Music 242
A Guide to Library Resources

Spring 2009

 

Locating scores and recordings:

  I.  Begin by locating the best possible edition of your composer's score.  Many pieces will be cataloged individually and are easily found in Bridge .  In addition, you may want to consult the works list appended to your composer's article in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians .  You may want to use:

• Heyer, Anna Harriet. Historical Sets, Collected Editions, and Monuments of Music: A Guide to their Contents. 1980. REF ML 113.H4 1980
• Hill, George R. and Norris L. Stephens. Collected Editions, Historical Series & Sets, & Monuments of Music . 1997. REF ML 113.H55 1997

 

   II.  To locate recordings, use Bridge . Use the thematic catalog number assigned to your work (if it has one) to help to search for and identify the correct recording.  For example: to find a recording of Mozart's Jupiter Sympony, K. 551:

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Fulfilling the Assignment:

   III. Begin your research with background information about your composer and his/her work, putting your piece in context. Also, consult bibliographies to locate other information on your topic. In addition to your text, good starting sources include:

• The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians . 2001. (REF ML 100.N48 2001 and online via library web page)
  Excellent for overview articles as well as great bibliographies.
• Diamond, Harold J. Music Analyses: An Annotated Guide to the Literature . 1991. (REF ML 128.A7D5 1991)
  A superb annotated bibliography of music criticism appropriate to the music generalist and undergraduate student. Arranged by composer with subdivisions of general articles and articles devoted to individual works.
• Reader's Guide to Music History, Theory, Criticism. 1999. (REF ML 160.R32 1999)
  A series of essays that "describe and evaluate cricial the monographic literature in English on a wide variety of topics in music."

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IV. For pre-1940 criticism, you may want to consult the views of other composers, historically influential scholars, contemporaries of your composer, or even letters and other primary source materials by the composer his/herself. The New Grove bibliographies, biographies, etc. will all provide clues in locating these sources; a sampling of possible titles is listed below:

• Berlioz, Hector. Beethoven: Impressions by his Contemporaries . ML 410.B4B28 1967
• Mozart, Weber and Wagner: With Various Essays on Musical Subjects . ML 410.B5A3
• Burney, Charles. An Eighteenth-Century Musical Tour... ML 195.B91 and .B92 1959
• Hanslick, Eduard. Music Criticisms, 1846-99 . ML 60.H352
• Kodolin, Irving. The Composer as Listener. ML 90.K63
• Morgenstern, Sam. Composers on Music: An Anthology of Composers' Writings from Palestrina to Copland.    ML 90.M6
• Norman, Gertrude and Miriam Shrifte. Letters of Composers: An Anthology. ML 90.N67
• Plantinga, Leon B. Schumann as Critic . ML 410.S5P6
• Schoenberg, Arnold. Style and Idea . ML 60.S36 1975
• Schumann, Robert. On Music and Musicians . ML 410.S5A14 1983
• Slonimsky, Nicolas. Lexicon of Musical Invective: Critical Assaults on Composers Since Beethoven's Time . ML 3785.S5 2000
• Strunk, Oliver. Source Readings in Music History . ML 160.S89 1998
• Taurskin, Richard and Piero Weiss. Music in the Western World: A History in Documents . ML 160.M865
• Tovey, Donald Francis, Sir. Beethoven . ML 410.B4T6 1951
• ________. Essays in Musical Analysis. MT 90.T6
• Weber, Carl Maria von. Writings on Music. ML 60.W3713
• Weiss, Piero. Letters of Composers through Six Centuries. ML 90.W44

  Note:  The International Index to Music Periodicals and JSTOR (see step VIII) index some periodicals from the late 1800s.  Be sure to use a keyword search, not subject, and limit to information before 1940 for this portion of your assignment.

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V. The article on "Criticism" in New Grove also provides an excellent overview of the development of critical thinking about music.

