Subject Guide: Vocal Music

These are some of the many books available in the library dealing with vocal music:

• Sadie, Stanley, ed.  The New Grove Dictionary of Opera.  New York:  Grove’s Dictionaries of Music, 1992.
  [Music Reference ML102.O6 N5 1992]
• Coffin, Berton, et al.  Word-by-word Translations of Songs & Arias.  New York:  Scarecrow Press, 1966-1972. 
  [Music Reference ML54.6.W92]
• LaRue, C. Steven.  Handel and his Singers.  New York:  Oxford University Press, 1995.
  [ML410.H13 L23 1995]
• Lindenberger, Herbert Samuel. Opera in History: from Monteverdi to Cage. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998.
  [ML1700 .L54 1998]
• Matheopoulos, Helena.  Diva:  the New Generation : the Sopranos and Mezzos of the Decade Discuss Their Roles.  Boston:  Northeastern University Press, 1998.
  [ML400 .M3593 1998]
• Sams, Eric.  The Songs of Johannes Brahms.  New Haven, CT:  Yale University Press, 2000.
  [MT121.B73 S36 2000]

These titles may be of special interest to vocalists.  Some are available in print form, some in electronic form.  Browse by title in PacifiCat for print holdings, and the Pacific eLibrary for electronic holdings.  To locate other music titles, browse Pacificat for the subject "Music Periodicals".

• Cambridge Opera Journal
• Choral Journal
• Early Music
• Journal of Singing
• Opera News

• The Aria Database – Includes texts and translations of many arias.
• Index to Renaissance Vocal Music in Collections - Searchable database of vocal music from 1450-1600 in more than 20 music anthologies.
• International Phonetic Association – The homepage for the association includes a chart of the International Phonetic Alphabet, as well some audio files for download.  Also provides information about exams, conferences, and links to other related sites.
• Lied and Song Texts Page – This page has the complete lyrics for many songs, and English translations of most of the standard repertoire.
• Opera America - A good web page for singers who are interested in a career in opera. This site includes performance schedules; conference, competition, and fellowship information, and more.
• Operabase - An excellent companion site to OperaGlass, Operabase provides monthly performance data on 500 international opera houses. There are also full text reviews and TV/radio broadcast schedules. This searchable database is available in six languages.
• OperaGlass - A good site to begin with. There are many links to opera pages with information about composers, librettists, operas, opera companies, people, reviews, and calendars.
• Schubertline - Lieder, songs, and arias which may be viewed, played, and printed in any key using Sibelius Scorch, the free software which lets you obtain sheet music from the internet. Most printed scores cost about $2.00 or you can buy a subscription for unlimited access.
• Stage Agent - Constructed and maintained by Stanford University students and alumni, this site offers national coverage for show synopses and castings, current production listings, audition and callback announcements, classified ads, and a bulletin board.
• UTK Song Index - Database providing access to citations for about 50,000 songs in more than 1,500 published song anthologies owned by the George F. DeVine Music Library at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
• Women Song Composers - A Listing of Songs Published in the United States and England, ca. 1890-1930. A searchable database (compiled by Christopher Reynolds at the Universityof California at Davis) that contains 5116 songs (and song sets and cycles) by 515 women composers. Titles, poets, publishers, and dates are provided as well as historical information.

In PacifiCat, there are two ways to find items on a particular subject:  by Searching, or by Browsing. 
Searching (by keyword) is useful for finding items about a specific topic when you don't have a specific author or title.

1. To SEARCH by Subject, go to PacifiCat , and select Advanced Search.
2. Select the Format and/or Material Type you are looking for.
3. Under Field to Search: choose Subject.
4. Under Words adjacent? click Yes
5. Enter search term(s) from the following list in the first blank box:
   • Choral music
   • Singing diction
   • Singing instruction and study
   • Vocal music

Browsing by subject is useful when browsing for music for specific instruments, ensembles, or genres (e.g. sonatas, symphonies, operas, etc.) when the composer or title is not known.

To BROWSE by Subject, go to PacifiCat, and select “Browse” from the left-hand menu.
Under Index to Browse: choose Subject.

• Songs (high voice)
• Songs (low voice) with orchestra
• Songs (medium voice) with
• Choruses
• Opera (for books about opera)
• Operas (for scores and recordings)