Bibliography

General Sources

Music encyclopedias and biographical dictionaries

Record catalogues, guides and song indexes

Discographies

Music histories and chronicles

General Sources

The following are some of the main printed reference materials that were used in compiling the information in the Virtual Gramophone database, as well as in many of the articles featured in the History and Biography sections of this website.

Individual articles and biographies in the Virtual Gramophone website include their own detailed lists of sources. The Virtual Gramophone database also contains its own detailed bibliography of the print and electronic sources used in researching composer information.

As well, the Resources on the Internet page provides an annotated list of over 50 other websites dedicated to historic recordings, sound archives, sheet music and related information.

A note to students and researchers: the bibliographies in the publications listed here will also contain many valuable and helpful leads to other specialized sources on music, musicians, and sound recordings.

This list was last updated in 2003.

Music encyclopedias and biographical dictionaries

American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. -- ASCAP biographical dictionary. -- 4th ed. -- New York : R. R. Bowker Company, 1980. -- xii, 589 p. -- AMICUS No. 2889881

Baker, Theodore ; Slonimsky, Nicolas. -- Baker's biographical dictionary of musicians. -- Revised by Nicolas Slonimsky. -- 8th ed. -- New York : Schirmer Books ; Toronto : Maxwell Macmillan Canada ; New York : Maxwell Macmillan International, c1992. --  xxxiii, 2115 p. -- AMICUS No. 10770548

Baker's biographical dictionary of musicians. -- Edited by Nicolas Slonimsky. -- Centennial edition. -- New York : Schirmer Books, c2001. -- 6 v. -- AMICUS No. 24468294

Brown, James Duff ; Stratton, Stephen Samuel. -- British musical biography : a dictionary of musical artists, authors and composers born in Britain and its colonies. -- New York : Da Capo Press, 1971. -- ii, 462 p. -- Reprint of the 1897 ed. -- AMICUS No. 1647192

Claghorn, Charles Eugene. -- Biographical dictionary of American music. -- West Nyack, New York : Parker Pub. Co, [1973]. -- 491 p. -- AMICUS No. 1250303

Cohen, Aaron I. -- International encyclopedia of women composers. -- 2nd ed., rev and enl. -- New York : Books & Music USA, c1987. -- 2 v. (1151 p.). -- AMICUS No. 8596406

Compositeurs canadiens contemporains. -- Éd. française dirigée par Louise Laplante ; traduction de Véronique Robert. -- Montréal : Presses de l'Université du Québec, 1977. -- xxviii, 382 p. -- AMICUS No. 254315

• English edition published in 1975 under the title: Contemporary Canadian composers

Encyclopedia of music in Canada. -- Edited by Helmut Kallmann et al. -- 2nd ed. -- Toronto : University of Toronto Press, c1992. -- xxxii, 1524 p. -- AMICUS No. 12048560

The encyclopedia of popular music. -- Edited by Colin Larkin. -- 3rd ed. -- London : MUZE UK : Macmillan [distributor], 1998. -- 8 v. (6653 p.). -- AMICUS No. 19085711

Kinkle, Roger D. -- The complete encyclopedia of popular music and jazz, 1900-1950. -- New Rochelle, New York : Arlington House Publishers, [1974]. -- 4 v. (xl, 2644 p. ). -- AMICUS No. 1162942

The new Grove dictionary of American music. -- Edited by H. Wiley Hitchcock and Stanley Sadie. -- London : Macmillan, c1986. -- 4 v. -- AMICUS No. 20819820

The new Grove dictionary of music and musicians. -- Edited by Stanley Sadie ; executive editor John Tyrrell. -- 2nd edition. --New York : Grove's Dictionaries, 2001. -- 29 v. -- AMICUS No. 24199706

The new Grove dictionary of opera. -- Edited by Stanley Sadie. -- London : Macmillan Press Limited, c1992. -- 4 v. -- AMICUS No. 13914276

Rehrig, William H. -- The heritage encyclopedia of band music : composers and their music. -- Edited by Paul E. Bierley. -- Westerville, Ohio : Integrity Press, c1991. -- 2 v. -- AMICUS No. 11099401

Vernillat, France ; Charpentreau, Jacques. -- Dictionnaire de la chanson française. -- Paris : Larousse, 1968. -- 256 p. -- AMICUS No. 11977539

Record catalogues, guides and song indexes

Barr, Steven C. -- The almost complete 78-rpm record dating guide : II. -- Huntington Beach, Calif. : Yesterday Once Again, 1992. -- xviii, 177 p. -- AMICUS No. 12749116

Boston Public Library. -- Dictionary catalog of the music collection. -- Boston : G. K. Hall, 1972- . -- AMICUS No. 1304213

British Broadcasting Corporation. Central music library. -- Song catalogue. -- Vol. III. -- [London] : 1966. -- 4 v. -- AMICUS No. 280958

Brunnings, Florence E. -- Folk song index : a comprehensive guide to the Florence E. Brunnings collection. -- New York : Garland Pub., 1981. -- AMICUS No. 11558013

