History Literature & Performance Practice
Anderson, Gillian B. Music for Silent Films, 1894-1929: A Guide. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1988.
A guide to aid in locating scores from silent films.
Barker, Andrew. Greek Musical Writings, 2 vols. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984-89.
Translated excerpts for classic Greek texts on music.
Barzun, Jacques. Pleasures of Music: A reader°s Choice of Great Writings about Music and Musicians from Cellini to Bernard Shaw. New York: The Viking Press, 1951.
Anthology of writings on music organized into categories. Includes a bibliography of sources used.
Blackburn, Bonnie, edward e. Lowinsky, and Clement A. Miller. A Correspondence of Renaissance Musicians. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991.
110 letters from and to renaissance musicians.
Berliner, Paul e. Thinking in Jazz: The Infinite Art of Improvisation. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994.
A detailed history of Jazz in the United States both past and present. Contains many quotes from well know musicians and numerous musical examples.
Brand, Juliane, Christopher Hailey, and Donald Harris eds. The Berg-Schoenberg Correspondence. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1987.
Selected letter exchanged between Alban Berg and Arnold Schoenberg from 1906 to 1926. The letters are presented in chronological order with an index.
Brown, Howard Mayer, and Stanley, Sadie. Performance Practice. 2 vols. New York: W.W. Norton, 1990.
Detailed coverage of performance practice topics. The two volumes divide music history into pre and post 1600. Contains bibliographies.
Burton, Humphrey. Leonard Bernstein. New York: Doubleday, 1994. New York: Anchor Books, 1995.
The definitive biography on Bernstein. Includes an index and bibliography.
Chailley, Jacques. 40,000 Years of Music Translated by Rollo Myers. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1964.
Presents music history from a sociological standpoint.
Copland, Aaron. Copland on Music. New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1960.
A collection of essays and writings by Copland about music over a span of 30 years.
Crocker, Richard. A History of Musical Style. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1966. Reprint, New York: Dover, 1986.
Presents music history with a focus on musical style.
Dahlhaus, Carl and Ruth Katz. Contemplating Music: Source Readings in the Aesthetics of Music. 4 vols. New York: Pendragon Press, 1986-1994.
A massive collection of essays on the aesthetics of music by ancient and modern authors.
Davey, Henry. History of english Music. London: J. Curwen & Sons Ltd., 1921. Reprint, New York: Da Capo Press, 1969.
The history of music in england from the 5th through the 19th century.
Donington, Robert. The Interpretation of early Music, 4th ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 1989.
An authoritative text on performance practice of baroque music. Includes a bibliography.
einstein, Alfred. A Short History of Music, 4th ed. Revised. New York: Knopf, 1947.
Authoritative concise history of music. Contains a short musical anthology.
Farmer, Henry George. A History of Music in Scotland. London: Hinrichsen edition Limited, 1947.
History of music in Scotland. Covers the 3rd to 19th centuries.
Geiringer, Karl, and Irene Geiringer. The Bach Family: Seven Generations of Creative Genius. New York: Oxford University Press, 1954. Reprint, New York: Da Capo Press, 1981.
A history of the Bach family as a whole. Begins with Hans Bach in the 16th century through the grandsons of J.S. Bach. Includes musical examples and photographs of autograph manuscripts.
Grout, Donald Jay, and Claude V. Palisca. A History of Western Music, 4th ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 1988.
Undergraduate music history text book. Contains musical examples, diagrams, glossary, and bibliography.
Guthie, Kenneth Sylvan. The Pythagorean Source book and Library: An Anthology of Ancient Writings which Relate to Pythagoras and Pythagorean Philosophy. edited by Davis R. Fideler. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Phanes Press, 1987.
An authoritative collection of materials written by Pythagoras and his followers.
Harrison, Frank L., Hood, Mantle, and Palisca, Claude. Musicology. englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1963.
Discussion of musicology as it relates to other academic disciplines and the nature of musical scholarship in America.
Haydon, Glen. Introduction To Musicology; A Survey Of The Fields, Systematic & Historical, Of Musical Knowledge & Research. New York: Prentice-Hall, 1941.
examines musicology from the standpoint of acoustics, psychology, aesthetics, theory and pedagogy. Includes bibliography.
