Film scores in the Music Division can be divided generally into four categories:
- Scores for specific sound films, including full scores, condensed scores, piano scores, piano-conductor scores, and lead sheets
- Scores for silent film, including stock music pieces, cue sheets, and scores for specific films
- Excerpts of film scores for specific films
- Arrangements of film scores for solo instruments and ensembles
Film scores in all of these categories can be found under multiple call numbers as well as is many special collections within the Music Division. For more information on how to find film scores within special collections, see the Music Division page of the Special Collections & Rare Materials" section of this research guide.
The most common call numbers under which individually cataloged film scores may be found are:
M176Scores written for specific films (primarily piano scores for silent film); cue sheets; some photoplay albums
M1350Salon orchestra music
M1357Photoplay albums; sets of orchestral parts for specific silent film scores
M1508Piano vocal scores of songs from specific films
M1527Scores for specific silent or sound films (may include piano scores, condensed scores, full scores, and/or sets of orchestral parts)
M1527euStarting in 2019, the Music Division began cataloging unpublished film scores received through copyright registration under the call number M1527eu. These scores may be for specific sound films, and may include piano scores, lead sheets, condensed scores, full scores, and/or sets of orchestral parts.
M1527.2Excerpts from film scores (may include piano scores, condensed scores, piano vocal sheet music, and full scores)
ML96Holograph manuscripts for individually cataloged film scores, including scores by David Raksin, Aaron Copland, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Irving Fine, and Bernard Herrmann
Microfilm 87/20,037Microfilms of holograph manuscripts for Bernard Herrmann's film scores
Accessing Film Scores
None of the scores under the M1350 call number, nor any of the film scores for sound film under the M1527, M1527eu, M1527.2, ML96, and Microfilm call numbers are currently digitized, although many of them have records in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.
For piano vocal music from films under the call number M1508, scores for films up to 1922 are included in the Sheet Music of the Musical Theater digital collection. Scores from after 1922 are not available online.
Sheet Music of the Musical TheaterSheet Music of the Musical Theater is a collection of more than 16,000 pieces of sheet music published between 1880 and 1922. These songs, specified as “M1508” items in the Library’s classification system, were taken from musicals, revues and operettas primarily of the American and British stage. They are arranged for piano and voice, sometimes simultaneously in arrangements for lower and higher voice. Sheet music was the primary method by which the public learned about the latest songs, only much later supplanted by recordings and radio. Composers and lyricists from the famous to the obscure can be found in this collection, and the songs portray the culture and history of more than 100 years ago in unique and valuable ways.
Accessing Silent Film Scores
The Silent Film Scores and Arrangements digital collection includes nearly all silent film items from the M1527, M176, and M1357 call numbers. Scans of items that are still protected by U.S. copyright law may only be accessed through the Library's Stacks platform online in the Performing Arts Reading Room.
Silent Film Scores and ArrangementsThe Silent Film Scores and Arrangements digital collection includes over 3,000 items published or created for use in silent film accompaniment between 1904 - 1927. These items include scores written for specific films, cue sheets that compile melodies for use at certain moments in specific films, and stock music composed or arranged for general use in silent film. Scores and arrangements included in this collection include piano scores, full or reduced orchestral scores, instrumental parts, or just melodic incipits. Items in this collection came from copyright submissions, the Jack Butterworth collection, and a gift from Mrs. Charles Moore. Also included, courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art (NYC), are microfilm scans of over 800 items physically held by the museum.
For more detailed information on locating scores for silent film, see the "Film Scores" page of the Music for Silent Film research guide.
Music for Silent Film: A Guide to Resources at the Library of CongressThis research guide provides an overview of how to use and navigate the Library's extensive collections of material relevant to researching music for silent films. Although the primary focus is given to the Music Division's collections, this guide provides information on locating newspapers and periodicals in the Library's collections as well as some relevant materials accessed in the Recorded Sound and Moving Image Research Centers, Prints and Photographs Division, and Manuscript Division.
