Digital Scores: A Guide to Online Notated Music Sources: Major Library Collections

Click on the ESTER link for the the full bibliographic record (Täiskirje) in the E-Kataloog. Includes public domain and restricted-access publications. Many earlier publications are in Russian.

Digitized scores from the Digitalna knjižnica Slovenije (dLib.si). For music manuscripts not coded as scores, click here (rokopisi: glasba).

A thematic portal to digitized documents related to Greek music, including the archives of several 20th-century Greek composers (particularly Mikis Theodorakis) and over 4,000 published Greek songs. To browse the full contents of a particular collection, 1) click the title in the left sidebar; 2) click the gold "full seach" arrow at the bottom of the left sidebar; (3) leave all the fields blank and click on the grey search button in the central search window; (4) click on the number of results to open the browse list. To view the available digitized content after opening an item, click on "multimedia." Although all are not fully available, the "Greek Songs" (Ελληνικά Τραγούδια / Ellēnika Tragoudia) are of particular broad interest. Maintained by the Music Library of Greece “Lilian Voudouri," Athens.

A multi-institutional repository maintained by the Kansalliskirjasto. To date, nearly all of the digitized scores stem from the Sibelius Academy, University of the Arts Helsinki (Sibelius-Akatemia, Taideyliopisto). Note: miscoded formats from some institutions produce a few non-score retrievals in this search.

Click here for music manuscripts not captured in the above search. A federated search portal across over 130 digital library and repository collections in Poland, maintained by the Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Center (Poznańskie Centrum Superkomputerowo-Sieciowe). Click on "Data provider" in left sidebar to view contributing libraries for scores (a full list of all institutions is here).

Scores ("partitions") subset of Gallica. Provides a query link to all the scores ("toutes les partitions") in center, and three links to smaller themed categories of scores (with subdivisions) in left sidebar and bottom: scores by genre, autograph manuscripts (note additional composer links in middle text box), and score collections. Includes manuscripts if double coded as "partition."

Links to manuscripts with musical notation (particularly medieval) not coded as "partition," and also to treatises and materials related to music (composer letters, etc.).

Cross searches catalogs and digital collections of over 140 partner libraries, museums, and archives throughout Italy. Lacks direct links to scores--here are some fruitful routes for locating them: advanced search with keyword "musica" (further refine in left sidebar); music manuscripts (keyword "musica"); printed music (keyword "musica"). Maintained by the Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo Unico delle Biblioteche Italiane e per le Informazioni Bibliograficheo (ICCU).

Portal to the online collections of the Biblioteka Narodowa and other Polish libraries. To locate scores, select either the "Rękopisy" (manuscripts) or "Nuty" (scores / sheet music) icons from the banner or the check boxes under the filter "Typ" in the left sidebar. Narrow the results further with other filters in the sidebar. "Gatunek" = "genre." Polish interface only. Preseleted box "Ukryj niedostępne" = "hide unavailable." Click here for the Fryderyk Chopin collection.

Link points to over 12,000 digital images of printed scores held by Australian libraries. Trove also serves as a portal to over 100,000 links to digital scores from collections outside of Australia; click here for this broader search. Note: in addition to the "Freely available" category in the left sidebar under "Availability," the "Unknown" category also points to free images.

Rare or unique scores and libretti from the collections Harvard's Loeb Music Library, including first and early editions and manuscript copies of music from the 18th-early 20th centuries. As of 17 October 2017, contains over 945 titles.

Digital image collection of 140 autograph manuscripts, sketches, engraver's proofs, and first editions of works by Mozart, Beethoven, Stravinsky, Debussy, Britten, Mahler, and many others. Donated to the school by Bruce Kovner in 2006. Also available are selected manuscripts from the Juilliard Library’s Peter Jay Sharp Special Collections, including scores in the Artur Rubinstein Music Collection.

Comprehensive search by format "online notated music" retrieves 91,909 titles (as of 9/16/16). For index of collections ("Part ofs") click here, collections with "Format Notated Music" here.

Score formats to select include hymnals; instrumental parts; music manuscripts scores, sketches; scores: instrumental, vocal; sheet music; and song books. Preceding links search format + music* in all fields and may not be comprehensive.

Content ranges from American popular and traditional songs to poetic art songs and sacred music as viewed in over 89,000 pieces of sheet music, manuscripts, and historic copyright submissions.

Digital facsimiles of the extensive collection of music manuscripts owned by the Morgan, including works by Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Debussy, Fauré, Haydn, Liszt, Mahler, Massenet, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Puccini, Schubert, Schumann, and many others.

Includes over 4,600 published and manuscript scores (as of Sept. 2016), including a large collection of sheet music.

Contains over 22,300 public domain scores (as of Sept. 2016) from the collections of the Sibley Music Library, Eastman School of Music.

Digitized scores in the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (ÖNB). Truncated keyword ("any") search on "musik*"(Alle Felder) limited to Digital (Digitale Ressourcen) refined by combined mediums "Music print" (Musikdruck) and "Music manuscripts" (Musikhandschrift). German results interface. Presently these search links often produce a false error message "Ungültiges Zeichen im Jahreszahlfeld" ("Invalid Characters in Year Text Box"). Click on a language option (Deutsch or English) in the upper right to bypass the message and produce the search results.

Digitized collection of primarily music manuscripts (described here, but now more extensive) held by the Cambridge University Library.

Over 4,000 printed and manuscript scores from the Music and Theatre collection of Det Kongelige Bibliotek / Danmarks Nationalbibliotek / Københavns Universitetsbibliotek. Click on "Special themes and repertories" under "Digitised Sheet Music" in the left sidebar to access collection. Also search the Danish National Library catalog under Scores, Full Text Online (with keyword search "muzik*") to obtain a complete listing of digitized scores. Note: creation dates in records indicate year of digitization not publication or copying.

Targeted retrieval of over 20,700 digitized scores from the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (Bavarian State Library). Note the English interface poorly translates this collection as "Music supplies (notes)." For digitized music manuscripts and specifically grouped prints, scroll through the MDZ's themed collections of digitized music scores (print and manuscript), librettos, and books on music. The Munich DigitiZation Center (MDZ) handles the digitization and online publication of the cultural heritage preserved by the Bavarian State Library and other institutions.

Links to three digital collections in the Musik- och teaterbiblioteket (Stockholm): composer Johan Helmich Roman; Utile Dulci theater and music society; and the Carl Oscar Boije guitar music collection. Catalog search includes digital scores from other sources. Maintained by Musikverket (Swedish Performing Arts Agency),

Digitized manuscript and printed scores from the Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden (scroll down for results list of +8,760 entries). Link includes manuscripts ("Strukturtyp: Handschrift") and published scores ("Strukturtyp: Monographie") mixed with textual materials. See also SLUB's Music Collections webpage for links to themed digital collections, including Dresden Court Music (Hofmusik in Dresden).

Use the left sidebar to explore 12 categories of music scores--including manuscripts ("Musikhandschriften") and imprints ("Musikdrucke")--in the digitized collections of the Berlin State Library. Note that the "Musiknoten" collection appears almost last in the lower right column of the master list, widely separated from the "Musik" collection (books and texts on music, librettos, etc., plus a few mis-coded scores) in the middle left column,