Music Citation Guide (Chicago Style)

Why should book citations be your first stop on this guide?

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!

What kind of examples are included on this page?

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

Anatomy of a citation: Books



 

Book with one author

Book with one author footnotes:

Book with one author footnote template: 1. Author First Name Last Name, Book Title (City of Publication, State or Country: Publisher Name, Year of Publication), Page Number.

Book one author footnote example: 1. Tim Carter, Monteverdi’s Musical Theatre (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002), 96.

 

Book with one author bibliography entries:

Book one author bibliography entry template: Author Last Name, First Name. Book Title. City of Publication, State or Country: Publisher Name, Year of Publication. [also include is an arrow pointing to the end of the template with a note reading, "No page numbers needed in bibliography entries!"]

Book one author bibliography example: Carter, Tim. Monteverdi’s Musical Theatre. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002.

Book with two or three authors

Book with two or three authors footnotes:

Book two or three authors footnote template: 14. Author 1 First Name Last Name and Author 2 First Name Last Name, Book Title (City of Publication, State or Country: Publisher Name, Year of Publication), Page Number.

Book two to three authors footnote example: 14. Keith Nainby and John M. Radosta, Bob Dylan in Performance: Song, Stage, and Screen (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2019), 154.

 

Book with two or three authors bibliography entries:

Book two or three authors bibliography entry template: Author 1 Last Name, First Name, and Author 2 First Name Last Name. Book Title. City of Publication, State or Country: Publisher Name, Year of Publication. [Also included are several notes. Note 1 is accompanied by arrows pointing to the authors' names and reads, 'If there are two or three authors, the first one is listed Last Name, First Name, and the following authors are listed First Name Last Name!" Note 2 is accompanied by an arrow pointing at the end of the template and reads, "]No page numbers needed in bibliographies!"]

Book two to three authors bibliography entry example: Nainby, Keith, and John M. Radosta. Bob Dylan in Performance: Song, Stage, and Screen. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2019.

Book with four or more authors

Book with four or more authors footnotes:

Book four or more authors footnote template: 8. Author 1 First Name Last Name et al., Book Title (City of Publication, State or Country: Publisher Name, Year of Publication), Page Number. [An arrow is pointing toward the authors' names and reads, "If there are four or more authors, list the first one followed by “et al.” - with no comma between the name and “et al.”]

Book four or more authors footnote example: 8. Rosaleen Moldenhauer et al., The Rosaleen Moldenhauer Memorial: Music History from Primary Sources, A Guide to the Moldenhauer Archives (Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 2000), 302.

 

Book with four or more authors bibliography entries:

Book four or more authors bibliography entry template: Author 1 Last Name, First Name, Author 2 First Name Last Name, Author 3 First Name Last Name, Author 4 First Name Last Name. Book Title. City of Publication, State or Country: Publisher Name, Year of Publication. [Arrows are pointing toward the authors' names with a note that reads, "If there are four or more authors, the first one is listed Last Name, First Name, and the following authors are listed First Name Last Name!"]

Book four or more authors bibliography example: Moldenhauer, Rosaleen, Jon Newsom, Alfred Mann, and Hans Moldenhauer. The Rosaleen Moldenhauer Memorial: Music History from Primary Sources, A Guide to the Moldenhauer Archives. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 2000.

Institution or organization as author

Notes:

  • From Turabian, A Manual for Writers, 9th ed., 173: “If a publication issued by an organization, association, commision, or corporation has no personal author’s name on the title page, list the organization itself 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.

 

Institution or organization as author footnotes:

Footnote template: 6. Organization Name, Book Title (City of Publication, State or Country: 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 (Boulder, CO: College Music Society, 1989), 4.


Institution or organization as author bibliography entries:

Bibliography entry template: Organization Name. Book Title. City of Publication, State or Country: Publisher Name, Year of Publication.

Example of a real bibliography entry: College Music Society. Music in the Undergraduate Curriculum, A Reassessment: Report of the Study Group on the Content of the Undergraduate Music Curriculum. Boulder, CO: College Music Society, 1989.

No author

From pp. 173-74 of Turabian, A Manual for Writers, 9th ed.:

  • "If the authorship is known or guessed at but omitted form the book's title page, include the name in brackets (with a question mark if there is uncertainty). If the author or editor is unknown, avoid the use of Anonymous in place of a name (but see below), and begin the note or bibliography entry with the title."
     
  • "If the author is explicitly listed as 'Anonymous' n the title page, cite the book accordingly."

 

No author footnotes:

No author footnote templates: No author listed on title page, but authorship known or guessed at: 1. [Author First Name Last Name?], Book Title (City of Publication, State or Country: Publisher Name, Year of Publication), Page Number. No author listed, no information available: 17. Book Title (City of Publication, State or Country: Publisher Name, Year of Publication), Page Number.

No author footnote examples: From Turabian, A Manual for Writers, 9th ed., p. 173: 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.

