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Medieval & Renaissance Research Guide
I. To get an overview of your topic(s):
General Music Dictionaries & Encyclopedias
New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
[MUSIC REF. ML 100. N48 2001]
A good general starting point for information on composers and music.
(Look under Renaissance Music; Medieval Music;Masses; Vocal Music; Church Music, composers' names, etc.)
Other dictionaries interesting and useful to consult:
Roche, Jerome & Elizabeth Roche.
A dictionary of early music: from the troubadours to Monteverdi.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1981.
[MUSIC REF. ML100.R695]
Strahle, Graham.
An early music dictionary: musical terms from British sources:1500-1740.
Cambridge [England]: Cambridge University Press,1995.
[MUSIC REF. ML108 .S88 1995]
II. To find books on your topics:
Search the UO Library's Catalog by Subject:
When you look in the subject section under: Medieval Music,
you get the following subject headings:
- See MUSIC 15TH CENTURY
See MUSIC 500-1400
When you look in the subject section under Renaissance Music,
you get the following subject headings:
- See MUSIC 15TH CENTURY
See MUSIC 16TH CENTURY
See MUSIC 17TH CENTURY
Other subject headings to search include:
- Secular Vocal Music
Sacred Vocal Music
Masses
AGNUS DEI (MUSIC)
COMMUNION-SERVICE MUSIC
GLORIA IN EXCELSIS DEO (MUSIC)
KYRIE ELEISON (MUSIC)
PROPERS (MUSIC)
REQUIEMS
You can also tack -500-1400 on to instrument names
(e.g.: Keyboard instrument music- 16th century)
Other Subjects to Search:
Names of early instruments
Performance Practice Music -500 - 1400
Names of composers
III. For Articles on your topics, consult the following indexes and journals:
Indexes to Music Articles:
- The Music Index
[MUSIC REF. ML118 .M84]
(On the web from 1979 to the present; in paper on Music Reference shelves from 1949 - 1985; on the Music Index Table from 1993-2001.)
(Use the same headings you found in the Library's catalog- or consult the separate subject heading book in the last two years.) - RILM [Repertoire international de litterature musicale]
(Searchable on the web version of the Library's catalog from the Articles, Databases & Indexes
Also available in paper form to 1995 on Music Index Table.
Especially good for articles in non-music resources and in languages other than English. Annotations are given for a great number of the resources.
The thesaurus of searching terms is available at the Music Reference Index Table. - Arts & Humanities Search
Also available on the web through the Library's web catalog, using the Articles, Databases & Indexes search form.
Especially good for tracking the impact an article and its author has on other articles and authors. You can search by author (to find out which authors are writing new articles) or by cited reference (to find out those authors who have cited your author.)
Serial bibliographies of interest:
International Medieval Bibliography
[KNIGHT Z6203 .I63]
Also on the web: Search for "International Medieval Bibliography" in the UO Library Catalog; after submitting search, click on "Go to UO's copy of Brepolis web site, click on
Enter database, then select International medieval bibliography."
Medioevo Latino
[KNIGHT Z2000 .M35]
Medioevo Musicale
[MUSIC REF. ML 114 .M35]
Journals on your topic:
(These are indexed in the Music Index and RILM, as well as other resources- and those that are available online are marked with an asterisk (*)
Current musicology.
[MUSIC ML 1 .C9]
Early music.*
[MUSIC ML 5 .E3]
Early music history.*
[MUSIC ML 5 .E123]
Journal of the American Musicological Society.*
[MUSIC ML 27 .U5 A83363]
Performance practice review.*
[MUSIC ML 1 .P10876]
Plainsong & medieval music*
[MUSIC ML 169.8 .P54]
IV. Scores
At the University of Oregon:
Use the UO Library's Catalog to find scores, listed by composer and title, in our collections. We also have collections of reference scores in the M2's and M3's. These are indexed in the works lists in the New Grove under the composers' names, and in the following resources:
Heyer, Anna Harriet, 1909-
Historical sets, collected editions, and monuments of music : a guide to their contents.
3d ed. Chicago : American Library Association, 1980.
[MUSIC REF. ML113.H52 1980 v.1 -v.2]
Hill, George Robert and Norris Stephens.
Collected editions, historical series & sets & monuments of music : a bibliography.
Berkeley, Calif. : Fallen Leaf Press, c1997
[MUSIC REF. ML113 .H55 1997]
(Updates the Heyer for newer collections, including Recent Researches in the Music of...)
Hilton, Ruth B.
An index to early music in selected anthologies.
Clifton, N.J. : European American Music Corporation, c1978.
[MUSIC REF. ML116 .H54]
For a guide to a specialized collection, see:
Hall, Alison.
E.H. Fellowes, an index to the English madrigalists and the English school of lutenist song writers.
Boston : Music Library Association, 1984.
(Index to the English madrigalists and the English school of lutenist song writers.)
[MUSIC REF. ML120.G7H34 1984]
Original manuscripts at other Universities:
Bibliographical inventory to the early music in the Newberry Library, Chicago, Illinois . edited by D. W. Krummel.
Boston : G. K. Hall, 1977.
[MUSIC REF. ML136.C5 N43]
The British union-catalogue of early music before the year 1801:a record of the holdings of over one hundred libraries throughout the British Isles.
London, Butterworths Scientific Publications, 1957.
[MUSIC REF. ML116.B7 v.1 & v.2]
Wood, David A..
Music in Harvard libraries : a catalogue of early printed music and books on music in the Houghton Library and the Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library.
Cambridge, Mass. : Houghton Library of the Harvard College Library : Harvard University Dept. of music : distributed by Harvard University Press, 1980.