The catalogue of printed music in the British Library to 1980. -- [Edited by Laureen Baillie]. -- London ; New York : K. G. Saur, 1981 - 1987. -- 62 v. -- v. 1-38, 41-51, 54-55, 57-62. -- AMICUS No. 2618268

Diehl, Katharine Smith. -- Hymns and tunes : an index. -- New York : Scarecrow Press, 1966. -- 1v., 1185 p. -- AMICUS No. 1615077

Havlice, Patricia Pate. -- Popular song index. -- Metuchen, New Jersey : Scarecrow Press, 1975. -- 933 p. -- AMICUS No. 961102

Kelly, Alan, comp. -- His master's voice : the French catalogue : a complete numerical catalogue of French gramophone recordings made from 1898 to 1929 in France and elsewhere by The Gramophone Company Ltd. = La voix de son maître. -- New York : Greenwood Press, 1990. -- xxxvi, 679 p. -- Discographies ; 0192-334x no. 37. -- AMICUS No. 9852142

_____. -- His master's voice : the German catalogue : a complete numerical catalogue of German gramophone recordings made from 1898 to 1929 in Germany, Austria, and elsewhere by The Gramophone Company Ltd. = Die Stimme seines Herrn. -- Westport, Conn.  : Greenwood Press, 1994. -- lix, [iv], 1325 p. -- Discographies, 0192-334x no. 55. -- AMICUS No. 13273190

_____. -- His master's voice  the Italian catalogue, a complete numerical catalogue of Italian gramophone recordings made from 1898 to 1929 in Italy and elsewhere by The Gramophone Company Ltd.= la voce del padrone : -- New York : Greenwood Press, 1988. -- xxxix, 462 p. -- Discographies ; 0192-334x no. 30. -- AMICUS No. 23245464

Lax, Roger ; Smith, Frederick. -- The great song thesaurus. -- 2nd ed., updated and expanded. -- New York : Oxford University Press, 1989. -- 774 p. -- AMICUS No. 8384394

Lowe, Leslie. -- Directory of popular music, 1900-1965. -- Droitwich : Peterson Publishing, 1975. -- 1034 p. -- AMICUS No. 499761

Popular music, 1900-1919 : an annotated guide to American popular songs…. -- Edited by Barbara Cohen-Stratyner. -- Detroit : Gale Research, c1988. -- xxx, 656 p. -- AMICUS No. 8192329

Popular music, 1920-1979 : a revised cumulation. -- Edited by Nat Shapiro and Bruce Pollock. -- Detroit : Gale Research, 1985. -- 3 v. -- AMICUS No. 5430679

Sherman, Michael W. -- The collector's guide to Victor records. -- In collaboration with William R. Moran and Kurt R. Nauck III. -- 1st ed. -- Dallas : Monarch Record Enterprises, 1992. -- 176 p. -- AMICUS No. 12329785

Sutton, Allan. -- A guide to pseudonyms on American records, 1892-1942. -- Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1993. -- xvii, 148 p. -- AMICUS No. 12901167

_____. -- Directory of American disc record brands and manufacturers, 1891-1943. -- Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1994. -- xxi, 282 p. -- AMICUS No. 13329757

Discographies

Charosh, Paul. -- Berliner Gram-o-phone records : American issues, 1892-1900. -- Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1995. -- Discographies 0192-334x no. 60. -- xxxii, 290 p. -- AMICUS No. 14257777

Fagan, Ted ; Moran, William R. -- The encyclopedic discography of Victor recordings : Matrix series: 1 through 4999, the Victor Talking Machine Company, 24 April 1903 to 7 January 1908. -- New York : Greenwood Press, 1986. -- liv, 648 p. -- AMICUS No. 66623515

_____. -- The encyclopedic discography of Victor recordings : Pre-matrix series : the Consolidated Talking Machine Company, Eldridge Johnson, and the Victor Talking Machine Company, 12 January 1900 to 23 April 1903. -- Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, 1983. -- lxix, 393 p. -- AMICUS No. 3285172

Music histories and chronicles

Bordman, Gerald M. -- American musical theatre : a chronicle. -- New York : Oxford University Press, 1978. -- viii, 749 p. -- AMICUS No. 11981124

Gänzl, Kurt. -- British musical theatre. -- Vol. 1 (1865-1914). -- New York : Oxford University Press, 1986. -- 2 v. -- AMICUS No. 6026630

Hoffmann, Frank et al. -- Billy Murray : the phonograph industry's first great recording artist. -- Lanham, Md. : Scarecrow Press, 1997. -- x, 544 p. -- AMICUS No. 14865920

Labbé, Gabriel. -- Les pionniers du disque folklorique québécois 1920-1950. -- Montréal : L'Aurore, c1977. -- 216 p. -- AMICUS No. 246972

Moogk, Edward B. -- Roll back the years : history of Canadian recorded sound and its legacy : genesis to 1930. -- Ottawa : National Library of Canada, 1975. -- xii, 443 p. -- AMICUS No. 80154. -- Also published in French under the title: En remontant les années : l'histoire et l'héritage de l'enregistrement sonore au Canada, des débuts à 1930