 

No author bibliography entries:

No author bibliography entry templates: No author listed on title page, but authorship known or guessed at: [Author Last Name, First Name?]. Book Title. City of Publication, State or Country: Publisher Name, Year of Publication. No author listed, no information available: Book Title. City of Publication, State or Country: Publisher Name, Year of Publication.

No author bibliography entry examples: From Turabian, A Manual for Writers, 9th ed., p. 173-74: No author listed on title page, but authorship known or guessed at: [Hawkes, James?]. A Retrospect of the Boston Tea-Party, with a Memoir of George R. T. Hewes. By a Citizen of New-York. New-York, 1834. No author listed, no information available: 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.

Editor or translator IN ADDITION TO author

Editor or translator IN ADDITION TO author footnotes:

Book with an editor or translator IN ADDITION TO author footnote templates: Book with an EDITOR in addition to an author: 19. Author First Name Last Name, Book Title, ed. Editor First Name Last Name (City of Publication, State or Country: 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 (City of Publication, State or Country: Name of Publisher, Year of Publication), Page Number.

Book with an editor or translator IN ADDITION TO author footnote examples: 22. Carl Schachter, The Art of Tonal Analysis: Twelve Lessons in Schenkerian Theory, ed. Joseph Nathan Straus (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016), 9-10. 3. Peter Szendy, Phantom Limbs: On Musical Bodies, trans. Will Bishop (New York: 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. (New York: W.W. Norton, 1965), 6. [The final example has an arrow pointing toward the "ed. and trans." element with a note that reads, "This book was edited AND translated by the same person, so include both pieces of information" and another arrow pointing to the section of the example that says "rev. ed." with a note that reads "NOTE: This example happened to be a revised edition, in addition to being edited and translated by someone other than the author. ONLY INCLUDE “rev. ed.” if the item you’re working with is a revised edition!"]

 

Editor or translator IN ADDITION TO author bibliography entries:

Editor or translator IN ADDITION TO author bibliography templates: Book with an EDITOR in addition to an author: Author Last Name, First Name. Book Title. Edited by Editor First Name Last Name. City of Publication, State or Country: Name of Publisher, Year of Publication. Book with a TRANSLATOR in addition to an author: Author Last Name, First Name. Book Title. Translated by Translated by First Name Last Name. City of Publication, State or Country: Name of Publisher, Year of Publication.

Editor or translator IN ADDITION TO author bibliography examples: Schachter, Carl. The Art of Tonal Analysis: Twelve Lessons in Schenkerian Theory. Edited by Joseph Nathan Straus. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016. Szendy, Peter. Phantom Limbs: On Musical Bodies. Translated by Will Bishop. New York: Fordham University Press, 2016. Fux, Johann Joseph. The Study of Counterpoint from Johann Joseph Fux's Gradus ad parnassum. Edited and translated by Alfred Mann. Rev. ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 1965. [Under the examples is a note that reads "NOTE: The words “Edited by” and “Translated by” are spelled out in bibliography entries (they’re abbreviated to “ed.” and “trans.” in footnotes!)"]

Editor or translator INSTEAD OF author

Note:

  • 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.

 

Editor or translator INSTEAD OF author footnotes:

Editor or translator instead of author footnote templates: Book with an EDITOR in place of an author: 2. Editor First Name Last Name, ed., Book Title (City of Publication, State or Country: Name of Publisher, Year of Publication), Page Number. Book with a TRANSLATOR in place of an author: 2. Translator First Name Last Name, trans., Book Title (City of Publication, State or Country: Name of Publisher, Year of Publication), Page Number.

Editor or translator INSTEAD OF author footnote example: 2. Roberta Gottesman and Catherine Sentman, eds., The Music Lover's Guide to Europe: A Compendium of Festivals, Concerts, and Opera (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1992), 33-34. [also included is an arrow pointing towards the "eds." element of the example with a note that says, "In cases where there is more than one editor, use 'eds.' instead of 'ed.'"]

 

Editor or translator INSTEAD OF author bibliography entries:

Editor or translator instead of author bibliography entry templates: Book with an EDITOR in place of an author: Editor Last Name, First Name, ed. Book Title. City of Publication, State or Country: Publisher Name, Year of Publication. Book with a TRANSLATOR in place of an author: Translator Last Name, First Name, trans. Book Title. City of Publication, State or Country: Publisher Name, Year of Publication.

Editor or translator INSTEAD OF author bibliography entry example: Gottesman, Roberta, and Catherine Sentman, eds. The Music Lover's Guide to Europe: A Compendium of Festivals, Concerts, and Opera. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1992.

Edition other than the first: Numbered editions (2nd, 3rd, etc.)

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!)

 

Edition other than the first: Numbered footnotes:

Footnote template: 14. Author First Name Last Name, Book Title, # ed. (Place of Publication, State or Country: Publisher Name, Year of Publication), Page Number.

