Excellent References for Melodies
A wonderfully useful post and discussion at Metafilter point to several resources for identifying the source of a melody.
Specifically, the resources are
- Themefinder
- Melodyhound
- Barlow and Morgenstern's A Dictionary of Musical Themes
- Parsons' The Directory of Tunes and Musical Themes
- The New Zealand Digital Music Library
The two books are also discussed in this article. Both books look essential, but they are very hard to find. I've seen a copy of the Barlow and Morgenstern, and it does look like a marvelous reference. I'll be keeping my eyes peeled :)