Grove Music Online User's Manual

Adapted from the Introduction to The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, 2001.

Alphabetization in Grove Music Online

In entry headings — fully explained in Article Headings below — of more than one word, the words are alphabetized as if continuous, ignoring spaces, hyphens, apostrophes, accents, modifications and diacritical marks (German ä, ö and ü are read as a, o and u, not as ae, oe and ue). These rules apply up to the first mark of punctuation, then again thereafter if that mark is a comma; where the entire headings are identical but for an accent or the like, unaccented words take precedence over accented ones, counting letters from the beginning, and capital letters over lower-case ones. If the headings remain identical, the first will be labelled (i), the second (ii) etc. Roman numerals are alphabetized as if they were letters; arabic numerals are alphabetized as if spelt out. Parenthesized and bracketed matter is ignored. Some of these points are illustrated by the following (partly hypothetical) sequence of headings:

Alpaerts, Flor Alsted, Johann Heinrich
Alpaerts [Allpaerts], Jef Alsted, (Carl) Wilhelm
Alp Horn Alt, in
Alphorn Alta (i)
Al-Rāzi, Abu Alta (ii)
Al-Rāzi, Fakhr al-Du Alta Curia
Al rovescio Altacuria
Alsbach Altacuria(-Benedictus), Carolus
Al segno Altacuria, Johannes
Al-Shīrazī Altargesang
Al’shvang, Arnol’d Aleksandrovich Ältenburg, Johann Ernst
Alsina, Carlos Roqué Altenburg, Karl
Alsiña, Carlos Roqué Altenburg, Michael
Alsiná, Carlos Roqué Ältenburg, Michael

All list material arranged alphabetically in the dictionary follows these principles. Where the article (definite or indefinite) is part of the term of title, it is normally included in the alphabetization.

As a general principle, we have tried to place each entry where the majority of users of the dictionary will expect to find it. Common sense and established usage are important factors.

Medieval names of the form ‘A de B’ are normally entered under the given name (A) rather than the name of the locality (B). ‘St’ is alphabetized as ‘Saint’ and ‘Ste’ as ‘Sainte’, ‘S’ as ‘San’, ‘Santa’ or ‘São’ as appropriate. ‘Mac’, ‘Mc’ and ‘M‘’ are treated as ‘Mac’. Unless there are reasons that dictate otherwise, names incorporating prefixes in the Romance languages are alphabetized under the prefix when it includes the definite article, although established usage requires many exceptions. Cross-references are supplied as necessary.

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Usages in Grove Music Online

Orthography in general follows British practices, except that wherever possible original sources are followed, for example for titles and quoted matter. Obsolete and foreign letter-forms (such as æ and ß) are normally replaced by their modern equivalents, and usage is standardized for such terms as Kapellmeister (Capell Meister etc.), Kantor (Cantor), cappella (capella) and the like. Capital letters are used in the traditional way in English-language titles, and also for words applied in a specialized sense (e.g. ‘Classical’ for Viennese music of the Haydn-Mozart-Beethoven era); their use is kept to a minimum in languages other than English. The first objective, here and elsewhere, is clarity.

Abbreviations are confined to those listed on the Abbreviations page. An oblique stroke (/) normally signifies an alternative; an asterisk (*), in a list of works, signifies an autograph.

Some of the particular editorial usages in the dictionary are explained below:

Anglo-American vocabulary. The traditions of this dictionary are primarily British, and accordingly it preserves British terminological usage. This affects note names, where semibreves, minims, crotchets and quavers are preferred to whole-, half-, quarter and eighth-notes etc.; note is preferred to tone (except in certain acoustical and non-Western contexts); auxiliary note to neighbour (or neighbor) tone; conjunct to stepwise; bar to measure; part-writing to voice-leading (except in analytical contexts) etc. (Cross-references will be found directing the reader to the British equivalent of any American term that might be expected to have its own entry.) Similarly, the principal violinist in an orchestra is referred to as the leader rather than the concertmaster, and to ‘lead’ an orchestra means to sit at the first violin desk, not to conduct or direct it. In accordance with British usage, universal American usage and increasing practice in British opera houses, ‘director’ is preferred to ‘producer’. Readers should note that the terms ‘professor’ and ‘faculty’ have different meanings in British usage and American.

The Bible. The numbering of psalms follows the Revised Standard Version unless otherwise indicated.