[MUSIC REF. ML136.C23 H33]
RISM [International inventory of musical sources]
A series that provides bibliographic access some of the world's libraries' manuscript collections. Individual volumes cover specific areas of music and theory.
The UO Library has access to Series A online, from the Databases & Indexes list, under R
[MUSIC REF. ML 113. I6 (and series numbers)]
See also: Manuscript Research Guide, at http://libweb.uoregon.edu/music/researchguides/manu.html
V. Other Resources worth consulting:
- The Liber usualis : with introduction and rubrics in English .Edited by the Benedictines of Solesmes.
Tournai : Society of St. John the Evangelist, Desclee, 1938,c1934.
[MUSIC MINIATURE M2151 .L4 1997 ] - Wolff, Arthur S.
Speculum; an index of musically related articles and book reviews.
Ann Arbor, Mich.] Music Library Association, 1970.
[MUSIC ML113.M84 no.9; 2nd ed.= [MUSIC ML128.M3S6 1981] - Doctoral Dissertations in Musicology-Online, at http://www.music.indiana.edu/ddm
VI. Discographies of Medieval and Renaissance Music:
Discography of Medieval and Renaissance Music in the Knight Library's Douglass Listening Room.
Eugene, OR: University of Oregon, Knight Library Publication, 1996.
[Will be on the Web, at http://libweb.uoregon.edu/music/
Discographies/MedRenmedrendisco.html]
Available in paper at the Douglass Listening Room desk.
Coover, James [and] Richard Colvig.
Medieval and Renaissance music on long-playing records.
[Detroit, Information Service] 1964.
"First supplement, 1960-61" included with the above.
[MUSIC ML156.2 .C67 & Sup.]
Croucher, Trevor.
Early music discography : from plainsong to the sons of Bach. 1981 ed.
Phoenix, Ariz. : Oryx Press, c1981.
CONTENTS v. 1. Record index -- v. 2. Composer, plainsong, anonymous work,and performer indexes.
[MUSIC REF. ML156.2.C76]
Henry, Derrick.
The listener's guide to medieval & Renaissance music.
New York, N.Y. : Facts on File, 1983.
[MUSIC ML171.H29 1983]
VII. Bibliographies of interest:
Hiley, David.
Western Plainchant: A Handbook
New York: Oxford, 1993.
[MUSIC ML3082 .H54 1993]
Hiley, David.
"Writings on Western plainchant in the 1980s and 1990s, " in Acta Musicologica 49 (1997) 53-93.
[MUSIC ML 5 .M6]
Hughes, Andrew
Medieval Music: The Sixth Liberal Art.
Toronto: University of Toronto, 1980.
[MUSIC REF ML114 .H8 1980]
Jackson, Roland John
Performance practice, medieval to contemporary : a bibliographic guide.
New York : Garland, 1988.
[MUSIC REF. ML128.P235 J3 1988]
Krummel, Donald William.
Guide for dating early published music : a manual of bibliographical practices.
Hackensack, N.J. : J. Boonin, 1974.
[MUSIC REF. ML111 .K78]
Krummel, Donald William
Bibliotheca Bolduaniana a Renaissance music bibliography.
Detroit, Information Coordinators, 1972.
Paulus Bolduan's "eighty-page section on music, in the Bibliotheca philosophica, with 1299 titles, is here reproduced in facsimile with annotations on the facing page."
[MUSIC ML114.K78]
Switten, Margaret
Music and Poetry in the Middle Ages: A Guide to Research on French and Occitan song, 1100-1400.
New York: Garland, 1995.
[MUSIC REF ML128 .M3 S9 1995]
Vinquist, Mary and Neal Zaslaw.
Performance practice; a bibliography.
New York, W. W. Norton [1971]
[MUSIC REF. ML128.L3 V55 1971]
VIII. RESOURCES FOR RESEARCHING RENAISSANCE AND MEDIEVAL MUSIC ON THE WEB
Journals:
Notitiae Cantus is the international newsletter for Gregorian Chant and other Repertoires of Western Chant.
Direct your comments or questions to the Internet address mc1194@mclink.it. Subscription through email is free. A hardcopy of Notitiae Cantus has been made available to subscribers who require or prefer this mode of publication.
Web Sites:
- CANTUS project
A Database for Gregorian Chant Indices of the chants in selected manuscript and early printed sources of the Divine Office. - Early Music Links
A very comprehensive resource that includes links to early music journals, instruments, other early music pages, bibliographies and library sites, examples of early music (both in tablature and in audio), links to early music societies, performing groups, and record catalogs that specialize in recordings of early music. - The Gregorian Chant Home Page
- Medieval Studies Guide at the University of Oregon Libraries
LISTSERVS:
CIMCIM-L on listserv@nrm.se
CIMCIM is the International Musical Instrument Committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) and serves as a focus for the interests of musical instrument museums and collections. It has about 200 members worldwide in nearly 40 countries.
If you wish to join CIMCIM-L please send a message to, listserv@nrm.se containing the following command on the first line of the body of the message,SUB CIMCIM-L Yourfirstname Yourlastname
med-and-ren-music
This list enables those engaged on research into any aspect of Medieval and Renaissance Music to exchange information. This includes questions of research, conference details and reports, library information and any other useful material.
To subscribe to this list, send the following commands in the body of an e-mail message to mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk:join med-and-ren-music
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Organizations' Web Sites
University Library/Music School Web Sites
- [Note: these are just a few of the sites. To get a more comprehensive list, see the University of Oregon's library web site, which includes links to the major university libraries in the world.]
- University of Oregon
- Indiana University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Maintained by: Leslie Bennett, lbennett@uoregon.edu
Last Modified: 11/01/2007