LibGuides: Music Databases: Getting Started

Music Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

Oxford Music Online This link opens in a new window
Core music encyclopedia, includes the important Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

The Encylopedia of Popular Music

MGG online : Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart This link opens in a new window
Important German language encyclopedia. Includes comprehensive bibliographies and works lists as well as onboard Google translate tool.
Music Online: The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music This link opens in a new window
Search for encyclopedic entries on topics related to world music
Oxford History of Western Music This link opens in a new window
Search encyclopedic entries related to Western classical music.
Oxford Reference This link opens in a new window
Search encyclopedia and dictionary entries on wide range of academic disciplines
Oxford Bibliographies: Music This link opens in a new window
Search peer-reviewed annotated bibliographies in music

Research and Repertoire Guides

Dissertations

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global This link opens in a new window
Search dissertations and theses from colleges and universities around the world from 1743 to present. Full text theses from 1997-present

British Library EThOS E-theses

Doctoral Dissertations in Musicology-Online This link opens in a new window
Search for musicology dissertations

Find Journal Articles

RILM Abstracts of Music Literature with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Excellent source for scholarly articles on music topics, with good international coverage.
Music Periodicals Database This link opens in a new window
Coverage includes scholarly articles as well as music magazines.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window
Search a collection of important scholarly journals representing a range of disciplines.
Project MUSE This link opens in a new window
Search for journal articles in the humanities and social sciences published by university presses, including the Duke University Press
Rock's Backpages This link opens in a new window
Search for articles and interviews related to rock music

Primary Sources and Archives

Contemporary Composers Web Archive This link opens in a new window
This Archive aims to preserve the personal / official websites belonging to notable 20th century composers.
Ethnographic Sound Archives Online This link opens in a new window
Search a collection of historic field recordings from around the world, including supporting field notes and ethnographers' metadata.
RIPM Jazz Periodicals This link opens in a new window
RIPM Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Search for journal articles from 19th and early 20th-century music journals, containing many music reviews
Early English Books Online (EEBO) This link opens in a new window
Includes digital copies of musical works printed between 1473 and 1700 in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and British North America
RISM Online Catalogue of Musical Scores This link opens in a new window
Search for records for music manuscripts, printed music, libretti, and treatises held in music libraries, archives, churches, and other institutions around the world
Telegraph Historical Archive This link opens in a new window
Search the archive of the Daily Telegraph, a leading London newspaper.
Popular Culture in Britain and America, 1950-1975 This link opens in a new window
The Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives 1960-1974 This link opens in a new window
Performance Design Archive Online This link opens in a new window
Covers aspects of theater production design from the 17th century to the present.

Finding Music and Musical Texts

Index to Printed Music This link opens in a new window
Find scores for individual pieces of music published in standard scholarly editions, series and sets from ancient Greece to the present.
IPA Source This link opens in a new window
Search for transcriptions and literal translations of opera arias and art song texts
Frescobaldi Thematic Catalogue Online (FTCO) This link opens in a new window