Example of a real footnote: 14. W.E. Dickson, Practical Organ-Building, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Positif Press, 1983), 165.

 

Edition other than the first: Numbered bibliography entries:

Bibliography entry template: Author Last Name, First Name. Book Title. # ed. Place of Publication, State or Country: Publisher Name, Year of Publication.

Example of a real bibliography entry: Dickson, W.E. Practical Organ-Building. 3rd ed. Oxford: Positif Press, 1983.

Revised edition

Revised edition footnotes:

Footnote template: 5. Author First Name Last Name, Book Title, rev. ed. (Place of Publication, State or Country: Publisher Name, Year of Publication), Page Number.

Example of a real footnote: 12. Charles Rosen, Sonata Forms, rev. ed. (New York: Norton, 1988), 57.

 

Revised edition bibliography entries:

Bibliography entry template: Author Last Name, First Name. Book Title. Rev. ed. Place of Publication, State or Country: Publisher Name, Year of Publication.

Example of a real footnote: Rosen, Charles. Sonata Forms. Rev. ed. New York: Norton, 1988

Reprint edition

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

 

Reprint edition footnotes:

Footnote template: 34. Author First Name Last Name, Book Title (Original City of Publication, State or Country: Original Publisher Name, Original Year of Publication; repr., City of Publication, State or Country: 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 (London: J. Murray, 1779; repr., New York: AMS Press, 1975), 95.

 

Reprint edition bibliography entries:

Bibliography entry template: Author Last Name, First Name. Book Title. Original Place of Publication, State or Country: Original Publisher Name, Original Year of Publication. Reprint, Place of Publication, State or Country: Publisher Name, Year of Publication.

Example of a real bibliography entry: Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. A Complete Dictionary of Music: Consisting of a Copious Explanation of All Words Necessary to a True Knowledge and Understanding of Music. London: J. Murray, 1779. Reprint, New York: AMS Press, 1975.

Book in a series

Note:

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

 

Book in a series footnotes:

Footnote template: 7. Author First Name Last Name, Book Title, Series Title # (City of Publication, State or Country: 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 (Berkeley, CA: Fallen Leaf Press, 1997), 379.

 

Book in a series bibliography entries:

Bibliography entry template: Author Last Name, First Name. Book Title. Series Title #. Place of Publication, State or Country: Publisher Name, Year of Publication.

Example of a real bibliography entry: Hill, George R., and Norris L. Stephens. Collected Editions, Historical Series & Sets & Monuments of Music: A Bibliography. Fallen Leaf Reference Books in Music 14. Berkeley, CA: Fallen Leaf Press, 1997.

Specific volume in a multivolume work

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

 

Specific volume in a multivolume work footnotes:

Specific volume in a multivolume work footnote template: 2. Author First Name Last Name, Book Title, vol. #, Subtitle of Volume if Applicable (City of Publication, State or Country: Name of Publisher, Year of Publication), Page Number.

Example of a real footnote: 2. Giacomo Meyerbeer, The Diaries of Giacomo Meyerbeer, vol. 1, 1791-1839, trans., ed., and annotated Robert Ignatius Letellier (Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Press, 1999), 255.

 

Specific volume in a multivolume work bibliography entries:

Bibliography entry template: Author Last Name, First Name. Book Title. Vol. #, Subtitle if Applicable. City of Publication, State or Country: Publisher Name, Year of Publication.

Specific volume in a multivolume work bibliography entry example: Meyerbeer, Giacomo. The Diaries of Giacomo Meyerbeer. Vol. 1, 1791-1839. Translated, edited, and annotated by Robert Ignatius Letellier. Cranbury NJ: Associated University Press, 1999.

Part of a larger whole: Chapter, essay, or section by one author in a book that's edited by someone else

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’d 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.

 

Part of a larger whole footnotes:

Part of a larger whole footnote template: 1. Author First Name Last Name, “Chapter Title,” in Book Title, ed. Editor First Name Last Name (City of Publication, State or Country: Publisher Name, Year of Publication), Page Number.

Part of a larger whole footnote example: 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 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 34. [accompanying the example are arrows pointing to each part of the footnotes and labels describing what each element is.]

 

Part of a larger whole bibliography entries:

Part of a larger whole bibliography entry template: Author Last Name, First Name. “Chapter Title.” In Book Title, edited by Editor First Name Last Name, Chapter Starting Page Number-Chapter Ending Page Number. City of Publication, State or Country: Publisher Name, Year of Publication.

Part of a larger whole bibliography entry example: Heartz, Daniel. “Goldoni, Opera Buffa, and Mozart’s Advent in Vienna.” In Opera Buffa in Mozart’s Vienna, edited by Mary Hunter and James Webster, 25-49. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997. [Accompanying the example are arrows pointing to each element in the citation and labels describing what that element is.]

Last Updated: Feb 24, 2023 11:39 AM