University of Rochester

Located inside the Miller Center on Gibbs Street Welcome The largest music library affiliated with any college or university in North America 3 floors dedicated entirely to music. A 12th century collection of early medieval theoretical music treatises, written in Germany or Austria. It was previously owned by the Benedictine Admont Abbey, near Salzburg, and was purchased by the Sibley Music Library in 1936. The last page of the manuscript features an exquisite Guidonian hand, devised by theorist Guido d’Arezzo to propagate a method of sight-singing with the six syllables ut, re, mi, fa, sol, and la. Admont-Rochester Codex Manuscript (ca. 1103) This magnificent manuscript is the Sibley Music Library’s single most celebrated holding, and one of only three extant manuscript sources of this celebrated composition (1905). This is a particelle, or short score — a detailed sketch or draft, in condensed form. The composer’s painstakingly fine penmanship, and the multiplicity of colored pencils, never fail to draw admiring comment. Claude Debussy,
1862-1918 Manuscript (1905) La Mer: Trois esquisses symphoniques pour orchestre The holograph manuscript score of Hanson’s most famous composition. Serge Koussevitzky commissioned the work for the 50th anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1930; the New York Philharmonic premiere was conducted by Arturo Toscanini, whose markings appear on the score. Howard Hanson,
1896-1981 Begun April, 1928 – Completed July 6, 1930 Symphony no. 2, opus 30, “Romantic”
This copy, number 227 of the limited first edition of the piano vocal score, was signed by the composer, the librettist (DuBose Heyward), the lyricist (Ira Gershwin), and the producer (Rouben Mamoulian) of the first production (1934). From 1923 to 1926, Mamoulian was Assistant Director of Eastman’s Opera Department and Director of the Department of Dramatic Action
and Dance. George Gershwin,
1898-1937
(New York Random House, 1935)
Porgy and Bess
 A rare, incomplete set of the partbooks of the Masses of Josquin des Prez — the Superius and the Bassus from the liber primus, liber secundus, and liber tertius. The Sibley partbooks are believed to date from a 1514-16 printing by Ottaviano dei Petrucci (1466-1539), the first to print polyphonic music from movable type, which initiated the dissemination of polyphonic music. Josquin des Prez, d. 1521 Printed at Fossombrone, Italy (1514-16)
by Ottaviano dei Petrucci Missarum Josquin liber primus;
liber secundus; liber tertius

Featured Resources

BrowZine
A database comprising many of the academic journals to which Sibley subscribes
Oxford Music Online
Access point for Oxford music reference subscriptions and products
MGG Online
A general encyclopedia of music, entirely in German (although with Google translate imbedded).
RILM
Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale (RILM) documents and disseminates music research worldwide.
Music Index
A Subject-Author Guide to Music Periodical Literature is compiled from over 655 international music periodicals
JSTOR
A cooperative venture among 1400 international libraries and publishers to provide full-text access to older scholarly journals.
Worldcat
A database of library resources from around the world, including books, movies, music, art, and artifacts.
Streamed Audio/Video
List of all streamed audio/video resources subscribed by Sibley Music Library
Interlibrary Loan
A massive network of libraries working together to share their collections.

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