Databases List By Format: Music Scores

The 19th-Century American Sheet Music Collection contains descriptions and of approximately 3,500 popular and instrumental works from the latter 70 years of the 19th century. Created by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's music library.

19th-Century California Sheet Music is a virtual library of approximately 2,700 pieces of sheet music published in California in the latter half of the 19th century, along with related materials. Created by the University of California, Berkeley.

The Aaron Copland Collection, ca. 1900-1990, by the Library of Congress, presents a selection of digitized materials from the full Aaron Copland Collection. Materials include music sketches, correspondence, writings, and photographs.

The African-American Band Music & Recordings, 1883-1923 collection at the Library of Congress contains stock ensemble arrangements of popular songs written by African Americans, as well as a small selection of historic sound recordings featuring these and similar songs.

African American Sheet Music is a growing digital collection of materials selected from the Sheet Music Collection at Brown University's John Hale Library. Pieces in the collection date from the 1820s to the present.

American Choral Music, a collaboration between the Library of Congress and the Choral Directors Association, presents a selection of significant choral music in the public domain by leading American composers from the 1860s to 1922.

The American Memory project of the Library of Congress National Digital Library Program digitizes distinctive, historical Americana holdings at the Library of Congress, including photographs, full-text manuscripts and rare books, maps, recorded sound and moving pictures. To achieve its goal, this unique public-private program, also works in cooperation with members of the Digital Library Federation and other libraries and archives throughout the United States. For example, digital collections from the LC/Ameritech Digital Library Competition are included.

The Bach Cantatas Website focuses on Johann Sebastian Bach's cantatas and other vocal works. The site provides online access to scores, texts, and translations, as well as other relevant resources. Full scores from the Gesamtausgabe der Bach-Gesellschaft (published in the late 1800s) and piano/vocal reductions are available, both presented as PDFs.

Band Music from the Civil War Era, by the Library of Congress, presents examples of brass band music popular in the United States through the latter half of the 19th century. The collection includes printed and manuscript music and sound recordings.

The Library of Congress's collection of Baseball Sheet Music consists of over 140 published songs written about "America's Pastime."

The Digital Archives of the Beethoven-Haus provides online access to the unique collections of the Beethoven-Haus, including music first edition scores, correspondence, and pictures. The collection consists of more than 37,000 scanned 16,00 audio files, and 7,600 text files.

Ludwig van Beethovens Werke is the 1860s edition of Beethoven's complete works, originally published by Breitkopf & Hartel and digitized by the International Music Score Library Project. Some listings include other digitized public domain scores, digitized and audio files (MIDI or recorded performances). Note: this page is updated manually; if a score is not listed, try browsing or searching for it in the left sidebar.

Orchestral and instrumental works by Hector Berlioz, made available online by the Hector Berlioz Website. Works were transcribed with Sibelius, and visitors to the site may listen to MIDI playbacks of the works while viewing the scores. Download of the free Sibelius Scorch plugin is required.

The digitized collections at the Biblioteca de Catalunya currently include more that 50,000 printed and manuscript music works, as well as personal papers of noted composers, scholars, and performers such as Isaac Albeniz and Enric Granados.

The Broadside Ballads project is a digitized collection of the University of Oxford Bodleian Library's 30,000 broadside ballads, popular songs sold in the streets of Britain from the 16th to the early 20th centuries. Where music notation is available, MIDI sound files have been added to play the notation.

Bononcini.org provides online access to a catalog of the complete works of Giovanni Bononcini. Also available are a bibliography and discography of some of his and a selection of works available for free download.

The Hoagy Carmichael Collection is a digital collection of Indiana University's extensive materials related to the composer Hoagy Carmichael. Sound recordings, scores and photos, correspondence, and other items are available online.

Mississippi State University Libraries' Charles H. Templeton Digital Sheet Music Collection provides access to public domain pieces from a large collection amassed by Charles Templeton, Sr. The 22,000-piece collection dates from 1865 and includes blues, ragtime, musical theater, and more.

The University of Chicago's Chopin Early Editions collection provides online access to over 400 first and early printed editions of works by Frederic Chopin.

Chopin's First Editions Online presents a virtual collection of the original impressions of Chopin's first editions. The collection, which currently stands at around 5,500 was compiled from the holdings of more than 20 institutions, including the Bibliotheque National de France, the Bodleian Library, the British Library, the Narodowy Instytut Fryderyka Chopina, and the University of Chicago Library.

The Choral Public Domain Library hosts a large collection of vocal and choral sheet music available for free. The CPDL includes public domain works and scores that are not otherwise commerically viable. In addition to scores for approximately 10,000 works, the library contains texts, translations, and some sound files.

The Classical String Quartets collection from Duke University's David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library provides access to collections of string quartets in parts, many of which are by composers whose works are not readily available in modern editions.

The CMME project is a collaborative initiative to provide access to high-quality digital editions of early music scores. Users can view scores and listen to audio playback.

Coptic Orthodox Liturgical Chant Hymnody presents a selection of digitized materials from the Library of Congress's Ragheb Moftah Collection. Materials include transcriptions, audio recordings, photographs, and other items from Moftah's research into Coptic Christian chant.

The Danish National Digital Sheet Music Archive is a collection of selected works from the Music and Theatre Collection of Denmark's Royal Library. Included are music scores of selected works by Carl Nielsen.

The Digital Scores and Libretti Collection at Harvard University's Loeb Music Library is an ongoing project to digitize rare and unique scores and libretti from their holdings. The collection includes first and early editions and manuscript copies from the 1700s through the early 20th century.

Antonin Dvorak: Souborne vydani dila provides online access to the complete works of Dvorak, digitized by the International Music Score Library Project. Some listings include multiple digitized public domain scores, digitized and audio files (MIDI or recorded performances). Note: this page is updated manually; if a score is not listed, try browsing or searching for it using the left sidebar.

The Frances G. Spencer Collection of American Sheet Music comprises approximately 30,000 titles published from the late 18th-early 20th centuries. The collection is arranged in over 200 subject categories.

The complete works of Handel, originally published by the Deutsche Handel Gesellschaft from 1858-1902 and digitized by the Munich Digitization Center of the Bavarian State Library.

Joseph Haydns Werke is the early 20th-century edition of Joseph Haydn's complete works, originally published by Breitkopf & Hartel and digitized by the International Music Score Library Project. Some listings include other digitized public domain scores, digitized and audio files (MIDI or recorded performances). Note: this page is updated manually; if a score is not listed, try browsing or searching for it using the left sidebar.

The Historic American Sheet Music Project at Duke University provides access to over 3,000 pieces of sheet music published between 1850 and 1920. The collection is selected from the holdings of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

The University of Oregon Libraries' Historic Sheet Music Collection presents a selection of sheet music held in the Libraries' collections. Included are the Oregon Music Collection, which contains 55 pieces of music about Oregon or by Oregonians, and the Women Composers Collection, which will ultimately contain over 1,000 pieces of music by notable women composers.

The Library of Congress' Historic Sheet Music Collection consists of approximately 9,000 pieces of sheet music published from 1800 to 1922.

The Petrucci Music Library was begun in 2006 by IMSLP (International Music Score Library Project) in order to gathering all public domain music scores and the music scores of any contemporary composers who wish to release them to the public free of charge. IMSLP is governed primarily by Canadian copyright law and, therefore, some works may not be public domain in other countries.

The IN Harmony Project provides access to digitized sheet music from the Indian University Lilly Library, the Indiana State Library, the Indiana State Museum, and the Indiana Historical Society.

Inventions of Note is a collection of popular songs and piano compositions that reflect American reactions to new and changing technologies such as the automobile, airplane, and telephone. The collection includes approximately 50 pieces as well as links to from other libraries that address new technologies.

The University of Missouri Digital Library's Kansas City Sheet Music Collection contains over 660 pieces of music published in Kansas City from the late 19th to the mid 20th century. The collection contains notable works such as Scott Joplin's "Original Rags," as well as compositions about Kansas City itself.

The Johns Hopkins University's Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music contains over 29,000 pieces of American popular music from 1780 to 1980.

The complete works of Franz Liszt, originally published in Leipzig from 1870-1923 and digitized by the Munich Digitization Center of the Bavarian State Library.