Kite-Powell, Jeffery T. A Performer°s Guide to Renaissance Music. Toronto: Maxwell Macmillan International, 1994.
A collection of essays about renaissance performance on different various instruments.
Larson, Randall D. Musique Fantastique: A Survey of Film Music in the Fantastic Cinema. Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Press, 1985.
A history of film music. Includes discography.
Le Huray, Peter and James Day. Music and Aesthetics in the eighteenth and early Nineteenth Centuries. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981.
Nearly 100 chronologically arranged source readings on aesthetic issues of the 18th and 19th centuries. Contains a bibliography and suggestions for further reading.
Levi, erik. Music in the Third Reich. New York: St. Martin°s Press, 1994.
examines the function of music during the Nazi era. Includes bibliography and a detailed chronological chart.
Limbacher, James L. Film Music: From Violins to Video. Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Press, 1974.
An anthology of essays on film music. Also includes a discussion on approaches to film music and a discography.
Limbacher, James L. and H. Stephen Wright. Keeping Score:Film Music 1972-1979. Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Press, 1981.
Contains many lists dealing with film music including: winners of awards, film music titles and dates, bibliography of books, and discography.
MacClintock, Carol. Readings in the History of Music in Performance. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1979.
Readings on performance practice from late middle ages to mid-19th century. Does not have an index.
Prendergast, Roy M. Film Music: A Neglected Art, 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1992.
Discusses film music in the following categories: history, aesthetics, technique, and contemporary techniques and tools.
Rosenblum, Sandra P. Performance Practices in Classic Piano Music: Their Principles and Applications. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1988.
A detailed examination of performance practice in the classic period using the notation of composers and theoretical sources.
Rosen, Charles. Sonata Forms, 2d ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1988.
An in depth discussion of the origin and development of sonata form.
Walsh, Stephen. The Music of Stravinsky. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993.
A chronological study of Stravinsky°s music. Contains biographical information about the composer as well as many musical examples and discussions on style and technique.
Westrup, J.A. An Introduction to Musical History. London: Hutchinson's University Library, 1955.
Addresses the problems of music historiography in english.
Theory and Composition
Baker, David. Jazz Improvisation. Chicago: Maher, 1969.
examines improvisation in various styles of music from baroque to jazz.
Brindle, Reginald Smith. Musical Composition. New York: Oxford University, 1986.
An easy to read book on composition. Covers the basic elements of composition as well as modern techniques.
Burns, e. M., and D. Ward. "Intervals Scales and Tuning." In The Psychology of Music, edited by Diana Deutsch. New York: Academic Press, 1982.
A discussion about how consonance and dissonance is precieved.
Cope, David. New Directions in Music, 6th ed. Madison: WCB Brown & Benchmark Publishers, 1993.
A survey of avant-garde music since the 1940s. Discusses the forms, techniques, and philosophies of modern composers. Contains numerous photos and examples of scores.
Dallin, Leon. Techniques of Twentieth Century Composition: A Guide to the Materials of Modern Music, 3rd ed. Dubaque, Iowa: WM. C. Brown Company Publishers, 1974.
College text on compositional techniques. emphasis is placed on 20th century techniques. Includes many examples from music literature.
David Damschroder and David Russell Williams, Music Theory from Zarlino to Schenker: A Bibliography and Guide. Stuyvesant: Pendragon, 1990.
A bibliographical guide to theorist°s writings. Gives summaries of each theorist°s major contributions.
Diamond, Harold J. Music Analyses: An Annotated Guide to the Literature. New York: Schirmer, 1991
Bibliography of music analyses in published sources and theses, arranged by composer and work.
epstein, David. Beyond Orpheus: Studies in Musical Structure. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979.
examines the structure of musical works using Schoenberg°s Grundgestalt or "total shape" theory.
Helmholtz, Hermann. On the Sensations of Tone. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1954.
A detailed scientific discussion of physiological acoustics. Contains details of the physics involved in music and theories about the aesthetics of musical tones. Illustrated with many musical examples, diagrams, formulas, and drawings.
