International Music Score Library Project

The International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP), also known as the Petrucci Music Library after publisher Ottaviano Petrucci, is a subscription-based digital library of public-domain music scores. The project, which uses MediaWiki software, has uploaded more than 630,000 scores and 73,000 recordings of more than 195,000 works by 24,000 composers. IMSLP has both an iOS app and an Android app.

History

Overview

The site was launched on February 16, 2006. The library consists mainly of scans of old musical editions out of copyright. In addition, it admits scores by contemporary composers who wish to share their music with the world by releasing it under a Creative Commons license. One of the main projects of the IMSLP was the sorting and uploading of the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach in the Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe (1851–99), a task that was completed on November 3, 2008. Besides J.S. Bach's complete public domain works, all public domain works of Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Joseph Canteloube, Emmanuel Chabrier, Ernest Chausson, Frédéric Chopin, Joseph Haydn, Arcangelo Corelli, Claude Debussy, Vincent d'Indy, Paul Dukas, Gabriel Fauré, Pierre-Octave Ferroud, George Frideric Handel, Jean Huré, Albéric Magnard, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Maurice Ravel, Albert Roussel, Erik Satie, Florent Schmitt, Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Alexander Scriabin and Jean Sibelius are available, as well as a large percentage of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Liszt, and the works of many others as well.

Besides providing a digital repository, the IMSLP offers possibilities as a musicological encyclopaedia, since multiple and historical editions of a single composition can be uploaded. Also, pages on publishers provide valuable information, and the work pages themselves often contain a large quantity of information, e.g. roles in an opera.

IMSLP is recommended as a research tool by MIT, which also uses it extensively for providing scores for its OpenCourseWare courses. It is suggested as a resource by the Sibley Music Library and by libraries at other universities such as Stanford University, University of California, Los Angeles, Brown University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Manhattan School of Music University of Maryland, University of Washington, University of Cincinnati, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Appalachian State University in the US, McGill University in Canada, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, University of Edinburgh University of Bristol in the UK, University of Melbourne in Australia, and others. In 2019, IMSLP and TwoSetViolin collaborated to make a TwoSetViolin x IMSLP merchandise lineup.

Logo

In 2007–2015, the IMSLP / Petrucci Music Library used a logo based on a score. The score image in the background was taken from the beginning of the first printed book of music, the Harmonice Musices Odhecaton. It was published in Venice, Italy in 1501 by Ottaviano Petrucci, the library's namesake.

In 2016, the IMSLP changed its logo to a clean wordmark, featuring its two project names—''IMSLP'' and ''Petrucci Music Library''.

Awards

In 2009, the IMSLP won the MERLOT Classics award for Music. It was named one of the Top 100 Web Sites of 2009 (in the "Undiscovered" subsection) by PC Magazine. In 2018, Edward Guo was honored with The Helen Rice Award by the Associated Chamber Music Players (ACMP) Foundation in recognition of those who have moved the chamber music world in a new directions.

Closure and reopening

On October 19, 2007, the IMSLP closed following legal demands from Universal Edition of Vienna, Austria. The cease and desist letter expressed concern that some works that are in public domain in the server's location in Canada with copyright protection of 50 years following death, but are protected by the 70 years following death term in some other countries, were available in those countries. The administrator of the website, Edward W. Guo, also known under the nickname Feldmahler, decided to close down the repository, but left the forums online so that discussions into the best way to proceed could be made:

In response, director Michael S. Hart of Project Gutenberg offered support to keep the project online. This offer was declined by Guo, who voiced concern about having the project hosted in the United States, and consulted the Canadian wing of Project Gutenberg. On November 2, 2007, Michael Geist, a prominent Canadian copyright academic, wrote an article for the BBC
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