Dates. Dates are normally given according to the Gregorian calendar. Exceptions are made for Greater Russia (where both old- and new-style dates are given, separated by an oblique stroke, up to the calendar change on 1/14 February 1918) and Britain (where dates are given according to the Julian calendar up to the change in 1752). For publications bearing an old-style date, the new-style one is included in the form ‘(Venice, 1601/2)’. Absolute consistency cannot be guaranteed for certain German and Italian 17th-century dates; usage varied from place to place and it is sometimes impossible to tell which calendar is applicable.

Opera house carnival seasons, running from 26 December to the following Lent, are identified by the later year; thus 26 December 1672 — Lent 1673 is called ‘Carnival 1673’. We have however aimed to show precise dates, where known, according to the modern calendar.

Methods of citing dates that are approximate or conjectural are outlined in Article Headings. Here it should be mentioned that when a period is expressed in the form ‘c1630 — 48’ both dates are approximate, whereas the form ‘c1630 — 1648’ means that only the first is.

A date given with a title of a work in running text is normally that of composition, except in the case of operas, where it signifies performance; date and place of performance are given in the form ‘(1993, London)’, to distinguish performance information from publication information.

Pitch notation. The system used is a modified version of Helmholtz’s: middle C is c', with octaves above as c'', c''' etc. and octaves below as c, C, C', C'' etc. Octaves are reckoned from C upwards.

Italic type is used for specific pitches; pitch classes are given in roman capital letters. (A different method is followed in a small number of specialized, technical articles; in such cases the exceptional usage is explained.)

Place names. These represent a particularly intractable, and sensitive, issue. For present-day cities, the usage of The Times Atlas of the World is followed, except for those cities where there is a traditional and universally applied English name that differs from the local one (e.g. Vienna, Rome, Munich). Where a city’s name has changed in the course of history, an attempt has been made to call it by the name current at the time under discussion, identifying it by its modern name on its initial appearance in an entry if that seems to be necessary or helpful (e.g. ‘Temesvár [now Timişoara]’) — while of course it is recognized that different groups in such cities as Bratislava/Pressburg/Poszony have always used different names. Common sense demands flexibility in the application of this rule. See also Transliteration.

Weights and measures. To conform with international practice, and with the declared policy of the British and United States governments, metric units are used in this dictionary (except of course where imperial weights and measures appear in quoted matter). As Stanley Sadie mentioned in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, “Metricization has in the event proceeded more slowly than was planned, more slowly even than the preparation of both the previous and the present editions of the dictionary; and we ask the indulgence of readers who are disconcerted to read that (say) Cambridge is 90 km from London."

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Authors in Grove Music Online

The names of authors appear, in the form chosen by authors themselves, beneath the article to which they apply. In the case of joint or multiple authorship, this is indicated where possible by reference to the numbered sections of articles. Where authorship is joint, or the authors’ work is interwoven or fused to a degree that it would be impractical to distinguish one author’s work from another’s, the authors’ names are separated by a comma. This method is also used where one author has revised and supplemented the work of another to an extent that the article can most properly be regarded as a joint contribution.

In many cases, however, where one author has revised an article by another (usually when the original author is no longer actively engaged in work on the topic concerned), the signature will take the form

          John Smith/Mary Brown

to indicate that Mary Brown has revised John Smith’s work. Where a revision is slight, and not of a kind to call for attribution, the form

          John Smith/R

is used; this is also used for most revisions undertaken by editorial staff. A signature of the form

          John Smith (with Mary Brown)

indicates that John Smith is the principal author but that Mary Brown contributed material the author or editors felt required specific acknowledgment.

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Article Headings in Grove Music Online

Articles on persons begin with their name and place and date of birth and death, followed by a statement of nationality and description, thus:

          Smith, John (b London, 1 Jan 1800; d London, 31 Dec 1870). English composer.

Where dates of baptism (but not birth) or burial (but not death) are known, they are given and specified as such:

          (b London, bap. 1 Jan 1800; d London, bur. 31 Dec 1870).

If the year but not the month or day is known, the parenthesis would appear:

          (b London, 1800; d London, 31 Dec 1870).

According to the state of knowledge, the date of birth could be given with less precision, for example, ‘1800 — 05’, ‘c1800’ (around that year), or ‘?1800’ (to imply conjecture). The question mark is placed close to the element it qualifies; where it is spaced, it qualifies the series of elements that follows:

          (b ?London, 1 Jan 1800 ...) — born conjecturally in London 

          (b London, ? 1 Jan 1800 ...) — born London, conjecturally on 1 January 1800 

          b London, ?Jan 1800 ...) — born London in 1800, conjecturally January 

          b London, ? Jan 1800 ...) — born London, conjecturally in January 1800 

          b London, ?1800 ...) — born London, conjecturally in 1800 

          b ?London, 1800 ...) — born 1800, conjecturally in London 

          b ?London, ?1800 ...) — born conjecturally in London, conjecturally in 1800 

          b London, 1 Jan ?1800 ...) — born London, on 1 January, conjecturally 1800 

          b London, I ?Jan 1800 ...) — born London, on the first day of a month, conjecturally January, in 1800.

