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A SAMPLING OF DICTIONARIES AND ENCYCLOPEDIAS FOR MUSICIANS

DICTIONARIES

[Note: These Are Not Solely Biographical Dictionaries, But Include More Comprehensive Information]

General Music

    Ammer, Christine.
    Harper's Dictionary of Music.
    NY: Harper & Row, 1972.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 100 .A48 ]

    Apel, Willi.
    Harvard Dictionary of Music.
    Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1969.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 100 .A64 1969]

    Kennedy, Michael.
    The Oxford Dictionary of Music. 2nd ed.
    Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 100 .K35 1994]

    Randel, Donald.
    The Harvard Dictionary of Music. 4th ed.
    Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2003.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 100 .H37 2003]

    Thompson, Oscar, ed. by Bruce Bohle.
    The International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians. 10th ed.
    NY: Dodd, Mead, 1975
    [MUSIC REF. ML 100 .T47 1975]

Terminology

    Boccagna, David L.
    Musical Terminology: A Practical Compendium In Four Languages.
    Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon Press, C1999.
    Notes: In Italian, English, French, and German.
    [MUSIC REF. ML108 .B55 1999]

    Grigg, Carolyn Doub.
    Music Translation Dictionary: an English-Czech- Danish-Dutch-.French-German-Hungarian-Italian- Polish- Portuguese-Russian-Spanish-Swedish vocabulary of musical terms.
    Westport, CT:Greenwood Press, 1978.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 108 G855]

    Headington, Christopher.
    Illustrated Dictionary of Musical Terms.
    NY: Harper & Row, 1980.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 108 .H3 1980a]

    Jacobs, Arthur.
    The Penguin Dictionary of Music. 5th ed.
    London, England ; New York, N.Y., USA: Penguin Books, 1991.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 100 .J3 1991]

    Latham, Alison.
    Oxford Dictionary of Musical Terms.
    Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
    [MUSIC REF. ML108 .D576 2004]

    Leuchtmann, Horst.
    Dictionary of Terms in Music:English-German,German-English.
    Munchen; NY: K.G. Saur, 1992. 4th rev. enl. ed.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 108 W73 1992]

    Picerno, Vincent J.
    Dictionary of Musical Terms.
    Brooklyn: Haskell House, 1976.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 108 .P57 ]

    Slonimsky, Nicholas.
    Lectionary of Music.
    NY: McGraw-Hill, 1989.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 100 .S637 1989]

    Terminorum Musicae Index Septem Linguis Redactus=Polyglottes Worterbuch der Musikalischen Terminiologie: Deutsch, Englisch, Franzosisch, Italienisch, Spanisch, Ungarisch, Russisch = Polyglot Dictionary of Musical Terms: English,
    German, French, Italian, Spanish, Hungarian, Russian.

    Budapest: Akademiaia Kiado, 1978.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 108 .T4 ]

    Vocabolario Pratico Della Musica= Practical Vocabulary of Music...
    Melville,NY: Belwin-Mills, 1984.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 100 .V62 1984]

    [For another great resource for just German words used in bibliographies, see:
    Jan LaRue & J.B. Holland. Biblioprotocol with a brief glossary of needed in Austrian and German libraries in Notes, vol. 42, no.1 (1985), pages 29-35 [MUSIC ML 27 .U5 M695 ser.2] and available online in JSTOR by title.]

Pronunciation

    Fradkin, Robert A., 1951-
    The Well-tempered Announcer: a Pronunciation Guide to Classical music.
    Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c1996.
    [MUSIC REF. ML109 .F73 1996]

    Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names: Pronunciations for More than 23,000 Proper Names, Selected for Currency, Frequency, or Difficulty of Pronunciation.
    Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics, c1993.
    "Including place names; given names; names of famous individuals; cultural, literary, and historical names; mythological names; names of peoples and tribes; company names and product names; with pronunciations transcribed into the international phonetic alphabet and a simplified phonetic respelling; and including an explanatory introduction."
    [MUSIC REF. PE1137 .P82 1993]

SUBJECT-SPECIFIC DICTIONARIES

Church Music:

    Bumpus, John S.
    A Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Terms.
    Detroit: Gale, 1969.
    [KNIGHT REF BR 95.B8 1969 ]

Early Music:

    Levarie, Siegmund.
    A Dictionary of Musical Morphology.

