Research Guides: Music Theory: Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

The following music dictionaries and encyclopedias provide entries on music theory history, methods, and pedagogy, as well as biographical entries about music theorists and educators. Entries may include images, musical examples, and bibliographies of scholarly sources for further reading.

Oxford Music Online
Online access to Grove Music Online (containing The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, and the Grove American, Jazz, Opera, and Musical Instrument dictionaries), as well as the Oxford Dictionary of Music and Oxford Companion to Music.

Select “Music Theory and Analysis” subheading under the “Topic” button on the homepage to view relevant articles and entries.
Oxford Companion to Music (online)
This classic reference work includes articles that range from clear, concise definitions of musical ideas and terms to extended surveys of musical forms and styles, with specialist coverage of virtually every musical subject.

The Grove Dictionary of American Music by Charles Hiroshi Garrett (Editor-In-Chief)
Call Number: MUSIC REF ML101.U6 N48 2013 (8 volumes)
Publication Date: 2013
Newly revised and expanded into 8 volumes, this is the most comprehensive encyclopedia of American classical, folk, and popular music. Some of the new content is not yet available in Oxford Music Online.
The Norton-Grove Dictionary of Woman Composers by Julie Anne Sadie; Rhian Samuel
Call Number: MUSIC REF ML105 .N38 1995
Publication Date: 1995
This definitive source provides detailed biographies of more than 1,000 creators of Western classical music. In signed articles, the Dictionary chronicles the lives and works of women composers from all corners of the world.
A Bio-Bibliographical Dictionary of Twelve-Tone and Serial Composers by Effie B. Carlson
Call Number: MUSIC REF ML105 .C39
Publication Date: 1970
Dictionary of Music (Dictionnaire de musique: Paris 1703) by Sebastien de Brossard; Albion Gruber (Editor)
Call Number: ML108 .B6213 1982
Publication Date: 1982 [originally published 1703]
20th-century English translation of Sebastien de Brossard's music dictionary, originally published in French in 1703.
Musical Terminology: A Practical Compendium in Four Languages by David Boccagna
Call Number: MUSIC REF ML108 .B55 1999
Publication Date: 1999
Music Abbreviations: A Reverse Dictionary by Donald L. Hixon
Call Number: MUSIC REF ML100 .H45 2005
Publication Date: 2005

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