Where a birthdate cannot be conjectured, fl (floruit — ‘he/she flourished’) dates may be given, e.g. 'fl 1825', 'fl 1820-35', 'fl early 19th century’ etc. Where nothing is known, nothing is stated. For example,

          (d London, 31 Dec 1870)

means that nothing is known of the subject’s birth. Any other forms used in such contexts are self-explanatory.

The opening statement gives the subject’s nationality as it might be most generally and fairly understood. It may not take account of naturalization, or birth, or ancestry. One cannot very well say ‘American conductor of German birth and Hungarian descent’: if the subject is normally reckoned as American he will be so described; his American domicile or naturalization and his Hungarian descent will be referred to in the text, and his German birth will be clear from the initial parenthesis. Sometimes, where a double affiliation seems of especial importance, it will be noted: ‘American conductor of German birth’, or ‘German conductor, naturalized American’. Nationals of the former USSR, Yugoslavia etc. are defined according to their own preference, as far as that has been ascertainable. The word or words of description outline the subject’s musical significance — essentially the reason for his or her being entered in the dictionary. A composer who engages in other activities will not normally be described as (for example) ‘composer, conductor, writer on music, teacher and pianist’.

Parentheses and brackets in name headings have specific meanings:

          Smith, John (Robert) — full name ‘John Robert Smith’; ‘Robert’ not normally used

          Smith, John R(obert) — full name ‘John Robert Smith’, normally used in the form ‘John R. Smith’ 

          Smith [Smythe], John — the name ‘Smith’ sometimes takes the form ‘Smythe’ 

          Smith, John [Johannes] — the name ‘John’ sometimes takes the form ‘Johannes’ (certain obvious alternatives, such as the German Carl/Karl, may not be noted) 

          Smith, John [Schmidt, Johann] — the entire name sometimes takes the form ‘Johann Schmidt’ 

          Smith, John [Brown, Thomas] — ‘John Smith’ is the pseudonym under which Thomas Brown is generally known; or John Smith used the pseudonym Thomas Brown (this will be made           clear in the text) 

          Smith, Buster [John] — ‘Buster Smith’ is the name under which John Smith is generally known 

          Smith, ‘Buster’ John — John Smith is generally known by a form that incorporates the sobriquet in addition to his own name 

          Smith [née Brown], Mary — Smith is Mary Brown’s married name, under which she is generally known 

          Smith [Brown] Mary — Mary Smith has the married name or pseudonym Brown; or Mary Brown is generally known under the name Smith (this will be made clear in the text).

Names of titled persons are normally shown thus:

          Smith, Sir John 

          Smith, John, 5th Earl of Sussex;

but

          Sussex, 5th Earl of [Smith, John]

would imply that John Smith, 5th Earl of Sussex, was normally referred to by his title, as Earl of Sussex or Lord Sussex.

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Article Structure in Grove Music Online

The longer article texts in the dictionary are divided into sections for easier reference. The most usual division is into sections numbered with arabic numerals and with headings in capitals (e.g. 1. LIFE 2. WORKS); this method is used in many entries on composers. Sections of this kind may be subdivided into smaller ones, headed by parenthesized small roman numerals and with headings in italic. Occasionally other forms of subdivision are needed. Where a long entry consists of two or more substantial sections (for example ‘Art music’ and ‘Traditional music’ in an entry on a country), these sections are numbered with capital roman numerals and the headings are printed in bold italic type.

‘Family’ articles, indexed under the family surname, are used when three or more members of a family merit entries. Each entered member is numbered, thus:

Smith. English family of composers.

          (1) John Smith (b ... [etc.]

          (2) Robert Smith (b ... [etc.]

          (3) Mary Smith (b ... [etc.].

The relationships between them are defined, where they are known. Entries on family firms, of publishers or instrument makers, are not necessarily numbered. If two people — whether or not members of the same family, and irrespective of whether or not they have individual entries — bear the same name (which for this purpose means the same name as far as the bold-type title is concerned), that name will always be followed by a parenthesized small roman numeral, chronologically determined (e.g. John Smith (ii); he will normally be referred to in this form throughout the dictionary). It will be understood that, for example, John Smith (i) and (ii) could be members of Smith (i) family, John Smith (iii) and (v) members of Smith (ii) family, and John Smith (iv) not a member of a family at all as far as this dictionary is concerned.

