Finding Music Scores  

There are multiple approaches to finding music scores in our library.  Below are two recommended approaches for searching EUREKA: Library Catalog:

• Use an author or title search and apply EUREKA's limit feature.  Think of the composer as the author.
• Use the keyword search function.  This allows you to enter selected terms and conditions in a single step.

Author or Title Search:  For example, searching for a score of Brahms German Requiem, one can search for "Brahms, Johannes" as an author (drop down menu). This search yields over 640 items including books, scores, videos, audios, CDs and even theses to sort through.  Instead, click on "Limit/Sort Search."  Now you can limit by location, material type, language, year of publication, words, etc.  In this example a logical approach is to limit the "material type" to "score" and limit the "words in the title" to "German" or "Requiem" (or both).  This search will lead directly to the 5 scores that are shelved on the 3rd floor.  For a title search simply type in "German Requiem."  This search will yield 8 items.  No need to limit further --- just scroll down to locate the scores.  Another option is to use the "Advanced Keyword Search."  Using the drop down menu, type in "Brahms" as an author.  In the next line enter "German Requiem."  Select "Music Score" as the "Material Type" and click on "Submit."  The 5 scores will come up from this one search.

Keyword Search: For most composers, Opus (Op.) is used as a chronological catalogue of their compositions, e.g., Beethoven Op. 111 is one of his later piano sonatas.  Brahms Op. 111 is a String Quintet.   For Mozart, the Köchel-Verzeichnis (KV) is a complete, chronological catalogue of his compositions, e.g., K. 488 is the A Major Piano Concerto.   For Bach, BWV is the numbering system (Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis), e.g., BWV 565 is the Tocatta and Fugue iin D Minor.  One potential approach to search for specific pieces is to do a keyword search by searching the composer's name with the specific number of the piece.  For example, seaching our catalog by keyword "mozart 488" yields 19 relevant hits (his A major piano concerto).  You can then limit the search to scores or scroll through the 19 items.  Searching "Bach 565" yields 14 items for the Tocatta and Fugue.  Searching "Bach tocatta d minor" yields 28 scores, CDs, etc.   Searching "Op. 111" yields 28 hits mixing up Beethoven, Prokofiev, Brahms, Mendelssohn and other composers who all have Opus 111 pieces.    Seaching "Beethoven 111" yields 10 hits --- some scores, CDs, DVDs, etc.     You get the idea.  Many search options!  The more you search, the more refined and effective your approach should become.  Also consult "search options" on EUREKA for additional help with keyword, title, author, subject and other searching.  It all applies to searches for music scores.

Other search hints:

• If you include the key in your search, do not use music symbols.  Instead use the words "flat" of "sharp," e.g., "Brahms concerto b flat."
• Use truncation (expanding on the root of the word) as logical, e.g., concert* would yield concerto, concerti, etc.
• To find scores owned by other libraries, try the database WorldCat which indexes libraries worldwide.  Many libraries lend scores.  You can use our Interlibrary Resource Sharing (located under "User Services" on the Library website) to make the request online.
• You may want to search any alternative non-English titles if you know them or look them up.
• You may try searching names that have been attached to specific pieces (if you know them) such as e.g., Mozart's "Haffner" Symphony or Beethoven's "Eroica" Symphony. 
• Generally searching by the composer as the author and pairing it with relevant numbers and/or words is the best initial path to success.

Detective work:   Sometimes a search in EUREKA for music scores may yield no results or not the result that you were pursuing.  This may happen when we own a set of the complete works of a composer but details about the contents are not noted in EUREKA, i.e., they are not individually cataloged.  For example, let's say you wanted to examine a score of Mozart's opera Mitridate Re di Porito KV 87.  A EUREKA search only yields a miniature score but you desire something more substantial.  Check The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (Call No.: Ref. ML 100 .N48 2001).  Towards the end of each entry about a composer, typically prior to the bibliography, is a list of all of the composer's works.  For Mozart, the 1st column of this list notes the Kochel-Verzeichnis number.  The 6th and 7th columns provide information about the volume, section and page of the location within various sets of the complete works. We own one of these sets, i.e., Neue Ausgabe Samtlisher Werke (NMA) --- Call No.: M3 M9396..... can't miss it when you look in the 3rd floor stacks.  According to the chart, a larger score of the above opera is in Series 2, werkgruppe 5, band 4.  (This will make sense to you when you look at the information on the spine of the volumes).  Another example is a search for the Mozart Canon (or Kanon) "caro bell" idol mio (KV 562).  A search for "Mozart 562" yields a CD and a potential book that treats this piece.  No score.  But a search in the chart in "The New Grove Dictionary..."   tells us that Series 3, werkgruppe 10, p. 65 of Mozart's Neue Augabe Samtlisher Werke contains the desired score. 

Note: There may be other finding aids that will help one find the location of specific works within the large sets of specific composers' works such as Call No.: Ref. ML113 .H52 1980 (Historical Sets, Collected Editions, and Monuments of Music: A Guides to their Contents).  Check EUREKA for others. 

Please note copyright stipulations, legal considerations, conditions of use, etc. for all of these websites.   One good place to start is a wonderful Duke Libraries Sheet Music Collections (http://library.duke.edu/music/sheetmusic/collections.html).

Please note copyright stipulations, legal considerations, conditions of use, etc. for all of these websites.  Also note that some of the websites that charge for scores also offer selected free access to scores.

From the google website (http://www.google.com) click on Google Books.  Searches for scores might lead to some success.  For example the search "Chopin piano score" yielded some scores of his piano works that could be printed.  These are items out of copyright or if the publisher/author allows for full view.

Similarly, an Internet Archive (http://www.archive.org) search of the same terms "chopin piano score" led to some scores.  Use the search box.

There are also music scores in Special Collections & University Archives (SCUA), including original and unpublished scores by notable and deceased CSUS Music Faculty (e.g., Daniel Kingman and James Adair).  These very special materials have not been cataloged as scores and remain within the archived papers of these individuals.  Please consult SCUA (278-6144 for access).

LibraryMusicSource.com (www.librarymusicsource.com) offers an enormous online database of classical music sheet music including the complete or near complete works of major composers.  Unfortunately, due to budget constraints, we are unable to currently purchase this resource. 

Another source of scores (as well as albums, references and videos) is a set offered by Alexander Street Press titled "Music Online."  The total growing package includes Classical Music Library, Smithsonian Global Sound, American Song/African American Music, Contemporary World Music and Jazz Music Library.  Currently we offer Classical Music Library only.