The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
Name	The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
Language	English
Subject	Music
Media type	Print, online

Contents

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians is a comprehensive English-language reference work covering Western and non-Western music biographies, genres, instruments, and institutions. First appearing as a successor to earlier encyclopedic projects associated with George Grove and published in multiple editions, it became a standard resource for scholars researching figures such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Igor Stravinsky, and Claude Debussy as well as for entries on ensembles like the Berlin Philharmonic, venues such as Carnegie Hall, and events like the Bayreuth Festival. Its scope spans articles on composers, performers, theorists, collectors, and organizational histories including Vienna Philharmonic, Royal Opera House, Metropolitan Opera, and cultural institutions across London, Paris, Vienna, and New York City.

History and editions

The dictionary traces lineage to nineteenth-century projects initiated by George Grove and later republications connected to the Macmillan Publishers tradition and successors. Major modern editions appeared in the late twentieth century under editors who coordinated contributors from universities such as Oxford University, Harvard University, Yale University, University of Cambridge, and King's College London. Subsequent print editions were produced alongside reference works from publishers like Macmillan Publishers and later corporate entities tied to Oxford University Press, reflecting editorial responses to scholarship on figures including Frédéric Chopin, Gustav Mahler, Antonín Dvořák, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Benjamin Britten. Special supplements and corrigenda addressed recent research on artists such as Nadia Boulanger, Samuel Barber, Arvo Pärt, and Philip Glass.

Coverage ranges from biographies of historical figures—Heinrich Schütz, George Frideric Handel, Antonio Vivaldi, Giuseppe Verdi, Richard Wagner, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Maurice Ravel, Dmitri Shostakovich, Arnold Schoenberg, Béla Bartók, Carl Maria von Weber—to articles on performers like Pablo Casals, Itzhak Perlman, Maria Callas, Leontyne Price, Martha Graham and conductors such as Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Simon Rattle, Gustav Mahler. Instrumental and genre entries include coverage of the piano, violin, organ, harpsichord, forms like the symphony, opera, lied, chamber music, and regional traditions encompassing Indian classical music, Javanese gamelan, West African drumming, and Andalusian classical music. Articles document institutions—Sydney Opera House, La Scala, Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden—and significant works such as The Ring Cycle, Messiah (Handel), Das wohltemperierte Klavier, The Rite of Spring, Don Giovanni, alongside entries on awards and events like the Grammy Awards, Prix de Rome, and the BBC Proms.

Editorial policy emphasized scholarly authority, peer-reviewed entries, and detailed bibliographies contributed by specialists from conservatories and universities including Juilliard School, Royal Academy of Music, Conservatoire de Paris, Curtis Institute of Music, and research centers like the Royal College of Music. Contributors ranged from musicologists who published on Heinrich Schenker, Carl Dahlhaus, Egon Wellesz, and Susan McClary to performers and critics associated with outlets such as The New York Times, The Guardian, and Gramophone (magazine). The project coordinated authorial expertise on historical figures including Josquin des Prez, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Claudio Monteverdi, Hector Berlioz, Gioachino Rossini, Camille Saint-Saëns, Edvard Grieg, Jean Sibelius, and on scholars like Nicolò Machiavelli-era investigators of patronage and archives in institutions like the British Library and Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Initially issued in multi-volume print form, later editions expanded pagination, typographical apparatus, and indexes for cross-referencing among entries on figures such as Felix Mendelssohn, Charles Ives, Giacomo Puccini, Alexander Scriabin, and Erik Satie. The work was sold in bound volumes and as looseleaf supplements to libraries and institutions including Library of Congress, New York Public Library, British Library, and academic libraries at University of California, Berkeley and University of Oxford. Print editions were accompanied by alphabetical and thematic indexes and were marketed to conservatories, university departments, orchestras like the New York Philharmonic, and radio institutions such as BBC Radio 3.

Scholars and performers lauded the dictionary for authoritative entries on composers and performers including Henry Purcell, John Dowland, Franz Schubert, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, and Modest Mussorgsky, while critics debated scope, representation, and balance regarding underrepresented traditions and figures such as Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn, William Grant Still, Ruth Crawford Seeger, and non-Western practitioners like Ali Akbar Khan. Its articles influenced program notes for ensembles such as Chicago Symphony Orchestra and curricula at institutions including Berklee College of Music and museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Reviews in journals and newspapers such as The Times (London), The New York Times, and specialized periodicals affected library acquisition policies and citation practices across musicology, ethnomusicology, and performance studies.

Later availability in digital form brought searchable entries, multimedia supplements, and licensing arrangements with academic consortia, university presses, and online platforms hosting content for subscribers from institutions like ProQuest, JSTOR, EBSCO, and university libraries at Columbia University and University of Chicago. Digital editions enabled cross-linking between entries on figures such as Giacomo Carissimi, Luca Marenzio, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Toru Takemitsu, and allowed integration with catalogs of institutions like Smithsonian Institution and discographies from labels including Deutsche Grammophon, Sony Classical, EMI Records, and Naxos Records. Licensing models ranged from single-site subscriptions for conservatories and orchestras to consortium-wide access for research universities.

Category:Music reference works