In recent years, sources for free online classical music scores have blossomed on the Web.

Below I list a selection of outstanding sites.

Sources for Online Music Scores

Numerous websites offering free and low-cost downloadable sheet music are indexed at MusiciansWay.com on the following pages, which I regularly update.

Practice (scores for diverse instrumentalists and singers)
For Instrumentalists (instrument-specific scores listed under categories such as “Guitar”)
For Singers (scores for singers as well as choir and opera directors)

The Petrucci Music Library at the Internet Music Score Library Project (IMSLP), online since February 2006, offers a vast collection of scores for free download. The IMSLP aims “to create a virtual library containing all public domain music scores as well as scores from composers who are willing to share their music with the world without charge.”

The Werner Icking Music Archive, hosted by the Department of Computer Science at the University of Aarhus in Denmark, offers various scores available for download. [Update: WIMA has merged with IMSLP]

Scores are also available from the Cook Music Library at Indiana University. “Designed primarily for online display; not for printing.”

The Neue Mozart Ausgabe (New Mozart Edition) free digital version, published by Bärenreiter, provides the complete works of Mozart for online display.

Schubert-online.at publishes digital images of Schubert’s manuscripts as well as images of letters and other documents.

African-American Sheet Music, 1850-1920. Is a collection of 1,305 pieces owned by Brown University and cataloged at the Library of Congress.

Updated sources for scores are posted on MusiciansWay.com. See The Musician’s Way for guidelines to choose repertoire appropriate for students as well as for professional concerts.

© 2009 Gerald Klickstein