Last revised: January 2010

Music Microfilm Series

The Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library owns many microfilm sets that provide primary resources from different libraries. Please browse the list below to locate collection titles, their descriptions, call numbers, and finding aid guides. This list may also be used in conjunction with the Finding Music Sources: Manuscripts and First Editions resource guide.
Email librarian Steve Henry (shenry@umd.edu) or call 301-405-9256 for more information.

Music Manuscripts

Italian Music Manuscripts in the British Library, C. 1640-C. 1820 The collection, organized in four chronological segments, offers an abundance of sources for vocal and instrumental music, sacred and secular.
Originating Library	Section	Guide
British Library	Section A: Music Manuscripts, c.1640-c.1720	Electronic-Part 1 Electronic-Part 2 Electronic-Part 3 PA LIB REF M2.I93
British Library	Section B: Music Manuscripts, c.1720-c.1740	Electronic-Part 1 Electronic-Part 2 Electronic-Part 3 Electronic-Part 4 PA LIB REF M2.I93
British Library	Section C: Music Manuscripts, c.1740-c.1770	Electronic-Part 1 Electronic-Part 2 Electronic-Part 3 PA LIB REF M2.I93
British Library	Section D: Music Manuscripts, c.1770 c.1820	Electronic-Part 1 Electronic-Part 2 Electronic-Part 3 Electronic-Part 4 PA LIB REF M2.I93

