The Oxford Dictionary of Music - Hardcover

Kennedy, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198691629 ISBN 13: 9780198691624

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1995

Synopsis

When The Oxford Dictionary of Music first appeared, it was hailed as "without question the most comprehensive, detailed, reliable one-volume reference work on music now available in the English language" (Music and Musicians). Extensively revised and expanded, the second edition features over 900 entirely new entries, and many more descriptions of U.S. composers and performers than in the original work. Now with over 12,000 total entries, the dictionary remains the most comprehensive one-volume reference work available, offering a wealth of information on music and musicians from the Middle Ages to the present.
As in the past, the dictionary's coverage is exceptional, spanning musical topics of all kinds. Arranged alphabetically and laid out in an attractive two-column format, the entries cover over 2,000 composers of all nationalities, from Ludwig van Beethoven to Stravinsky and Strauss (including extensive, up-to-date lists of their principal works); almost 1,800 entries on performers in all fields, from Beverly Sills, to Paul McCartney, to Vaclav Nijinsky; over 450 entries on conductors; over 2,200 definitions of musical terms and forms, such as "intonation," "reggae," and "partimento"; over 550 descriptions of musical instruments; entries on leading orchestras and music academies around the world; and information on critics, journalists, and other writers on music.
Written to appeal to general readers as well as musicians and musicologists, The Oxford Dictionary of Music is an indispensable addition to the reference shelf of the concert goer, the opera buff, the record buyer, or anyone involved in music, whether amateur or professional.

About this title

About the Author

IAbout the Author:
Michael Kennedy is one of England's foremost authorities on music. He has been a music critic for over forty years, at present with The Sunday Telegraph of London, and he has written books on Mahler, Strauss, Elgar, Vaughan Williams, and Britten.

Reviews

YA-This volume identifies and provides short discussions of terms, composers, conductors, works, singers, instruments, instrumentalists, and orchestras. Eighty percent of the original entries have been revised to include modern works, and 1,500 entries have been added to update this rapidly changing field. An excellent resource for music and history students.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Kennedy, a longtime British music critic and author, has updated and expanded his 1985 Oxford Dictionary of Music with more than 1,000 new entries plus revisions (in many cases major) to about four-fifths of the original 11,000 entries. Entries define and identify all facets of music from titles of individual works to performers, orchestras, musical forms, instruments, and composers. Identifications can be as short as one line (moll) or as long as four pages (Mozart). Much mention is made of debuts in various places and of first performances; almost no note is made of personal lives apart from music. Among new entries are those for performers Cecilia Bartoli, Evelyn Glennie, Hakan Hardenberger, and Bryn Terfel; composers Robert Moran, Andrew Toovey, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich; and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen. Many composer entries have added compositions, including such operas and musicals as William Bolcom's 1992 McTeague, John Corigliano's Ghosts of Versailles (which also has its own entry), and Andrew Lloyd-Webber's Sunset Boulevard. Death of Klinghoffer and Einstein on the Beach also have their own entries. An update to the entry for Paul McCartney includes his 1991 Liverpool Oratorio. Many 1990s dates of new compositions, debuts, first performances, and deaths are noted, including those of Copland and Bernstein. Entries for Carreras, Domingo, and Pavarotti are all updated, but no mention is made of the "Three Tenors" concert(s). A few people not included: Nadia Salerno-Sonnenberg, Ofra Harnoy, neither Wynton nor Branford Marsalis, nor Ida or Ani Kavafian. The Beaux Arts Trio entry still includes the names Pressler, Cohen, and Greenhouse even though they have left the group; the Juilliard Quartet entry mentions Robert Mann as the sole original member left while not naming others. The first edition of this title received an unequivocal endorsement in RBB stating that it was "indispensable to all types of libraries"; this new edition merits the same recommendation.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0198691629
• ISBN 13: 9780198691624
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 1002
• Editor: Bourne Joyce