Research Guides: Yiddish Research: Sheet Music

Edited list of Yiddish Sheet Music in the Dorot Jewish Division, NYPL
Alphabetical list of sheet music in the Dorot Jewish Division, New York Public Library.

Sheet Music - Online Collections

Digital Sheet Music, Florida Atlantic University
Includes about 300 pieces of Yiddish American sheet music; browse by various access points.
Jewish Art Music (Jewish Theological Seminary)
Digitized sheet music in Yiddish, Hebrew, and Ladino.
Yiddish American Popular Sheet Music (Library of Congress)
The largest online collection of its kind, with 1, 340 pieces of mostly Yiddish American sheet music from before 1923.
Yiddish Sheet Music, Brown University
Online collection of about 800 pieces from Brown University. Search in transliteration; browse by creator (lyricist/composer/singer), title, or cover art.
The Yosl and Chana Mlotek Yiddish Song Collection at the Workers' Circle.
This database has musical notation for 400 songs, arranged thematically, with lyrics in Yiddish and YIVO-standard transliteration, and English translation. The content comes from the following books:

-Mir Trogn a Gezang! 4th edition. New York: Workmen's Circle, 2000.
-Mir zaynen do=We are here! Songs of the Holocaust. New York: Workmen's Circle, 1983.
-Songs of Generations. New York: Workmen's Circle, 1997.
-Pearls of Yiddish Song. New York: Workmen's Circle, 1988.
-Yontevdike teg: lider far di yidishe yontoyvim. Jewish Education Press, 1972.

Heskes, Irene. Yiddish American Popular Songs, 1895-1950
Washington: Library of Congress, 1992.
This is a bibliography of Yiddish sheet music deposited for copyright purposes at the Library of Congress is listed here, with description and details. An essential source for finding American Yiddish songs.

American Jewish Archives
Judaica library and archives, including music collections.
Hebrew Union College
Major Judaica collection, including sheet music. Some of this has been reproduced in Jane Peppler's American Yiddish penny songs by Morris Rund and others : the Hebrew Union College collection of Yiddish broadsides, 1895-1925.
Institut Européen des Musiques Juives (IEMJ)
Major collection of European Jewish music, including printed sources and recordings.
Jewish Theological Seminary
Major collection of published and archival Jewish music, including cantorial repertoire.
National Library of Israel (Ha-Sifriyah ha-Olamit)
Comprehensive, international Jewish music collection, with some online content.
New York Public Library
Print collection of about 1,000 pieces. Use this guide's section on "Yiddish Music at NYPL" for search tips: https://libguides.nypl.org/yiddishresearch/musicatNYPL

Edited list of Yiddish Sheet Music in the Dorot Jewish Division, NYPL
Alphabetical list of sheet music in the Dorot Jewish Division, New York Public Library.

Record Group 112, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research
Massive print collection of Yiddish and Jewish sheet music. Search the online finding aid and contact YIVO for more information.

Browse by historical call number in the Legacy Catalog

**P (Sheet Music) for Yiddish sheet music in the Dorot Jewish Division:
**P (Thomashefsky Collection) for Yiddish music manuscripts from Boris Thomashefsky's repertoire (these contain parts for several instruments and were used for musical theater productions)
*PVO for Jewish songbooks in all languages

Search the "author" field for the names of composers, lyricists, and performers.

Use these search terms in the "all fields" search box:

Additional Search Tips

The term "klezmer" is used by contemporary authors to describe Yiddish instrumental music, but it's generally not used as a search term for primary sources/ historical works in the collection.
If the item you need was published in the U.S. before 1923, check the digital sources listed in this guide to find an online version.
Spelling varies. Try searching in the Hebrew alphabet. If you don't have a Hebrew keyboard, use an online one.
Please contact us at dorotjewish@nypl.org for additional assistance.