Music at The Mitchell - Glasgow Life

Music Stock
The library has books on music - theory, history and biography - and music scores, including sheet
music and instrumental tutors. Although the majority of the stock is reference only, some material is
available for lending.
Available on Levels 4 and 5
Facilities
The library provides practice carrels (rooms) for our users. Three carrels have upright pianos and one
has an electronic keyboard. You can also bring along your own musical instrument and enjoy the
freedom to practise at leisure.
Available on Level 4
Music for Loan
Many of the library’s music books and scores are available for loan. There is no public access
catalogue for this material, so please indicate your areas of interest to staff.
Available on Level 4
Music for Hire
The library has a large selection of orchestral, vocal, choral and chamber music for hire by individuals,
music societies, schools and colleges. Please see our leaflet which lists our Orchestral and Vocal sets
for hire, or indicate your areas of interest to staff. This leaflet is also available to download from our
website. Charges apply.
Available on Level 4
Music Indexes
Song Index: a card index of song titles in collections. Individual song titles held in song albums and
collections are listed alphabetically. Also includes many references to critical commentaries on the
works of well-known composers.
Music Catalogue: a card index of additions to stock 1877-1988. Music added after 1988 is listed in
the Online Catalogue.

Audio Collection: a small collection of items on cd, cassette and vinyl for listening to in the library.
Genres covered include: classical, opera, musicals and items of Scottish interest. A card index is
available for this collection.
All available on Level 4
Audio items for loan can be accessed from Leisure and Lifestyle, on the ground floor of
The Mitchell.
Music Collections
Kidson Collection: 18th and 19th century British music including song, country dance, ballad operas
and instrumental tutors. More than 5,000 items collected by Frank Kidson (1855-1926).
Moody Manners: the working library of the Moody-Manners Opera Company which toured Britain
and South Africa in the early years of the 20 th century. Includes full scores/parts and vocal scores of
operas that were in the repertoire at the time.
Dunedin Collection: the gift of the Dunedin Association of the 1940s comprising sheet music and
vocal scores of works by Scottish composers such as Alexander C. MacKenzie and Donald F. Tovey.
The Early History of the Glasgow Choral Union, 1855–1935: a collection of 24 volumes in
manuscript by Robert Craig. The Glasgow Choral Union later became the Scottish National Orchestra.
Archives ref: TD 1556
There is a collection of manuscript material by composers such as Learmont Drysdale, William Milne,
Liddell Peddieson and Francis George Scott.
A collection of concert/opera programmes including sets of SNO (Scottish National Orchestra)
programmes until 1988 and Scottish Opera Programmes from 1960s onwards.
All available on Level 2
Song Sheet Collections
Joe Irvine Collection: chiefly Victorian and Edwardian sheet music with some dance band
arrangements of the 1920s, 30s and 40s (16,000 items).
Cedric Thorpe Davie Collection: Victorian and Edwardian sheet music (3,000 items
STV Collection: A 6000 song sheets and 1000 song albums donated to the Mitchell by Scottish
Television rich in music of the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
All available on Level 2

Newspaper clippings collections
R. Turnbull Collection of concert criticisms in 10 vols 1899-1921. Turnbull was music critic of the
“Glasgow Herald”.
Available on Level 2
H. Thomson Collection of concert criticisms in 6 vols 1927-1951. Thomson was music critic of the
“Glasgow Herald”.
Available on Level 2
D. C. Parker Collection of newspaper cuttings in 19 volumes covering the years 1919-1956. Parker
was a writer on music subjects and the first British biographer of Bizet.
Available on Level 2
A. M. Henderson Collection of newspaper cuttings in 26 volumes, 1890s to 1930s. Henderson
was organist and choirmaster to Glasgow University from 1906 – 1954.
Available on Level 4
Further items of interest
John Ord Scrapbook: newspaper cuttings relating to Bothy songs in particular. John Ord (1880 –
1928) was an authority on the bothy songs of Aberdeen, Banff and Moray.
Available on Level 4
Russell-Fergusson Collection: photographs of harps from around the world. (Level 2) Also,
Hebridean song and story: Gaelic songs from Eigg collected by Heloise Russell-Fergusson,
including reel-to-reel tapes and manuscript
Available on Level 4 (original available Level 2)
Autographed concert programmes of the Glasgow Choral and Orchestral Union – many from
the St. Andrew’s Halls
Available on Level 4
James Johnson’s Scots Musical Museum with many songs edited by Robert Burns
Available on Level 4
George Thomson’s Select collection of original Scottish Airs for the Voice with Burns’s lyrics set by
Beethoven, Weber and Haydn etc
Available on Level 4