FINDING CLASSICAL MUSIC SOUNDS AND SCORES
Ballet on DVD | Opera on DVD
Page last updated 15th September, 2009
The main audiovisual collection is housed on the Ground Floor, North End, Victoria Street side of the Central Library although smaller CD and video collections are found at Branch Libraries. Look for the Classical music pathfinder to help you find what you need.
As well as books and magazines, the Library owns a strong and extensive collection of classical music, including CDs, videos, DVDs and a comprehensive collection of vocal and instrumental music scores. It covers - music from antiqua, through mediaeval and renaissance times through to later Western art music traditions, and including most genres and instruments.
New scores
 Best of barber shop : barbershop quartets |  Power ballads : 30 rock anthems |  Twilight : the score |  The little black songbook : Bob Dylan |  Easy popular movie instrumental solos |
A. Catalogue Search Help
BEST TIP If you know parts of the title and composer.
The best way is to select the Advanced button, in the left hand column and enter composer in Author or Name and what you know of the title and format in the Keywords option; then Click Search. e.g.
Puccini
Tosca DVD
Works with a "title" e.g. Carmen.
Use the Title browse, or Title keyword options.
NOTE - Ignore articles in all language including English, e.g. The, Die
Works with a title form heading e.g. 'Piano concerto,K. 467', 'Symphony no 5'.
There are a number of ways to search depending on other factors.
a) If the composer isn't prolific - use
the Author Browse or Author heading options and scroll down for the works which are listed alphabetically.
b) If the composer is prolific - use the first option above OR another alternative is to use the Keyword option to enter opus or Kochel etc) numbers, if you know it e.g. 667.
d) If a performer has been associated with the work, select that option (see c.).
Different languages
Many titles appear in languages other than English.
If you already know the title the composer gave it, then the quickest way to locate all items is to enter those as Title Keyword(s), e.g. Zauberflote. If you do not know, then also use Title Keyword(s) with the English e.g. Magic flute, but please remember that this will not retrieve every single copy the library holds.
Locating songs and other works which are very short or part of another work
Most excerpts lasting more than five minutes (and many less than) will be indexed (so search for them as above). But very short works may not be individually indexed.
a) Try a Keyword option for the short work e.g. Rule Britannia, if there are title words. Otherwise...
b) Try the first tip above , without selecting a format.
Please ask at the Central Library Sound and Vision Centre desk for further assistance as there are reference resources which can assist in identifying contents.
Limiting by format
If you only want a particular format, e.g. Video, choose the advanced search option (gold coloured button) and the "limit by format" option, with your search type from the examples above as appropriate.
FOR CLASSICAL SOUNDS ONLY
Performers e.g. singers, pianists
Use the Author or Author browse options.
Note that this can also be a preferred way of searching for a work by a prolific composer if there is only a form heading - Keyword search option Bach Hurford could be a quick way to find some Bach organ music.
If you know the music publisher number
Just as books have ISBNs, most CDs and videos etc have unique identifying publisher numbers. If you know this, you may use the Keyword option to search using it.
N.B. Unlike books, the style of these is not standardized. To facilitate searching please omit all dashes and spaces.
e.g. search for 450 998-422 as 4509984422
Explaining the Classification system
Audio-visual sound on the shelves
Scores and songbooks on the shelves
The same colour coded system is used for classical sounds in all our libraries.
- ballet
- bands
- concertos: cello
- concertos: clarinet
- concertos: flute...
Catalogue Quick Searches
Quartets
Quintets
Sextets etc
Trios
| Cello Flute Guitar Harpsichord Lute Organ Piano Violin Note: More instruments e.g. recorder, oboe can be found in the Other instruments section | Ballet Cello concertos Clarinet Concertos Guitar concertos Horn concertos Oboe concertos Organ concertos Piano concertos Violin concertos Other Orchestral works Note: More concertos, with instruments not listed here e.g. recorder, can be found in the Concertos : various section. | Cantatas Carols Choral Hymns Masses Musicals Oratorios Opera Religious Singers compilations (classical) Song compilations (classical) |
| Vocal music | 780 |
| Operas and musicals | 780.7 |
| Part songs | 780.4 |
| Sacred music including Masses, Oratorios, Cantatas | 780.5-780.6 |
| Solo Vocal Collections | 780 |
| Instrumental music | 781 |
| Cello | 781.35 |
| Flute | 781.11 |
| Guitar | 781.25 |
| Organ | 781.7 |
| Piano | 781.4 |
| Piano duet | 781.6 |
| Pianos (2) | 781.64 |
| Violin | 781.3 |
| Also includes Trios, quartets etc. of the same instrument. | |
| Chamber and orchestral combinations | 782 |
| Piano trios | 782.2 |
| String trios | 782.1 |
| Strong quartets | 782.3 |
| String quintets | 782.5 |
| Wind quintets | 782.6 |
| Wind sextets | 782.65 |
| Orchestral scores | 782.7 |
| Other combinations of quintet/sextets etc. | 782.7 |
| Miniature scores of any kind of work | 782.77 |
For further information, please seek out our
- classical music Recent Picks. This page lists selected recent arrivals in the collections.
- specialist classical music web-page. This page contains more information, including links to other helpful resources.
- on contemporary music (e.g. pop, jazz), use the guide to finding contemporary music resources. There is also a popular music resource page.
- please ask our staff at the Central Sound and Vision Centre (on the Ground Floor, north end) or the Arts, Music and Literature enquiries desk (First Floor, south end) who will be happy to use the specialised resources there to
assist you.
Popular Topics I Library Catalogues
