Music Library Association Best Practices for preferred title of musical work

Prerecording

Prerecording

LC/PCC Core.

Recording

Recording an unstructured description

Option

LC/PCC practice: Do not apply the option.

Condition Option

A list of commonly used reference sources for preferred titles in music is available at Music Cataloging at Yale: Preferred Titles . There is no priority order of reference sources, and the most appropriate source(s) to consult will vary based on the work.

Reference sources include, but are not limited to, music encyclopedias, thematic catalogs and other bibliographies, and authorized access points for similar works by the same composer found in the Library of Congress/NACO Authority File.

For titles consisting solely of the name of one type of composition, evaluate evidence in manifestation of the work and reference sources broadly. In some cases research will support a preferred title in a language other than the original language used by the composer.

LC/PCC practice: Apply the option.

Condition Option

LC/PCC practice: Apply the option.

Condition Option

LC/PCC practice: Apply the option.

Condition Option

LC/PCC practice: Apply the option.

Musical work that is created before 1501

Condition Option

A list of commonly used reference sources for preferred titles in music is available at Music Cataloging at Yale: Preferred Titles . There is no priority order of reference sources, and the most appropriate source(s) to consult will vary based on the work.

Reference sources include, but are not limited to, music encyclopedias, thematic catalogs and other bibliographies, and authorized access points for similar works by the same composer found in the Library of Congress/NACO Authority File.

LC/PCC practice: Apply the option.

Condition Option

LC/PCC practice: Apply the option.

Condition Option

LC/PCC practice: Apply the option.

Condition Option

LC/PCC practice: Apply the option.

Individual musical work

Option

Apply the option. For pre-twentieth century works, normally consider phrases such as "a due," "a cinque," etc. to be statements of medium of performance and omit them according to this option.

Consult Types of Composition for Use in Authorized Access Points for Music: A Manual for Use with RDA if in doubt as to whether a word is the name of a type of composition.

Condition Option

LC/PCC practice: Apply the option.

Title consisting solely of the name of one type of composition

Condition

Evaluate the title only after all omissions of medium of performance, key, etc. have been made. Consult Types of Composition for Use in Authorized Access Points for Music: A Manual for Use with RDA to determine whether a title is distinctive or is the name of a type of composition, if the type term is treated as cognate with a type term in English, and for other possible additional instructions regarding that type term. If the type term is not reflected in the list, submit a request for review to the MLA Vocabularies Subcommittee using the link on that page.

The MLA Vocabularies Subcommittee defines the word "cognate" using the Oxford English Dictionary definition: "Coming naturally from the same root, or representing the same original word, with differences due to the subsequent separate phonetic development." Reasonable research will be undertaken to determine cognate status. In cases of inconclusive or conflicting evidence, the type term will not be treated as cognate with an English term.

Condition Option

LC/PCC practice: Record the accepted form of name in English if the name has an English cognate form or if the same name is used in English.

LC/PCC practice: In addition to recording the terms Duet or Duets for their cognates, record Duet or Duets for works titled Duo or Duos.

LC/PCC practice: When choosing the preferred title for a work for solo voice and keyboard stringed instrument having the French title "Mélodie" or "Mélodies," do not translate those titles into English as "Melody" or "Melodies" because the cognate words in English and other languages do not have the same meaning as the French words.

LC/PCC practice: When the English word "Melody" or "Melodies," or their cognates in another language (including French), is the title of a work that is not for solo voice and keyboard stringed instrument, consider it the name of a type of composition. Use the English form as the preferred title.

Condition Option

Apply LC-PCC PS as described under the option to record in a preferred language and script.

Condition Option

LC/PCC practice: Record a title in the singular if the composer only wrote one work of a particular type. In all other cases, record the title in the plural. If the composer is living and there is a serial number (including 1) that is associated with the work, record the title in the plural.

LC/PCC practice: Revise a preferred title in an authorized access point from the singular to the plural when cataloging the second occurrence of a work of a particular type by a composer.