In a very few cases — notably that perennial thorn in the lexicographer’s side, the Costas — we have for simplicity’s sake allowed ourselves to use a family entry format for a group (Costa (i)) of whose mutual relationships, if any, no-one has the slightest idea. So that each one can readily be found, we have also placed a cross-reference under each individual name: a departure from normal procedure, as people entered within a family entry do not also have separate bold-type entries of their own unless the spelling of the surname differs.

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Cross-references in Grove Music Online

Cross-references in the dictionary are distinguished by the use of hyperlinks in small capitals. In the second edition of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, a large capital was used for the initial letter of the entry referred to, for example:

          see LA RUE, PIERRE DE.

If the reference is in running prose it will take the form

          he was a pupil of PIERRE DE LA RUE.

All cross-references give the title of the article referred to in exactly the wording in which it appears, in bold type (but excluding parenthesized matter), at the head of the entry. The word ‘see’ is always italicized in a cross-reference to another entry in the dictionary; where it is printed in roman type the reference is to a different part of the same entry or to another publication.

Cross-references are of two basic kinds. First, there are those ‘cross-reference’ entries that direct the reader to the entry he or she is seeking, thus:

          De la Rue, Pierre. See LA RUE, PIERRE DE.

          Voice. See SINGING AND ACOUSTICS, §VI.

A cross-reference may include, for the benefit of the reader who does not require fuller information (or to distinguish usages of a term), a brief definition, thus:

          Academy of Music. New York theatre opened in 1854. See NEW YORK, §4.

Many cross-references of these kinds lead to two or more other entries. Simple cross-references have been included in abundance to help the reader who first looks under a different orthography or formulation.

The other type of cross-reference is that within an article. Some will be found at the ends of short articles, or at the ends of sections, directing the reader to another entry where further information relevant to the subject may be found; these may, as appropriate, embody such formulae as 'see also' or ‘for a fuller discussion see’. Many further cross-references will be found in running text; but none is provided to titles (names, places, genres etc.) that would be understood to have Grove entries unless there is particular material to which attention needs to be drawn. The intention has been to direct the reader to places where he or she can, but might not have expected to, find further information on the topic looked up. Thus the article ‘Opera’ does not contain cross-references to the entries on Verdi or Wagner, although those of course contain material relevant to the history of opera; it does however carry cross-references to entries on other related forms (for example ‘Azione teatrale’ and ‘Zeitoper’) which are separately considered.

Where an illustration, table or music example is relevant to more than one entry, that will be indicated by cross-reference.

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Transliteration in Grove Music Online

The text of the dictionary is printed in roman script, transliterated by systems chosen according to the requirements appropriate to different languages; in some cases an academic transliteration has been followed, permitting re-transliteration into the original, in others a phonetic one. The transliteration system for Cyrillic scripts (including Bulgarian [Bulg.], Serbian [Serb.] and Ukrainian [Ukr.]) is as follows:

Cyrillic Roman Cyrillic Roman Cyrillic Roman
a a й y х kh; Serb. h
б b к k ц ts; Serb. c
в v л l ч ch; Serb. č
г g; Ukr. h/g м m ш sh; Serb. š
д d н n щ shch; Bulg. sht
 е  e/ye¹  о  o  ъ ʺ; Bulg. a
 ë  yo  п  p  ы  ï
 Є  ye  р  r  ь  ʹ; Bulg. a
 ж  zh; Serb. ž  с  s  э  ė
 з  z  т  t  ю  yu
 i  i  у  u  я  ya
 и  i; Ukr. y  ф  f  ï  Ukr. ï
¹ye, after ъ, ь, and vowels and as initial letter.
Terminations -iy or -ïy are given as -y in personal names.
Bulgarian: ѫ – a; ѣ – ee/ay; aй (final) – y.
Serbian: ђ – dj; љ – lj; њ – nj; ћ – ć; ц – dž; j – j.
 

