Hours: Click here for hours

Contact: (434) 924-7041 or musiclib@virginia.edu

After-hours help | U.Va. Emergency Information

Staff | Where We Are | Mailing Address

Style Manuals

Consult these style manuals for formats and guidance in preparing bibliographic citations:

The Chicago Manual of Style

This is the style manual most often used by publisher of books and articles on music. Examine the examples and guidelines offered in Chapter 16.

MLA Style. Modern Language Association of America. 1998

Holoman, D. Kern. Writing about Music: A Style Sheet from the Editors of 19th-Century Music. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988 (Ref. ML63.W68 1988)

Chapters 1 and 3 discuss a number of the issues involved in applying standard citation styles to references to musical compositions.

Harnack, A. and Kleppinger, E. Online! A Reference Guide to Using Internet Sources. Bedford/St. Martins, 2000.

Chapters 5-8, discussing how to use ALA, MLA, Chicago and CBE style to cite Internet resources, are available online at http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/shrttoc.html.

A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations

Turabian's manual is a distillation of the recommendations in The Chicago Manual. Chapters 9 and 11 offer a number of examples to follow in preparing citations to publications.

Sample Citations

Turabian's examples do not specifically cover citation styles for printed music or sound recordings. However, following her guidelines, we can created standardized citations to describe music editions and recordings. The following examples are adapted from formats specified by Turabian, 5th ed.: Single composer [Turabian §11:3]

• Britten, Benjamin. Occasional Overture (1946) for Orchestra. London: Faber Music, 1984.
• Telemann, Georg Philipp. Concerto G-dur, für Querflöte, zwei Violinen, und Basso continuo. Edited by Walter Upmeyer. Hortus musicus, no. 131. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1965.
• Wagner, Richard. "Isolde Liebestod" aus Tristan und Isolde. Arranged for two pianos four hands and voice by Alfred Pringsheim. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, [n.d.].
• Schütz, Heinrich. Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke. Vol. 9, Cantiones sacrae (1625). Edited by Gottfried Grote. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1960.
• Debussy, Claude. Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. Edited by William W. Austin. Norton Critical Scores. New York: W.W. Norton, 1968.
• Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. W. A. Mozarts Werke. Kritisch durchgesehene Gesammtausgabe. Serie 5, nr. 17, Le Nozze di Figaro. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1879; reprint, Ann Arbor: J. W. Edwards, 1955.
• Brahms, Johannes. Piano Quartet, op. 25. In The Chamber Music of Brahms, ed. Albert E. Wier. New York: Longman, Green and Co., 1940.

Models for Bibliographic Citations for Sound Recordings

• Beethoven, Ludwig van. Symphony No. 7 in A Major. Performed by the Philharmonia Promenade Orchestra of London. Conducted by Sir Adrian Boult. LP record VRS 1015. Vanguard, [1958].
• Dowland, John. "Come away, come sweet love," on Songs for Tenor and Lute. Performed by Nigel Rogers and Paul O'Dette. Compact disc VC 7 90726-2. Virgin Classics, 1988. Track 1.
• Dowland, John. "I saw my ladye weep," on Portrait of Emma Kirkby. Performed by Emma Kirkby and Anthony Rooley. LP record DSLO 607. Oiseau-Lyre, 1982. Side 1, band 6.
• Wagner, Richard. Tannhäuser. Performed by Birgit Nilsson, Theo Adam, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Wolfgang Windgassen, Horst R. Laubenthal, Chor und Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin. Conducted by Otto Gerdes. LP record 2711 008. Deutsche Grammophon, 1969.

Models for Bibliographic Citations for Internet Sources

• Hanford, Jan and Jan Koster. J. S. Bach Homepage. 1995-1999. <http://www.jsbach.org/>