Thematic Catalogs
Thematic catalogs are helpful for gathering accurate information about a piece of music you are studying or performing. Most thematic catalogs are devoted to the work of a single composer, but they can also cover particular repertoires, collections, or publisher catalogs.
Some of the most common benefits of using thematic catalogs include:
- Precise identification a work
- Guide to a composer's complete output
- More information about the piece, such as date of composition, uniform title (for aid in library catalog searching), location of manuscripts, and bibliographic citations for writings about the work
- Documentation of works that once existed but are no longer extant
Thematic catalogs typically include incipits (short musical excerpts) that aid in exact identification of the work. These excerpts may be the major themes in a movement or piece, or they may simply be the opening measures. Some thematic catalogs additionally or alternatively serve as thematic locators, allowing you to search by the musical themes themselves (often using letter names for pitches).
Below, you'll see a list of our library's holdings of thematic catalogs (single-composer catalogs, followed by other types—some being freely available online).
Thematic Catalogs: Selected Resources
Bibliographies of Thematic Catalogs
Thematic Catalogues in Music: An Annotated Bibliography, 2nd ed. (Book, 1997)
ML 113 .B86 1997: Music Library, Reference
Single-Composer Thematic Catalogs
Austin
Larry Austin: Life and Works of an Experimental Composer (Clark, 2012)
ML 410 .A864 C5 2012: Music Library, Reference
Bach, C.P.E.
The Catalog of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's Estate (1981)
ML 134 .B08 B3: Music Library, Reference
Thematic catalogue of the works of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (Helm, 1989)
ML 134 .B08 A2 1989: Music Library, Reference
Bach, J.S.
Bach Compendium (Schulze/Wolff, 1985-89)
ML 134 .B1 A3 1985 bd.1 t.1-4: Music Library, Reference
Bach-Dokumente: Supplement zu Johann Sebastian Bach Neue Ausgabe Samtlicher Werke (1963-2007)
ML 134 .B1 B32 1963 bds. 1-7: Music Library, Reference
Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis: Kleine Ausgabe (BWV2a) (Dürr/Kobayashi, 1998)
ML 134 .B1 S29 1998: Music Library, Reference
Johann Sebastian Bach 2000, 250 : Bach at Breitkopf (1999)
ML 134 .B1 B7 1999: Music Library, Reference
Melodic Index to the Works of Johann Sebastian Bach (Payne, 1938)
ML 134 .B1 P35 2010: Music Library, Reference
Thematisch-systematisches Verzeichnis der musikalichen Werke von Johann Sebastian Bach: Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis, 2nd ed. (Schmieder, 1990)
ML 134 .B1 S3 1990: Music Library, Reference
Berlioz
Catalogue of the Works of Hector Berlioz (Holoman, 1987)
ML 134 .B5 A2 1987: Music Library, Reference
Bartók
Béla Bartók : A Complete Catalog of His Published Works (1970)
ML 134 .H18 B6 1970: Music Library, Reference
Beethoven
Das Werk Beethovens; thematisch-bibliographisches Verzeichnis seiner sämtlichen vollendeten Kompositionen (Kinsky, 1955)
ML 134 .B4 K5: Music Library, Reference
Ludwig van Beethoven : Autographe und Abschriften : Katalog (Klein, 1975)
ML 134 .B4 K56 1975: Music Library, Reference
Ludwig van Beethoven: Thematisch-bibliographisches Werkverzeichnis (Dorfmüller, 2014)
ML 134 .B4 D6 2014 (bd. 1-2): Music Library, Reference
Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein: A Complete Catalogue of His Works (Gottlieb, 1978)
ML 134 .B512 G7: Music Library, Reference
Brahms
Johannes Brahms: thematisch-bibliographisches Werkverzeichnis (McCorkle, 1984)
ML 134 .B8 A3 1984: Music Library, Reference
Thematic Catalogue of the Works of Johannes Brahms (1897)
ML 134 .B8 A35 1973: Music Library, Reference
Chopin
Chopin: An Index of His Works in Chronological Order, 2nd ed. (Brown, 1972)
ML 134 .C54 B84 1972a: Music Library, Reference
Frédéric Chopin: Thematisch-bibliographisches Werkverzeichnis (Kobylanska, 1979)
ML 134 .C54 A315 1979: Music Library, Reference
Katalog dziel Freyderyka Chopina (Chominski, 1990)
ML 134 .C54 A18 1990: Music Library, Reference
Clementi
Thematic Catalogue of the Works of Muzio Clementi (Tyson, 1967)
ML 134 .C585 T9: Music Library, Reference
Gluck
Catalogue thématique des oeurves de Chr. W.v. Gluck (1967)
ML 134 .G56 W6 1967: Music Library, Reference
Handel
Händel-Handbuch: Thematisch-systematisches Verzeichnis (Baselt, 1978-86)
ML 134 .H16 A19 (bds. 1-4): Music Library, Reference