    Henryville, PA: Institute of Mediaeval Music,1980.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 100 .L58 ]

    Roche, Jerome.
    Dictionary of Early Music: from the Troubadours to Monteverdi.
    NY: Oxford University Press, 1981.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 100 .R695 ]

    Strahle, Graham.
    An Early Music Dictionary: Musical Terms from British Sources: 1500-1740.
    Cambridge [England]; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 108 .S88 1995 ]

Electronic and Contemporary Music:

    Dobson, Richard.
    A Dictionary of Electronic and Computer Music Terminology: Instruments, Terms, Techniques.
    Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 102 .E4 D62 1992]

    Fink, Robert.
    The Language of Twentieth Century Music: a Dictionary of Terms.
    NY: Schirmer Books, 1975.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 100 .F55 ]

    Tomlin, Bo.
    Electronic Music Dictionary: a Glossary of the Specialized Terms Relating to the Music and Sound Technology of Today.
    Milwaukee, WI: H. Leonard, 1988.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 102 .E4 T65 1988 ]

    Wadhams, Wayne.
    Dictionary of Music Production and Engineering Terminology.
    NY: Schirmer, 1988.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 102 .M85 W3 1988]

Instruments:

    Adato, Joseph.
    The Percussionist's Dictionary: Translations, Descriptions, and Photographs of Percussion Instruments from Around the World.
    Melville,NY: Belwin-Mills, 1984.
    [MUSIC REF ML 102 .P4 A3 1984]

    Mende, Emilie.
    Brass Instruments: Dictionary in 3 Languages English-French-.German.
    Bulle, Switzerland:Editions BIM, 1983.
    [MUSIC REF ML 102 .B7 M46 1983]

    Schimmel, Klaus.
    Piano-Nomenclatur. [German-English-French- Italian-Norwegian.]
    Frankfurt:A.M.Verlag Das Musikinstrument, 1966.
    [MUSIC REF ML 102 .P5 S3 ]

Jazz:

    Gold, Robert.
    Jazz Talk.
    Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1975.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 102 .J3 G64 ]

Singing and Voice:

    Reid, Cornelius.
    A Dictionary of Vocal Terminology: an Analysis.
    NY: Joseph Patelson, 1983.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 102 .V6 R4 1983]

Miscellaneous:

    Barber, Josephine.
    German for Musicians.
    London: Faber, 1985.
    [KNIGHT PF 3120 .M87 B37 1985b]

    Spiegl, Fritz.
    Music Through the Looking Glass...
    London: Routledge, Kegan Paul, 1984.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 101 .G7 S64 1984]

ENCYCLOPEDIAS OF MUSIC

 

GENERAL MUSIC ENCYCLOPEDIAS:

    Blom, Eric.
    The New Everyman Dictionary of Music. 6th ed.
    NY: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1989, 1988
    [MUSIC REF. ML 100 .B47 1989]

    Grove, George, Sir.
    Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 5th ed.
    NY: St. Martin's Press, 1962, 1954. 9 vol. + supplements.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 100 .G8863 1954a]

    The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 2d ed.
    Washington, D.C.: Grove's Dictionaries of Music, 2001. 29 v.
    [MUSIC REF. ML100 .N48 2001 + available on the UO Library's web catalog as Grove Music Online]
    {Note: The 1st edition of the New Grove... is on the Music Reference shelves at MUSIC REF. ML100 .N48}

    The Oxford Companion to Music.
    Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
    [MUSIC REF. ML100 .O94 2002 (+ available on the Library's web by title)]

    Random House Encyclopedic Dictionary of Classical Music.
    New York: Random House, c1997.
    [MUSIC REF. ML100 .R29 1997]

NATIONAL ENCYCLOPEDIAS OF MUSIC

American (USA) Encyclopedias

    Jablonski, Edward.
    The Encyclopedia of American Music.
    Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1981.
    [MUSIC REF. ML100 .J28]

    The New Grove Dictionary of American Music.
    NY: Grove's Dictionaries of Music, 1986. 4 v.
    [MUSIC REF. ML101 .U6N48 1986]

Australian Encyclopedias

    A Dictionary of Australian Music.
    Melbourne ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1998.
    [MUSIC REF. ML101.A85 B4 1998]

    The Oxford Companion to Australian music.
    Melbourne ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1997.
    [MUSIC REF. ML101 .A9 O94 1997]

Canadian Encyclopedias

    Encyclopedia of Music in Canada. 2nd ed.
    Toronto : University of Toronto Press, c1992.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 106 .C36 E52 1992 ]

    Encyclopedie de la Musique au Canada.2nd ed.
    [Montreal] : Fides, c1993.3 v.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 106 .C3 E514 1993]

French Encyclopedias

    Encyclopedie de la Musique.
    Paris: Fasquelle, 1958-61. 3 v.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 100 .E48]

    Larousse de la Musique.
    Paris: Larousse, 1957. 2 vol.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 100 .L28]

German Encyclopedias

    Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.
    Kassel: Barenreiter Verlag, 1949-1967. 17 v.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 100 .M92]

