The Oxford Dictionary of Music - Hardcover

From reviews of the first edition: "For anyone interested in music, whether as a student, concert-goer, record collector or Radio 3 listener ... it is a welcoming book--in which the author shares his enthusiasm for the obvious as well as the obscure." Times Higher Education Supplement

not only a valuable work of reference, but also a "guide, philosopher, and friend" for music lovers, opera-goers, concert fans and record collectors (Stage)

this book is marvellous value, the most useful single-volume music dictionary available (Daily Telegraph)

Reviews of The Oxford Dictionary of Music 'For anyone interested in music, whether as a student, concert-goer, record collector or radio 3 listener . . . it is a welcoming book - I which the author shares his enthusiasm for the obvious as well as the obscure.' THES '. . . a comprehensive and useful resource for accurate and concise definitions and biographical sketches.' Choice ' . . . a labour of love, . . . lively information about people, particularly the living, . . . up-to-date and, frankly, indispensable.' The Times 'without question the most comprehensive, detailed, reliable one-volume reference work on music available in the English Language.' Music & Musicians The Oxford Dictionary of Music is the indispensable guide for all music lovers and performers, both amateur and professional. It brings together an unrivalled collection of entries - 12,500 in all - which cover musical subjects of all kinds in an authoritative and accessible way. Composers and performers: 5,000 entries on composers - most with up-to-date and comprehensive worklists - conductors, and performers, with particular attention paid to contemporary musicians in all fields: John Mark Ainsley, Daniel Barenboim, Myung-Whun Chung, Plácido Domingo, Evelyn Glennie, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Trevor Pinnock Directors and critics: producers and designers of international repute from across the centuries; writers and scholars; musical journals and other publications Individual works and places: titles and descriptions of individual works, opera, and ballet; specific orchestras and companies from around the world combine with entries on famous opera-houses, concert-halls, and musical festivals such as those in Aldeburgh and Edinburgh Musical terms and styles: terms such as musique concrète, chromaticism, preparation, and tutti; forms ranging from operatic, orchestral, vocal, film scores, to song-cycles, chamber, hymns, barber-shop, and oratorios; invaluable general themes, like musicology, Byzantine music, acoustics, absolute pitch; musical examples are given where helpful Instruments: from the familiar members of the orchestra - strings, wind, and brass instruments - to the less well- known and the more esoteric - aeolian harp, bagpipe, bamboula, sackbut, and saltbox