LC/PCC practice: A value of Work: medium of performance of musical content of representative expression should not be considered when determining whether a title should be recorded in the singular or plural.

LC/PCC practice: Record Latin liturgical titles in the singular, except for "Magnificats," "Masses," or "Requiems," when appropriate.

LC/PCC practice: When the preferred title is a tempo marking with a modifying word or words (e.g., "Andante sostenuto," "Allegro con brio," "Moderato ma non tanto"), record it in the singular.

Condition Option

LC/PCC practice: If the composer is deceased, consult reference sources to determine whether the composer wrote more than one work of that type. If it is the only composition of that type, apply the option.

If the composer is living and the type of composition is the first occurrence of that particular type, and no serial number is associated with it, apply the option.

Part of a musical work

One part of a musical work

Part of a musical work identified only by a number

Condition Option

Use Arabic numerals. Use cardinal rather than ordinal numbers.

LC/PCC practice: Apply the option.

Condition Option

LC/PCC practice: Apply the option.

Part identified only by a title or other verbal designation

Condition Option

If the part is a movement identified by its tempo marking, and the movement includes one or more tempo changes, use the initial tempo marking as the preferred title, unless the work has become known by another tempo marking for the movement in resources embodying the work or in reference sources.

LC/PCC practice: Apply the option.

Part identified both by a number and by a title or other verbal designation

Condition Option

LC/PCC practice: Apply the option.

Condition Option

LC/PCC practice: Do not apply the option. Record only the title.

Condition Option

LC/PCC practice: Apply the option. Follow the instructions for supplying a general term with the number.

Each part identified by a number and some parts also identified by a title or other verbal designation

Condition Option

LC/PCC practice: Apply the option. Follow the instructions for supplying a general term with the number.

Part of a larger part

Condition Option

LC/PCC practice: Apply the option.

Condition Option

LC/PCC practice: Apply the option.

Two or more parts of a musical work

Condition Option

Apply the option in bibliographic records if deemed useful for identification or selection. Record preferred titles as parts of access points for individual movements, arias, etc. manifested in the resource.

Condition Option

LC/PCC practice: Apply the option only if the composer used the term Suite in designating the parts from one work.

Condition Option

Apply the option in bibliographic records only if recording an access point for each part separately is not judged feasible.

Compilation of musical works by one composer

Condition Option

LC/PCC practice: Apply the option.

Additional instructions for aggregating works

CONDITION: A work is planned to aggregate expressions that realize musical works created by one composer.

A work is NOT the complete works, the complete works in one broad or specific medium, or the complete works of a single type of composition.

A work is NOT commonly identified by a title in manifestations that embody the work or in reference sources.

Record the term Selections following a conventional collective title. Record the conventional collective title by applying the following in this order of priority:

  1. A conventional collective title for a single type of composition.
  2. A conventional collective title for one broad or specific medium.
  3. The conventional collective title Works.

Compilation of complete musical works by one composer

Condition Option

LC/PCC practice: Apply the option.

Compilation of complete works of one composer in one broad or specific medium

Condition Option

Use only medium terms established in Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) or Library of Congress Medium of Performance Thesaurus for Music (LCMPT).

LC/PCC practice: Apply the option.

Complete works of a single type of composition for one specific medium or various media

Condition Option

Apply the option. Prefer terms from the Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms for Library and Archival Materials (LCGFT), omitting parenthetical qualifiers if present. If none of those terms are suitable, next prefer terms from Types of Composition for Use in Authorized Access Points for Music: A Manual for Use with RDA .

Data provenance

Option

LC/PCC practice: Apply this option if 1) the metadata has been taken from a source other than the manifestation being described and there is a requirement to record that source OR 2) if directed to do so by other LC/PCC documentation.

Recording a structured description

Recording an identifier

Recording an IRI

Document Date: 2025/07/12
Document: https://access.rdatoolkit.org/en-US_ala-edc26df1-2a2c-34a3-85f0-432f710a9525