Guides: Music: Encyclopedias & More

Music dictionaries & encyclopedias in English

Oxford Music Online This link opens in a new window
Includes Grove Music Online, a comprehensive English-language encyclopedia. Other resources available include: The Oxford Dictionary of Music and The Oxford Companion to Music

The Harvard Dictionary of Music / edited by Don Michael Randel
Encyclopedia of Musical theatre
Kurt Gänzl. 2 vols. New York, NY: Schirmer Books, 1994. Ref ML102.M88 G3 1994.
Encyclopedia of Music in Canada
Describes the full breadth and depth of Canada’s musical culture, including the historical and current aspects of popular, folk, religious, concert and other forms of music.
Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 1st edition
A digitized version of the 1st edition of the Grove Dictionary.
Musicals101.com: The Cyber Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre, Film & Television
Cyber Encyclopedia of Musicals, Theatre, and Film
Musipedia
The open music encyclopedia for finding tunes.
OnMusic Dictioinary
OnMusic Dictionary is the successor of former Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary. A multimedia dictionary of music with sound files and musical examples.
Performing Arts Encyclopedia
Explore music, theater and dance at the Library of Congress
Themefinder
Have a tune running through your head? Use this database to identify the work.

Diccionario Akal - Grove de la musica
Translation of Grove dictionary of music
Diccionario de la música española e hispanoamericana
This is the leading comprehensive music encyclopedia in Spanish.
Dictionnaire de la musique
Ref ML100 .D48 1986 and ML100 .S393 1976 This is the most recent French music encyclopedia. The articles are shorter than other foreign language encyclopedias and generally does not include bibliographic information. It is also divided into terminological and biographical sequences.
Dizionario enciclopedico universale della musica e dei musicisti

MGG Online - Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart This link opens in a new window
Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart (MGG) is a comprehensive, German-language encyclopedia offering in-depth articles on every aspect of music and related areas such as literature, philosophy, and visual arts. MGG Online contains the 2nd print edition published 1994-2008 (Ref ML100 .M92 1994) with current, continuous updates and additions.

Digital Resources for Musicology
Links to open access projects useful for musicians and musicologists.