Common usage and common sense demand that certain exceptions be made. Place names such as Moscow and Kiev are given in their standard forms. Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky are spelled in their accepted English ways; so are Tcherepnin (the spelling still followed by the family), Koussevitzky (the spelling used by the Foundation) and Cui, a name of Western origins. Several popular transliterations that do not originate in English and are apt for pronunciation only in other languages (usually German or French) have been avoided: thus Glier, not Glière. Strict transliteration is used in bibliographical contexts, and (for example when a Russian-language item is cited for a non-Russian composer—this applies commonly to music in the other republics of the former Soviet Union) orthography in a bibliography may often differ from that in the text of the article to which it belongs.

Chinese names, for people active in the People’s Republic of China, are romanized according to the Pinyin system. Names of those based outside mainland China and best known by other spellings appear in their customary romanization.

For a guide to Greek transliteration, see the Grove Music Online Ancient and Modern Greek Romanization

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Bibliographies and audio/visual resources in Grove Music Online

Bibliographies normally include studies on which authors have drawn as well as suggested further reading. They will be seen generally to have expanded to reflect the proliferation of studies focussed on ever more specific aspects of a subject. Nevertheless they are not, except in a small number of special cases, intended to represent comprehensive lists of the literature on the topic. Writings that are trivial or ephemeral, or that have been superseded, are (unless of particular historiographical interest) normally excluded. General histories (or of specific periods or regions) may be cited where they contain material of particular importance on the topic in question.

Bibliographies are chronologically arranged (within categories for a bibliography that is categorized); items are listed in order of first (or cited) publication. Items published in the same year are listed alphabetically by author or, for the same author, by title. Items for which no author or editor is given are placed before attributed items. At the head, however, are listed certain standard works of reference for which abbreviations are used, in alphabetical order of abbreviation; where these contain signed articles, authors’ names are given in parentheses, with the title of the entry if significantly different. In some longer articles (usually those structured by self-contained topics rather than as historical surveys), bibliographies may be situated at the end of each section, according to convenience of use. Categories in exceptionally long bibliographies are given alphabetical designations; these are used to identify references in the text of an article in the form ‘(see Smith, D1992)’.

The procedures of citation are broadly self-evident, but it may be helpful to outline here the main principles (the reader is also referred to the list of bibliographical abbreviations). For books that have appeared in several editions, only the first and the most recent are cited, unless there is particular reason to omit early ones, where the relevant material is not included, or to note intermediate editions — for example because one was revised or translated, or one has been photographically reprinted (denoted by R). Thus while ‘1950, 4/1957’ would be a common form of citation, ‘1950, 2/1951/R, rev. 3/1955 by J. Smith, 4/1958’ would also be possible, to signify that the second edition was reprinted and the third substantially revised. English translations are normally noted and their titles given if not direct translations of the original ones; for items in less familiar languages, translations into other western European languages may also be listed. Title-page breaks or punctuation are represented by a colon. Publication places are normally given only for first (or cited) publication. In certain specialized bibliographical contexts publishers are named, in the form ‘London: Smith, 1950’. Multi-volume books are not noted as such, but (unless they are through-paginated) page references will include the volume number, in lower-case roman numerals. Lower-case roman numerals, throughout the dictionary, denote volume numbers, as for periodicals: ‘xiv (1950), 123 — 8’ indicates that the cited article spans pages 123 — 8 of volume xiv, published in 1950. Periodicals reckoned by issue rather than volume are expressed in arabic numerals. For periodicals that are not through-paginated by volume, the issue number (or month or season) within the volume is indicated after an oblique stroke (e.g. xiv/3). Every effort has been made to find terminal page numbers where these were previously missing or unknown. Where an article is known not to be longer than a single page, this is indicated in the form ‘123 only’; reference to a single page number without such qualification normally indicates the initial page. Full dates are given for publications appearing daily or weekly; page numbers are not given for these.

Doctoral dissertations are noted as ‘diss.’, master’s or other types as ‘thesis’, and the institution and acceptance date are named. If the dissertation is published, the citation normally refers only to the published volume; in a full citation (in an entry on the writer of the dissertation), the place and date of publication follow, thus: ‘(diss., U. of Vienna, 1927; Leipzig, 1930)’.

For articles in congress reports a short title is given for the congress, followed by the English name of the city where it took place and the year (e.g. Venezia e ii melodramma net Seicento: Venice 1972); congress reports are listed according to the date of the congress. Full publication details, including editors’ names, will be found in the list of Congress Reports in vol.28. Items not qualifying for inclusion in that list will show such information in the bibliographic citation itself, which will be listed by date of publication.

