Skip to Main Content

Course & Subject Guides

Music Information and Research @ Pitt

This guide is intended to provide an overview of resources available at the University of Pittsburgh for music-related research and study.

Scores and Other Printed Music

The Music Library has an extensive collection of printed music including orchestral scores, opera and musical theater vocal scores, chamber music sets, piano and other solo instrumental music, and much more. All of this music is discoverable in PittCat.

 

Composers' Complete Works Editions

In addition to the circulating collection of music, the Music Library also has a large reference collection of scores including monuments and complete works editions for all the major composers. These are located in the rM3 section of the Music Library's reference collection.

While a few complete works editions are available online, such as the Digitale Mozart-Edition, these scholarly printed editions form an indispensable core for our music research collection.

Composer Thematic Catalogs

Thematic catalogs are reference books that describe and index the works of the various composers, including historical and bibliographic information as well as musical incipits.

Some of the most popular thematic catalogs include Schmieder's catalog of the works of J.S. Bach (Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis or BWV) and Köchel's catalog of the works of Mozart. The Theodore M. Finney Music Library holds thematic catalogs for many composers, generally in the rML134 section and alphabetical by the composer's name.