Music Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

Descriptions are chiefly excerpted from: Duckles, Vincent H. and Ida Reed. Music Reference and Research Materials: An Annotated Bibliography, 5th ed. New York: Schirmer Books, 1997. Call numbers are for items in the U.Va. Music Library collection.

General

The Harvard Dictionary of Music. 4th ed. Don Michael Randel. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2003.

The standard reference work in English for nonbiographical musical information, this source is designed to provide accurate information on all musical topics. Emphasizes the historical approach and Western art music, with more limited coverage of non-Western and popular topics. Articles include basic bibliographies, musical examples, and illustrations.

Grove Music Online. Oxford University Press, c2003.

Grove Music Online includes:

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians,
the standard and largest comprehensive music encyclopedia in English, with coverage of music history, theory and practice, musical terminology, the music of various locations, an outstanding selection of biographies, musical examples, and more extensive coverage of non-Western and folk music, with an index of ethnomusicological terms. Many composer entries include lists of works.
The New Grove Dictionary of Opera,
a nearly comprehensive opera reference work featuring extensive coverage of composers, singers (with numerous but brief entries), conductors, librettists, poets, stage designers, producers, directors, dancers, managers, patrons, impresarios, and other involved in the opera world. Includes entries on operas and operettas (listed by title of original language), opera houses, terminology, opera traditions, etc. Most entries include bibliographies; many composer entries include work lists.
The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz,
Barry Kernfield, ed. "Building on an explosion in recent jazz scholarship, the 2nd edition of _The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz_ is a drastically revised and expanded version of the first, more than twice as big as before." Added are over 2000 biographies, major essays on topics such as dance, cultural meanings of jazz in films, poetry, and women and styles such as acid jazz, disco, hip-hop, reggae, and smooth jazz. (Preface)

American Music

The New Grove Dictionary of American Music. H. Wiley Hitchcock and Stanley Sadie, editors. 4 vols. London: Macmillan ; New York, NY: Grove's Dictionaries of Music, 1986. (Ref. ML101 .U6 N48): The principal reference work on American music, consisting of re-worked articles from the New Grove and newly commissioned ones "to reflect the essence of American music" (preface). Covers American music and musicians, broadly considered, with concise articles summarizing works for lesser known persons, and broad, illustrated pieces with works lists and lengthy bibliographies for well-known persons. In-depth coverage of popular styles and genres includes entries for important popular groups, descriptions of uniquely American musical instruments, and historical sketches of musical publishers. Entries are arranged alphabetically; the set lacks an index.

Biography

Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. By Theodore Baker. Rev.by Nicholas Slonimsky. Centennial ed. New York: Schirmer Books, 2001. (Ref. ML 105 .B16 2001), 6 vol.: Baker's is the most authoritative and extensive biographical dictionary in English. Its primary emphasis is on musicians and musical figures in the world of art music, but entries from jazz, rock, country, blues, and other popular music genres are also included. Bibliographies and works lists are included with many entries.
Contemporary Composers. By Brian Morton and Pamela Collins. Chicago: St. James, 1992. (Ref. ML 390 .M677 1992): Biographical dictionary of 494 working composers, providing information on composer's nationality, birth date, education, awards, posts held, and mailing address. Work lists, organized by type of composition, include information on instrumentation, date of composition, publisher, discography, critical assessment and analysis, and completion and/or premiere date and place. International coverage.
International Encyclopedia of Women Composers. Aaron I. Cohen, ed. 2nd ed. 2 vols. New York: Books & Music USA, 1987. (Ref. ML105 .C7 1987): Provides brief biographical coverage, with lists of works, for almost 6,196 women composers. Extensive bibliography of works about women composers and a sizable discography. An appendix lists composers by country and century.
New Grove Dictionary of Women Composers. Julie Anne Sadie & Rhian Samuel, eds. London: Macmillan, 1994. (Ref. ML105 .N38 1995): Presents information on 875 women composers of Western classical music, with international coverage. Entries include biographies and analysis of works, but no musical examples. Most entries include works lists and a bibliography. Includes a chronology of women's musical achievements.

Instruments

The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments.Stanley Sadie, ed. 3 vols. London: Macmillan, 1984. (Ref. ML102 .I5 N48 1984): Copiously illustrated source, unique in its genre, contains scholarly articles on western and non-western, historical and modern instruments, their makers and performance practices, many but not all reworkings of articles in New Grove (6th ed.). Extensive cross references linking articles and terms to one another compensate for the lack of an index by culture or region.

Jazz

See Grove Music Online.

Opera