This page contains reference examples for musical scores, including the following:
- Musical score with composer and librettist
- Musical score with composer and librettist, edited and republished
- Musical score with composer
- Musical score with composer, republished
- Musical score with composer, in another language, republished
- Musical score from an anthology or complete works edition, republished
Picker, T., & McClatchy, J. D. (1995). Emmeline: An opera in two acts [Study score]. Schott Music.
- Parenthetical citation: (Picker & McClatchy, 1995)
- Narrative citation: Picker and McClatchy (1995)
- Provide the composer and librettist in the author element of the reference for a musical score. Present the names in the order shown on the work.
- Specify the type of score in square brackets (e.g., “[Musical score],” “[Piano score],” “[Vocal score],” “[Study score]”).
Gilbert, W. S., & Sullivan, A. (2012). The Mikado in full score (C. Simpson & E. H. Jones, Eds.) [Musical score]. Dover Publications. (Original work published 1885)
- Parenthetical citation: (Gilbert & Sullivan, 1885/2012)
- Narrative citation: Gilbert and Sullivan (1885/2012)
- Provide the composer and librettist in the author element of the reference for a musical score. Present the names in the order shown on the work.
- Specify the type of score in square brackets (e.g., “[Musical score],” “[Piano score],” “[Vocal score],” “[Study score]”).
- If the score has been edited, provide the editors’ names in parentheses after the title of the score.
- For an older score that has been republished, provide the year of the republication in the main date element of the reference. Provide the year of original publication at the end of the reference in parentheses after the words “Original work published.”
- Both publication years appear in the in-text citation, separated with a slash, with the earlier year first.
Brouwer, L. (1987). Cuban landscape with rain [Guitar score]. Les Editions Doberman-Yppan.
- Parenthetical citation: (Brouwer, 1987)
- Narrative citation: Brouwer (1987)
- Provide the composer in the author element of the reference.
- Specify the type of score in square brackets (e.g., “[Musical score],” “[Piano score],” “[Vocal score],” “[Study score]”).
Haydn, F. J. (2001). The creation [Musical score]. Dover Publications. (Original work published 1798)
- Parenthetical citation: (Haydn, 1798/2001)
- Narrative citation: Haydn (1798/2001)
- Provide the composer in the author element of the reference.
- Specify the type of score in square brackets (e.g., “[Musical score],” “[Piano score],” “[Vocal score],” “[Study score]”).
- For an older score that has been republished, provide the year of the republication in the main date element of the reference. Provide the year of original publication at the end of the reference in parentheses after the words “Original work published.”
- Both publication years appear in the in-text citation, separated with a slash, with the earlier year first.
Mozart, W. A. (1970). Die Zauberflöte [The magic flute] [Vocal score]. Becksche Verlagsbuchhandlung. (Original work published 1791)
- Parenthetical citation: (Mozart, 1791/1970)
- Narrative citation: Mozart (1791/1970)
- Provide the composer in the author element of the reference.
- When the title is in another language than the language of your paper, translate the title into the language of your paper in square brackets. For example, the title of the score is in German and the paper is in English, so the German title is provided in italics and the English translation is provided in square brackets.
- Specify the type of score in square brackets (e.g., “[Musical score],” “[Piano score],” “[Vocal score],” “[Study score]”).
- Back-to-back brackets are acceptable in references (see Section 9.21 of the Publication Manual); this commonly occurs in references where the title’s translation is included.
- For an older score that has been republished, provide the year of the republication in the main date element of the reference. Provide the year of original publication at the end of the reference in parentheses after the words “Original work published.”
- Both publication years appear in the in-text citation, separated with a slash, with the earlier year first.
Scarlatti, A. (1991). Le violette [The violets] [Musical score]. In J. G. Paton (Ed.), 26 Italian songs and arias: An authoritative edition based on authentic sources (Medium High Voice ed., pp. 50–55). Alfred Music. (Original work published 1694)
- Parenthetical citation: (Scarlatti, 1694/1991)
- Narrative citation: Scarlatti (1694/1991)
- Provide the composer in the author element of the reference.
- When the title is in another language than the language of your paper, translate the title into the language of your paper in square brackets. For example, the title of the song is in Italian and the paper is in English, so the Italian title is provided in italics and the English translation is provided in square brackets.
- Specify the type of score in square brackets (e.g., “[Musical score],” “[Piano score],” “[Vocal score],” “[Study score]”).
- For a score in an anthology or complete works edition, the format is similar to a chapter in an edited book. Provide the editor name(s) followed by the title of the anthology or complete works edition in italics. Provide any additional edition information in parentheses after the title. For print scores, provide the page range of the score in the same parentheses as any edition information, separated by a comma.
- For an older score that has been republished, provide the year of the republication in the main date element of the reference. Provide the year of original publication at the end of the reference in parentheses after the words “Original work published.”
- Both publication years appear in the in-text citation, separated with a slash, with the earlier year first.
References for musical scores follow the audiovisual reference templates in Section 10.12 of the APA Publication Manual, Seventh Edition
This guidance is new to the 7th edition.