a few oversize volumes are in Range #15.

Benjamin Carr (1768-1831): Musical Journal M1.A1 M55 Reprint edition of The Musical Journal first published by American composer Benjamin Carr from 1800 to 1804 which was at the time the largest collection of secular music issued in the United States
SCI Journal of Music Scores M1 .A6365 The SCI Journal of Music Scores is an anthology of music by members of the Society of Composers, Inc. (previously the American Society of University Composers, or ASUC). The Journal has appeared regularly since 1973, usually two issues per year. The print Music Collection includes Volumes 1 through 35 (2004).
Famous Composers and their Works (1901) M1 .F18 1901 Sixteen-volume series edited by John Knowles Paine, Theodore Thomas, and Karl Klauser and revised from their 1891 publication. Volumes 1 through 6 are text while Volumes 7 through 16 are musical selections. The Music Collection holds Volumes 1 through 10 as well as several volumes from the 1891 edition.
The New Scribner Music Library M1.H33 S3 1972 Eleven-volume series edited by American composer and educator Howard Hanson, consisting largely of piano music (two- and four-hands) and songs. A notable emphasis is placed on American music.
The New Historical Anthology of Music by Women M1 .H665 2004 Edited by James R. Briscoe and with a foreword by Susan McClary, this volume profiles approximately 40 female composers from Ancient Greece to the present and includes scores of their music.
The International Library of Music for Home and Studio M1 .I68 Edited by Charles Dennée and Nicholas DeVore, this eight-volume set created in 1925 includes piano music and transcriptions for one to two performers, ranging from study pieces to concert selections.
Modern Music and Musicians for Vocalists M1 .M65 1918 Edited by Louis Charles Elson, this series represents songs across genres, including folksong, children's songs, national songs, oratorio selections, and operatic arias in addition to familiar art songs. The Music Collection holds seven volumes.
New Music: A Quarterly of Modern Compositions M1 .N55 Quarterly publication of Modernist music launched in 1927 by American composer Henry Cowell. Later continued under the auspices of the American Music Center. The Music Collection includes 46 volumes spanning 1927 to the late 1950s and featuring music by Cowell, George Antheil, Henry Brant, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Morton Feldman, Charles Ives, Conlon Nancarrow, Carl Ruggles, and others.
Sammlung von Musik-Stücken alter und neuer Zeit M1 .S315 Reprint of music scores, "old and new," which accompanied Robert Schumann's journal Neuen Zeitschrift für Musik in the late 1830s and early 1840s
Source: Music of the Avant-Garde (Oversize) M1 .S68 Journal publishing avant-garde scores and related textual material which ran from 1967 to 1973. Edited by Larry Austin and Stanley Lunetta. Six volumes, totaling nine issues, are held in the Music Collection. Also see Phonodisc 1541.
Songs the Whole World Sings M1 .W65 Set of four books compiled and arranged by Albert E. Wier in the early 20th century and including folksongs, love songs, children's songs, and others. Many selections will likely be familiar from childhood.