    Die Musik In Geschichte Und Gegenwart : Allgemeine Enzyklopadie der Musik. 2nd Ed.
    Kassel: Barenreiter; Stuttgart: Metzler, C1994-
    Sachteil 1 - 9; Personenteil 1 - 17
    [MUSIC REF. ML 100 .M92 1994]

Italian Encyclopedias

    Dizionario Enciclopedico Universale della Musica e dei Musicisti. Il Lessico.4 v.
    Torino: UTET, c1983-c1984.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 100 .D63 1983]

    Dizionario Enciclopedico Universale della Musica e dei Musicisti. Le Biografie. 8 v. + Appendix.
    Torino: UTET, c1985-c1988.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 105 .D65 1985 ]

Spanish Encyclopedias

    Diccionario de La Musica Espanola E Hispanoamericana.
    [Spain]: Sociedad General de Autores Y Editores, C1999-C2000. 10 vols. at present.
    [MUSIC REF. ML101.S7 D53 1999]

SUBJECT ENCYCLOPEDIAS

Church Music:

    Davidson, James R.
    A Dictionary of Protestant Church Music.
    Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1975.
    [MUSIC REF. ML102 .C5 D33]

Contemporary and Electronic Music:

    Griffiths, Paul.
    The Thames & Hudson Encyclopedia of 20th-Century Music.
    London: Thames & Hudson, 1986.
    [MUSIC REF. ML197 G87 1986]

Instruments:

    Diagram Group.
    Musical Instruments of the World: an Illustrated Encyclopedia.
    NY: Paddington Press, 1997.
    [MUSIC REF. ML102 .I5 M88 1997]

    Encyclopedia of Percussion.
    New York : Garland Pub., 1995.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 102.P4 E5 1995]

    The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments.
    London: Macmillan;NY: Grove's Dictionaries of Music, 1984. 3 v.
    [MUSIC REF. ML102 .I5 N48 1984 ]

Jazz & Blues:

    Komara, Edward.
    Encyclopedia of the Blues. 2 vols.
    New York: Routledge, 2006.
    [MUSIC REF. ML102 .B6 E53 2006]

    The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. 2d ed.
    New York: Grove's Dictionaries Inc.; London : Macmillan, 2002. 3 v.
    [MUSIC REF. ML102 .J3 N48 2001 + available as part of GroveMusicOnline]
    [Note: The first edition of this important encyclopedia is located in the Music stacks at ML 102. J3 N48]

Opera:

    Bagnoli, Giorgio.
    The La Scala Encyclopedia of the Opera.
    New York: Simon & Schuster, c1993.
    [MUSIC REF. ML102 .O6 L14 1993]

    International Dictionary of Opera.
    Detroit: St. James Press, c1993. 2 v.
    [MUSIC REF. ML102 .O6 I6 1993 v.1 & 2]

    The New Grove Dictionary of Opera.
    London:Macmillan; NY: Grove's Dictionaries of Music, 1992. 4 v.
    Also available to UO patrons online at the GroveMusic Online site (for UO patrons)
    [MUSIC REF. ML102 .O6 N5 1992b]

    The Viking Opera Guide. 1st ed.
    London ; New York : Viking, 1993.
    [MUSIC REF. ML102 .O6 V45 1993]

    Warrack, John Hamilton, 1928-
    The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera. 3rd ed.
    Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.
    [MUSIC REF. ML102 .O6 W35 1996 (+ available on the Internet by title]

Popular Music:

    The Comprehensive Country Music Encyclopedia.
    New York: Times Books, C1994.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 102.C7 C6 1994]

    The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. 4th ed. 10 v.
    London: MUZE, 2006.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 102 .P66 G84 2006]

    Kingsbury, Paul.
    The Encyclopedia of Country Music: The Ultimate Guide to The Music.
    New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 102.C7 E54 1998]

    Lissauer, Robert, 1917-
    Lissauer's Encyclopedia of Popular Music in America: 1888 to the Present. 1st ed.
    New York: Paragon House, 1991.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 128.P63 L57 1991]

    The Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music. 2nd ed.
    NY: Viking, 1998.
    [MUSIC REF. ML102 .P66 P5 1998]

    Stambler, Irwin.
    Country Music: The Encyclopedia.
    New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997.
    [MUSIC REF. ML 102.C7 S7 1997]

World Music

    Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World. 7 vols.
    London; New York: Continuum, 2003
    [MUSIC REF. ML 102 .P66 C66 2003]

    The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music.
    New York: Garland Pub., 1998- 10 v. + Accompanying compact discs
    [MUSIC REF. ML 100 .G16 1998 + DOUG. CIRC. CX3875]

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Maintained by: Leslie Bennett, lbennett@uoregon.edu
Last Modified: 10/10/2007