Greer Music Library

Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

The comprehensive music dictionaries in the Greer Music Library contain a huge amount of information.  It is no exaggeration to say that, except when you are researching a term paper, most of your information needs can be met by checking one of these books – particularly the first three on the list below.  Even if you need more detail than these books can provide, you are still well advised to begin the study of any topic by orienting yourself with the articles in one of these books.

This list is NOT complete.  Instead, it highlights a few of the more important sources, and once you find your way to the call number areas for each title, you will find more books simply by browsing through the reference collection.

THE BIG THREE:

THE NEW GROVE DICTIONARY OF MUSIC AND MUSICIANS
2nd edition. Edited by Stanley Sadie – 2001 – 29 vols.
REF ML 100 N48 2001
THE NEW GROVE 2nd edition is one of the single most important books in the library.  Get to know it well.  Read the introduction (v.1, pp. vii-ix) and browse through random volumes to get an idea of its scope.  This resource is often the best place to begin your research on a topic.
This edition is also available on-line (now called Grove Music Online), and is updated frequently with graphics, sound clips, additional articles, and corrections.  Access is through the list of research databases found on the Information Services library home page. Additional GROVE reference titles are being integrated into the on-line database.

HARVARD DICTIONARY OF MUSIC
Edited by Don Michael Randel – 4th edition - 2003
REF ML 100 H37 2003

BAKER’S BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF MUSICIANS
8th edition – Revised by Nicolas Slonimsky – 1991
REF ML 105 B16 1991
Baker’s and New Harvard complement one another.  Harvard covers only terms, the Baker’s only people.  Each is probably the best place to go first for a brief introduction to a topic or a person. By the way, read Slonimsky’s preface in Baker’s!

A SAMPLING OF OTHER REFERENCE TITLES YOU MIGHT FIND HELPFUL (General):

THE INTERNATIONAL CYCLOPEDIA OF MUSIC AND MUSICIANS
Editor-in-chief, Oscar Thompson – 11th edition, ed. by Bruce Bohle – 1985
REF ML 100 T47 1985
Know as Thompson, this is the largest one-volume music encyclopedia in English.  Less scholarly than the NEW GROVE 2, it is very readable.

THE NEW OXFORD COMPANION TO MUSIC
Edited by Denis Arnold – 1983
REF ML 100 S37 v.1-2
This is a dictionary of music oriented toward the general reader.

THE CONCISE OXFORD DICTIONARY OF MUSIC
Michael Kennedy, based on the original publication by Percy Scholes – 3rd ed. – 1980
REF ML 100 S367 1980
Shorter and soberer than The Oxford Companion

THE NEW COLLEGE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MUSIC
J.A. Westrup, F. Ll. Harrison – 1960
REF ML 100 W48
This is one of the few sources that include pronunciations.

THE WORLD OF MUSIC : AN ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA
4 vols. – 1963
REF ML 100 S25 1963
Aimed at the general reader, this set includes non-technical discussions of composers’ works.

A SAMPLING OF SUBJECT-SPECIFIC REFERENCE SOURCES:

NEW GROVE DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN MUSIC
Edited by H. Wiley Hitchcock and Stanley Sadie – 1986 – 4 vols.
REF ML 101 U6 N48 1986
Usually called Amerigrove, parts of this dictionary were first published in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1980).  The articles have been updated, and new ones added, resulting in a new mini-encyclopedia.

[The following two titles are also offshoots of the 1980 NEW GROVE (and others not listed here can be found in the reference collection!)]:

NEW GROVE DICTIONARY OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
Edited by Stanley Sadie – 1984 – 3 vols.
REF ML 102 I5 N48 1984

NEW GROVE DICTIONARY OF JAZZ
2nd edition ; Edited by Barry Kernfeld – 2002 – 3 vols.
REF ML 102 J3 N48 2002
This source is also now integrated into the Grove Music Online.

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF POPULAR MUSIC
Compiled & edited by Colin Larkin – 1998 – 8 vols.
REF ML 102 P66 G84 1998

THE GARLAND ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WORLD MUSIC
Bruno Nettl, Ruth M. Stone, advisory editors – 1998-2002
REF ML 100 G16 1998 ; CD 2565 (+ volume #)
This important source consists of 10 volumes.  Each covers a different area of world music, and is edited by scholars with expertise in the field.  Each volume has an accompanying compact disc of musical examples.

BAKER’S BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF TWENTIETH-CENTURY CLASSICAL MUSICIANS
Nicolas Slonimsky ; edited by Laura Kuhn – 1997
REF ML 105 S612 1997
The revered Baker’s eighth edition will probably be the last in that format.  Due to size considerations, editors plan to bring forth topic-specific volumes, and this is the first.  Kuhn’s preface is a great tribute to Slonimsky, who died in 1995.

INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WOMEN COMPOSERS
Edited by Aaron I. Cohen – 1987 – 2 vols.
REF ML 105 C7 1987
This source includes brief biographies with lists of works; photographs; bibliographies; and much, much more (for example, see the section on composers influenced by Shakespeare!)

CONTEMPORARY MUSICIANS : PROFILES OF THE PEOPLE IN MUSIC
Edited by Michael L. LaBlanc – 1989+ -- on-going subscription
REF ML 105 L2
Musicians from a diverse musical range are included, from jazz to rock to country to opera (and everything in between!).  The articles are medium length and include selected bibliographies and discographies.  Information that is difficult to find, such as the name and address of a performer’s agent, is included.  Use the indexes to help you navigate your way around the volumes.

HERITAGE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BAND MUSIC
William H. Rehrig – 1991 – 2 vols.
REF ML 128 B23 R44 1991
Brief biographies with complete (for band) works lists for each composer.  The appendices include an extensive bibliography, an overview of American band music, a list of publishers, a list of band journals, a conversion chart for adapting foreign band music to American instruments, and more.

AN IMPORTANT FOREIGN LANGUAGE SOURCE TO REMEMBER:

DIE MUSIK IN GESCHICHTE UND GEGENWART : ALLGEMEINE ENZYKLOPAEDIE DER MUSIK
Friedrich Blume, ed. (1st ed.) ; Ludwig Finscher, ed. (2nd ed.) – 1994+
REF ML 100 M92 1994
Known as MGG.  The title can be translated “Music in the Past and Present : General Encyclopedia of Music.”  This is the standard comprehensive reference work in German, comparable to our NEW GROVE.  The new edition is being issued over time and will take several years to reach completion.  The first part, the “Sachteil” (9 vols.), covers terms and music topics, not people, and we have the full set now.  The second part (“Personenteil”) contains biographies .