Musical Sources Online

Austrian National Library Digital Collections As the central academic library of the Republic of Austria, the Austrian National Library (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek) looks back to a history rich in tradition going as far as the 14th century. It is a living bridge between the rich heritage of the past and the future-oriented demands of a modern information society. Their digital collection of manuscripts is extensive and can be searched in either German or English. A database called Beethoven Digital includes numerous manuscripts, letters, first prints, and illustrations by this composer.
Ball State University Digital Media Repository: Sheet Music Collection The Sheet Music Collection at the Ball State University Digital Media Repository provides online access to historic sheet music predominantly from the United States dating from the 1840s to 1922. Most of the music is for piano and voice. Styles documented include popular music, secular art song, sacred art song, and songs pertaining to the United States in wartime. Included in this digital collection is sheet music from the Hague Collection, which was collected by Frank Penwell and donated to Ball State University Libraries by Elizabeth Hague, his daughter, in 2006. Much of this collection is comprised of popular music titles, including songs from movies and Vaudeville productions.
Berlin State Library Digital Collections The more than ten thousand digitized music items at the Berlin State Library (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin) include manuscripts, prints, libretti, poetic texts for Lieder, and much else. Of interest to Beethoven scholars are the composer's conversation books (1820, 1825, 1826). Other offerings include writings by and about Richard Wagner; music in manuscript by Franz Liszt; letters to Clara Schumann by Brahms (and many others); prints, manuscript, and letters by Mendelssohn; and copious amounts of eighteenth-century music, some of it in nineteenth-century manuscript copies. The Berlin State Library also holds the world's largest collection of manuscripts by Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
British Library Digital Collections The British Library has a world-famous collection of printed and manuscript music, music recordings, concert programs, books, and periodicals on music. Their collection of music manuscripts dates from the middle ages to the present day. Digitized collections include autograph manuscripts by Henry Purcell and George Frideric Handel, notably his Messiah; all of their Benjamin Britten manuscripts; plus music by many composers from the European continent, including the second book of Johann Sebastian Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier. There are also digitized materials related to the Royal Philharmonic Society and numerous sound recordings available online.
Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music (DIAMM) The Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music (DIAMM) is a leading resource for the study of medieval manuscripts. We present images and metadata for thousands of manuscripts on our website. We also provide a home for scholarly resources and editions, undertake digital restoration of damaged manuscripts and documents, publish high-quality facsimiles, and offer our expertise as consultants.
Digital Resources for Musicology (DRM) 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 for Musicology (DRM) is organized topically and provides a rapid search tool for specialties within heterogeneous collections. Neither the links nor their descriptions are exhaustive. Older projects predating the development of the internet are listed at ADAM: Archive of Digital Applications in Musicology. Curated digital and hybrid editions are itemized at EVE: Electronic and Virtual Editions.
Early Music Online Early Music Online has digitized over 320 volumes of 16th-century anthologies of printed music, from holdings at the British Library. These digitized volumes contain approximately 10,000 musical compositions, which have been individually indexed. The volumes mainly consist of partbooks of vocal polyphony, but also include some early printed tablatures for keyboard or plucked string instruments. They include music printed in Italy, Germany, France, and England.
International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) Manuscripts The International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) was started in 2006 with the belief that music should be something that is easily accessible for everyone. The goal of IMSLP is to gather all public domain music scores, in addition to the music scores of all contemporary composers (or their estates) who wish to release them to the public free of charge. Their manuscripts page currently includes over 21,000 scans of manuscripts or printed facsimiles of manuscripts. Files are organized alphabetically and can also be narrowed down using the Category Walker according to work types, instrumentation, featured instruments, languages, periods, and composers.
Kiselgof-Makonovetsky Digital Manuscript Project (KMDMP) A project of The Klezmer Institute, the Kiselgof-Makonovetsky Digital Manuscript Project (KMDMP) is an international digital humanities project to make materials collected by Zinovy Kiselgof during An-ski Expeditions, and the Makonovetsky Wedding Manuscript--long-preserved in the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine--available for researchers, instrumentalists, and singers around the world to engage with first hand. The project seeks to use modern digital humanities tools to transcribe and translate the music and notes contained in approximately 850 high-resolution scans from hand-written notebooks (hefts) and catalogue into digital formats for further study and performance.
Library of Congress Digital Collections The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps, and manuscripts in its collections. It preserves and provides access to a rich, diverse, and enduring source of knowledge to inform, inspire, and engage you in your intellectual and creative endeavors. Browse over sixty digital collections in music on topics like Aaron Copland, Amazing Grace, the Ballets Russes, baseball sheet music, early American sheet music, and many others.
Loeb Music Library Digital Scores and Libretti The Loeb Music Library at Harvard University digitizes scores and libretti selected for their rare or unique natures and their popularity as objects of research and teaching. By providing online access to these items, the library makes primary source materials available for use at Harvard and around the world. This digital collection includes manuscripts, first editions, and early editions of music from the 17th to the early 20th century. Many items, such as variant editions and annotated proofs of 19th-century operas and related libretti, are meant to be seen and used together. As a group, they give scholars a window into the study of historical performance practice.
Mexico City Cathedral Archive The Catálogo de Música at the Mexico City Cathedral Archive includes digitized manuscripts of over two thousand works by Mexican and other composers preserved at the Mexico City Cathedral, including many from the colonial era. Records have been gradually uploaded and are now freely available to the public on this website. The first block of records uploaded featured the so-called "Estrada Collection" and includes the digitization of the complete collection and the musical incipits corresponding to each item. Subsequently, the remaining villancicos, cantadas, vespers, antiphons, psalms, canticles, and instrumental versets have been added.
The Morgan Library Music Manuscripts Online Music Manuscripts Online provides access to a selection of more than 700 digitized music manuscripts from New York City's Morgan Library and Museum for study and enjoyment. Use the search feature, or browse by composer or manuscript. Many of the major composers in Western classical music are represented.
RISM Inventory of Musical Sources RISM is a comprehensive index of musical sources produced by the Répertoire International des Sources Musicales. It contains records for manuscripts, printed editions, libretti, and treatises held in music libraries, archives, churches, private collections, and other institutions around the world. It also contains many digitized items.
Score Follower New Music Resource Score Follower strives to provide access to contemporary music for all. Through our activities, we also aim to strengthen, diversify, and connect our musical community. Our dedication to others in the field motivates our commitment to procuring legally obtained scores and recordings. By respecting our community and representing our field as well as we can, Score Follower aims to be a new kind of information resource and center for the online community. Find their score videos on YouTube, or visit their website to learn more.
UCLA Contemporary Music Score Collection The Contemporary Music Score Collection is published by the University of California, Los Angeles Music Library. The 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. The Contemporary Score Edition is made possible because of the Hugo and Christine Davise Fund for Contemporary Music.