Haydn
Joseph und Michael Haydn, Autographe und Abschriften : Katalog (Jaenecke, 1990)
ML 134 .H272 J34 1990: Music Library, Reference
Joseph Haydn: Thematisch-bibliographisches Werkverzeichnis (Hoboken, 1957-78)
ML 134 .H272 H6 (vols. 1-3): Music Library, Reference
A Melodic Index to Haydn's Instrumental Music (Bryant/Chapman, 1982)
ML 134 .H272 B79 1981: Music Library, Reference
Ives
A Descriptive Catalogue of the Music of Charles Ives (Sinclair, 1999)
ML 134 .I9 S56 1999: Music Library, Reference
Liszt
Thematisches Verzeichniss der Werke : Bearbeitungen und Transcriptionen von F. Liszt (1965)
ML 134 .L7 A3 1965: Music Library, Reference
Mendelssohn
Thematisches Verzeichniss der im Druck erschienenen Compositionen von Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1882)
ML 134 .M53 A2 1966: Music Library, Reference
Mozart
Chronologisch-thematisches Verzeichnis sämtlicher Tonwerke Wolfgang Amadé Mozarts, 6th ed. (Köchel, 1964)
ML 134 .M9 K55 1964: Music Library, Reference
Mozart-Melodie-Verzeichnis (Zehetgruber, 1999)
ML 134 .M9 Z45 1999: Music Library, Reference
A Thematic Locator for Mozart's Works: As Listed in Koechel's Chronologisch-Thematisches Verzeichnis, 6th ed. (Hill/Gould, 1970)
ML 134 .M9 H54 1970: Music Library, Reference
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Autographe und Abschriften : Katalog (Klein, 1982)
ML 134 .M9 K44 1982: Music Library, Reference
Mussorgsky
Modest Musorgskyʼs Heritage : Collection of Materials (Levashev, 1989)
ML 134 .M97 N37 1989: Music Library, Reference
Purcell
An Index to the Works of Henry Purcell : As Published by the Purcell Society (Smith: 1965)
ML 134 .P87 S5 1965: Music Library, Reference
Henry Purcell, 1659-1695; An Analytical Catalogue of His Music (Zimmerman, 1963)
ML 134 .P95 A4: Music Library, Reference
Rubinstein
Anton Rubinstein: An Annotated Catalog of Piano Works and Biography (Sitsky, 1998)
ML 134 .R82 S58 1998: Music Library, Reference
Scarlatti, A.
Scarlatti: Thematic Index of the Harpsichord Sonatas (Longo, 1965)
ML 134 .S28 A2 1965: Music Library, Reference
Schubert
Franz Schubert: The Complete Songs (Johnson, 2014)
ML 134 .S38 J65 2014 (v.1-3): Music Library, Reference
Franz Schubert: Thematisches Verzeichnis seiner Werke in chronologischer Folge (Deutsch/Aderhold, 1978)
ML 134 .S38 A24: Music Library, Reference
Schumann
Thematisches Verzeichniss sämmtlicher im druck erschienenen Werke Robert Schumann's (1966)
ML 134 .S4 A1: Music Library, Reference
Schütz
Heinrich Schütz: A Bibliography of the Collected Works and Performing Editions (Miller/Highsmith, 1986)
ML 134 .S412 M5 1986: Music Library, Reference
Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich: A Catalogue, Bibliography, and Discography, 3rd ed. (Hulme, 2002)
ML 134 .S485 H8 2002: Music Library, Reference
Schröder
Hanning Schröder: Dokumente, kritisches Werkverzeichnis (Schüler, 1996)
ML 410 .S291 S38 1996: Music Library, Reference
Telemann
A Calendar and Comprehensive Source Catalogue of Georg Philipp Telemann's Vocal and Instrumental Music with Brass (1995)
ML 134 .T4 C7 1995: Music Library, Reference
Thematisch-Systematisches Verzeichnis seiner Werke (Ruhnke, 1984)
ML 134 .T4 A2 1984 (bds. 1-2): Music Library, Reference
Tchaikovsky
Catalogue Thematique des Oeuvres de P. Tschaikowsky (1897)
ML 134 .C4 I8: Music Library, Reference
Thompson
Virgil Thompson (1996)
ML 134 .T43 V57 1996: Music Library, Reference
Verdi
A Bibliography of the Works of Giuseppe Verdi, 1813-1901 (Hopkinson, 1973-78)
ML 134 .V47 H6 (v.1-2): Alkek, 6th floor
Vivaldi
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) : catalogo numerico-tematico delle opere strumentali (Fanna, 1968)
ML 134 .V7 F3: Music Library, Reference
A concordance of the thematic indexes to the instrumental works of Antonio Vivaldi (Coral, 1972)
ML 134 .V7 M9 1972: Music Library, Reference
Verzeichnis der Werke Antonio Vivaldis (RV) (Ryom, 1977)
ML 134 .V7 R98 1977: Music Library, Reference
Wagner
Wagner Werk-Verzeichnis (WWV) (1986)
ML 134 .W1 A15 1986: Music Library, Reference
Thematic Catalogs for Standard Concert Repertory
Themefinder
(online)
The Directory of Tunes and Musical Themes (Parsons, 1975)
ML 128 .I65 P33: Music Library, Reference
Early Music
RISM [Répertoire international des sources musicales], Series A/II:
Manuscripts by Individual Composers after 1600
(online)
Hymns and Hymn Tunes
The Hymn Tune Index
(online)
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