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The geographic organization of this guide was modeled after the format used by Oscar Sonneck when he began this project. Sonneck adopted this arrangement based on the scholarship of historian and collector Albert Schatz, whose preferred method of data management was ordering materials by country, city, and holding institution.
Descriptions for each musical entry in this guide comprise twelve bibliographic components:
It should be noted that the transcripts of dramatic musical works not cataloged under the M1500 classification as well as the transcripts of instrumental works for viola da gamba copied primarily in 1911-1912 are arranged in shelf-list order rather than by geographic location.
Additional Notes:
The Music Division’s collection of transcripts of dramatic musical works in full score is available for use in the Library of Congress’s Performing Arts Reading Room. Reproductions of these scores may be generated from microfilm surrogates also available in the Reading Room. Reference inquiries about these materials may be directed to the Music Division via our Ask-a-Librarian service.
In addition to in-house files dedicated to operas in full score at the Library of Congress compiled by Music Division chief Oscar Sonneck between 1903-1917, the following external resources were used to compile the data in this bibliography.