Research Guides: Arts and Media Research Guide: General Music Reference Resources

Music Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

Harvard Dictionary of Music. 2003
Call Number: 780.3 H3392 2003 (also available online from Credo Reference)
You will need your NetID and password to access this database from off campus. After you have signed in, click on a music topic from the alphabetical listing. This is a good place to start with an unfamiliar term or concept in music!
Music translation dictionary : an English-Czech-Danish-Dutch-French-German-Hungarian-Italian-Polish-Portuguese-Russian-Spanish-Swedish vocabulary of musical terms. 1978 by Compiled by Carolyn Doub Grigg
Call Number: 780.3 G857m
Although a little outdated, many musical terms still have the same meaning. The number of languages that this particular dictionary covers can be very useful.
Musician's Handbook of Foreign Terms: Containing the English Equivalents of Approximately 2700 Foreign Expression Marks and Directions Taken from French, German, Italian, Latin, Portuguese and Spanish Scores. 1971. by Christine Ammer
Call Number: 781.23 A518m
A little outdated, but still applicable to music terms in languages other than English.
Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart (MGG). 2nd ed. 1994-2007 by Ludwig Finscher, Editor
Call Number: 780.3 M987 1994
This German music encyclopedia is divided into two sections: (1) subject encyclopedia (Sachteil) 10 vols. and (2) biographical encyclopedia (Personenteil) 17 vols. Although this resource is completely in German, it is one of the better recognized music encyclopedias.
Oxford Music Online (Was Grove Music Online) by Deane Root
Call Number: 780.3 G883d 2001 (Also available in print as New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians)
You will need your NetID and password to access this database from off campus. This resource is considered to be the premier English language reference resource in Music. Keep in mind that the articles that you'll find here can be lengthy, but it is a helpful tool for getting to know a particular topic and some of its related literature in the bibliographies. Also useful are works lists for selected composers. The online version also contains New Grove Dictionary of Opera as well as New Grove Dictionary of Jazz.

Biographical Sources in Music

Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. Centennial ed. 6 vols. 2001. by Nicholas Slominsky, Laura Kuhn.
Call Number: 780.3 B168b 2001
Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Classical Musicians. 1997. by Nicolas Slonimsky
Call Number: 780.922 S634b
Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians. 1982. by Eileen Southern
Call Number: 781.773 X S727b
Contemporary Composers. 1992.
Call Number: 781.309 C761
Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music. 1996. by Don Michael Randel, editor
Call Number: 780.922 H339
International Encyclopedia of Women Composers. 2nd ed. 1992. by Aaron Cohen
Call Number: 780.9 C678i

Music Bibliographies

Collected Editions, Historical Series, Sets, & Monuments of Music: A Bibliography by George R. Hill and Norris L. Stephens
Call Number: 780 X H646
This is a useful guide to help you navigate with call numbers M1-M3.
Historical Sets, Collected Editions and Monuments of Music: A Guide to Their Contents by Anna Harriet Heyer
Call Number: 780 X H615h 1980
This is another useful source for finding individual works in scores with call numbers M1-M3.
Music Reference and Research Materials by Vincent Duckles
Call Number: 780 X D835m 1997
Although fairly outdated now, this book was one of the most comprehensive bibliographies of music-specific reference resources available.