INQ 110: Can Music Change the World?: Books

Derived from the classic Oxford Dictionary of Music, this is the most authoritative dictionary of music available in paperback. Up-to-date and clearly written, it is a rich mine of information for lovers of music of all periods and styles. Written by Michael Kennedy, a renowned authority on classical music and chief music critic for The Sunday Telegraph, from 1989 to 2005, the dictionary includes over 14,000 entries on musical terms from allegro to zingaro, and on musical works from Aida to Tosca, as well as musical instruments and their history, composers, librettists, musicians, singers, and orchestras. It also boasts comprehensive works lists for major composers. Fully revised and updated, the 5th edition of this established reference work contains over 200 new entries, including information on approximately 150 new performers. Essential reference for music students and teachers, and fascinating reading for all other music enthusiasts.

An incomparable guide to the thousands of characters, from humble artisan to lofty genius, who people the unfolding history of music, this volume brings together all the pertinent biographical information about composers, performers, music theorists, and instrument makers from the days of praise chants to the bop and pop of today. A long-awaited companion to The New Harvard Dictionary of Music, and compiled with the same meticulous scholarship and delight in detail, this biographical dictionary emphasizes classical and art music, but also gives ample attention to jazz and blues, rock and pop, and hymns and showtunes across the ages - with unusual care devoted to coverage of the twentieth century.

The New Penguin Dictionary of Music is the essential A-Z of some 1,000 years of Western music. It explores in detail the lives and achievements of a huge range of composers, and examines such key topics as music history (from medieval plainchant to contemporary minimalism), performers, theory and jargon. Written by an award-winning music critic, and blending scholarship with personal insight and opinion, this dictionary is both a pleasurable read and an invaluable and authoritative reference book for all lovers of music, whether amateur or professional.

Covering bebop to western swing by way of psychedelic rock, Phil Hardy's indispensable book maps out a stimulating and informative cultural history of the century in popular music.