Music History Digital Library

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Digital Library > Music History & Studies See also our Jazz History and Folk Music pages.

19th-Century California Sheet Music
"A virtual library of some 2,000 pieces of sheet music published in California between 1852 and 1900, together with related materials such as a San Francisco publisher's catalog of 1872, programs, songsheets, advertisements, and photographs."
By Mary Kay Duggan, Dept. of Music; School of Information Management & Systems, University of California, Berkeley.

American Mavericks
"Suzanne Vega hosts this 13-part Minnesota Public Radio series that brings you the sounds and personalities of musical innovation in America during the 20th century. Interviews with music-makers and discussion with San Francisco Symphony Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas are highlights of the programs."
Listen to each program, two channels of continuous music composed by composers featured, or complete works on demand performed by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.

Beethoven Bibliography Database
"...Database is a fully-indexed bibliography of published (and selected unpublished) materials relating to Ludwig van Beethoven ... to bring all significant Beethoven materials from the late eighteenth century to the present under bibliographic control through the development of a specially designed database ... The Database is still in its early stages, but it already contains over 10,000 records and much indispensable information on Beethoven. At the present time, materials included in the Database come from the Center's own rich collection of books, first and early editions of scores, manuscripts (originals and facsimiles), and periodical articles."
Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies, San Jose State University

The Choral Public Domain Library
"The primary purpose of the Choral Public Domain Library (CPDL) is to create a repositoryof editions of music in the public domain ...To make available a large quantity of music which otherwise would not be published or performed ... To make an archive that is fully editable, allowing for changes as scholarship/performing needs dictate."

[Dictionary] Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary
Created by Richard Cole and Ed Schwartz.

Dismuke's Virtual Talking Machine
Vintage Phonograph Recordings, 1900-1939
"This site is devoted to vintage music from the early decades of the 20th Century. All recordings have been transcribed into streaming Real Audio from the original 78 rpm discs in my personal collection. It is my hope that this site will help further the creation of a new generation of enthusiasts for an exciting, vibrant and, sadly, all but forgotten era of American popular culture."

Hoagy Carmichael Collection
"...project to catalog, digitize, and preserve every item in Indiana Universityís extensive collections pertaining to the life and career of master songwriter Hoagland "Hoagy" Carmichael (1899-1981)...The web site will present a complete catalog of the entire Carmichael Collection, access to selected digital objects, and supplemental research information, such as genealogy. The Hoagy Carmichael Collection contains sound recordings of Hoagyís music, letters, photographs of him and his family, print and handwritten musical compositions, and more
- Indiana University Digital Library Program

Ihr Lieder! Ihr meine guten Lieder!
A performer's guide to musical settings for one or two voices of the poetry of Heinrich Heine (1797-1856)
"This website is the pilot phase of a long-term project to create and disseminate online reviews of all available musical settings for one or two voices of Heinrich Heine's poems, starting with settings of his earliest lyrics ... The ultimate goal is to familiarize as many performers as possible with the wealth of music which is available, and to stimulate the study and performance of these songs."
By Peter W. Shea

Indiana University Digital Music Library Project (DML)
"...aims to establish a digital music library testbed system containing music in a variety of formats, involving research and development in the areas of system architecture, metadata standards, component-based application architecture, and network services. This system will be used as a foundation for digital library research in the areas of instruction, usability, human-computer interaction, and intellectual property rights."

Leopold Stokowski: Making Music Matter
A multimedia exhibit from Penn Special Collections.
Curated by Marjorie Hassen, Otto E. Albrecht Music Library, University of Pennsylvania

Mutopia
"...a place where music is free for everyone! Download it, print it out, and share it with your friends...Mutopia is similar in spirit to Project Gutenburg - but consists of a growing collection of free music...This is the essence of Mutopia - a growing number of musical scores all typeset using GNU Lilypond by volunteers. All the music is downloadable for free as Postscript (.ps) and PDF (.pdf) files (at both A4 and Letter paper sizes), as well as Lilypond's own LY (.ly) file format."

Save Our Sounds
A Joint Project of the Smithsonian Institution and the Library of Congress
"The collections include thousands of recordings from every state of the union and include every genre of spoken word and music -- speeches, tales, biographical narrative, poetry, blues, gospel, jazz, folk, ethnic, country, bluegrass and old time, polka and contra, western swing and conjunto, pow wow and sacred song -- providing a documentary aural history of the nation from the late 19th century to the present."

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