Abstract: Thematic catalogue of music works, as a kind of reference widely used in Western music studies, is the joint achievement of musicology and bibliography studies, which boasts a long historical tradition and rich academic value. With a focus on the tradition of compiling thematic catalogue of music woks in Western countries, this paper mainly discusses the influence of contemporary international cataloging principles on the standardization of music resource description. After pointing out the absence of such efforts in China, it further illustrates the necessity of academic, international, standard and standardized thematic catalogues for the development of professional music in China, and its great significance to the preservation, management, inheritance and sharing of China’s professional music resources.