Music

Composer-based research guides can provide excellent starting points for any project focused on the work of a particular composer. They inevitably include annotated bibliographies of key primary and secondary resources, lists of works, references to important editions, and much other useful information.

Search for research guides to scholarly works on composers using the following formula:

[composer's last name] AND bibliography

For example, to search OneSearch for research guides on Benjamin Britten

1. Type britten bibliography (the AND operator is understood) into the search box
2. Choose Library Catalog search and click enter
3. Limit results by Availability to items Physical Items at Brandeis
4. Click to expand the Subject options and scroll down to the subject heading: Britten, Benjamin, 1913-1976 -- Bibliography
5. Click on that subject heading to get a list of all bibliographies on Benjamin Britten.

Thematic catalogs are fundamental resources for serious research on a composer's body of  work, providing not only musical incipits to the works, but also basic information on dating and provenance, surviving manuscripts, early performances, publication history, modern location of sources, and much other key data.