Kennan, Kent. Counterpoint: Based on eighteenth-Century Practice, 3rd ed. englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1987.
College textbook on writing counterpoint in the style of 18th century composers. emphasis is placed on writing counter point and a companion workbook is available.
LaRue, Jan. Guidelines for Style Analysis, 2nd ed. Warren, Mich.: Harmonie Park Press, 1992.
A guide to analyzing the style of a piece of music by describing it using the categories of sound, harmony, melody, rhythm, and growth.
Mann, Alfred. The Great Composer as Teacher and Student: Theory and Practice of Composition. New York: Dover Publications Inc., 1994.
A study of student compositions of great composers. Includes reproductions of original scores.
Mann, Alfred. The Study of Fugue. Ontario: General Publishing Company, Ltd., 1986.
An in depth look at the theory behind fugues in the Renaissance and Baroque eras. Includes a section with translations of classic texts on the subject.
Meyer, L. B. emotion and Meaning in Music. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1956.
A classic work in music psychology. Provides results of experimental investigations and musical examples to support the premise that "emotion or affect is aroused when a tendency to respond is arrested or inhibited."
Morgenstern, Sam. Composers on Music: An Anthology of Composers° Writings from Palestrina to Copland. New York: Pantheon, 1956.
essays and other writings by 88 composers in chronological order. Contains a list of sources.
Ostrander, Arthur e. and Dana Wilson. Contemporary Choral Arranging. englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1986.
A college textbook on arranging pre-existing melodies as choral compositions in a variety of styles.
Paddison, Max. Adorno's Aesthetics of Music. Reprint, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
An introduction to T. W. Adorno°s aesthetic and sociological theories on music.
Parncutt, R. Harmony: A Psychoacoustical Approach. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 1989.
Western tonal music examined in light of psychoacoustics and psychomusicology. Attempts to identify the effects of musical conditioning.
Piston, Walter. Harmony, 5th ed. Revised by Mark DeVoto. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1987.
A definitive textbook and reference book covering the first 4 semesters of college music theory.
Pratt, C. C. "Music as the Language of emotion." Lecture delivered in the Whittall Pavilion of the Library of Congress, December 21, 1950. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1952.
The result of a study of 227 college students that established a consensus as to the mood conveyed by four distict pieces of music. Challenges the idea that music is a language of emotions.
Rasch, R. A., and R. Plomp. "The Perception of Musical Tones." In The Psychology of Music, edited by Diana Deutsch. New York: Academic Press, 1982.
A study of the perceived degrees of dissonance between various intervals. Shows a difference between the perceptions of musicians and non-musicians.
Reese, Gustave. Fourscore Classics of Music Literature. New York: Liberal Arts Press, 1957.
An annotated bibliography of original sources of music theory from ancient through the 20th century.
Read, Gardner. MusicNotation: A Manual of Modern Practice, 2nd ed. New York: Taplinger Publishing Company, 1979.
The definitive text on proper music notation.
Roederer, J. G. Introduction to the Physics and Psychophysics of Music. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1973.
An introduction to the subject for non-scientists.
Rosen, Charles. The Frontiers of Meaning : Three Informal Lectures on Music. Gordonsvill, Virginia: Hill and Wang, 1994.
A collection of three lectures examining the meaning behind music and the theory of expectation.
Russo, William. Jazz Composition & Orchestration. Chicago: Chicago Press, 1968. Reprint, Chicago: Chicago Press, 1975.
A detailed and methodical textbook on composing in the jazz style. Contains many musical examples from Russo°s own works. A companion CD is available.
Schawartz, elliott and Barney Childs. Contemporary composers on contemporary Music. New York: Holt Rinehart & Winston, 1967.
The writings of 33 composers on contemporary music.
Terwoght, M. M., and F. van Grinsven. "Musical expression of Moodstates." Psych. Music 19 (1991): 99--109.
The result of an experiment on how selections of music can influence the listener°s mood.
Wagner, Richard. Actors and Singers. Translated by William Aston ellis. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska, 1995.
A collection of essays written by Wagner between 1870 and 1873 dealing with the philosophical aspects of his art.
