Classical Music Library

Series: Our favourite State Library eresources.

People often ask us what our most loved eresources are. Admittedly we all have a favourite, or two, or three. It’s hard to pick as there are so many wonderful State Library eresources available. In this series our Librarians and Library Technicians share with you their most favourite eresources and how they’ve been used to solve research queries.

Next in the series we look at Classical Music Library, a big favourite of Librarian Elli Torres.

So why is Classical Music Library so fabulous?

Classical Music Library has a growing collection of over 50,000 audio tracks for listening and enjoyment. The database is easy to use and has all sort of music to choose from.

Best of all, you can access Classical Music Library online from home with your free State Library membership. 

Classical music and more

You can expect to find recordings of music written from the earliest times to the present, e.g. from Gregorian Chant to many contemporary composers. The classical repertoire ranges from vocal/choral music, to chamber, orchestral, solo instrumental, and opera.  

The database has coverage of thousands of artists, composers, choreographers, and ensembles and includes many categories of music such as American, Classical, Jazz, Popular, Theatrical, Film, Dance, and World music. 

A great resource for music studies

Classical Music Library includes multiple recordings of most major works, to enable comparative listening and comparative study.

Also, Classical Music Library is one of the several sub-databases within Music Online, a very large Alexander Street Press database. So even if you start your search here for sound recordings it is very easy to cross search for other related material in Music Online, including the score library and the reference collections. This means you can listen to your audio file while you follow along with the music score or read about the composer’s life and musical works.

I particularly love the ‘time period’ browse category. It’s such a fantastic way to discover the music of historical periods and listen to representative music of that time.

• Medieval 
• Renaissance 
• Baroque 
• Pre-classical 
• Classical 
• Romantic 
• Late-romantic 
• 20th century 
• 21st century

A great resource for general listening and enjoyment

Music can be a great source for reflection, relaxation and awakening of emotions. There is so much musical inspiration in this database. 

• Get swept away by Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata 
• Sit back and relax with some soft instrumental music
• Sing along to some fun nursery rhymes with your children
• Tap your feet to some Jimmy Forrest jazzy tunes
• Dance to some smooth Cha Cha Cha

Join now and start listening to some of the amazing music in Classical Music Library.

Look out for the next blog in this series #FavouriteEresources

More information

Music - /research-collections/information-collections/music

Eresources - /research-collections/information-collections/eresources

Databases - http://onesearch.slq.qld.gov.au/primo-explore/dbsearch?vid=SLQ&lang=en_US

Library membership - /get-involved/become-member

Ask Us - /plan-my-visit/services/ask-us

Library from home - /libraryfromhome