| 1. The New Grove Dictionary of
Music and Musicians. 2nd edition. Edited by John Tyrrell. 29 vols.
New York: Grove's Dictionaries, 2001.
Available online and in print in the Information area on the Index/Encyclopedia table. The New Grove (NGII) is the major English-language music encyclopedia. It was first published in 1879-89 in four volumes under the title Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians. The 29 volume set found on the Index/Encyclopedia table in the Information area is the 2nd edition with the title New Grove (but the 7th edition of the encyclopedia overall) and was published in 2001. In the summer of 2001, the online version of The New Grove Dictionary of Opera was incorporated into the online version of NGII. Shortly thereafter, The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (second edition) was incorporated. More than half of the entries are on composers. Particularly for major composers, these give both biographical data and musical analysis and extensive work lists. Other people given individual entries include performers, scholars, writers, librettists, dancers, patrons, printers, instrument makers and others significant in the history of music. Numerous entries cover a variety of geographical areas--cities, countries, and regions of the world. The New Grove includes hundreds of terminological and survey articles on music other than Western European art music. Though it certainly has not reduced its concern for the European tradition, it brings into the mainstream topics which were formerly categorized as the domain of ethnomusicology. As a dictionary, The New Grove gives definitions for musical terms. As a history, it covers genres and forms. As an encyclopedia, it includes a range of survey articles such as "Analysis" and "Performing Practice." Most entries include bibliographies of books and articles; many are quite extensive. The New Grove is the most inclusive reference source for music in the English language, and one of the most important in any language. Though its roots remain in England proper (as shown in the preference for English terminology such as "crotchet" rather than "quarter note"), it is the primary English-language resource for the world's music. The New Grove family of music reference encyclopedias includes: The New Grove Dictionary of American Music (ML101.U6N38)
All of the above are located in the Reference Section. 2. Nettl, Bruno, Ruth M Stone, advisory eds. The
Garland Encyclopedia of World Music. New York: Garland, 1998-2002.
10v. + 10 audio compact discs.
Promoted as the "first comprehensive survey of the world’s music," the encyclopedia emphasizes music in its cultural context. Its multidisciplinary scholarship encompasses the related fields of dance, folklore, poetry, religion, and politics. The first nine volumes divide the world’s music into nine regions (Africa; South America, Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean; The United States and Canada; Southeast Asia; South Asia: The Indian Subcontinent; The Middle East; East Asia: China, Japan, and Korea; Europe; and Australia and the Pacific Islands). The final volume is comprised of articles on the discipline of world music, on musical instruments and on methodologies as well as a general index to entire series, plus all bibliographies, discographies, and videographies from the regional volumes. Coverage for each region includes an introductory overview; a
review of the region’s music heritage and scholarship; and, regional case studies of
musical forms, practices, theories, techniques, genres, and influences. These case studies
may include specific styles and genres of popular music, music theory and notation,
musical influences and acculturation, music and folklore, gender and music, and the
rural-urban interchange. Western art music is treated from the ethnomusicological
perspective. Each volume is accompanied by an audio compact disc which illustrates the
region’s music and is keyed to the text. Supplementary information for each volume
includes discographies, film- and videographies, musical examples, numerous black and
white illustrations, an index and glossary. 3. Baker's biographical dictionary of musicians. Centennial ed. / Nicolas Slonimsky, editor emeritus. New York Schirmer Books, c2001. ML105 Located in the Reference Section. First published in 1900, Baker’s has become music's standard biographical dictionary and one of the most useful and fascinating of all reference works. In all, it includes nearly thirteen thousand entries for composers, performers, publishers, and others from all historical periods and all parts of the world. Most entries are short, but those for major composers extend to several pages. Entries include citations to other biographical sources and lists of compositions or written works. Slonimsky was adept at using anecdotes to portray a subject's personality, compositional characteristics, or performing style. He made no attempt to hide his opinions and often distilled cogent and wry evaluations into introductory epithets for his subjects: Berlioz was "a great French composer," Caruso "a celebrated Italian tenor," Gershwin "an immensely gifted American composer." The entertaining style and abundance of not only biographical but historical and musicological information give Baker's primary importance in the literature. |
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4. International Who's Who in
Music and Musicians' Directory. Cambridge: International Biographical
Centre, 2006.
The Music Library keeps the latest edition of both volumes in its "Ready Reference" section behind the Information Desk on the 1st floor. The first volume of this set includes some eight thousand living composers, performers, critics, musicologists, teachers, and others involved in classical and light-classical music. Brief entries, in a uniform format, give birth date and place, main field of interest, education, and details of the subject's professional career such as titles of compositions or publications, teaching or performing positions, honors, or memberships. Most entries include an address. Appendices list addresses, by country, for orchestras, opera companies, festivals, music organizations, major competitions and awards, music libraries, conservatories, and "Masters of the King's/Queen's Musick." This is a standard biographical work for classical musicians useful primarily for information about the second tier of working professionals who may not be included in other more selective works. Covering Anglo-American pop, rock, folk, jazz, blues, and
country musicians, volume two includes about 5,000 entries. As with its companion volume,
entries are uniform, providing birth date and place, field of interest, education, career
details, honors, and/or memberships; addresses are included for most entries. Addresses
for record companies, management companies, booking agents and promoters, music
publishers, music festivals and events, and music organizations are listed in the
appendices. Entries for both volumes were derived from the responses to a questionnaire
sent to all potential biographees, therefore caveat lector. 5. New Harvard Dictionary of Music. Edited by Don Michael Randel. 4th edition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003. Located online and behind the Information Desk and in the Reference Section. The Harvard Dictionary follows the lead of other
reference works (such as The New Grove, and The New Oxford
Companion) which have broadened the scope of previous editions to encompass
non-Western and popular forms of music. The most immediately apparent difference in
content between The New Harvard Dictionary and the others is its omission of
entries for composers and other individuals. Entries include musical forms, instruments,
terms, dances, individual works with distinctive titles, countries, regions of the world,
ethnic groups, and periods in the history of Western music. Far more than a
"dictionary" which briefly defines terms, this is a broad-based reference work
which adjusts the length of its entries to the topic at hand. For example, "Fork
fingering" is allotted one sentence; "Opera" occupies seven pages. Most
entries are signed by members of a team of scholarly contributors, and many include
bibliographies. Musical examples are not plentiful, but are put to good use. Illustrations
consist of line drawings of instruments. There are cross-references from variant forms of
entry and from references within the text, particularly in the case of general surveys,
such as "Musicology," which serve as guides to related entries. The preface
maintains that this is a work for "laymen, students, performers, composers, scholars,
and teachers." A clear style and the continuation of an established approach ensure
that this new edition will continue as a standard resource.
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