Famous public domain music scores

Famous public domain music scores

bart's picture

There are a lot of musical pieces out there in the public domain that are immediately recognizeable and potentially good for games.  I'd like to start a list here.

Please note, though, that just because a musical score is public domain, it doesn't follow that a recording of that music is public domain.  In fact, if you find recordings of any of these works around the web, you should assume that they are not public domain unless otherwise specified.

To find public domain music scores, I recommend the IMSLP (International Music Score Library Project) website, which contains many original musical scores and arrangements of those scores, along with licensing information.  DO NOT ASSUME THAT ALL WORK ON THE IMSLP IS PUBLIC DOMAIN.  The licenses are listed with the musical scores, and some scores are available under other licenses.  Note that any recording of a musical arrangement is a derivative work of that arrangement, so if you find an arrangement that's licensed CC-BY-SA, then your recording of it must also be CC-BY-SA.

Finally, note that the recordings that I'm linking to as examples are not public domain.

So, to get started:

I'll probably look around more later, but for now I'll pass it off and see if other people can find some stuff.

As for ways you can use this music in your games, be creative!  The familiarity of these songs makes them excellent for use in arrangements, sometimes to great dramatic or humorous effect.

Finally, note that OpenGameArt is based in the United States and follows US copyright law.  At least one of the above pieces is not public domain in Europe, so please be aware of the implications of copyright law in your country before using these pieces.