Music Reference Books

For more information and for help with music research, contact

Nancy Hill
Head, Acquisitions & Cataloging
Music Subject Specialist
UTEP Library
747-6722
nhill@utep.edu

Who needs reference books any more? Everything's online - right?  Wrong!

Some things are still most easily found in reference books. Books provide basic information such as

• definitions of words or musical concepts

• biographical information on musicians

• information about particular compositions

• information about instruments

• histories of musical styles and movements

• bibliographies and discographies

• lists of musical works

There are hundreds of reference books in the ML section of the Library's reference collection. They include dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks, biographical works, bibliographies, discographies, and historical works. This is list is only a sample to show you the types of reference books available.

General Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians                        ML100.N48 2001
            Definitive, illustrated articles on everything - with good bibliographies.

Random House Encyclopedic Dictionary of Classical Music      ML100.R29 1997
            Includes some useful indexes, such as an index by country and century.

New Oxford Companion to Music                                             ML100.S37 1983

New Grove Dictionary of American Music                                 ML101.U6 N48 1986

The A to Z of Foreign Musical Terms                                         ML108.A518 1989
            Especially good for French, German, and Italian terms.

An Early Music Dictionary                                                         ML108.S88 1995

Music Titles in Translation                                                          ML111.H7
               Handy reference if you need to know the original title of a translated work or the English translation of a non-English work.

Historical Surveys and Encyclopedias

Heritage of Music                                                                        ML160.H527 1989

New Oxford History of Music                                                      ML160.N44
                A multivolume work with a volume on every era. Extensive bibliographies.

Biographical Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians                                ML105.B16 2001

International Encyclopedia of Women Composers                        ML105.C7

Latin American Classical Composers                                            ML105.F53 2002

Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians  ML105.S67 1982

International Dictionary of Black Composers                                 ML390.I58 1999

Instruments

New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments                              ML102.I5 N48 1984

Oxford Companion to Musical Instruments                                   ML102.I5 B34 1992

Opera

Baker's Dictionary of Opera                                                         ML102.O6 B26 2000

New Grove Dictionary of Opera                                                   ML102.O6 N5 1992

Encyclopedia of Opera on Screen                                                 ML102.O6 W5 2004

A Dictionary of Opera and Song Themes                                      ML128.V7 B3 1976   

Jazz and Popular Music

Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz                                                 ML102.J3 F4 1999

Greenwood Encyclopedia of Rock History                                    ML3534.G754 2006

New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. 2nd ed.                                         ML102.J3 N48 2002

Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music                                       ML102.P66 G84 1995

Who Wrote That Song?                                                                ML120.U5 J23 1988

Popular Music                                                                               ML120.U5 S5

Sing Us One of the Old Songs                                                       ML128.P63 K55 1998
           "A guide to popular song, 1860-1920"

Musical Theater

Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre                                              ML102.M88 G3 1994

A Chronology of the American Musical Theater                              ML1711.8.N3 N67 2002

Musical Themes

A Dictionary of Opera and Song Themes                                       ML128.V7 B3 1976
Arranged by composer, this book gives the first few measures of music for each important song and each theme in major works.  

For information about online resources for music visit: http://utminers.utep.edu/nhill/music_online.htm

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