Music Citation Guide (Chicago Style)

Citations can be complicated! They have lots of parts, the formatting is very specific, and it can feel overwhelming when you're trying to figure out where to start. Getting familiar with the parts and makeup of book citations is a great place to start, since once you feel comfortable with what a properly-formatted citation for a book looks like, you can apply that knowledge to citing many different types of materials.
 

Questions? Need help? Email Jessica Abbazio, Music Librarian, at jabbazio@umn.edu!

As you scroll, you'll find footnote and bibliography entry templates and examples of citations for real sources for the following types of books:

• Book with one author
• Book with two or three authors
• Book with four or more authors
• Institution or organization as author
• No author
• Editor or translator IN ADDITION TO author
• Editor or translator INSTEAD OF author
• Edition other than the first: Numbered editions (2nd, 3rd, etc.)
• Revised edition
• Reprint edition
• Book in a series
• Specific volume in a multivolume work
• Part of a larger whole: Chapter, essay, or section by one author in a book that's edited by someone else

Footnote template:

1. Author First Name Last Name, Book Title (Publisher Name, Year of Publication), Page Number.
 

Example of a real footnote:

1. Tim Carter, Monteverdi’s Musical Theatre (Yale University Press, 2002), 96.
 

Bibliography entry template:

Example of a real bibliography entry:

Notes:

• In bibliography entries for books two authors, the first author is listed Last Name, First Name, and the following author is listed First Name Last Name.

Footnote template:

14. Author 1 First Name Last Name and Author 2 First Name Last Name, Book Title (Publisher Name, Year of Publication), Page Number.
 

Example of a real footnote:

14. Keith Nainby and John M. Radosta, Bob Dylan in Performance: Song, Stage, and Screen (Lexington Books, 2019), 154.

Bibliography entry template:

Example of a real bibliography entry:

Notes:

• In footnotes for books with three or more authors, list the first author followed by “et al.” - with no comma between the name and “et al.” Et al. means "and others."
   
• In bibliography entries for books by four or more authors, the first author is listed Last Name, First Name, and the following authors are listed First Name Last Name!

Footnote template:

8. Author 1 First Name Last Name et al., Book Title (Publisher Name, Year of Publication), Page Number.

Example of a real footnote:

8. Rosaleen Moldenhauer et al., The Rosaleen Moldenhauer Memorial: Music History from Primary Sources, A Guide to the Moldenhauer Archives (Library of Congress, 2000), 302.

Bibliography entry template:

Example of a real bibliography entry:

Notes:

• From the Chicago Manual of Style, 18th edition, Section 13.86: “If a publication issued by an organization, association, commission, or corporation carries no personal author’s name on the title page, the organization is listed as author in the bibliography, even if it is also given as publisher.”
   

• Often when an organization is listed as the author of a text, that text is made up of essays by individuals. When footnoting information from a text like this, use the formatting example for Part of a larger whole: Chapter, essay, or section by one author in a book that's edited by another that appears below.

Footnote template:

6. Organization Name, Book Title (Publisher Name, Year of Publication), 4.
 

Example of a real footnote:

6. College Music Society, Music in the Undergraduate Curriculum, A Reassessment: Report of the Study Group on the Content of the Undergraduate Music Curriculum (College Music Society, 1989), 4.

Bibliography entry template:

Example of a real bibliography entry:

From the Chicago Manual of Style, 18th ed., Section 13.81:

• "If the author or editor is unknown, the note or bibliography entry should normally begin with the title. An initial article is ignored in alphabetizing."
   
• "Although the use of Anonymous is generally to be avoided for works with no attribution, it may stand in place of the author’s name in a bibliography in which several anonymous works need to be grouped."

Footnote template:

No author listed on title page, but authorship known or guessed at

1. [Author First Name Last Name?], Book Title (City of Publication or Publisher Name, Year of Publication), Page Number.

No author listed, no information available

17. Book Title (City of Publication or Publisher Name, Year of Publication), Page Number.

Example of a real footnote:

No author listed on title page, but authorship known or guessed at

1. [James Hawkes?], A Retrospect of the Boston Tea-Party, with a Memoir of George R. T. Hewes, by a Citizen of New-York (New York, 1834), 128-29.
 

No author listed, no information available

17. A True and Sincere Declaration of the Purpose and Ends of the Plantation Begun in Virginia, of the Degrees Which it Hath Received, and Means by Which it Hath Been Advanced (London, 1610), 17.

Bibliography entry template:

No author listed on title page, but authorship known or guessed at

No author listed, no information available

Example of a real bibliography entry:

No author listed on title page, but authorship known or guessed at

No author listed, no information available

Notes:

• If a book was edited AND translated by the same person, include both pieces of information in your citation.
   
• The words “Edited by” and “Translated by” are spelled out in bibliography entries. This information is abbreviated to “ed.” and “trans.” in footnotes.
   
• ONLY INCLUDE “rev. ed.” if the item you’re working with is a revised edition!

Footnote template:

Book with an EDITOR in addition to an author

19. Author First Name Last Name, Book Title, ed. Editor First Name Last Name (Name of Publisher, Year of Publication), Page Number.
 

Book with a TRANSLATOR in addition to an author

19. Author First Name Last Name, Book Title, trans. Translator First Name Last Name (Name of Publisher, Year of Publication), Page Number.

Example of a real footnote:

22. Carl Schachter, The Art of Tonal Analysis: Twelve Lessons in Schenkerian Theory, ed. Joseph Nathan Straus (Oxford University Press, 2016), 9-10.

