Music - Piano & Organ Research

Score Editions: When you are looking for a musical score in the online catalog, you may get many search results for a single piece. This is because the music library holds several different editions of that piece.

An edition is a music score created when an editor makes changes (musical or textual) to a piece that otherwise only exists in manuscript form. 

A manuscript is a source that is written by hand. An autograph manuscript is a manuscript written at least in part in the composer's hand (rather than by a copyist or printed). Editions are made for a variety of reasons: wider accessibility and/or legibility, to add annotation/discussion, or to facilitate performance.

There are three major categories of editions:

• Facsimile Editions = photographic copies of manuscripts, early copies, or early printed editions. May include an introduction and/or other critical commentary.
• Scholarly or Critical Editions = a scholar’s (or team of scholars’) attempt to produce an edition that shows the composer’s intentions. Includes an introduction, footnotes, and/or other text that explains what sources they used to make the edition (and how they used them). Scholarly editions come in 3 forms: Collected Works Editions; Historical Series, Dankmäler, or Musical Monuments; and Scholarly Editions of a single score, sometimes labeled as Urtext ("original text") Editions
• Performing Editions = An edition intended for use in performance, created by an individual editor (often a performer rather than a scholar) to meet performers’ needs. The editor often adds markings like fingerings, articulations, stylistic suggestions, etc. that represent the editor’s interpretation and may differ from another’s interpretation.

Learn more about manuscripts, editions, and how to find them by visiting the Editions LibGuide!

Because music materials require you to work with multiple languages and formats, we recommend you begin your search in the 'advanced search' mode of the online library catalog:  OneSearch

Tips:

• limit by format at the beginning of your search to narrow your results (books, scores, sound recordings, etc.)
• remove language specific terms (i.e. Sonata in D Major)
• use an asterisk to truncate words that might have multiple endings (symphon* )

For more help using OneSearch, check out the module below:

While print scores and analog recordings can be found in OneSearch, we continue to build online musical score and streaming audio/video resources. Use the links below to explore these resources.