Music Quick Guide: Classical Music 

• Research Guide: Music
  
  
• Lewis Music Library FAQ
  
  
• Writing a Music Paper
  
  
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  • Classical Music
  
  
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To find materials owned by MIT, use Barton:

Barton Advanced Search

Shortcuts for Researching a Topic: Online and Print Resources

Music Dictionaries, Encyclopedias and Directories

• The new Grove dictionary of music and musicians / edited by Stanley Sadie. 2nd edition.
  Ref ML100.G883 2001 v.1-29; Grove Music Online is available as part of Oxford Music Online (MIT only)
  The standard music encyclopedia in English. Includes listings of compositions after each biography.

• Baker's biographical dictionary of musicians. Centennial edition.
  Ref ML105.B168 2001 v.1-6 and online (MIT only)
  
  

• The Harvard dictionary of music / edited by Don Michael Randel.
  Ref ML100.H37 2003

• Musical America international directory of the performing arts.
  Ref ML12.M88 (Annual; latest 2 years only kept; latest on Reference)
  

• Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.
  Ref ML100.M987 v.1-17 and Ref ML100.M987 1994 Sachteil 1-9 & index, Personenteil 1-7 & index
  The most comprehensive music encyclopedia in German.

Finding Books and Articles

• Barton (to find materials owned by MIT)
  
  
• Music index.
  Ref ML118.M987 and online (MIT only)
  An index to music articles published in journals from 1949-1974 (print) and 1974-present (online).
  
  
• RILM (Répertoire International de la Littérature Musicale) Abstracts of music literature. (MIT only)
  Contains abstracts of music research (articles, books, dissertations) from 1967 on.
  
  
• WorldCat (MIT only)
  Contains over one billion library records of any type of material cataloged by OCLC member libraries, including books, scores, CDs, and videos/DVDs.
  
  
• Doctoral dissertations in musicology online
  Free web access from the Center for the History of Music Theory and Literature, Indiana University.
  An index of music dissertations-in-progress and a bibliography of completed music dissertations.
  
  
• Google Scholar.
  Includes scholarly literature at MIT and beyond.

To broaden your music search, use Vera Multi-Search

Finding Full-text Journal Articles

• To get the articles found in indexes, click the button in the citation

Indexes and Lists of Works

• Specialized indexes and bibliographies for various instruments and ensembles and types of music are found in the Lewis Music Library's Ref ML128 section. Examples:
  
  
  • Cohn, Arthur. The literature of chamber music.
    Ref ML1100.C64 1997 v.1-4
    
    
  • Dunlap, Kay and Barbara Winchester. Vocal chamber music: a catalog.
    Ref ML128.V7.D86 1985
    
    
  • Farish, Margaret. String music in print.
    Ref ML128.S7.F228 1973

• Thematic catalogs listing composers’ works may be found in Ref ML134, arranged alphabetically by composer. Examples:
  
  • for J.S. Bach, see Ref ML134.B118
  • for W.A. Mozart, see Ref ML134.M939
  • for F. Schubert, see Ref ML134.S384

Writing Tips

• Starting your research
  
  
• Organizing your references


• Writing guides for music: see the Ref ML3797 section in the library

Finding Music Scores

• For scores in the Lewis Music Library, use Barton Advanced Search and select Scores from the pulldown menu under Formats/Types.
  
  
• For online Public Domain scores, see Public Domain Music Scores

Finding CDs and DVDs

• For CDs in the Lewis Music Library, use Barton Advanced Search and select CDs from the pulldown menu under Formats/Types.
  
  
• For DVDs in the Lewis Music Library, use Barton Advanced Search and select DVDs from the pulldown menu under Formats/Types.

Streaming Audio

• Naxos Music Library (MIT only)
  More than 500,000 tracks of music, representing 35,200 CDs.
  
  
• DRAM  [Database of Recorded American Music].  (MIT only)
  Over 9,800 compositions by American composers and artists from New World, CRI, and other important labels.

Online Resources

• Classical.net
  
  
• Internet Resources in Music
  From the University of California Santa Barbara
  
  
• Online Resources for Musical Scholars
  From the Loeb Music Library at Harvard University.
  
  
• Worldwide Internet Music Resources
  From the William and Gayle Cook Music Library at the Indiana University School of Music.
  
  
• Music
  From the University of Washington Music Library.
  
  
• WWW Sites of Interest to Musicologists
  From the American Musicological Society.

Peter Munstedt
Lewis Music Librarian
pmunsted@mit.edu

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• Suggest a purchase (MIT only)
  
  
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