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VI. Thematic indexes of composers' works are also helpful. Some of the most important separately published thematic indexes in our collection include:

• Bach, C.P.E.: Helm, E. Eugene. Thematic Catalogue of the Works of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. REF ML 134.B1A2 1989
• Beethoven: Kinsky, Georg. Das Werk Beethovens: Thematisch-bibliographisches Verzeichnis seiner sämtlichen vollendeten Kompositionen .
  REF ML 134.B4K5
• Boccherini,: Gerard, Yves.  Thematic, Bibliographical and Critical Catalogue of the Works of Luigi Boccherini .  REF ML 134.B63G5 1969
• Haydn: Hoboken, Anthony van. Joseph Haydn: Thematisch-bibliographisches Werkverzeichnis .  REF ML 134.H272H6
• Mozart: Köchel, Ludwig Ritter von. Chronologisch-thematisches Verzeichnis sämtlicher Tonwerke Wolfgang Amade Mozarts . REF ML 134.M9K53 1969
• Schubert: Deutsch, Otto Erich, Franz Schubert: Thematisches Verzeichnis seiner Werke in chronologischer Folge. REF ML 134.S38D4 1978

Thematic indexes can also be incorporated in scholarly biographies of composers.  Be sure to look carefully in Bridge for notes about thematic indexes, bibliographies, etc.  Also consult New Grove lists of works and bibliographies.

 

Miscellaneous German Terms Used in Thematic Catalogs, etc.

(See also Terminorum Musicae Index Septem Linguis Redactus REF ML 108.T476 and
Horst Leuchtmann's Dictionary of Terms in Music REF ML 108.W73 1998 )

· Widmung: dedication
· Autograph: autograph manuscript
· Ausgaben: editions
· Bearbeitungen: arrangements
· Anmerkungen: remarks, observations
· Thematisch-Verzeichnis: catalog, inventory
 

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 VII.  For post 1960 studies and analyses of your work, you may want to supplement what you have found via New Grove and Diamond (step III) with periodical indexes.  (Several also work work pre-1940.) Try:

• Academic Search Premiere , 1975-present           Online via the Libraries' web page
  An online index to more than 8000 publications covering a variety of subject areas, many in full text. A good way to gain access to recent materials as well as more general journals that may not be indexed in Music Index.
• International Index to Music Periodicals (coverage varies) Online via the Libraries' web page
  A broadly based index of music periodicals, including access to some newspapers. Indexing varies depending upon the periodical or newspaper title; some journals are indexed from the late 1800s.
• Music Index , 1949-present Music Library Reference ML118.M9 (Index tables) or Online via the Libraries' web page
  More than 300 music periodicals are indexed by author and subject. Reviews of performances, scholarly articles, obituaries, and book reviews are included.. 1975- present also available online via the library's web page.
• RILM Abstracts of Music Literature 1967-present Music Library Reference ML118.A2 or Online via the Libraries' web page
  Indexes parts of books as well as periodical literature and includes many foreign articles and books. You may either browse general categories or use the author-subject index. Abstracts provide descriptive information about the source cited.

Note: Many periodicals are now available in full text online via resources such as JSTOR.  Find these by checking the periodical titles in the WEB verison of Bridge.

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To locate information about recent authors, you may want to consult these sources in addition to New Grove:
 

• Directory of Music Faculties in Colleges and Universities, U.S. and Canada .  Missoula, Montana: CMS Publications.  REF ML13.D57
  Provides a listing of current faculty at colleges and universities.
• International Who's Who in Music and Musicians' Directory .   Cambridge: International Who's Who   in Music.  REF ML105.I58  
  Brief biographical information about living people involved in all aspects of the profession of music. Coverage is erratic and changes from year to year. Volume 1 covers people concerned with classical and “light classical”music.
   

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VIII. When you get to the point of writing your paper, consult Wingell's  Writing about Music: An Introductory Guide (REF ML 3797.W54 2009) for information about formatting your work. Kate Turabian's A Manual for Writers (REF ML 2369.T8 2007) as well as resources from Dr. Hanson; various online sources ( online via the Music Library web page) may also be helpful.

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IX. Two reminders:

1. If you have questions, be sure to ask for help. Music Library reference office hours are posted on the librarians' door. Please remember, we're here to help.

2. If you need to request materials from Interlibrary Loan, do it EARLY. It's a great system but can't work miracles. Count on at least a week's wait.

 

Good luck with your research!

 

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Contact Information:	Page Information:
Beth Christensen Halvorson Music Library 147 507-786-3362 christeb@stolaf.edu	Created by: Beth Christensen | 2.2.09 Created for: Alice Hanson & students Updated by: {Name} | {Date}