Guide to Bowed Strings
From Suzuki beginners to Stephane Grappelli and Yehudi Menuhin hopefuls, there is plenty to inspire you in the State Library's collection for bowed string instruments, in particular orchestral strings.
The Collection
Scores for Loan
The collection encompasses the full range of styles from Paganini caprices to Sevcík studies and exercises, Bach suites, orchestral excerpts, sonatas, concertos, tutors and methods. The collection includes and goes beyond the standard repertoire and original pieces. It also contains arrangements.
Violin music scores dominate but you will also find music for viola, cello, double bass, viol, viola da gamba and viola d’amore. We collect most works listed from Grade 4 and above in the Australian Music Examinations Board syllabus. Chamber music for strings is well represented with standard repertoire for string quartets through to more popular arrangements.
Reference Material
The reference collection of books, journals and electronic resources includes material on instrument making, biographies of famous composers and significant performers, the history of stringed instruments, repertoire and bibliographies.
Recordings
We hold a collection of CDs and LPs that can be listened to on-site. Recordings of different performances of standard works are collected in order to enhance the student's listening experience. You can also listen to tracks using the on-line database Naxos Music Library. There is a small classical loan collection of audio cassettes available.
Searching for Scores and Recordings
Scores and recordings can be found by using the catalogue and searching by composer. You may search by title, but you may not find all copies of the work if you only use one translation of the title, such as The four seasons instead of Cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione. Please use our Guide to Searching for Classical Music Scores as a starting point. Note that if you are searching for cello, you will need to use the word violoncello to search the catalogue. All bowed string music can be found on the shelves at the classification S.
You may also search by subject. For arrangements, please add the term Arranged at the end of the subject. Useful subject searches are:
- Violin music
- Violin music, Arranged
- Violin and piano music
- Violin and piano music, Arranged
- Concertos (Violin) - Solo with piano
- Sonatas (Violin)
- Sonatas (Violin and piano)
Use the same subject searches for the other orchestral string instruments.
- Viola music (expanded as above)
- Violoncello music (expanded as above)
- Double bass music (expanded as above)
Searching for information
The book and journal material can be found using the catalogue. If you are looking for a specific book or journal title, use the author or title search. If you are looking for material on a subject, use the keyword or subject options. Useful subject and keyword searches are:
- Violin
- Viola
- Violoncello
- Double Bass
- History
- Construction
- Performance
- Analysis
Further information on this site
Page last updated: 16/12/2008 16:08:12