# New Thematic Index



## Victor (Nov 27, 2010)

I have just published my first draft of an on-line classical music thematic index. It follows in the tradition of Barlow's and Morgenstern's Dictionary of Musical Themes (first published 1949), in so far as it catalogues composers in alphabetical order, then displays the musical notation for the main themes of the major works by each composer. My first draft is modest in size as it only contains just over 1,700 themes, whereas B & M has about 10,000 ! However, I have tried to make up in quality for what it lacks in quantity, by selecting the best-known and best-loved works of classical music. I am continually adding new entries to the index.









The above screen-shot gives an idea of my layout. The red dots indicate that an .mp3 audio recording of the work can be played instantly by merely clicking on the notation staff. The blue hyperlinks go to a details page about the selected work, with PDF scores for about 25% of the works, midi files for most of them, and links to YouTube and other performance audio/video pages in many cases.

Barlow's and Morgenstern's book contains a notation index at the back, which lists the first ten notes of every theme using the musical note letters A - G, the # sign for sharps and the b for flats. The themes are all transposed into C major or A minor, and are listed in alphabetical order. This has been a brilliant resource for musicians for more than half a century. In this modern age of the internet, backend databases and interactive web pages, my system makes it a lot easier to identify a tune. There is no need to transpose it into C, or even write down the notes at all. The user merely needs to pick out the first 10 or so notes of the tune on a virtual piano, in any key. The system takes care of transposition and matching against the database of themes. It then displays a list of matching works (if any), with hyperlinks to the details page for the matched tune. From this the user can play a full mp3 audio recording (for many of the themes) and see the score (for about 25% of the themes).

This thematic index is the newest feature on my website *Best Classical Tunes*. It can be found at www.BestClassicalTunes.com/ThematicIndex.aspx The home page of my site is Best Classical Tunes

My site is provided purely to promote enjoyment and learning about classical music. It contains no advertising, and it is entirely non-commercial. I hope it will prove to be a valuable resource to classical music lovers, music teachers and music students.

I would greatly appreciate feedback from Talk Classical folk.


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## Couac Addict (Oct 16, 2013)

Wow. Someone's been busy. I can see a lot of students (formal and informal) visiting it.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I really like the tune search! Let it be known that I have no musical training and don't know how to play a piano, but I typed four notes (yes, I realize that is a very small number with a lot of potential for overlap), and it turns out that my notes match :tiphat: Beethoven's Violin Sonata No. 9 in A, 1st Mov't.


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