Skip to Main Content

MUTH 111: Listening to Revolutions: History, Arts, and Performance II

Uniform Titles

Often assigned to music scores because a musical work may be published in multiple editions with varying versions of the title (i.e. variable order of form, medium, key, opus numbering, use of programmatic titles such as Beethoven's Sonata Pathetique for Sonata op. 13, no. 8, as well as titles in different languages).

In the case of works with generic titles, form, instrumentation, numbering and key qualifiers are added in a prescribed order to identify the piece.

Beethoven. Sonatas, piano, no. 8, op. 13, C minor

In the case of works with distinctive titles, the uniform title is based on the original language of the publication.

Mozart. Nozze di Figaro (i.e. NOT Marriage of Figaro)

In the case of arrangements, transcriptions, or reductions, "arr." is appended to the uniform title to indicate that the score is not the original version.

Concierto de Aranjuez; arr.

Music Scores and Sound Recordings

Types of Scores

  • Performance scores, classed in M6 to M9999 and often include editorial or interpretive markings.
  • Miniature/Study scores shelved separately and suitable for analysis and study.
  • Historical Sets, classed in M1 to M5, include the collected works of the masters and anthologies of historically significant works (many not found in performing editions). See the index listings in: Harriet Heyer's bibliography, Historical Sets, Collected Editions, and Monuments of Music: A Guide to Their Contents (Ref. ML113 .H52 1980 2 vols.). Also, annotated FACSIMILES of composers' manuscripts are shelved in ML93 - ML96 .5. 

Find Music Scores in Omni

All music scores are accessible through Omni searching by Author (i.e. composer), Title, Subject or Boolean.

Use Boolean searches to avoid retrieving sound recordings.  

mahler AND wunderhorn NOT (disc OR sound)
beethoven AND symphon* AND (pastoral* OR "no. 6" OR "op. 68") NOT (disc OR sound)
Note that excluding the sound recording format will retrieve scores, as well as historical, critical, and analytical works about the music. The call number will indicate if it is a score (M) or a book (ML).
Truncation (*) allows the possibility of finding a call number for the single work or a published collection (anthology) of the composer's symphonies, sonatas, etc. which contains the individual work required.
e.g. sonat* truncated will retrieve sonata, sonatas, sonate, sonates, Sonaten, sonatina, etc.
 

Sound Recordings

Request a mobile music cart at the Stauffer Reserve Desk and book a Music Listening Room to use AV.  

Compact discs on the 2nd floor circulate for one week. The shelf numbers reflect the date of accession to the collection. e.g. SRCD04-1156 means the 1156th Sound Recording Compact Disc acquired in 2004. 

DVDs on the ground floor in the Multimedia Collection circulate for 3 days.

LP recordings (33 1/3 rpm) in Music-Storage can be requested at the Information Services Desk for 3-hour in-library use only. Album covers and booklet inserts are a valuable source of historical, analytical and performer information.

Search example;

beethoven AND sonat* AND piano AND "op. 13" AND "compact disc

Online Scores

Instrument/Voice Performer Guides

Instrument/Voice Performer Guides are useful for browsing available scores for specific instruments or voice by classification number in the library.

Find Song Titles

The Song Index helps locate songs from published collections/anthologies housed in the music collection stacks. Access to a specific song is principally by composer, song title or first line. Use the Song Index if you can't find a song title searched in quotes by Keyword Boolean in Omni - e.g. "il pleure dans mon coeur"