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Music

Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

Encyclopedias and dictionaries provide general information about a subject that can get you started with your research. Encyclopedia articles, like those in Oxford Music Online, often include bibliographies that can point you toward useful resources. In addition to the online encyclopedias and dictionaries listed below, you can browse the REF ML100-109 section of the fourth-floor stacks for many more that we have in print!

Encyclopedias

Dictionaries

The music-specific resources listed below are all included in Credo Reference.

This guide brings together all the pertinent biographical information about composers, performers, music theorists, and instrument makers from the days of praise chants to the bop and pop of today.

Includes entries on all the styles and forms in Western music; comprehensive articles on the music of Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Near East; descriptions of instruments enriched by historical background; and articles that reflect today's beat, including popular music, jazz, and rock.

Contains biographies of thousands of composers from Albinoni to Zappa, with in-depth treatment of major figures, coverage of individual works, including plot summaries of operas and ballets, articles on the history of music and instruments, entries on musical forms, from medieval plainchant to contemporary minimalism, and clear definitions of technical terms and jargon.

Fully cross referenced, this dictionary is an authoritative source for researchers, musicologists, professional musicians, teachers and students of music, and educated members of the public.