Tip: Borrowing Recordings
We're happy to lend recordings for use in class presentations.
Please speak to Public Services staff in advance: email, 5-2794, or ask for a supervisor at the circulation desk.
Finding Recordings in HOLLIS
Search for music using the composer, performer, or ensemble name, and the title or opus number of the piece (use keywords to search for song titles).
1. Use a keyword search, then refine your results to "Sound recording" using the facets to the right of the results list.
2. Use the advanced search option for "Audio and Video."
Choose the Expanded Search option and set the format limit to "Audio Music."
Online Audio and Video
Harvard subscribes to a number of streaming audio and video collections, each holding thousands of recordings.
Visit the Early Sound Recording Research Guide for early commercial sound recordings resources.
- Music and Performing Arts OnlineA family of audio and video collections, including: Classical Music Library; Classical Performance in Video, Jazz Music Library; Opera in Video; Dance in Video; American Music; Smithsonian Global Sound; Contemporary World Music; Popular Music Library; Theatre in Video
- Naxos Music LibraryClassical, world, jazz, and folk recordings, with biographical information, opera synopses and libretti, glossaries and pronunciation guides.
- Naxos Music Library: JazzJazz, blues, R&B, rock, and spoken word from Blue Note, Fantasy, Warner, Naxos Jazz and 150+ record labels.
- Naxos Music Library WorldWorld music from the catalogues of Smithsonian Folkways, ARC Music, Nonesuch, and other labels.
- DRAMA collection focused on independent label American recordings (including New World Records and CRI), with liner notes,essays, bibliographies, and discographies
- Ethnographic Sound Archives OnlineHistoric field recordings along with their supporting field notes, photographs, and related interviews.
- Ethnographic Video OnlineFilms covering every region of the world by documentary filmmakers of the 20th century, including interviews, previously unreleased raw footage, field notes, and study guides.
- Ethnomusicology: Global Field RecordingsContains over 60 field collections from ethnomusicologists, produced in collaboration with the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive.
- medici.tvA collection of classical music videos, including concerts, operas, ballets, documentaries, and artist profiles. Some performances are available as live webcasts and for a limited time through delayed streaming.
- Met Opera on DemandHundreds of productions from the Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD, telecasts from the 1970s-2000s, and radio broadcasts dating back to 1936.
- Berliner Philharmoniker Digital Concert HallStreaming interviews, documentaries, archived and live concerts.
- Qwest TVStreaming video service created by Quincy Jones. It features documentaries, concerts, archives and other content as they relate to “jazz and beyond.”