Music Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

New Harvard Dictionary of Music

• Edited by Don Michael Randel
• Cambridge, Mass
• Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
• 1986
• 942 pages

History

• First edition - 1944
• hailed as a landmark in American musicology
• considered ahead of its time
• first English reference tool to include international musical accomplishments
• Second edition - 1969
• edited by Willi Apel
• revised and enlarged from first edition
• 88 specialists contributed
• 935 pages
• ranked as one of the finest one-volume dictionaries of musical terms in English
• received poor reviews for omitting progress made in America over the preceding 25 years
• New Harvard Dictionary - 1986
• completely revised dictionary
• almost completely rewritten
• includes only a few articles based on the first two editions
• 70 scholars contributed nearly 6000 commissioned entries
• both short entries for quick reference and encyclopedia-length articles written by experts in each field
• begins with a list of abbreviations and contributors
• emphasis on historical approach and Western art music
• non-Western and popular music also covered
• bibliographies that follow each article suggest further reading
• enhanced by more than 220 drawings and 250 examples

MGG: Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart

• edited by Friedrich Blume, 1949-86
• a comprehensive music reference work of the highest quality
• consists of 14 volumes with two additions
• "Ergänzungs Bänden",  1973-79 (supplements and corrects information in the first 14 volumes)
• "A Register Band"
• edited by Heckman/Heckman
• published in 1986
• extensive and valuable index
• in German, but international in scope and coverage
• articles from specialists throughout the world
• gives complete listings of some composers' works
• detailed monographs, embodying the latest research
• many illustrations
• a new edition is in progress

Grove's Dictionaries

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians

• edited by Stanley Sadie, London:  Macmillan
• 20 volumes
• around 20,000 articles
• first edition published in 1879-89
• present edition is the standard comprehensive music encyclopedia in English
• contains entries on:
• music history
• theory and practice
• instruments
• terms
• longer biographical entries include lists of works and extensive bibliography
• shorter entries summarize works lists and bibliography
• all entries are signed -- favoring the work of music scholars (over amateurs and performers)
• succeeds MGG as the major reference work supporting and informing musical scholarship
• marred by the lack of a general index
• the whole work has been reprinted with very few alterations

The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments

• edited by Stanley Sadie, London: Macmillan, 1984
• 3 volumes
• articles on
• Western and non-Western instruments
• historical and modern instruments
• their makes
• performances practices
• many article derived and rewritten from New Grove
• extensive coverage of folk and ethnic instruments by regional scholars and experts
• extensive cross-references
• no index by culture or region
• extensive illustrations and bibliographies
• based on modern scholarship and is unique in its genre

The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz

• edited by Barry Kernfeld, London: Macmillan, 1988
• 2 volumes
• first truly scholarly dictionary on jazz
• includes comprehensive treatment of terminology and theory
• articles on:
• instruments
• record labels
• festivals
• venues
• films
• institutions
• individual performers
• ensembles
• individuals who are not performers
• styles of jazz
• extensive bibliography
• much of the material is published for the first time
• focuses on jazz and not the related popular or commercial music
• from the beginnings of jazz through the 1980s
• article are signed by contributors
• well illustrated

The New Grove Dictionary of American Music

• edited by W. Wiley Hitchcock and Stanley Sadie, London: Macmillan, 1986
• 4 volumes
• consists of reworked article from the New Grove's and newly commissioned articles to reflect "the essence of American music"
• includes many lesser-known persons
• detailed coverage of popular styles, genres, and groups
• discussion of uniquely American instruments
• historical sketches of music publishers
• many illustrations
• articles signed
• principal reference work on American music

Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians

• 7th edition (8th available?)
• revised by Nicolas Slonimsky, NY: Schirmer Books, 1984
• first published in 1900
• subsequent editions in:
• 1905
• 1919
• 1940
• 1958 (reprinted in 1965)
• 1971
• supplement in 1978
• by far the most authoritative and extensive biographical dictionary in English
• a standard work from the beginning
• focuses on musicians and musical figures in the world of "art music"
• through the 3rd edition, early figures treated briefly with reference to Grove's and Eitner
• 4th edition - biographies were rewritten as independent articles
• 5th edition - greatly enlarged and carefully checked for accuracy
• 6th and 7th editions were extensively revised

Corpus mensurabilis musicae

• A. Carapetyan, editor in chief; 1947
• published by American Institute of Musicology
• described as a large, postwar collection which represents the explosion of musicology
• primarily collected works of 15th and 16th-century composers
• a series in progress with over 90 Medieval and Renaissance composers