Research Guides: MUS 502: Research in Music Education: Biographical Dictionaries

Biographical Dictionaries

Biographical dicationaries can be used to provide basic facts on the life of the musician, and may provide evaluations of the works of the composer or performer.

Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians
Call Number: ML105 .B16 2000

Publication Date: 2000

Biographical sketches with compositions and bibliographies on composers in early music, renaissance, baroque, classical, romantic, modern, early jazz, bebop, swing, country, pop, rock, avant-garde, revivalist, and r&b/rap.

Oxford Music Online
Grove Music Online. Definitive guide to music, including genres, composers, musicians, technique, history, and more

Online access to The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2001), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera (1992), The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (2002), The Grove Dictionary of American Music (2013), The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments (2014), The Oxford Dictionary of Music (2006), The Oxford Companion to Music (2011), and the Encyclopedia of Popular Music (2009). Includes updates to articles that are not available in the printed versions.
Biography Reference Bank
Biographical information on approximately half a million people, from antiquity to the present

Provides biographical information on approximately half a million people, from antiquity to the present, along with thousands of images. BRB offers substantive narrative profiles, each about 2,000 words long, from H.W. Wilson publications and other respected publishers.
The biographies are searchable by name, profession, title, place of origin, gender, race/ethnicity, titles of works, date of birth, date of death, keyword, and presence of images. Daily updates provide up-to-the-minute coverage of newsmakers.

Full-text articles, abstracts, and images gleaned from thousands of magazines and journals cover new names and expand on existing profiles. Book review excerpts and full text reviews help users find and select print biographies.

Musicians and Composers of the 20th Century by Alfred William Cramer
Publication Date: 2009

Introductions to 20th-century musicians and composers in all genres. Artists are included from all countries, though the vast majority are from the U.S. and the U.K. Blues, jazz, pop, and rock are particularly well-represented. Each entry offers a list of the artist's principal works, a short biography, and a bibliography.
Dictionary of American Classical Composers by Neil Butterworth
Call Number: Reference ML106.U3 B87 2005

Publication Date: 2004

"This reference for students and music aficionados covers over 650 American classical composers from the eighteenth century to the present. Each entry contains basic biographical information and a critical analysis of the composer's key works and ideas along with worklists and bibliographic information." (from publisher's summary)

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