Finding Songs, Arias, Lyrics and Translations

Note: Resources notated with [A] are annotated with local call numbers in the University of Washington Music Libraries collection.

Finding Songs in Collections

Songs and arias are often published in collections or anthologies.

Many of the sound recordings in our collection have separate entries for each item on the recording and can be found by following the directions in Searching Music in the Libraries Online Catalog.
For most scores, there are not separate entries for each song or aria.
In some cases for both scores and recordings, contents notes will be in the catalog records. These can be searched by keywords in the Libraries Catalog:
- Example1: blue velvet (limit by publication type: Musical sound recordings)
- Example 2: hello dolly (limit by publication type: Printed music scores)
- Example 3: dove sono (limit by publication type: Videos, slides, media)

Note: Arias can also be found in the larger work from which they come.

Scores of Popular and Folk Songs in Collections and Fakebooks

Popular songs are most often found in anthologies and fakebooks (A book containing lyrics, melodies, and chord progressions for songs, used by musicians as a substitute for standard sheet music or as a framework for improvisation).

The University of Washington Music Library has created a local Popular song database that indexes the major anthologies in our collection that are not indexed in these resources:
Goodfellow, William D. Where's that tune? ML128.P63 G66 1990 (Music Reference)[A]

If you don't find your song in the two resources above, you can check the following:

Goodfellow, William D. Songcite: an index to popular songs ML128.P63 G65 1995 (Music Reference)[A]
Brunnings, Florence E. Folk song index: a comprehensive guide to the Florence E. Brunnings collection. ML128.F74 B83 (Music Reference)[A]
Mudcat Cafe: Lyrics & Knowledge Search - Full texts and sound files for thousands of folk songs in English, searchable by keyword and by title.
Ferguson, Gary Lynn. Song finder : a title index to 32,000 popular songs in collections, 1854-1992. ML128.S3 F47 1995 (Music Reference)[A]
Goodfellow, William D. SongCite : an index to popular songs. ML128.P63 G65 1995 (Music Reference)[A]
Havlice, Patricia Pate. Popular song index. ML128.S3 H4 (Music Reference)[A]
Luchinsky, Ellen. The song index of the Enoch Pratt Free Library. ML128.S3 L665 1998 (Music Reference)[A]
UTK Song Index - This is a publicly-available database providing access to 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, located in Knoxville.

Not all of the anthologies listed in these resources are available in the University of Washington Libraries. You will need to see if a particular anthology listed is in our collection by searching our catalog using the title of the anthology.

Scores of Arias and Art Songs

If you know the Opera or Oratorio, etc. from which an aria comes, you can find it in a score for the entire composition in our catalog. If you don't know what larger work it comes from, you can check by searching the title of the aria either as a title search or keyword search in the Libraries catalog. Often you can find the title to the larger work in this way.

The University of Washington Music Library has created a Index to Arias and Art Songs in Collections which indexes over 100 of the anthologies in the Music Library's collection.

You can also try these song indexes:

De Charms, Desiree. Songs in collections; an index. ML128.S3 D37 (Music Reference)[A]
Goleeke, Tom. Literature for voice : an index of songs in collections and source book for teachers of singing. ML128.S3 G64 1984 (Music Reference)[A]
Sears, Minnie Earl. Song index; an index to more than 12,000 songs in 177 song collections comprising 262 volumes. ML128.S3 S31 (Music Reference)[A]
UTK Song Index - This is a publicly-available database providing access to 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, located in Knoxville.
Other online song indexes
- Song index: Los Angeles Public Library
- Arizona State University Song Index

Hymns and Hymn tunes

Diehl, Katharine Smith. Hymns and tunes: an index. BV305. D5 1966 (Music Stacks)
Julian, John. A dictionary of hymnology, setting forth the origin and history of Christian hymns of all ages and nations. 245 J94d 1957 (Music Stacks)
Kroeger, Karl. An index to Anglo-American psalmody in modern critical editions. ML128. H8 K76 2000 (Music Stacks). Online version available at Reference Desk .
Temperley, Nicholas. The hymn tune index : a census of English-language hymn tunes in printed sources from 1535 to 1820. ML128. H8 T46 1998 (Music Stacks)
Wasson, D. Dewitt. Hymntune index and related hymn materials. ML3186. W2 1998 (Music Stacks)

Finding Lyrics, Translations, and Pronunciations

The University of Washington Song Translations Database indexes book resources held in the Music Library that contain translations of songs by various composers. Some resources include International Phonetic Alphabet transcriptions.
In addition, see our list of Resources for Translations and Pronunciations by Specific Composers.
Translations are often found in scores or in program notes with recordings. You may need to know if your song comes from a larger work. If you don't know what larger work it comes from, you can check by searching the title of the aria either as a title search or keyword search in the Libraries catalog. Often you can find a reference from the aria title to the larger work in this way.
Search tips for finding translations in the Libraries Catalog.
- Scores = try the song title or title of the larger work in keywords; add the text language you want and limit by Printed music scores:
- Recordings = try the song title or title of the larger work in keywords; add the text language you want along with the word "translation" truncated and limit by Musical sound recordings.
Aria Database - An actively growing collection of information about opera and operatic arias. Besides providing basic information about each aria, the Database includes translations for many arias and aria texts for those that are not affected by copyright restrictions.
The Lied and Song Texts Page - An Archive of Texts to Lieder (Art Songs) and Other Classical Vocal Pieces. Includes some translations done by the page's creator.
Important Sources of Libretti on the Internet :index of known libretto pages on the internet

Other online lyrics
RISM-U.S. Libretto Database - The RISM-U.S. Libretto Database contains bibliographic records for more than 11,000 printed and manuscript libretti for musical stage pieces from the earliest manifestations through the beginning of the twentieth century. Presently included in the database are records for all libretti in the Albert Schatz Collection at the Library of Congress. Access to the database is available through the University of Virginia Libraries online catalog. To find all items from the collection, do a keyword search on: rism and libretto. You may add a composer's name or title to this search, e.g., rism and libretto and zumpe. The database also includes access to the names of characters in the various works which are searchable, e.g., jama and aswesa and rism. Add rism to any keyword search to assure you are searching the libretto collection.