Franz Liszt: Klavierwerke is a collection of Franz Liszt's piano works, published by Edition Peters in 1913-1917 and digitized by the International Music Score Library Project. Some listings include other digitized public domain scores, digitized and audio files (MIDI or recorded performances).

Franz Liszt: Musikalische Werke is the early 20th-century edition of Franz Liszt's complete works, originally published by Breitkopf & Hartel and digitized by the International Music Score Library Project. Some listings include other digitized public domain scores, digitized and audio files (MIDI or recorded performances).

The Jean-Baptiste Lully Collection is a digital collection of rare 17th and 18th-century scores of operas, ballets, and other works by Jean-Baptiste Lully and his sons, from the holdings of the University of North Texas Music Library. The collection also includes some manuscript copies, as well as libretti prints and collections of stage works by Lully's collaborators.

The Maine Music Box, a project of the University of Maine's Raymond H. Fogler Library provides access to approximately 22,600 digitized works (manuscript scores and sheet music) held at the Bagaduce Music Lending Library and the Bangor Public Library. The Maine Music Box includes items such as vocal and popular sheet music, music for two pianos, and music by Maine composers or about Maine.

The complete works of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, originally published in the late 1800s by Breitkopf & Hartel and digitized by the Munich Digitization Center of the Bavarian State Library.

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdys Werke is the late 19th-century edition of Mendelssohn's complete works, originally published by Breitkopf Hartel and digitized by the International Music Score Library Project. Some listings include other digitized public domain scores, digitized and audio files (MIDI or recorded performances).

The Moldenhauer Archives: The Rosaleen Moldenhauer Memorial presents a selection of digitized items from the full Moldenhauer Archives, which document the history of Western music from the medieval period through the modern era. The online collection includes scores and manuscripts as well as an electronic version of the guidebook for the archive.

NMA Online is the digitized version of the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, the complete works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart originally published by Barenreiter-Verlag and digitized in a cooperative effort of the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg and the Packard Humanities Institute. The site includes both music and critical commentaries.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarts Werke is the 1877-1910 edition of Mozart's complete works, originally published by Breitkopf Hartel and digitized by the International Music Score Library Project. Some listings include other digitized public domain scores, digitized and audio files (MIDI or recorded performances). Note: this page is updated manually; if a score is not listed, try browsing or searching for it using the left sidebar.

The Munich Digitization Center (MDZ) digitizes the special collections of the Bavarian State Library and other German institutions, including fine arts and music, and currently comprises over 900,000 titles.

Music and Performing Arts consists of multiple music and performing arts databases, including American Song, Classical Music Library, Classical Scores Library, Dance in Video, Jazz Music Library, Popular Music Library, Contemporary World Music, and Smithsonian Global Sound for Libraries.

Music for the Nation, by the Library of Congress, contains thousands of pieces of historical sheet music registered for copyright from 1820-1860. The collection includes popular songs, operatic arias, choral music, solo instrumental music, and orchestral and band music.

Music for the Nation, by the Library of Congress, contains thousands of pieces of historical sheet music registered for copyright from 1870-1885. The collection includes popular songs, operatic arias, choral music, solo instrumental music, and orchestral and band music.

Contains 400,000+ pages of the most important classical scores and manuscripts, allowing for the study and analysis of more than 8,000 scores. The collection includes works spanning time periods from the Renaissance to the 21st century. Coverage of score types is comprehensive, with full scores, study scores, piano and vocal scores, and piano reductions. The database has been indexed to enable users to search on musically relevant fields, such as composer, work/opus number, key, genre, instrument, time period; as well as score-specific fields, such as score type, duration, editor, arranger, publisher. These scores are also indexed in the library catalog.

The Library of Congress's Music Treasures Consortium provides access to highly valued music manuscripts and print materials held in some of the world's most renowned music archives, including the British Library, Harvard University, and the Morgan Library & Museum.

The Mutopia Project provides access to classical music for free download through digital sheet music editions based on editions in the public domain. The Project also hosts modern editions from composers, editors, and arrangers who have chosen to make their works freely available to the public. MIDI files of some works are also available.