Wenk, Arthur. Analyses of Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Music: 1940-1985. Boston: Music Library Association, 1987
Bibliography of technical writings on music. Minor composers are represented well.
Dictionaries and encyclopedias
Ammer, Christine. The A to Z of Foreign Musical Terms: From Adagio to Zierlich: A Dictionary for Performers and Students: The english equivalents of 3,000 Foreign expression Marks and Directions from French, German, Italioan Latin, Portuguese and Spanish Scores. Boston: e.C. Schirmer, 1989.
Definitions and pronunciations for terms taken form over 30,000 musical scores.
Anderson, e. Ruth. Contemporary American Composers: A Biographical Dictionary, 2nd ed. Boston, Massachusetts: G.K. Hall, 1980.
Current information about over 4,000 contemporary composers in America.
Apel, Willi. Harvard Dictionary of Music, 2nd ed. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1969.
A dictionary of musical topics. Contains bibliographies, but no biographical data.
Arnold, Denis. The New Oxford Companion to Music. 2 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983.
A comprehensive general reference encyclopedia of music. Does not include bibliographies.
Baker, Theodore. Baker°s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. Revised by Nicolas Slonimsky. 8th ed. New York: Schirmer Books, 1991.
The authoritative english dictionary of musicians of art music.
Bohle, Bruce. The International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1985.
A biographical reference book containing short entries for many composers.
Brockman, William S. Music: A Guide to the Reference Literature. Littleton: Libraries Unlimited, 1987.
Annotated list of 559 reference sources.
Butteworth, Neil. A Dictionary of American Composers. New York: Garland Publishing. 1984.
Contains information on nearly 500 composers of American art music.
Carlson, effie B. A Bio-Bibliographical Dictionary of Twelve-Tone and Serial Composers. Metuchen, N.J.:Scarecrow Press, 1970.
Information on 80 serial composers. Includes bibliography.
Cohen, Aaron I. International encyclopedia of Women Composers. 2nd ed., revised and enlarged. 2 vol. New York: Books & Music USA, 1987.
Brief biographies of nearly 4,000 women composers with lists of their compositions. Includes a bibliography and discography.
Craven, Robert R. Symphony Orchestras of the World: Selected Profiles. New York: Greenwood, 1987.
Brief profiles of 122 orchestras from countries other than the United States.
Hadley, Benjamin. Britannica Book of Music. New York: Doubleday, 1980.
General reference work on music and musicians. Contains a few short bibliographies and discographies.
Headington, Christopher. Illustrated Dictionary of Musical Terms. New York: Harper & Row, 1980.
A dictionary of musical terms supported by musical examples and illustrations. Only brief definitions are given and there is no bibliography.
Hitchcock, H. Wiley, and Stanley Sadie. The New Grove Dictionary of American Music. 4 vols. New York: Grove°s Dictionaries of Music, 1986.
The definitive dictionary of American music. Does not contain an index.
Kennedy, Michael, and Joyce Bourne. The Oxford Dictionary of Music, 2nd. ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
Dictionary of musical terms, instruments, compositions, and musicians.
Kernfeld, Barry. The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. London: Macmillan, 1988.
expands on articles from The new Grove dictionary of music and musicians and The new Grove dictionary of American music.
Lebrecht, Norman. The Companion to Twentieth-Century Music: An enlightening and entertaining Guide to the Music of Our CenturyÜfrom Puccini and Mahler to the Composers and Performers of Today. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992.
Contains biographical data on musicians in both popular and art music. Also lists compositions and festivals.
New Oxford History of Music. 10 vols. London: Oxford UP, 1954-1990.
Historical study of music by period from the ancient world to 1960.
Randel, Don Michael. Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1978.
A concise dictionary of music and musicians. Contains about 6,000 entries of which 2,000 are for composers.
Randel, Don Michael. The New Harvard Dictionary of Music. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1986.
The standard english dictionary for non-biographical musical information.
Roche, Jerome, and elizabeth Roche. A Dictionary of early Music: From the Troubadours to Monteverdi. New York: Oxford University Press, 1981.
Dictionary of composers and terms from the medieval to the early baroque periods.
Sadie, Stanley. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 20 vols. Washington, D.C.: Grove°s Dictionaries of Music, 1980.
