Music 306: History of Music From 1750-1900
Research Guide
Pat Ballard
Catalog Librarian
Winthrop University
June, 2008
Books: Locating Information in the Dacus Online Catalog
DOC can be searched for information on the library's holdings in a number of different ways. Searching by author or title will result in the location of a specific book. A search by subject will locate books on general or specific topics.
Books dealing with music history can be found under some of the headings listed below. Use DOC's cross-referencing capability and/or consult the Library of Congress List of Subject Headings, located at the Reference Desk, for additional topics.
Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
Latham, Alison, ed. The Oxford Companion to Music. (Ref. ML100.O94 2002) Comprehensive single-volume reference to the Western musical tradition. Hundreds of entries explore all aspects of music theory, genres, performance practice, composers, artists, instruments, works, notation, and more. According to the preface, this is a "New edition of two quite different earlier companions ... Oxford Companion to Music ... The New Oxford Companion to Music."
Gammond, Peter. The Harmony Illustrated Encyclopedia of Classical Music: An Essential Guide to the World's Finest Music. 2nd ed. (Ref. ML160.G227 1989) Has chapters on the orchestra, the opera, the composer, chamber music, musical instruments, and choral and vocal music.
Gilder, Eric. The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music: A Listener's Companion. New, rev. ed. (Ref. ML113.G4 1986)
Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart: allgemeine Enzyklopädie der Musik. 16 vols. (Ref. ML100.M92) The classic, basic German language reference source for music.
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 2nd ed. 29 vols. (Ref. ML100.N48 2001) (Also Music Library Ref.) The classic, basic English language reference source for music.
Histories and Chronologies
Eisler, Paul E. World Chronology of Music History. 6 vols. so far. (Ref. ML161.E4) Detailed chronology of music history worldwide, including forms, styles, development of different theories, individual composers, and highlights of what happened in other arts. Time periods are covered in sequence; from about the middle of the 16th century on, so much information is available that coverage year-by-year is required. Currently covers 4,000 B.C. - 1796.
Raeburn, Michael and Alan Kendall, eds. Heritage of Music. 4 vols. (Ref. ML160.H527 1989) Illustrated essays on music history and analysis. Each volume covers a different time period, and each one also contains a short biographical dictionary of composers, but no bibliographies. Good for background information. Use volume 2, The Romantic Era and volume 3, The Nineteenth-Century Legacy.
Kendall, Alan. The Chronicle of Classical Music: An Intimate Diary of the Lives and Music of the Great Composers. (Ref. ML390.K35 1994) Basically a timeline, covering 1600 to the present, showing musicians' lives against the backdrop of contemporary world events. Profusely illustrated, with a biographical index of composers.
Taruskin, Richard. The Oxford History of Western Music. 6 vols. (Ref. ML160.T18 2005) Not a survey, but more of a true history. Attempts to find connections between music and culture, and to explain music as part of a larger whole of life and history. Use volume 3, The Nineteenth Century. Volume 6 covers resources and includes a Chronology : music, other arts and philosophy, history : 1200 B.C.E.-2003.
Bibliographies
Baron, John H. Chamber Music: A Research and Information Guide. 2nd rev. ed. (Ref. ML128.C4.B37 2002) Annotated guide to where to find answers about chamber music. Covers basic references, the history of chamber music, analytic studies, performance practice of chamber music, and performers of chamber music.
Duckles, Vincent H. Music Reference and Research Materials: an Annotated Bibliography. 5th ed. (Ref. ML113.D83 1997) The classic bibliography of reference materials in music.
Mixter, Keith E. General Bibliography for Music Research. 3rd ed. (Ref. ML113.M59 1996)
Parker, Mara. String Quartets: A Research and Information Guide. (Ref. ML128.S68.P37 2005) Annotated bibliography of information resources on the string quartet.
Rangel-Ribeiro, Victor. Chamber Music: an International Guide to Works and Their Instrumentation. (Ref. ML128.C4.R3 1993) Handy reference work to the published chamber music repertoire (about 8,000 compositions) as developed over the past 450 years. Limited to works for 3 or more instruments, up to 20, or for ensembles of diverse instruments, except for some compositions in the Renaissance and Baroque periods.
Resources on Specific Composers, Specific Pieces, or Genres of Music
Berger, Melvin. Guide to Chamber Music. 3rd corrected ed. (Ref. ML1100.B45 2001) Discussion of 231 of the best-known and most frequently performed pieces of chamber music by 55 composers. Arranged alphabetically by composer.
Cambridge Music Handbooks. Search this series title in DOC to find books on specific pieces of music.
Garland Composer Resource Manuals. Search this series title in DOC to find books on specific composers.
Routledge Studies in Musical Genres. Search this series title in DOC to find books on specific genres of music.
Steen, Michael. The Lives and Times of the Great Composers. (ML390.S8 2004) Biographies of some of the great classical composers. Emphasizes the context in which they lived, and what was happening in the world around them during their lives.
Electronic Resources
Databases available through Dacus Library Online (DLO)
Academic Search Premier. A multidisciplinary database which provides full text articles from nearly 4,700 publications, including more than 3,600 scholarly journals. Coverage begins in 1975, and includes some music journals. Updated daily.
Biography and Genealogy Master Index. Comprehensive index to biographical information.
Biography Resource Center + The Complete Marquis Who's Who. Combines biographies from various sources on more than 1 million people from throughout history, across all disciplines and subject areas. BRC also includes full-text articles from hundreds of periodicals, and links to Web sites. Good for basic information.
FirstSearch. A selection of 24 databases covering a wide range of information sources. Those useful for music include: AHSearch (Arts and Humanities Citation Index), ArticleFirst, Dissertations , and WorldCat.
Grove Music Online An integrated music resource,includes the full text of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed.), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera and The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (2nd ed.). Regularly updated.
InfoTrac PowerSearch. Group of databases which provide abstracts and full-text articles and images in magazines, journals, national newspapers, reference books, many trade and local area business publications. Approximately 46% of the articles cited are available in full-text. The citations, abstracts, and full-text articles can all be printed from DOC, downloaded to a portable drive or floppy disk for printing from your own computer, or emailed to you. Use Expanded Academic ASAP, General OneFile, or General Reference Center.
JSTOR. Provides digitized full-text versions of full runs (back to volume 1, number 1) of scholarly journals in various disciplines. Dacus Library currently subscribes to the Arts & Sciences I, II, III, and IV Collections, with access to full-text articles in 35 music journals. Links to articles in JSTOR are provided from other databases through WebBridge, and JSTOR can also be searched directly.
RILM (Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale) Abstracts. An international bibliography of scholarly writings on music and music-related disciplines. Broad coverage includes works from articles, books, dissertations, film and video to concert reviews and recording notes - provided the items are of scholarly interest. Dating from 1967 to the present, offers indexing of sources published in more than 100 languages. Includes citations and abstracts, but very few full-text articles. Updated monthly.
Music-Related Web Sites
Library of Congress. Digital Collections. The Library of Congress Presents: Music, Theater, & Dance. (Available at http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/ihas/ ) Digitized collections at the Library of Congress covering the performing arts.
Worldwide Internet Music Resources. (Available through Dacus Library Online , and at the following address: http://www.music.indiana.edu/music_resources) One of the finest, most well-organized collections of music sites available, from the largest music school in the world.
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