The National Library of Australia has digitized over 12,200 Australian printed music items from the 19th and early 20th centuries. The collection includes original scores of "Waltzing Matilda" and the offical Australian national anthem "Advance Australia Fair."

The Nazareth Project presents an official catalog of the works of Ernesto Nazareth. It includes digital transcriptions of the scores and audio files.

The New York Public Library's Digital Gallery provides free access to over 700,000. The Digital Gallery includes nearly 12,000 of scores and manuscripts from the Music Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

A collection of over 1,000 pieces of public domain sheet music from and about Washington State and the Pacific Northwest, selected from the University of Washington Music Library's Ashford Sheet Music Collection.

Patriotic Melodies, by the Library of Congress, tells the stories behind many of the most well known patriotic songs of the United States. The site includes descriptions of each song along with selected sheet music and audio recordings.

The Performing Arts Encyclopedia is a guide to performing arts resources at the Library of Congress. The Encyclopedia provides access to digitized scores, sheet music, audio reordings, films, photographs, and other materials.

Auburn University's Piano Bench Digital Collection is comprised of sheet music published prior to 1923, much of it found in the benches of second-hand pianos purchased by the family of former Auburn University librarian Fred Edminston.

The Library of Congress's collection of Presidential Campaign Songs presents a selection of sheet music composed for presidential candidates from the 1870s to the 1920s.

Ragtime, by the Library of Congress, presents a selection of sheet music, audio and video recordings, and other materials related to this uniquely American musical phenomenon.

Recent Researches in Music Online is a collection of critical performing editions of music in seven series. The series fall into two basic categories: editions that span the history of Western music, and editions with ties to specific cultural milieus. Most editions in Recent Researches in Music are devoted to works by a single composer or in a single genre.

Franz Peter Schuberts Werke is the late 19th-century edition of Schubert's complete works, originally published by Breitkopf & Hartel and digitized by the International Music Score Library Project. Some listings include other digitized public domain scores, digitized and audio files (MIDI or recorded performances).

The complete works of Robert Schumann, originally published by Breitkopf & Hartel in the late 1800s and digitized by the Munich Digitization Center of the Bavarian State Library

A selections of digitized sheet music from York University Libraries' Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections.

The Sheet Music Consortium, hosted by the UCLA Digital Library Program, is a cooperative project to build an open collection of digitized sheet music through harvesting metadata from collections around the world.

Sheet Music from Canada's Past, a project by Library and Archives Canada and published via Aurora, provides digital access to a selection of sheet music published in Canada before 1921. Selected titles also include audio examples.

The University of Mississippi Libraries' Sheldon Harris Sheet Music Collection provides digital access to popular sheet music of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including jazz, blues, and minstrel songs. Note: please read collection disclaimer.

The digitized collection of music scores from Eastman School of Music's Sibley Music Library includes over 14,000 digitized manuscripts and scores in the public domain, many of which are unique to Sibley's collection.

The March King: John Philip Sousa presents selected music manuscripts, photographs, printed music, sound recordings, and more from the Sousa Collection at the Library of Congress

A project of Temple University, Temple Sheet Music Collections contains approximately 840 pieces of sheet music published from the early 19th to early 20th centuries.

The Digital Archive of Popular American Music consists of a selection of materials from UCLA Music Library's Archive of Popular American Music. The Digital Archive includes sheet music and performances of the songs now in the public domain.

The University of Colorado Digital Sheet Music Collection provides digital access to sheet music published between 1890 and 1922. The collection is divided into four separate sub-collections: the Colorado Collection (music about the state of Colorado), the Ingram Collection (music published by the Tolbert R. Ingram Music Company from 1900-1915), the Ragtime Collection (ragtime songs and piano rags), and the Western Trails Collection (music inspired by westward migration).

A collection of manuscript musical scores dating from the 17th through 19th centuries, digitized from the University of Washington Music Library's Rare Book Collection.

The University of North Texas Music Library's Virtual Music Rare Book Room presents digitized materials from the Edna mae Sandborn Music Rare Book Room, as well as items that were borrowed from private collectors and scanned with permission. A primary focus of the collection is 18th-century French opera, including scores and libretti.