MUSIC MANUSCRIPTS FROM THE GREAT ENGLISH COLLECTIONS
Series 1: The music collection of the Bodleian Library, Oxford The manuscripts will be useful for research into the development of the Suite and Fantasia in England, consort music, playing techniques, Oxford musical life and the history of English music in general. There is a variety of music, including many religious pieces by distinguished composers such as Blow, Child, Henry Purcell, Croft, King, Rogers and Weldon. Secular music by Taverner, Tye, Sheppard, Byrd, White and others form an important element, as does the instrumental music (some of it Italian but copied in England, presumably for the Music School itself) by composers such as Bassani, Corelli, Finger and Paisible. The gradual growth of the collection depicts the changes of taste and musical preoccupations through the centuries.
Originating Library	Part	Guide
Bodleian Library	Part 1: Unpublished music manuscripts of the 16th and 17th centuries from the Oxford Music School Collections	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .B63 1979
Bodleian Library	Part 2: The court odes of William Boyce	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .B63 1979
Bodleian Library	Part 3: The music manuscripts of Maurice Greene and William Boyce	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .B63 1979
Bodleian Library	Part 4: Unpublished English music manuscripts before c. 1850, Section A	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .B63 1979
Bodleian Library	Part 5: Unpublished English music manuscripts before c. 1850, Section B	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .B63 1979
Bodleian Library	Part 6: Unpublished continental music manuscripts of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .B63 1979
Series 2: The music collection of St. Michael’s College, Tenbury Originally from St. Michael's College, Tenbury, and now housed at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, this collection of music manuscripts was gathered by the 19th century collector, the Reverend Sir Frederick Ouseley, a music scholar with a particular interest in early English Church music and a pioneer in the revival of Tudor music.
St. Michael's College	Part 1: Unpublished English and continental music manuscripts before 1650	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .M874 1981
St. Michael's College	Part 2: Unpublished English music manuscripts, 1650-1800	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .M874 1981
St. Michael's College	Part 3: Unpublished continental music manuscripts of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .M874 1981
St. Michael's College	Part 4: Unpublished continental music manuscripts of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .M874 1981
St. Michael's College	Part 5: Unpublished English Music Manuscripts of the 19th century	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .M874 1981
Series 3: The Music Collection of Christ Church, Oxford Part 1 is particularly rich in masses, motets, madrigals and anthems, of the 17th-century English Masters -- Sheppard, Taverner, Tallis, Byrd, the Lawes Brothers, the Gibbons Family, the Commonwealth Oxford Group, Jenkins, Locke, Blow and the Purcell brothers. More than 4,000 individual pieces of music in manuscript are contained in the 237 volumes included in the second part. Sacred, secular, instrumental and vocal works are all included in the third part, along with a collection of cantatas. Of special interest are the sole surviving sources of two operas by Alessandro Scarlatti.
Christ Church, Oxford	Part 1: Unpublished English music manuscripts of the 16th and 17th centuries	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .M87 1981
Christ Church, Oxford	Part 2: Unpublished English music manuscripts of the 16th and 17th centuries	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .M87 1981
Christ Church, Oxford	Part 3: Unpublished continental music manuscripts of the 16th and 17th centuries	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .M87 1981
Series 4: The music manuscript collection of the British Library, London This microfilm publication of music manuscripts includes the Roberts-bridge Codex, the Old Hall MS, the Fountains Fragments, the Fayrfax manuscripts, Ritson's MSS, King Henry VIII's MS, Gyffard Part-books, Lumley Part-books, the Mulliner Book, Baldwin's Commonplace Book, Myrriell's Tristitiae Remedium, Tregian's Anthology, Cosyn's Virginal Book, Will Foster's Virginal Book, John Stuart's Lute-book and Eliabeth Rogers' Virginal Book. Included in Parts Six, Seven and Eight are all the manuscript volumes that include music by Handel.
British Library	Part 1: Polyphonic music before c. 1640, Section A	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .B76 1983
British Library	Part 2: Polyphonic music before c. 1640, Section B	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .B76 1983
British Library	Part 3: English music manuscripts c. 1640-1714, Section A	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .B76 1983
British Library	Part 4: English music manuscripts c. 1940-1714, Section B	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .B76 1983
British Library	Part 5: The Chapel Royal part-books, c. 1670-1850	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .B76 1983
British Library	Part 6: Handel manuscripts, Section A: Operas, serenades and odes	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .B76 1983
British Library	Part 7: Handel manuscripts, Section B: Oratorios and church music	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .B76 1983
British Library	Part 8: Handel manuscripts, Section C: Instrumental music, cantatas and other music	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .B76 1983
British Library	Part 9: English music manuscripts, c. 1714-1810, Section A	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .B76 1983
British Library	Part 10: English music manuscripts, c. 1714-1810, Section B	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .B76 1983
Series 5: The music collection of the Royal College of Music, London The first two parts consist of English music and manuscripts associated with England from the Tudor to the Georgian periods, including the important Jeffreys source (MS 920), the source for Henry VII's court (MS 1070), Barnard's Part-books (MS 1045-1051), autograph sources of Blow (MS 1089), and of Croft, Boyce and Greene, and sources of music by Jenkins, Locke, Simpson, Purcell, and all of the other major composers of the period. The selection of continental manuscripts contains music from the 18th century and is particularly rich in Italian music, both sacred and secular.
Royal College of Music	Part 1: English music manuscripts before c.1800, Section A	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .M875 1983
Royal College of Music	Part 2: English music manuscripts before c.1800, Section B	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .M875 1983
Royal College of Music	Part 3: Continental music manuscripts before 1850, Section A	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .M875 1983
Royal College of Music	Part 4: Continental music manuscripts before 1850, Section B	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .M875 1983
Royal College of Music	Part 5: Continental music manuscripts before 1850, Section C	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .M875 1983
Royal College of Music	Part 6: Continental music manuscripts before 1850, Section D	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .M875 1983
Series 6: The music collections of the Cambridge Libraries In parts 1 and 2 of this collection are medieval sacred and secular music, and 16th- and 17th-century English lute and consort music. The most substantial complete autograph of part 3 is that of the anthem "O Praise the Lord with one consent," and there are also important fragments that fill gaps in the Royal Music Library autographs. Part 4 of the collection contains the Fitzwilliam Virginal book, the Paston part-books, the Tolquhon part-book, the Lowther lute-book, Lord Herbert of Cherbury's lute-book and the Bull manuscript.
Cambridge University & Ely Library	Part 1: Music manuscripts before 1850 from Cambridge University Library and Ely Cathedral	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .M86 1987
Rowe Music Library	Part 2: Music manuscripts in the Rowe Music Library, King’s College	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .M86 1987
Fitzwilliam Museum	Part 3: Handel manuscripts in the Fitzwilliam Museum	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .M86 1987
Fitzwilliam Museum	Part 4: English music manuscripts before c.1880 in the Fitzwilliam Museum	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .M86 1987
Series 7: The music collection of the Royal Academy of Music, London The collection broadly reflects the history of music in England and the history of the Royal Academy. It ranges over three centuries of music, with particular strengths in early English and Italian music, and 19th-century classical music.
Royal Academy of Music	Part 1: British and continental music manuscripts, Section A	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .M876 1988
Royal Academy of Music	Part 2: British and continental music manuscripts, Section B	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .M876 1988
Royal Academy of Music	Part 3: Previously uncatalogued music manuscripts>	Electronic PA LIB REF ML96.4 .M876 1988
Series 8: The Gerald Coke Handel Collection More than 200 music manuscripts including autographs of Handel, as well as Babell, Boyce, Greene and Handel's librettist, Charles Jennens are included. There are also works in the hands of J. C. Smith the Elder and Younger, and other well-known copyists of the time. Manuscripts annotated with performers' markings, the names of singers, and several sets of instrumental parts represent contemporary performances. Several manuscripts are from the Aylesford Collection and other important libraries, and virtually the entire Shaftesbury Collection is included as well.
Foundling Museum	Part 1: Manuscripts of individual works	Electronic PA LIB REF ML138.C65 1987
Foundling Museum	Part 2: Composite volumes and miscellanies and additional printed and manuscript items	Electronic PA LIB REF ML138.C65 1987
Foundling Museum	Part 3: The Shaftesbury manuscripts	Electronic PA LIB REF ML138.C65 1987

