Finding Scores with Preferred Titles
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).
This tutorial from the Indiana University Music Library is a good introduction to preferred titles for music.
Digital Score Collections
These collections are focused on musical scores and other music-related materials from more than one period; for links to many more, see Online Resources for Music Scholars.
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IMSLPIMSLP (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. Use Harvard's subscription to skip wait times for downloads.
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Music Online: Classical Scores LibraryFull, study, piano, and vocal scores of music from the Middle Ages to the 21st century, available for use online or printed/saved to PDF.
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BabelScoresOnline music library featuring creative contemporary composers from the last decades.
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A-R Editions' Online Music Anthology550 representative vocal and instrumental compositions from antiquity through the nineteenth century. All scores can be viewed online or printed.
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Score Follower LibraryScore Follower Library (SFL) is a faceted search tool that allows users to filter through Score Follower's public archive of works by instrumentation, work duration, composer nationality, and other useful facts.
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Digital Scores and LibrettiHundreds of rare or unique manuscripts and early editions from the Loeb Music Library collections.
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The Music Treasures ConsortiumDigitized music manuscripts and prints (16th-20th centuries) from the Library of Congress, British Library, Bavarian State Library, New York Public Library, The Morgan, The Newberry, the Beethoven-Haus Bonn, Harvard, Juilliard, Johns Hopkins, Princeton, University of Iowa, University of Washington, and Yale.
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Sibley Digital ScoresPublic Domain scores from the collections of the Sibley Library, Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester
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Online Resources for Music Scholars: Digital ScoresLinks to many more digital score and sheet music collections, from a research guide maintained by the Loeb Music Library.
Sheet Music Online
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Sheet Music Consortium200,000+ 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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Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music, ca. 1820 to 1860Over 15,000 pieces of sheet music registered for copyright at the Library of Congress between 1820 and 1860.
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Music for the Nation: American Sheet Music, ca. 1870 to 1885Over 47,000 pieces of sheet music registered for copyright at the Library of Congress between 1870 and 1885.
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Library of Congress: Historic Sheet Music Collection, 1800-19229000 pieces of music - the majority from 1850-1920 - including both classical and popular songs.