This is a brief overview of basic print, CD-ROM, and online music reference resources available at or through the University of Chicago Library. All books cited here are located in the third-floor reading room or stacks of Regenstein Library.

Bibliographies

A much more extensive resource, so much so that it is difficult to distinguish between essential and non-essential titles.

Music Encyclopedias

A new edition of the standard German music encyclopedia issued in two parts, one subject-oriented, the other biographical.

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 2nd edition. (U of C access only)

The standard English-language music encyclopedia is available online.

Subject-Oriented

Lexicon musicum Latinum medii aevi

The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music. 2nd edition. 6 vols. 1995. ML102.P66G84 1995 RR3

Biographies of composers, lyricists, and performers, as well as background information about performing groups and hit songs.

Directories

Organized geographically and by school, with cross-indexes by name and specialty. Latest edition.

Directory of professional artists' managers, performing organizations (orchestras, opera companies, etc.), concert halls, festivals, contests, recording companies, music critics, etc.

Profiles music programs that offer at least a master's degree in music.

Biographical Dictionaries and Necrology Indexes

A standard source for short articles about a great many musicians. In each edition, some older musicians are dropped to make room for new ones, so older editions contain useful information that the latest ones do not.

A quirky book, from which some well-known composers are inexplicably absent, but offering thorough works lists for composers that are included.

Typical Who's Who publication, most useful for dates and current addresses. Vol. 1 covers classical and light-classical musicians; vol. 2 is devoted to people in the popular music field. Latest edition.

La Trobe University Library Medieval Music Database

Bibliographies and discographies for individual composers.

Chronologies and Necrologies from Duke University

Gaylord Music Library Necrology from Washington University

Catalogues of Printed Music Collections

RELICS: Renaissance Liturgical Imprints: A Census

Worship books printed before 1601.

Guides to Manuscript Sources

Cantus: A Database for Gregorian Chant

Indexes of selected manuscripts and printed sources of the Divine Office.

Census-Catalogue of Manuscript Sources of Polyphonic Music, 1400-1550. 5 vols. 1982-88. ML135.A2I29 RR3

Physical descriptions of the manuscripts and citations of scholarly literature about them.

Cantusplanus-Archiv

Text and incipit indexes for selected chant sources, compiled by David Hiley.

Gregorian Chant Home Page

Chant-related links compiled by Peter Jeffrey.

Hill Monastic Manuscript Library

Partial indexes of an ongoing microfilming project of medieval manuscripts.

The Labyrinth: Resources for Medieval Studies

Excellent index of medieval links.

Monumenta Musicae Byzantinae

Index of a microfilm collection of Byzantine chant.

RISM (International Repertory of Musical Sources). Multiple subseries, catalogued separately. ML113.I6 RR3

International library holdings of manuscript and printed sources of music before 1800.

Presently covers RISM series A/II: Music Manuscripts after 1600 This is the comprehensive online version listing locations of music manuscripts worldwide.

Saggi musicali italiani

THEMA: Theory of the Middle Ages

Full texts of selected 13th-century Latin treatises on musica mensurabilis.

Thesaurus Musicarum Latinarum

Searchable full texts of Latin music theory treatises.

Indexes of Opera Librettos

Librettos indexed here are available on microfilm at Regenstein Library under the call number: microfm ML48.R114 1993.

Librettos indexed here are available on microfiche at Regenstein Library under the call number: microfc ML 30.

These librettos, comprising the Albert Schatz Collection, are available on microfilm from the Center for Research Libraries. Request specific titles through Interlibrary Loan, using the Schatz numbers given in this catalogue.

A comprehensive inventory of Italian opera librettos printed before 1800, indicating the locations of surviving copies.

Thematic Catalogues

Song Indexes

A searchable database of popular and classical music licensed for performance by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.

An alphabetical list of musicals, with credits and titles of songs. Songs are cross-indexed by title.

The BMI homepage includes a large popular song database, searchable by composer, title, or publisher.

Searchable indexes of more than 50,000 sheet music titles and 6,000 songbooks and hymnbooks at Middle Tennessee State University.

Complete texts and MIDI files for thousands of folk songs from the Mudcat Cafe.

Indexes published anthologies of traditional popular and folk songs by title, first line, first line of chorus, and composer.

Lied and Song Texts Page

Complete texts of songs by selected composers, indexed by composer, poet, first line, and title.

UTK Song Index

Indexes music from more than 1400 published song anthologies held by the music library at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Periodical Indexes

Indexes substantive discussions of individual works or a single composer's output in English-language books and articles. Organized by composer, then by work. Not comprehensive.

Comprehensive indexed and full-text coverage of a wide range of journals from 1996 forward; complete runs of selected titles are also indexed or available in full text.

Music Index. 1949- . ML113.M94

Indexes articles and reviews in a wide range of music journals. Coverage is best for English-language publications. The library holds this title only through 1996.

Music Index (U of C access only)

Indexes music periodical articles and reviews form 1979 to the present. Coverage of classical and popular music well-represented.

Abstracts of music books, dissertations, and articles in journals and collections of essays published since 1969. International in scope, but not comprehensive, especially for earlier years.

RIPM: Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals (1800-1950) (U of C access only)

Indexes articles about music and musical life from journals, newspapers and magazines from the 19th century.

Detailed list of holdings for a wide range of music titles in 10 area libraries. Unfortunately, it is no longer being maintained.

Indexes to Score Anthologies

An invaluable bibliography of the contents of individual volumes in complete-works editions, monumental series, and other anthologies. Organized by composer's name or series title, with a separate index of composers and works.

Designed to supercede the Heyer bibliography listed above. Lists a much wider range of publications than Heyer, but does not itemize the contents of many larger sets. That information will be included in a companion catalogue/index that has yet to be published. Extensive indexing and cross-referencing are incorporated into the main bibliography.

Indexes of Doctoral Dissertations

Online database of recent dissertations in musicology, theory, and ethnomusicology collected on an ad-hoc basis by Geoffrey Chew.

Online version of Dissertation Abstracts. Search for cites and abstracts of U.S. and Canadian dissertations in all fields since 1861; dissertations completed since 1997 may be downloaded in .PDF format. (Requires FREE Adobe Acrobat Reader)

A cumulative listing of music dissertations (including those in theory and ethnomusicology) completed or in-progress by the publication date. Comprehensive for U.S. and Canadian dissertations, but coverage is spotty for foreign ones. Updated (up to 1995) by annual supplements issued to members of the American Musicological Society.

Cumulates supplements to the 1984 edition. Listings are continued in Doctoral Dissertations in Musicology Online.

Indexes dissertations completed or reported in-progress since mid-1995.

Abstracts of recent music theory dissertations.

Directory of Music Publishers

List of music publishers with addresses of publishers and vendors who act as their sales representatives.

Scholarly Writing

Profiles of music journals, indicating the length and content of articles they are looking for, percentage of submissions accepted, time between acceptance and publication, etc.

A Manual of Style for writing scholarly music books and articles, dealing with special problems posed by music.

---