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Printed Music

Printed Music Before 1800 The widest possible representation of published British composers including sacred and secular instrumental and vocal music, along with madrigals, part songs, ayres, glees and catches.
Originating Library	Call Number	Guide
British Library	M2.3 .E6 P7	PA LIB REF M2.3 .E6 P7

Thomas A. Edison collection of American sheet music Thomas A. Edison's gramophone company acquired this collection over the years for the purposes of producing recorded music with Edison personally evaluating much of it. Nearly every aspect of American life and history is represented in its songs: race, gender, politics, famous historical figures, immigration and ethnicity, regions of the United States, wars and depressions, advertising, industry and sports.
Originating Library	Call Number	Guide
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor	M1 .A13 T56 2000	PA LIB REF M1 .A13 T56 2000

Women composers The collection features works by Amy Marcy Cheney Beach, Lili Boulanger, Nadia Boulanger, Pauline Viardot; Maria Malibran; Augusta Holmes; Ethel Smyth; Cécile Chaminade; Liza Lehmann; Teresa Del Riego; and many others.
Originating Library	Call Number	Guide
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor	M2 .W872 1998	Electronic PA LIB REF M2 .W872 1998

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Miscellaneous

New musical express and Blues & soul: the journals of popular music This collection offers rare and important background and insights into popular music, the inside workings of the entertainment business, star-making machinery and emerging popular and youth cultures.
Included Journals	Part	Guide
Accordion Times Musical Express New Musical Express	Part 1: New musical express and predecessors, 1946-1971	PA LIB REF ML5.N484
Home of the Blues Blues & Soul Disco Music Review Black Music & Jazz Review	Part 2: Blues and soul, 1967-1987	PA LIB REF ML 5.B656

Manuals, tutors, and methods for woodwinds, brass and other instruments, 1730-1923 International in scope, the collection includes many French, Russian and German tutors with parallel English texts. Music tutors were often issued by instrument makers to propagate the use of a new system of keys or valves, or to introduce hybrid novelty instruments. Music for beginners, fingering charts and diagrams, instructions for making and maintaining the instruments and exercises for performers are included.
Originating Library	Part	Guide
Oxford and Private Library of Phillip Bate	Part One: Instrumental Tutors from the Bate Collection of Musical Instruments	PA LIB REF MT172.H477 pt.1 guide
Bibliothèque Royale Albert Ier, Brussels	Part Two: Tutors and Méthodes from the F.J. Fétis Collection at the Bibliothèque Royale Albert Ier, Brussels	PA LIB REF MT172.H477 pt.2 guide

Venetian opera libretti This collection includes virtually every opera produced in Venice from 1637 (the opening of the first public opera house) until 1769, containing 1,286 libretti bound in 117 volumes. This set is indexed in: Irene Alm. Catalog of Venetian Librettos at the University of California, Los Angeles. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.
Originating Library	Call Number	Guide
University of California, Los Angeles	ML48 .R114 1993	Electronic PA LIB REF ML136.L842 U682 1993

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