3. Peter Szendy, Phantom Limbs: On Musical Bodies, trans. Will Bishop (Fordham University Press, 2016), 33.

19. Johann Joseph Fux, The Study of Counterpoint from Johann Joseph Fux's Gradus ad parnassum, ed. and trans. Alfred Mann, rev. ed. (W.W. Norton, 1965), 6.

Bibliography entry template:

Book with an EDITOR in addition to an author

Book with a TRANSLATOR in addition to an author

Example of a real bibliography entry:

Notes:

• This type of citation formatting is often useful for citing collections of essays by multiple authors that have been compiled into a single volume and edited by an individual or a group. If you need to cite one section of an edited volume (e.g. an individual chapter or essay, use the formatting example for Part of a larger whole: Chapter, essay, or section by one author in a book that's edited by another that appears below.
   

• In cases where a book has more than one editor, use “eds.” instead of “ed.”
   

Footnote template:

Book with an EDITOR instead of an author

2. Editor First Name Last Name, ed., Book Title (Name of Publisher, Year of Publication), Page Number.

Book with a TRANSLATOR instead of an author

2. Translator First Name Last Name, trans., Book Title (Name of Publisher, Year of Publication), Page Number.
 

Example of a real footnote:

2. Roberta Gottesman and Catherine Sentman, eds., The Music Lover's Guide to Europe: A Compendium of Festivals, Concerts, and Opera (John Wiley & Sons, 1992), 33-34.
 

Bibliography entry template:

Book with an EDITOR instead of an author

Book with a TRANSLATOR instead of an author

Example of a real bibliography entry:

Notes:

• When listing the edition number, use ordinal numbers: 2nd ed., 3rd ed., 4th ed., 5th ed., etc.
   
• You don't need to include an edition number if you're working with the 1st edition of a book (if there's no indication that it's the 2nd, 3rd, etc. edition, then it's the 1st!)

Footnote template:

14. Author First Name Last Name, Book Title, # ed. (Publisher Name, Year of Publication), Page Number.

Example of a real footnote:

14. W.E. Dickson, Practical Organ-Building, 3rd ed. (Positif Press, 1983), 165.
 

Bibliography entry template:

Example of a real bibliography entry:

Footnote template:

5. Author First Name Last Name, Book Title, rev. ed. (Publisher Name, Year of Publication), Page Number.
 

Example of a real footnote:

12. Charles Rosen, Sonata Forms, rev. ed. (Norton, 1988), 57.
 

Bibliography entry template:

Example of a real bibliography entry:

Notes: 

• Including as much information as you can about the original publisher and city of publication is very helpful! Look at both the front AND back of the title page to see if the book includes any relevant info you can include in your citation
   
• If you can't find the original place of publication and the name of the original publisher, including the original year of publication is enough

Footnote template:

34. Author First Name Last Name, Book Title (Original Publisher Name, Original Year of Publication; repr., Publisher Name, Year of Publication), Page Number.
 

Example of a real footnote:

34. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, A Complete Dictionary of Music: Consisting of a Copious Explanation of All Words Necessary to a True Knowledge and Understanding of Music (J. Murray, 1779; repr., AMS Press, 1975), 95.

Bibliography entry template:

Example of a real bibliography entry:

Note:

• Not all series include numbers; if the item doesn't include a number, just list the series title

Footnote template:

7. Author First Name Last Name, Book Title, Series Title # (Publisher Name, Year of Publication), Page Number.
 

Example of a real footnote:

4. George R. Hill and Norris L. Stephens, Collected Editions, Historical Series & Sets & Monuments of Music: A Bibliography, Fallen Leaf Reference Books in Music 14 (Fallen Leaf Press, 1997), 379.

Bibliography entry template:

Example of a real bibliography entry:

Note:

• Citing individual volumes of multivolume works can be tricky; see pp. 178-79 of Turabian, A Manual for Writers, 9th ed. or the Chicago Manual of Style Online for specific examples that don't fit the templates below
   

Footnote template:

2. Author First Name Last Name, Book Title, edited by First Name Last Name if Applicable, vol. #, Subtitle of Volume if Applicable (Name of Publisher, Year of Publication), Page Number.

Example of a real footnote:

2. Giacomo Meyerbeer, The Diaries of Giacomo Meyerbeer, trans., ed., and annotated Robert Ignatius Letellier, vol. 1, 1791-1839 (Associated University Press, 1999), 255.

Bibliography entry template:

Example of a real bibliography entry:

Notes:

• This template applies when you need to cite a single chapter by one author that appears in a book that’s edited by someone else. It does NOT apply to individual chapters in a book that is entirely by one author - in that case, you would just cite the book as a whole.

• This template can also apply to an introduction to a score, liner notes for a recording, an individual song in a published collection, or any other single piece by one author that makes up one section of a larger whole that's edited or attributed to someone else.

Footnote template:

1. Author First Name Last Name, “Chapter Title,” in Book Title, ed. Editor First Name Last Name (Publisher Name, Year of Publication), Page Number.
 

Example of a real footnote:

1. Daniel Heartz, “Goldoni, Opera Buffa, and Mozart’s Advent in Vienna,” in Opera Buffa in Mozart’s Vienna, ed. Mary Hunter and James Webster (Cambridge University Press, 1997), 34.

Bibliography entry template:

Example of a real bibliography entry: