The following music dictionaries and encyclopedias provide entries on the history, terminology, and biographies of significant women in music. Entries may include images, musical examples, and bibliographies of scholarly sources for further reading.
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by 
The Norton-Grove Dictionary of Woman Composers by
The few in earlier times who gained some renown were as often as not the sisters, daughters, wives, or muses of well-known men--the surnames of Fanny Mendelssohn and Clara Schumann speak for themselves. Even with the present-day increase in their number, women composers have largely failed to draw the attention of the public.In recognition of these nearly invisible yet greatly talented musicians, Julie Anne Sadie and Rhian Samuel have brought together an international corps of experts to produce The Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers. 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. Here you can read about the Medieval mystic Hildgard von Bingen, the Renaissance madrigalist Maddalena Casulana, the flamboyant seventeenth-century vocal composer Barbara Strozzi, the prolific New Englander Amy Beach, and the Pulitzer Prize winner Ellen Taaffe Zwilich.
The Work of Women Composers from 1150 to 1995 by 
Women and Music in America since 1900 by
The 20th century heard a rich sound coming from America: women making music. Other works may be strictly biographical or cover only one type of musician. This two volume, A-to-Z encyclopedia represents the first major effort to describe the role of women in all forms of music in the U.S. since 1900. Entries cover such material as, important individuals, biographical overviews, gender issues, education, music genres, honors and awards, organizations, and professions. The significance of an individual's contribution, rather than their popularity, determined who was featured in this collection. Included individuals must also have been born in, been a resident of, or made most of her contributions in the U.S. Each entry concludes with a short list of further readings. Photos accompany nearly 100 entries. A preface, an introductory historical overview, a chronology, a guide to related topics, a list of contributors, a general bibliography, and an index help to present the full spectrum of American women who changed the face of music in the 1900s.
American Women Songwriters by
Although American women have written many of our most memorable popular songs, their contributions have received little recognition. The first biographical dictionary devoted to American women songwriters, this work profiles 181 well-known and little-known women who have written popular and motion picture songs, musicals, country, blues, jazz, folk, gospel, and hymns. Many African-American and contemporary songwriter/performers such as Madonna, Janet Jackson, and Mariah Carey are included. This volume provides hard-to-find biographical and career information across the broad spectrum of indigenous American popular song. A history of women's contribution to the creation of American popular song emerges through these profiles. Grattan takes pains to profile the famous, the unsung, and those who persevered through sheer tenacity and against all odds. The dictionary is divided into ten music categories and profiles are alphabetically arranged within each category. An introduction to each chapter gives an historical overview of women's contributions to that form of music. Each profile consists of an up-to-date biographical essay on private life, career as both songwriter and, in many cases, performer, most famous songs, and sources of further information. Entries are cross-referenced. Lyrics from a number of the best-known songs by women songwriters are included. A bibliography and song index will aid the researcher.
Women Icons of Popular Music by
Popular music owes greatly to the spirit of rebellion. In all of its diversified, experimental, modern-day micro-genres, music's roots were first watered by good old-fashioned social dissension- its incendiary heights pushed heavenward by radicals and rogue revolutionaries. And perhaps none are more influential and non-conformist than women. Always first in line to give convention a sound thrashing, women in music have penned sonic masterpieces, championed sweeping social movements, and breathed life into sounds yet unimagined. Today's guitar-wielding heroines continue to blaze the trail, tapping reservoirs and soundscapes still unknown to their male counterparts- hell hath no fury like a woman with an amplifier.
Women Composers and Songwriters: A Concise Biographical Dictionary by
Updates and expands Claghorn's previous book, Women Composers and Hymnists (Scarecrow, 1984), presenting succinct biographies for female composers in both secular and sacred music.
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