The most comprehensive music encyclopedia in english and the standard for musical scholarship. Contains bibliographies.
Sadie, Stanley, ed. The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. London: Macmillan, 1992.
Developed from The New Grove Dictionary with much added material making it a comprehensive dictionaries on opera.
Sadie, Stanley, and Alison Latham. The Norton/Grove Concise Dictionary of Music. New York: W.W. Norton, 1988.
One volume work that is international in scope. Is not a condensed version of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Does not contain bibliographies.
Slonimsky, Nicolas. Music Since 1900. New York: Schirmer Books, 1994.
A chronology of important musical events of this century.
Strahle, Graham. An early Music Dictionary: Musical Terms from British Sources, 1500-1740. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
Definitions of terms taken from historical dictionaries and treatises on music. Includes bibliography of sources used.
Teaching & Pedagogy
Choksy, Lois. Kodaly Method, 2nd ed. englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1988.
Looks at the development of the Kodaly method in Hungary and looks at ways to adapt the method for schools in the United States. Contains lesson plans for preschool through 6th grade and over 180 songs for classroom use.
Coker, Jerry. Improvising Jazz. New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1964.
Suggestions and exercises for developing one°s ability to improvise on any instrument. The appendix contains a collection of over 80 progressions categorized by their harmonic characteristics.
Green, elizabeth A. H., The Modern Conductor, 5th ed. englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1992.
A college level text book based on the conducting principles of Nicolai Malko.
Lawn, Richard J. and Jeffrey L. Hellmer. Jazz Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Alfred Publishing Company, Inc., 1996.
Textbook on Jazz theory and improvisation.
electronic Resources
Beethoven Bibliography Database. Administered by William R. Meredith and Patricia elliott. San Jose State University. http://sjsu1.sjsu.edu:83/
A database containing fully-indexed bibliographies of published (and selected unpublished) materials relating to Ludwig van Beethoven. Contains over 10,000 entries.
CANTUS: Database of Chants for the Divine Service. Catholic University http://www.cua.edu/www/musu/cantus.
A database of chants. Promotes the exchange of data electronically.
The Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music. Administrated by Mary Callaghan. http://www.soton.ac.uk/~musicbox/charm1.html
A site dedicated to the study of music as sound.
Doctoral Dissertations in Musicology. Administered by Thomas J. Mathiesen and Nicholas Butler. Indiana University. http://www.music.indiana.edu/ddm/
A searchable database. Should eventually contain all the entries from the printed version.
International Alliance for Women in Music. http://www.music.acu.edu/www/iawm/home.html.
Information on women involved with music.
Libretto Home Page. Maintained by Lyle Neff. http://copper.ucs.indiana.edu/~lneff/libretti.html.
Text of public domain libretti in their original languages.
Lieder and Songs: Texts. Maintained by emily ezust. http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/
Public-domain texts.
Music and Brain Information Database. telnet:// mila.ps.uci.edu LOGON:mbi PASSWORD:nammbi.
An attempt to create a comprehensive database of scientific information the relation of music to the brain.
RILM Abstracts. Dublin, Ohio: OCLO FirstSearch, 1996-present.
electronic version of Repertoire International de Litterature Musicale consisting of about 200,000 items. Covers all aspects of music.
RISM WWW Home Page. Harvard University. http://rism.harvard.edu/rism/
An attempt to identify and describe the sources of music through 1825.
Thesaurus Musicarum Italicarum. Dr. Frans Wiering, director. Utrecht University. http://candl.let.ruu.nl/Research/tmi/main.html
A database of 16th and 17th century music treatises in Italian.
Thesaurus Musicarum Latinarum: TML: Canon of Data Files: Including General Information on the Thesaurus Musicarum Latinarum, the TML Introduction, The Principles of Orhography, and the Table of Codes. 6th ed. Bloomington, Indiana: Thesaurus Musicarum Latinarum, School of Music, Indiana University, 1995. Thomas J. Mathiesen, director. gopher://iubvm.ucs.indiana.edu/qq/tml/
A project that will eventually contain all of the music theory written in the middle ages and early renaissance.