Harvard Dictionary of Music: Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged (Hardcover)

by Willi Apel (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
The music book of the year. (Library Journal )

Excellent before, the Harvard Dictionary is better now, and remains the ideal piano-top reference for every musician, whether dilettante, serious amateur or working professional... informative and reliable holds its place at the top of its one-volume class. (The New York Times )

Easily the best one-volume reference source of its kind. (Los Angeles Times )

Authoritative in its scholarship, comprehensive in its coverage, and commendably concise in its style...a treasurehouse of musical knowledge which should be an integral part of every music library. (Saturday Review Syndicate )

Product Description

A classic and invaluable reference work for over thirty years. Soon after its initial publication, the Harvard Dictionary of Music by Willi Apel was firmly established as a standard and essential resource for everyone concerned with music. The product of exceptional scholarship, it was praised as being comprehensive, concise, authoritative, scholarly, and enjoyable. Leopold Stokowski wrote, "I so often consult your dictionary of music, and with such never failing enlightenment, that I must offer you my thanks for your unique book, so profound and so broad in scope ... The vast scholarship... is of immeasurable value to the whole world of music." The Christian Science Monitor called it "a highly satisfying book of musical knowledge, in which basic definitions are given with fine intellectual integrity, and musical facts are carefully separated from plausible deductions or theories."

For this second edition the dictionary has been thoroughly revised, updated, and substantially enlarged. Mr. Apel and eightyeight other eminent music scholars have contributed new articles and revised old ones completely. The already comprehensive list of accurate definitions has grown measurably and it now even includes nothus, pyiba, and meringue.

In the greatly expanded coverage of ethnomusicology, cumbia-an Afro-Panamanian dance form - and Vietnam are only two of the new entries. Additionally, all the general information about individual countries has been revised and the discussion of both theory and history has been amply increased. Developments of the last two decades are given special attention with particular emphasis on compositional techniques, including electronic music and serial music. Individual compositions, representative of every type from every era, are described.

The bibliography following each article, a unique feature of the first edition, has been updated and expanded. There are fifty percent more illustrations than in the first edition, including explicit drawings of instruments, clear music examples, diagrams, charts and a full-page outline of the history of music.

An extensive list of the most important music libraries and collections throughout the world with summaries of their significant musical holdings is a valuable part of the dictionary. The section on historical editions now lists fifty-three collections of music and briefly describes each volume within each collection.

The Harvard Dictionary of Music, Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged, is the result of imaginative, specialized, modern, and reliable music scholarship. Containing nearly 1000 pages of precise and accessible information on all musical subjects, it offers over fifty percent more material than the first edition. It is essential not only to the scholar of music, the professional performer, and the practicing amateur, but to everyone who has ever anticipated the pleasure of a weekly musical broadcast, purchased a favorite recording, or truly enjoyed a concert.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 935 pages
• Publisher: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press; Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged edition (January 1968)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0435810006
• ISBN-13: 978-0674375017
• ASIN: 0674375017
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.2 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #270,077 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is THE essential reference for musicians, October 3, 1999

By A Customer

This reference book has it all. I have never been disappointed when looking up a musical term -- everything from musical periods, notation, tempo markings in all languages I've come across, descriptions of musical forms, and theory concepts. It should be on the bookshelf of every serious musician.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellent resource, authoritative, June 4, 2000

By	"shofar" (Kissimmee, Florida United States) - See all my reviews

This is the dictionary that I used when I attended the USC School of Music. The entries are unsurpassed so far as classical music is concerned, but I did have to look for other resources when I needed accurate indepth information on jazz or popular music. It would be difficult in this day and age to have one all-encompassing reference on every musical style in existence, so I think that the work stands on its own and may dilute its effectiveness if it were to overextend itself by trying to accomodate everybody. As a former composition student and someone who scored in the top 3% on the music theory portion of the graduate record exam, I wholeheartedly recommend this dictionary.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive and useful, October 2, 2005

By	FrKurt Messick "FrKurt Messick" (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

This book, together with 'Baker's Bigoraphical Dictionary of Musicians', is one of my most frequently used reference books. The edition I have is Willi Apel's second edition, revised and expanded; there is a later Harvard Dictionary of Music done by another editor, but this one has been on my shelf for over twenty years, and I have come to find it incredibly useful for ready reference as well as giving information for further research.

Most entries have citation and bibliographic information so that further research becomes an easier task; my one regret in this direction is that there has been so much scholarly work done in the past thirty years since this publication that is missed from this listing, but much of music reference material is not that time sensitive.

This is a very comprehensive text with regard to music technical information, particularly when it comes to ancient, medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods. In the modern area, it is a little less helpful, and does not really address the area of pop music at all.

The one thing I could wish for would be an index of some sort in the rear; even designed as a dictionary, many articles become encyclopedic in length or nature, and an index would have made this that much more useful. However, there is a good deal of cross-referenced material, making it easy to use in research mode.

The entries themselves range from just a few words (for example, Gusto, con [It.] - With style, with zest.) to multi-page entries (examples include the entries on countries such as France and Germany, discussing their histories of musical tradition). There are entries of history, of technique, of composition, of instruments, even of the mathematics and physics of sound, harmony and rhythm. Many major opeas and other musical pieces have entries - however, this is not a biographical dictionary, so there are very few entries of this sort. The listings go from Mozarabic chant to Mozarteum, for instance, without Mozart between them.

One might have minor quibbles here and there with the data (and no such undertaking as massive as this dictionary can be without fault and error), but in general, this dictionary serves the general seeker and the student of music very well.