Letter from the Editor
Welcome to the new Grove Music Online.
In March, 2008, after two years of development, Grove Music Online was relaunched as part of Oxford Music Online, a new gateway for online music resources. As editor, I have taken the opportunity of this relaunch to put into place editorial policies that I believe will allow Grove Music Online to develop and grow while maintaining the high standards of the Grove tradition.
First and foremost is a new structure. We now group together, under one search result, all Grove articles on a single subject (e.g. Mozart or Paris). The first article linked to by a search result is now the ‘primary’ Grove Music Online article on the subject, and it is subject to a regular updating and revision programme. Other articles, from specialist dictionaries such as The New Grove Dictionary of Opera and The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, second edition, are now available via a link from this primary article. These articles are static and will not be regularly updated. By singling out one article on each subject as our ‘primary’ online article, we will be able to ensure consistency of the content, while still making other points of view available.
See What's New for more specific information on the new structure
Much of the work for the relaunch of Grove Music Online was devoted to the search functionality, and in addition to general technical improvements we have grounded the new search in authority files and taxonomies developed by the Grove editorial team and tailored to research in music.
See What's New for more information on editorial work behind the search.
The ability of online resources to link to one another is a mixed blessing; information on the web is of varying quality and stability. We are moving away from general linking to partnerships with organisations that can guarantee their content and stability. I am very pleased that we now have such partnerships with three outstanding subscription resources, all available to mutual subscribers by link from Grove:
RILM abstracts of music literature is a comprehensive international database of bibliography in music. This essential research tool, with over 400,000 entries is now available, via a link from the bibliography section of every Grove article, to all subscribers of both sites.
Classical Music Library, published by Alexander Street Press, is an online database containing thousands of recordings. A link to Classical Music Library is available from the Related Content tab of every Grove article.
Digital Recordings in American Music (DRAM) is a not-for-profit database of recordings of American Music. DRAM is also available through a link from the Related Content tab.
Last but by no means least, our content updating programme resumes with a schedule of three updates yearly. Five major updating projects are underway, all of which will appear in installments over the next few years:
Contemporary composers and performers project, special advisors Keith Potter and Richard Wigmore. This ongoing project will form the main content of our Fall 2008 update.
Grove Dictionary of American Music, second edition, edited by Charles Hiroshi Garrett. ‘AmeriGrove 2’ will ultimately appear in print in 6 volumes. But the content will be incorporated into Grove Music Online as part of our regular update programme beginning in 2009.
Grove Dictionary of Early Music. In addition to updating and revision of Grove’s early music content, this project, which will also appear in print, will include some 300 new articles on individual works. Updates including material from this project will appear in 2009.
Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, second edition. This project is just getting started. Like AmeriGrove and the Early Music Dictionary, this project will have a print component as well as feeding updates to Grove Music Online.
Bibliography project. Finally, we are beginning a massive multi-year project to update the bibliography of every article in Grove Music Online.
Laura Macy
Editor in Chief
Grove Dictionaries of Music
March 2008
Experienced Grove Music Online users: be sure to read tips for using the new site.
About Grove Music Online
Grove Music Online has been the leading online resource for music research since its inception in 2001, a glorious compendium of music scholarship offering the full texts of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd Edition (2001), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera (1992), and The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 2nd Edition (2001), as well as all subsequent updates and emendations. Including 50,000 signed articles and 28,000 biographies contributed by over 6,000 scholars from around the world, Grove Music Online is the unsurpassed authority on all aspects of music.
Now the cornerstone of Oxford Music Online, a subscription to Grove Music Online also includes The Oxford Companion to Music (2002), which offers more than 8,000 articles on composers, performers, conductors, individual works, instruments and notation, forms and genres; The Oxford Dictionary of Music, Second Edition, Revised (2006) will similarly supplement Grove's more extensive coverage with content geared toward undergraduates and general users. In addition, a robust, new linking program features improved and expanded links to sound examples via partnerships with Classical Music Library and DRAM, as well as links to the RILM database of music bibliography. Grove Music Online articles also feature biographical linking to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography for mutual subscribers to both, and a host of tools and resources, including timelines and topical guides.
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
Second Edition
Edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell
Since its initial publication in 1980, The New Grove has been widely acclaimed as an indispensable resource and a classic reference. For the 2001 Second Edition, every one of the first edition's 22,500 articles was reviewed and revised, with thousands of articles expanded. Previously neglected or under-represented areas were examined, explored, and explained. Movements and topics once deemed too controversial or too far from the mainstream were been added. And throughout, 6,500 new articles cover more than 5,000 years of music history, instruments, composers, institutions, performers, genres, and more.
The New Grove takes you beyond the customary and familiar into new worlds with extensive, authoritative contributions on non-Western music. From major influences, such as Latin American music, to less-examined contributions, such as Asian, sub-Saharan African, and Pacific Islander, The New Grove presents the music, theory, instruments, and musicians that have helped to define music around the world.
Features
- 29,000+ articles and 6,000+ contributors from 98 countries
- 20,000+ biographies
- Coverage of new schools of thought within musicology, such as feminism and gay and lesbian music
- Increased coverage of jazz and popular music
Reviews
"Grove remains the best single source of musical information in English. Given the degree to which it has branched into world music, pop and contemporary analytical theory, it may now be the most comprehensive musical dictionary in any language." –The New York Times
The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz
Second Edition,
Edited by Barry Kernfeld
"The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz stands as the finest jazz reference work ever published...This is a work of dedication, love, and scholarship-an astonishing, incomparable achievement." –San Francisco Chronicle
The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Second Edition is the largest, most comprehensive and accurate reference work on jazz ever published, putting the world of jazz at your fingertips. With articles on every aspect of the field, from jazz groups, composers and arrangers to instruments, terms, record labels and venues, it is the ideal companion for scholars and enthusiasts in this rapidly growing field.
The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Second Edition is unique:
- No other title covers jazz to this extent across all forms and styles
- Provides new perspectives to established areas of study – musicology, film and media, American studies, modern social history, women's studies and cultural studies to name a few
- Offers a one-stop resource to all the key names in the jazz world
The New Grove Dictionary of Opera
Edited by Stanley Sadie
The New Grove Dictionary of Opera is unsurpassed in its scope and quality, with contributions from over 1,300 of the world's leading critics and scholars. A remarkable 11,000 articles, all fully cross-referenced, create a work that has become established as the essential opera reference. Indeed, every aspect of this varied art form is covered: composers, conductors, directors, performers, librettists, literary sources, cities and countries, operatic historians, and opera genres and terminology.
Features
- Over 1,800 operas are discussed from the late 16th century Florentine Camerata, through the great 18th and 19th century operas, to contemporary works such as the minimalist theatre pieces of Philip Glass
- The lives and careers of over 2,900 composers are discussed in depth, with entries containing critical assessments as well as discussion of their individual careers and major achievements
- Profiles of singers who have made significant contributions to opera are included, from Francesco Rasi in the 1600s to Luciano Pavarotti in the 1990s
Reviews
"Make no mistake: This will be the definitive reference work in opera for many, many years to come." –The Chicago Tribune
