Music Treatises in the Conservatory Special Collections
The Oberlin Conservatory Library's Special Collections has an impressive collection of historical musical treatises. Examine a guide to these materials. Drawn primarily from the Frederick R. Selch Collection of American Music History, and the The Violin Society of America / H. K. Goodkind Collection, the materials highlighted here represent some of the most influential writings in the history of Western musical thought. They include foundational texts relating to organology and music theory, important works on the philosophy and iconography of music, and historical treatises pertaining to specific instrument types.
Many of the texts included here have been digitized and can be read online in full. Each title's link will take you to the catalog record, and from there you can click on the "Connect to resource" link; you can also browse all the digitized books from the Selch and VSA Collections on the Internet Archive's Oberlin Conservatory Library Special Collections page.
Thematic Catalogs & Research Guides by Composer
Browse the books with Con Ref ML134 call numbers in the Conservatory Reference Collection to find research guides about specific composers. This call number area also contains thematic catalogs for specific composers, which can provide useful information about the sources and publication history for all known works by that composer. The titles below represent examples of these types of books, but there are many more in the library than are listed here.
Thematic Catalogue of the Musical Works of Johann Pachelbel by
Pachelbel composed the majority of his 527 works for keyboard instruments, as well as choral, vocal, and chamber music. The Catalogue presents incipits for each that can be identified. The list of works is intended to determine the totality of the corpus and knowledge about it, to determine the best means of identifying each work, and to settle problems of identity among similarly titled works.
Call Number: Con Ref ML134.P17 P47 2004ISBN: 0810849704Publication Date: 2004
Thematisch-systematisches Verzeichnis der musikalischen Werke von Johann Sebastian Bach: Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV) by Call Number: Con Ref ML134.B1 S3 1990ISBN: 3765102555Publication Date: 1990
The Vivaldi Compendium by
The Vivaldi Compendium will serve as the most reliable and up-to-date source of quick reference on the composer Antonio Vivaldi and his music. This takes the form of a dictionary listing persons, places, musical works and many other topics connected with Vivaldi; its alphabetically arranged entries are copiously cross-referenced so as to guide the reader towards related topics.
Call Number: Con Ref ML134.V7 T345 2011ISBN: 9781843836704Publication Date: 2011
William Byrd by
This comprehensive research guide surveys the most significant published materials relating to William Byrd. This new edition includes research since the publication of the last edition.
Call Number: Con Ref ML134.B96 T9 2012ISBN: 9780415875592Publication Date: 2012
Select Web Resources
- American Musicological Society - WWW Sites of Interest to Musicologists The American Musicological Society's wide-ranging guide to online resources in musicology and other subjects, including music therapy, world music, record labels, and library directories.
- British and Irish Music Resources Highlights scholarly online resources on classical music in the British Isles
- Doctoral Dissertations in Musicology The fully searchable database containing over 16,400 records, including the corrected and updated contents of all earlier printed editions of Doctoral Dissertations in Musicology and supplements contributed from musicological centers throughout the world. Records include normal bibliographic information as well as publication details and internet availability (if available).
- Harvard Online Resources for Music Scholars Online Resources for Music Scholars is necessarily a selective work in progress, updated as we become aware of new online resources available to the Harvard community. Most are freely accessible to all users; those available only to Harvard affiliates are flagged.
- MTO Dissertation Index The Society for Music Theory's index of dissertations in music theory, with abstracts and tables of contents; part of Music Theory Online.
- Musical Festivals Database (MFD) The Musical Festivals Database (MFD) is a fully-searchable index of programs, personnel, ensembles and venues of musical festivals held between 1695 and 1940.
- MusRef Devoted to music and dance bibliography and reference. An online bibliography of music and dance bibliographies and reference sources (both print and online).
- ViFaMusik: Virtual Library of Musicology = Virtuelle Fachbibliothek Musikwissenschaft A portal for music and musicology, including digitized scores, bibliographies, biographical information, and links to other resources.