LibGuides: Music History: Reference Sources

Introduction

Reference works can save you a lot of time. They have done the work of compiling information about a person or topic for you and can help you frame your research question. They also have useful bibliographies that can jump start your research process.

> Introduction

> Dictionaries

> Biographical Information

> Music Analysis

> Guides to Reference Materials and Research

> Bibliographies and Repertoire Guides

> Histories

Dictionaries

Grove Music Online
Grove is the premier English-language encyclopedia of music. It includes signed articles, works lists, and bibliographies on 20,000 composers, locations, periods, instruments, terms, and other subjects. This resource includes the full texts (and updated content) of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd edition (2001), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera (1992), and The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 2nd edition (2002). It is expanding to include the full texts of upcoming new editions of The Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd edition (2013), and The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, 2nd edition (2014).
Music Online: Garland Encyclopedia of World Music
A comprehensive online resource devoted to music research of all the world's peoples.
Music Online: African American Music Reference
African American Music Reference will contain 50,000 pages of text and 17,000 pages of liner notes that offers the first comprehensive coverage of blues, jazz, spirituals, civil rights songs, slave songs, minstrelsy, rhythm and blues, gospel, and other forms of black American musical expression.

Biographical Information

Composer research guides (also known as bio-bibliographies) are an excellent place to start when searching for information about a composer and his/her works. These books provide a biographical sketch of the composer, a descriptive list of his/her compositions, and a bibliography of publications by and about the composer and his/her music.

These guides may be found at ML 134 in both the circulating and reference collections at the Jones Music Library. To determine if either library has a guide on a specific composer, search the OPAL Catalog by the composer as a subject (last name, first name) and consult the sub-heading, bibliography.

Baker's biographical dictionary of musicians by ed. Nicholas Slonimsky
Call Number: Jones Ref. ML105 .B16 2001
The Harvard biographical dictionary of music by Don Michael Randel
Call Number: Jones ML105 .H38 1996

Music Analysis

1. There are two major texts for locating analyses of works. They include titles of articles and books that discuss and analyze composer's works.

Music Analyses: an Annotated Guide to the Literature - Diamond, Harold
Call Number: Jones Ref. ML128.A7 D5 1991
Analyses of nineteenth- and twentieth-century music, 1940-2000 - Hoek, D. J.
Call Number: Jones Ref. ML113 .H695 2007

2. If the work you are studying is not included in Diamond or Hoek, search the library catalog for books that may include analysis of your piece.

Some examples of subject headings in the library catalog that might help you find analysis:

Berg, Alban, 1885-1935--Criticism and interpretation.
Harmonic analysis.
Operas --Analysis, appreciation.
Symphonies--Analysis, appreciation.

3. You can also search in journal databases like RILM and Music Index to find individual articles and dissertations about the piece.

4. Finally, you can also try UT Knoxville's online Analysis Index http://www.lib.utk.edu/music/analysis/index.html, but beware that you'll need to search our catalog to see whether we have the sources they cite.

Guides to Reference Materials and Research

Music reference and research materials : an annotated bibliography by Duckles, Vincent H.
Call Number: Ref. ML 113 .D83 1997

If you feel like you need more guidance in conducting music research and learning about the various tools available, these books can help.

Music Research: A Handbook by Sampsel, Laurie
Call Number: Jones ML113 .S28 2009
Not only a guide to reference sources, but an excellent guide to conducting music research.
Introduction to research in music by Wingell, Richard J. and Silvia Herzog
Call Number: Jones MT1 .W825 2001
Sourcebook for research in music by Crabtree, Phillip.
Call Number: Jones ML113 .C68 2005

Bibliographies

Bibliographies and guides to research about particular instruments or genres are generally located in the ML128s.

Repertoire guides for particular instruments are also located in the ML128s.

Examples include:

Chamber music : a research and information guide. Jones ML128.C4 B37 2002.
Choral music : a research and information guide. Bach Inst. ML128 .C48S53. (Bach Institute Library)
Opera : a research and information guide. Jones ML128.O4 M28 2001.

Histories

The Oxford history of western music by Taruskin, Richard.
Call Number: ML160 .T18 2005
Don't let the names of these two sets confuse you, they are different, and the "New" title is older than the other.
New Oxford history of music.
Call Number: ML160 .N44, 10 vols
v. 1. Ancient and oriental music -- v. 2. Early medieval music up to 1300 -- v. 3. Ars Nova and the Renaissance, 1300-1540 -- v. 4. The Age of Humanism, 1540-1630 -- v. 5. Opera and church music, 1630-1750 --v. 6. Concert music, 1630-1750 -- v. 7. The Age of Enlightenment, 1745-1790 -- v. 8. The Age of Beethoven, 1790-1830 -- v. 9. Romanicism, 1830-1890 --v. 10. The modern age, 1890-1960.

Music History