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A Guide for Finding
Biographical and Analytical
Resources in Music
This guide presents some basic sources and strategies that you can use to locate information on composers and their works. Its intent is not to provide an exhaustive listing of all that is available but rather to suggest some basic sources which can help you get started. The four main sections are:
1) Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
2) Indexes to Musical Analysis
3) Research Guides and Bibliographies
4) UIUC Online Library Catalog and periodical indexes
1) Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
Dictionaries and encyclopedias provide concise, general information on musicians and their works. They are useful not only in providing an overview of a person or subject, but in leading you to additional sources.
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell, editors. 29 vols. New York: Grove's Dictionaries, 2001. (online and at the Index table and Ready Reference)
The New Grove is one of the most important and inclusive reference sources for music in the English language. More than half the entries are on composers. For major composers, these entries include biographical data, musical analysis, and works lists. Other persons entered into the dictionary include performers, scholars, writers, theorists, librettists, dancers, printers and publishers, instrument makers, and others important in the history of music. There is also significant treatment of non-Western and folk music. Most entries include bibliographies of books and articles. (See also The Grove Dictionary of Jazz and The Grove Dictionary of American Music.) Online includes Grove Opera and New Grove Jazz Dictionary.
Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. 8th ed. Revised by Nicolas Slonimsky. 6 vols. New York: Schirmer Books, 2001. (ML105B16B51992)
The standard biographical dictionary in music. Includes over 15,000 entries for composers, performers, publishers, writers, and others from all historical periods and all parts of the world. Most entries are brief, though articles on major composers often run several pages in length. In addition to essential biographical information, many entries include lists of compositions and writings as well as bibliographies.
2) Indexes to Musical Analysis
This section includes several works which list writings on music. For locating analysis on major composers and their compositions, you may want to check these sources first.
Wenk, Arthur, compiler. Analyses of Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Music: 1940-1985 (MLA Index and Bibliography Series Number 25). Boston: Music Library Association, Inc., 1987. (ML113 M49 no. 25 MUR).
Contains over 5600 entries on 779 composers. Biographies, accounts of performances, and discussions of manuscripts and performance practice are included only if they contain analysis of specific works and/or styles.
Diamond, Harold J. Music Analyses: An Annotated Guide to the Literature. New York: Schirmer Books, 1991. (ML128.A7D53 MUR and Ready Reference)
4,600 citations taken from 750 books, 100 periodicals, and 400 dissertations; all indexed materials are in English. Primary focus is from J.S. Bach onward, though some earlier composers are included.
3) Research Guides and Bibliographies for Individual Musicians
These sources are particularly good for current, in-depth information on individual musicians and their work.
Greenwood Press Bio-bibliographies in Music. New York: Greenwood Press. (ML 134s MUR)
This on-going series documents the complete works of individual musicians. Include classified lists of works with detailed instrumentation, publication, and performance information, followed by extensive discographies and annotated bibliographies, including performance reviews. A biographical chapter combines a survey of life and career with an assessment of artistic development and impact, and is sometimes supplemented with interview material. This series currently focuses on late 19th- and 20th-century musicians.
Garland Composer Resource Manuals. New York: Garland Press. (ML 134s MUR)
Selected, annotated list of writings detailing aspects of a composer's life and works, including musical analysis and criticism; biographical sketches, guides to library resources, and occasionally other material, such as maps, photos, glossaries, and indexes.
BBC Music Guides. London, England: British Broadcasting Corporation. (ML410.H4 M32 MUR; also search UIUC Online Library Catalog by the series title BBC Music Guides)
These guides each deal with a particular aspect of a given composer's work and contain detailed analysis of important works or movements, and include musical examples.
4) UIUC Online Library Catalog and periodical indexes
You can also use UIUC Online Library Catalog to locate information on musicians and their works. To do this, you will have to search by subject using the composer's name. Before you start, you may want to verify the spelling of your composer's name by checking the New Grove or some other standard source.
To find the most current biographical and analytical writings on music, you should explore the journal literature. For this, you may want to start with A Guide for using the Periodicals Collection of the Music Library. Copies are available at the Information Desk and near the UIUC Online terminals on the west side of the library. This source outlines basic strategies for locating articles, including major music periodical indexes. There are three online indexes that can be accessed from the Music Library homepage . These are RILM, IIMP, and Music Index.
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