Using M 2s and M 3s

Using M 2s and M 3s - Historical Sets, Collected Editions, and Monuments

What: There are many anthologies (collections) of music ranging from a single volume, to several volumes of specific genres such as organum, Renaissance motets, or choral music, to multi volume collections of music of a particular nationality (called monuments) or multi volume complete sets of a prolific composer's works. Sometimes there are several editions of these sets released in different years, each one offering improved editing of the music based on further research.

Where: These anthologies have call numbers starting with M 2 or M 3 and are generally located in the Reference stacks area in the Music Library at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. There are usually no indexes or tables of content to help you locate a particular piece within the large set, or to even know what a set may contain. The sets of composer works (M 3s) are generally shelved alphabetically by the composer's last name, since that is how the call numbers are arranged.

How: To determine if there exists a set of collected works for a particular composer or genre, there are several reference tools you will need to consult. The best ones are:

Heyer, Anna. Historical Sets, Collected Editions, and Monuments of Music: a Guide to their Content (2 vol). ALA 1980. Located in Ready Reference and Reference stacks. The first edition was published in 1957, the second edition in 1969.

Hill, George. Collected Editions, Historical Series & Sets & Monuments of Music. Fallen Leaf Press 1997. Located in Ready Reference. Hill is an update to the Heyer and contains more current information.

Composer's Collected Editions from Europe. Harrassowitz, 1999. Located in Ready Reference. You can also consult their website and that of Otto Editions. See a Reference Librarian concerning access.

To find a particular work of a specific composer (M 3s):

Use The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd edition (NNGII) located in Ready Reference, at the Index Table, and from our homepage at http://www.library.uiuc.edu . Older editions (sometimes they give information deleted from later versions) are still available in the Reference stacks. Collected works for each composer are listed in New Grove’s under the WORKS entry for the composer. If you look up Heinrich Schultz, for example, and go to the WORKS section at the end of the article, the entry reads as follows:

Editions:
        Heinrich Schütz: Sämtliche Werke, ed. P. Spitta and others (Leipzig, 1885–1927/R) [G]
        Heinrich Schütz: Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke, ed. W. Bittinger, W. Breig, W. Ehmann and others (Kassel, 1955–) [N]
        Heinrich Schütz: Sämtliche Werke, ed. G. Graulich and others (Stuttgart, 1971–) [S; references without vol. nos. indicate
        separately pubd single edns]

Catalogue:
Schütz-Werke-Verzeichnis (SWV): kleine Ausgabe, ed. W. Bittinger (Kassel, 1960); suppl. in W. Breig (1979); complete,
ed. Breig (in preparation) [SWV; A = Anhang]

The first work listed is:

Il primo libro de madrigali, [op.1] (Venice, 1611)†; G ix, N xxii, S i

"G ix" indicates that this work can be found in Sämtliche Werke, volume ix. "N xxii" indicates that is can also be found in Neue Ausgabe Sämtlicher Werke, volume xxii (possibly with editorial updates). "S i" indicates that it is also in the Sämtliche Werke, 1971 edition, volume i. You could then go the specific edition, and the indicated volume to page through and find this particular work.