Music & Dance

Music Manuscripts from the Great English Collections

994 microfilm reels. Click the "Guide" link for a list of contents. To search several collections at once, click here, and then scroll through the list of collection titles to "Music Manuscripts." Select the collections to be searched by pressing the "Ctrl" (PC) or "Command" (Mac) key while clicking. An item-level index is also available on CD-ROM (M2 .P75) and a printed guide is shelved under the same call number as the microfilms.

Series I (113 reels): Guide, Series I: The music collection of the Bodleian Library, Oxford – Introduction/Description

  • pt. 1: The Oxford Music School collection at the Bodleian Library Library, Oxford
  • pt. 2: The Court Odes / William Boyce
  • pt. 3: The music manuscripts of William Boyce and Maurice Greene
  • pt. 4: Unpublished English music manuscripts before 1850, Section A
  • pt. 5: Unpublished English music manuscripts before 1850, Section B
  • pt. 6: Unpublished continental music manuscripts of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.

Series II (87 reels): Guide, Series II: The music collection of St. Michael's College, Tenbury – Introduction/Description

  • pt. 1: Unpublished English and continental music manuscripts before 1650
  • pt. 2: Unpublished English centuries
  • pt. 5: Unpublished English music manuscripts of the nineteenth century.

Series III (60 reels): Guide, Series III: The music collection of Christ Church, Oxford – Introduction/Description

  • pt. 1: The most important manuscripts of English music selected from manuscripts 2-520
  • pt. 2: The most important manuscripts of English music selected from manuscripts 521-1246, and Gibbs 12
  • pt. 3: The most important manuscripts of continental music selected from manuscripts 3- 1216.

Series IV (291 reels): Guide, Series IV: The music manuscript collection of the British Library, London – Introduction/Description

  • pts. 1 and 2: Polyphonic music before c.1640, sections A and B
  • pts. 3 and 4: English music manuscripts c.1640-1714, sections A and B
  • pt. 5: The Chapel Royal part-books in the British Library Royal Music Collection, c. 1670-1850
  • pt. 6: Handel manuscripts in the British Library, section A: operas, serenades and odes
  • pt. 7: Handel manuscripts in the British Library, section B: oratorios and church music
  • pt. 8: Handel manuscripts in the British Library, section C: instrumental music, cantatas and other music
  • pts. 9 and 10: English music manuscripts, c. 1714 -1810, sections A and B
  • pts. 11, 12 and 13: British music manuscripts, c. 1810-c.1900.

Series V (159 reels): Guide, Series V: The music collection of the Royal College of Music, London – Introduction/Description

  • pts. 1 and 2: English music manuscripts before c. 1800, sections A and B
  • pts. 3, 4, 5 and 6: Continental music manuscripts before 1850
  • pts. 7 and 8: English music manuscripts, c. 1800-1870, sections A and B
  • pt. 9: English music manuscripts, c. 1870-1930, sections A and B.

Series VI (142 reels): Guide, Series VI: The music collections of the Cambridge Libraries – Introduction/Description 

  • pt. 1: Music manuscripts before 1850 from Cambridge University Library and Ely Cathedral
  • pt. 2: Music manuscripts in the Rowe Music Library, King's College, Cambridge
  • pt. 3: Handel manuscripts in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
  • pt. 4: English music manuscripts before c. 1880 in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
  • pts. 5 and 6: Continental music manuscripts from the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, sections A and B.

Series VII (66 reels): Guide, Series VII: The Music collection of the Royal Academy of Music, London – Introduction/Description

  • pt. 1: British and continental music manuscripts, section A
  • pt. 2: British and continental music manuscripts, section B
  • pt. 3: Previously uncatalogued music manuscripts.

Series VIII (53 reels): Guide, Series VIII: The Gerald Coke Handel collection – Introduction/Description

  • pt. 1: Manuscripts of individual works
  • pt. 2: Composite volumes and miscellanies and additional printed and manuscript items
  • pt. 3: The Shaftesbury manuscripts.

Series IX (23) reels: Guide, Series IX: Music manuscripts from chapel and cathedral libraries – Introduction/Description

  • pt. 1: The music collection of St. George's Chapel, Windsor.