How to locate sheet music for opera, popular songs and classical music. Information on finding music criticism
In some cases a musical work has no known published analysis to date. It is either too short, too minor or too recent or not well known in Western music.
Sometimes you could do your own analysis by reading analyses of similar pieces of music.
In order to find published musical analyses you will need to consult a bibliography or index that will have list where specific analyses are located.
A search of the Library catalogue under musical analysis bibliography will bring up a list of publications.
The most useful of these is Music analyses - an annotated guide to the literature (1991) by Harold J. Diamond.
For locations of analyses published since 1991, try the George F. Devine Music Library.
Online sources
The Library holds the Journal of music theory both in print and online (1957-current). Vary your search terms to broaden your search, (see the 'case study' below).
To search across a number of music journals try the 'Article databases' option on the Library catalogue, and search in 'Music' from the drop down list (see image in box below).
Finding an analysis of Debussy's Etude number 4 "pour les sixtes"
As above, check under Debussy in Music analyses - an annotated guide to the literature (1991).
There is one citation under Debussy, Claude, Etude number 4 :- Journal of music theory, 1985, 29, no 1, pp 33-60. The citation says it is a detailed analytic study of this etude.
The printed journal is located at the State Library of Victoria and can be ordered from the Library storage areas. It is also available online (see above) in the Library or to registered Victorian users outside the Library.
Try a search on the same piece using the 'Article' tab above the search box on the Library catalogue. This will execute a quick search of various journal databases.
While you will retrieve some good results, the specific item cited above is not in the list. This is because the references in the article do not specifically match your search. Sometimes pieces of music will be referred to by varying names. If you searched under 'Debussy chromatic etude' you would find the article. You could also broaden your search to 'Debussy etude'.
