Find Music Encyclopedias and Reference Tools
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African American Music ReferenceFind articles on the blues, jazz, spirituals, civil rights songs, slave songs, minstrelsy, rhythm and blues, gospel, and other forms of black American musical expression from encyclopedias, biographies, chronologies, sheet music, images, lyrics, liner notes, and discographies.
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Bach Bibliography: For the Global Community of Bach ScholarsAnnotation from Laurie J. Samsel's Music Research: A Handbook (New York: Oxford University Press, 2020), 159: "A free, online bibliography currently including over 35,000 records. Complied by Tomita and a group of around 80 contributors, including some major Bach scholars. The entries are not annotated, but review citations are included. When an online review is available (most are written by Tomita), a link is provided. The Complex Search is recommended over the Simple Search." Visit this online scholarship hub to start your search for Bach-related sources.
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Beethoven GatewayThe Beethoven Gateway is system of online databases developed by the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies designed to help in the discovery of resources on the composer Ludwig van Beethoven. It currently includes the following components: Images: Beethoven Digital Collections; Beethoven Center catalog; Beethoven Bibliography Database; Beethoven Thesaurus; Beethoven Auction Database
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Bloomsbury Popular MusicBloomsbury Popular Music provides an in-depth analysis of popular music in a global context. It includes the entirety of the Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World and the 33 1/3 series of books exploring key albums.
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Chicago Manual of Style OnlineThis resource provides online access to the latest edition of The Chicago Manual of Style, which covers a variety of topics from manuscript preparation and publication to grammar, usage, and citation formating. The citation quick guide covers both the author-date and the notes and bibliography systems.
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Classical Music Reference LibraryClassical Music Reference Library searchers over 30,000 pages of information spanning the history of Western classical music.
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Diction PoliceIncludes text readings of songs and arias by native speakers, phonetic transcription (IPA), translations into several languages, video tutorials, podcasts, webinars, diction tips, and diction lessons.
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Foundation Directory OnlineFind grant makers, companies, grants or IRS 990 tax returns for U.S. organizations. Profiles of grant makers mission, analysis of expenses and revenue and other information. The Foundation Directory includes the publication Philanthropy News, current RFPs for grants, and literature on nonprofits from various research institutes.
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Garland Encyclopedia of World MusicFind background information and search the full text of the 10-volume print encyclopedia with links to audio examples, musical illustrations, photographs, and drawings; song texts and score examples; and charts and maps of world regions.
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Index to Printed MusicSearch for individual pieces of music printed in the complete works of composers, in anthologies containing pieces from disparate historical periods, and in other scholarly editions. Searchable by composer, title, and series name and number. Limited to 1 user at a time.
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IPA SourceInternational Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) transcriptions and literal translations of opera arias and art song texts.
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MGG OnlineSubscription has been cancelled effective September 30, 2025.
MGG Online is a general encyclopedia of music. MGG offers in-depth articles on every aspect of music as well as many related areas such as literature, philosophy, and visual arts. MGG Online contains the second print edition of MGG, published from 1994 to 2008, as well as current, continuous online updates and additions. -
Oxford BibliographiesUse Oxford Bibliographies to find scholarship across a wide-variety of subjects with entries that read like annotated bibliography and encyclopedia entries. The Libraries subscribes to eight subjects: Anthropology, Atlantic History, Communication, Criminology, International Law, Latin American Studies, Music, and Renaissance and Reformation.
Click on the "Browse by Subject" at the top of the homepage to limit to Music, or follow the "View Online" link in this the catalog record to limit your results to only music-related Oxford Bibliographies Online content: https://primo.lib.umn.edu/permalink/f/1q7ssba/UMN_ALMA51605748180001701 -
Oxford Handbooks OnlineOxford Handbooks contain scholarly review articles in Archaeology, Business and Management, Classical Studies, Criminology and Criminal Justice, Economics and Finance, History, Law, Linguistics, Literature, Music, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, and Religion. Each handbook offers a critical survey of the current state of scholarship in a particular field of study.
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Oxford Music OnlineSearch this authoritative collection for music research resources charting the diverse histories and cultures of music around the globe. Access is limited for 8 simultaneous users.
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RISM Series A/I: Einzeldrucke vor 1800 (Individual Prints before 1800)The Répertoire International des Sources Musicales (RISM) is an international, non-profit organization with the aim of comprehensively documenting extant musical sources anywhere in the world. Independent national working groups at libraries and archives in many countries worldwide catalog historical musical sources: music prints, music manuscripts, libretti, and theoretical writings about music. The results are edited and published by RISM. RISM documents what exists and where it is kept, offering the most comprehensive documentation available for music manuscripts and printed music for the time between 1600 and 1800. It continues to grow through monthly updates and averages around 30,000 new records annually.
Last Updated: Sep 15, 2025 11:37 AM
URL: https://libguides.umn.edu/music-related-databases