Online Scores
Library collections
- Music Online: Classical Scores Library This link opens in a new windowContains more than 51,000 titles and 1.3 million printable pages of the most important scores in classical music, ranging from the Middle Ages to the 21st century. More than 4,600 composers are included, from traditionally studied composers such as Mozart and Tchaikovsky to contemporary artists including Kaija Saariaho, Peter Maxwell-Davies, and John Tavener.
- Music Online: Reference This link opens in a new windowThis collection includes the Classical Scores Library (above), but you can also find a small selection of scores from other genres or collections.
Free online scores
Please note that something that is out of copyright in one region of the world may still be covered by copyright in the UK. There is often no information about what edition the version is based on, so you can not judge the quality of the editorial work, or be sure that it is a legal copy in the UK. Often out-of-copyright editions have long been superceded by more rigorously edited versions. Use with care!
- Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)The Choral Public Domain Library (CPDL), is an Internet-based free sheet music website which specialises in choral music. The site contains public domain music under United States law.
- Contemporary Music Score Collection (UCLA)The Contemporary Music Score Collection is published by the UCLA Music Library. The collection includes the digital, open access scores from the Contemporary Score Edition series, the first open access edition of new music published by a library, and scores from the Kaleidoscope 2020 Call for Scores, an open access collaboration with the UCLA Music Library.
- DIAMM (the Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music)A leading resource for the study of medieval manuscripts with images and metadata for thousands of manuscripts.
- Gutenberg MusicA collection of digitised public domain sheet music. The project is no longer maintained you can still access the digitised content, which is primarily chamber music, with composers such as Brahms and Beethoven.
- IMSLP (International Music Score Library Project)IMSLP aims to gather all public domain music scores, in addition to the music scores of all contemporary composers (or their estates) who wish to release them to the public free of charge.
- Mutopia2117 pieces of music – free to download, modify, print, copy, distribute, perform, and record – all in the Public Domain or under Creative Commons licenses, in PDF, MIDI, and editable LilyPond file formats
Score indexes
- RISM (Répertoire International des Sources Musicales)Index of musical sources from 1600-1800 with
over 1,010,000 records of historic music materials, indexed and bibliographically described by specialists. Documentation primarily of music manuscripts, but also includes printed music from the same period. - UK & Ireland RISMMusic manuscripts database that gives details of music manuscripts from 1600-1800 held in libraries and archives across the UK and in Dublin.
- Barbican Song IndexIndex (no full text access) to sheet music anthologies of popular, jazz and folk songs, songs from musicals and films, classical songs and opera arias. All information in the index is drawn from the Barbican Music Library collections.
Print Scores
Scores are on dedicated shelves on the 2nd floor.
There are 3 types of music score:
Scores: most scores are in this section, arranged by the Dewey Decimal System (listed below)
Miniature scores: a smaller collection arranged in alphabetical order by the composer’s name then by the Dewey Decimal System
Folio scores: these are large format scores and are also arranged alphabetically by the composer's name
You will also find a large score collection at Senate House.
| M780.81 | Composers' collected editions |
| M780.9 | Historical sets & anthologies |
| M782.1 | Operas |
| M782.81 | Musicals |
| M783 | Sacred music |
| M784.1 | Madrigals |
| M784.3 | Songs |
| M784.34 | Popular songs |
| M784.4 | Folk songs |
| M785.11 | Symphonies |
| M785.3 | Other orchestral music |
| M785.6 | Concertos |
| M785.7 | Chamber music |
| M786.4 | Piano music |
| M787 | Solo strings |
| M787.61 | Guitar music |
| M788 | Brass & woodwind |
| M789 | Percussion |
| M789.9 | Electronic music |
