Guitar Music Scores

1. Searching for Scores by Instrumentation, to See What's Available 

If you already know the name of the composer and perhaps a keyword from the title of a piece of music you would like to play, and are seeking the score online, skip this section and go to Searching for Specific Scores below.

Fortunately, in the online research environment it is not necessary to know exactly what you are fishing for in order to catch fish. Many guitarists enjoy the delights of discovering music previously unknown to them while browsing online. Serendipity can be very rewarding! Here are some resources and strategies to maximize your results when you are browsing for published scores.

The key to success in this kind of search is to fish in an appropriate pond using appropriate lures. For example. if you are curious to see what exists for clarinet and guitar, you can search Google for keywords like [guitar clarinet scores]. You will retrieve over 100,000 Web pages, but the relevance of the retrievals may leave much to be desired. In contrast, an intelligent subject search of the largest online library catalog in the world, OCLC's WorldCat (click http://worldcat.org/, then click the "advanced search" link) will result in much more precise score retrievals. In WorldCat you can browse scores for every conceivable combination, limiting your search by format (Musical score). The quality of your retrievals will depend on the quality of your search strategy. Here's a simple example:

Suppose you want to see what kind of music has been cataloged for clarinet and guitar.

a) Example of a broader WorldCat search

  • In the Keyword field type [clarinet guitar]
  • In the Format field select [Musical scores]
  • Clicking "Search" will retrieve over 1,200 scores in which the clarinet and the guitar at least figure in the instrumentation. The retrievals include a fair number of trios, quartets, and larger ensembles with clarinet and guitar.

b) Example of a more focused WorldCat search

  • Use the precise LC subject heading for the instrumentation you desire in the Subject field—in this case it's "clarinet and guitar music." This search brings back over eighty responses representing nearly as many original published scores for clarinet and guitar.
  • You can use WorldCat's library locator feature to see where a copy of a score that interests you might be found.
  • Even if you want to buy scores rather than borrow them, the cataloging in WorldCat will be reliable enough to allow you to search for a precise title or publisher online; purchasing the scores online would then be an option.

2. Searching for Specific Scores

When you know the composer's name and at least the key elements of the title (like the opus number) of a certain work, often it is best to start searching for it on the "advanced search" page of WorldCat, described above. No other database will allow you to search a billion cataloging records from over ten thousand participating libraries worldwide. If you locate the score you desire, you may be able to borrow it from a nearby library. At least you'll be able to identify one or more the publishers, for purposes of placing a subsequent order. Let's use the little facsimile pasted below for the exercise: Carulli's Easy Pieces for Solo Guitar, Op. 121.

Score of Carulli Op. 121

Sample search of WorldCat for a known composer (Carulli) and work designation (Op. 121)

  • In the Title field type just the opus number, 121 (It will be the element least likely to change from edition to edition when the language of the title page changes.)
  • In the Author field type Carulli
  • Under the "Limit results by (optional)" heading select, in the Format drop-down menu, [Musical Score].

Note that three editions come up. A German edition by Ernst Hülsen with selections from Op. 121; an early 19th-century edition with a French title page, Vingt-quatre pièces pour guitarre seule oeuvre 121 (Offenbach: André, [ca. 1825]); and a Siciliana from Op. 121 (Milano: A. Monzino, 19--). Having a closer look at any of these retrievals (when online to WorldCat), by clicking on them, will bring up the names of holding libraries and other useful details. (The sample page below is not interactive; it is only shown for purposes of illustration.)

It should be clear, now, that a very smart way to search for published scores worldwide, especially whey you would be happy with a modern edition as opposed to something archival, is by using WorldCat. It used to have restricted access (only for member libraries, who used it to share cataloging efforts), but lately it has become free for all, for purposes of searching. It is a gift and a resource of inestimable vaue.

3. Searching Special Collections and Archives

While WorldCat has tens of thousands of entries for archival material of all kinds, it still misses much of the older guitar music that exists only in special collections and archives.  GFA member Robert Coldwell has  been working to devise a common gateway interface that will allow guitar researchers to survey the holdings of the most important special collections and archives of older guitar music that are susceptible to this kind of online querying.  It turns out that there are quite a few.

Mr Coldwell writes at his Digital Guitar Archive site, "An incredibly useful tool on this site is the Archive Search. There are over 5000 digital files linked within over 12,000 entries in the database. Thumbnails are provided for each page of the linked digital files totaling over 35,000 images. The Archive Search will be a tool for research and discovery as new databases are always being prepared." As of July 2008, his search engine was able to simultaneously query all the following online specialty catalogs and databases:


Boije
complete
The collection of Carl Oscar Boije af Gennäs (1849-1923) includes printed editions from the early 19th century and manuscripts. All items are currently being digitized by the library.
Source: Statens Musikbibliotek (The Music Library of Sweden) - online catalog

Etude
complete
The complete Etude magazine article text by Sophocles Papas and George C. Krick published from 1930 to 1943.
Source: entered by hand from original Etude magazines

Freie Vereinigung
complete
The Freie Vereinigung Zur Förderung Guter Guitaremusik Collection in the Augsburg Public Library.
Source: Stadtbücherei Augsburg - online catalog

GFA Archive
complete
The Guitar Foundation of America Archive at Bierce Library, University of Akron, Ohio.
Source: GFA Archive - online catalog

Gitarristisches Archiv
complete
Collection from the International Gitarristisches Vereinigung at the Münich State Library.
Source: Münchner Stadtbibliothek

Krick (Colorado)
complete
The portion of the George C. Krick Collection residing in the University of Colorado, Boulder library.
Source: American Music Research Center, University of Colorado at Boulder - online catalog

Krick (Missouri)
complete
The portion of the George C. Krick Collection residing in the Washington University Library in St. Louis, Missouri.
Source: Gaylord Music Library, Washington University in St. Louis - online catalog

Levy Collection
guitar items only - complete
The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music at Johns Hopkins University.
Source: Johns Hopkins Sheridan Libraries

Library of Congress
guitar items only - complete
The Music for the Nation catalog includes sheet music deposited for copyright in the U.S. from 1820 to 1885. The guitar related items number 1187 out of a total of 62,500 items.
Source: Library of Congress Music for the Nation - online catalog

Rischel & Birket-Smith
complete
The Rischel & Birket-Smith Collection in the Royal Library of Denmark. All items in this collection have been digitized by the library.
Source: Det Kongelige Bibliotek (The Royal Library of Denmark) - online catalog

Kenneth Sparr Collection
complete 13-Jul-2007
A catalogue of early prints and manuscripts for the guitar in the collection of Kenneth Sparr. The catalogue spans the period 1760-1900. The collection contains many Swedish and French prints.
Source: The Collection of Kenneth Sparr

Seville Conservatory
complete
Taken from an article by Julio Gimeno on Matanya Ophee's Guitar and Lute Issues website, "Two Nineteenth Century Volumes of Chamber Music with Guitar at the Seville (Spain) Conservatory".
Source: Guitar and Lute Issues

Mary Belle Swingle Guitar Collection
complete
Mary Belle Swingle Guitar Collection at Yale University.
Source: Yale University Library

One of the special collections near Los Angeles not yet fully cataloged online but very important is the International Guitar Research Archive (IGRA), at California State University at Northridge. One should consult the online checklists that are now available of the music score holdings, as well as view the database of scores that are mounted in low-resolution, but still legible, facsimiles -- the Easley Collection of scores.

Visitors are invited to send suggestions for additions and corrections to Thomas F. Heck.