Electronic resources are cited where applicable. On-line databases and websites devoted to individual subjects are placed at the end of a chronologically ordered bibliography. For each database the full title is given, followed by any abbreviated form needed to access it, the name of the organization that houses it (with the names of any individuals responsible for its management) and any useful supplementary information. This last will include the designation ‘on-line database’, indicating that the URL may be found through the web browser. Websites (whose URL will be shown within angle brackets) maintained by their subject are shown in the form

          John Smith home page <www.jsmith.com> [mci. work-list, writings]

and those managed by other individuals or by an organization in the form

          John Smith website (Smith-Brown Foundation) <www.smith.org> [mci. work-list, discography]

Items published exclusively in electronic format are listed chronologically; authors, titles, dates etc. are given as for printed books and journals, except that publication details are replaced by the URL of the on-line journal or other website. Where an item first issued in printed format has been republished in electronic format, the URL follows the full publication details of the original.

Tape and video recordings are cited in such a form as to make clear whether they are available commercially (in which case catalogue numbers will be given) or only for consultation in archives, which will be named; where included, the annotation ‘[oral archive]’ in a citation of an interview denotes an archive devoted to the spoken word, whereas a ‘sound archive’ is understood to consist wholly or in part of musical items.

Discographies are included in many articles on traditional and non-Western music. Citations will normally give the title of the recording, company label, catalogue number and issue date; they may also included names of performers and (in the case of ethnographic field recordings) collectors, the recording date (if significantly different from the issue date) and details of any accompanying notes. Lists of recordings may also be given in entries on performers of traditional and non-Western music and jazz. It should be noted that any hyphen (-) or dash (—) in the catalogue number of a recording is a part of that number and does not represent a span of numbers; in the interests of clarity, a series of catalogue numbers will be given in one of the following forms:

          OCL 13, OCL 14
          OCL 13 and 14
          13001 SJ to 13006 SJ
          HP 10-110 to 10-112.

Lists of writings, found in entries on scholars, critics etc., are organized according to the same principles as bibliographies. Such lists are as a rule selective, the selection being designed to be representative and to show the range and importance of the subject’s work. Unpublished writings, apart from dissertations, are included only if of special significance (where they are, a location is named); the same applies to non-musical writings. Items listed as ‘ed.:’ are edited by the subject (where they include articles by him or her, these may be noted as ‘[mci. ...]‘); items listed as ‘ed. J. Smith:’ represent works by the subject edited, usually after his or her death, by J. Smith. The ‘Editions’ section in articles of this kind normally includes only scholarly or historically important editions of music. Fuller lists of the subject’s writings, as well as autobiographical works and Festschriften devoted to him or her, may be noted in the bibliography.

Contributors were encouraged to continue sending material to supplement bibliographies and lists of other resources, for filing towards future editions and on-line updates if it could not be used in the present one. Some updating has been done by the editorial staff, who continued during the late stages of the dictionary’s preparation to add citations of important new items. In some cases this may have resulted in an article text’s apparently taking no account of facts or opinions cited in the attached list(s) of resources; but it was nevertheless felt that it would be useful to draw readers’ attention to significant recent literature.

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Work-lists in Grove Music Online

Work-lists are designed not only to show a composer’s output (or, for a lesser composer, to outline it) but also to serve as a starting-point for its study. While it would be beyond the scope of a general musical dictionary to be a comprehensive directory of sources — a function served by RISM for a large part of the repertory — an attempt has been made to include basic publication information and, in the case of manuscript material, a location. This publication information consists, for earlier music, of place and date of first publication (later printings are referred to only if of particular significance), or, for more recent music, the name of a composer’s principal publishers. Any parenthesized date in a work-list is a date of publication. Locations of manuscript material are normally given by means of a RISM library sigillum, printed in italics (those used in the dictionary are listed the abbreviations page under Library Sigla); shelf and even folio numbers may be given in cases of special difficulty. National sigla stand until contradicted: thus in a list ‘F-Pn, V; I-Bc' the V stands for F-V. This applies from item to item; a reader seeing an isolated library sigillum should look back to discover the national sigillum that applies. Anthologies listed in RISM B/I/1 (Recueils imprimés) are referred to by the numbering system used there (e.g. 161517; square brackets in RISM are not included). Manuscript locations are not generally supplied when material is published, nor when such information is given in a good library edition (which will be cited; see below) or in an established catalogue. Sometimes only sources supplementary to those given elsewhere are named. Manuscript sources are listed in alphabetical order of national sigla, and within them of library sigla; citations are not evaluative unless stated.

Work-lists are normally categorized, by genre, function or medium, and items are listed chronologically within categories. Where dates are not known, items are listed alphabetically by title. Numbers from established listings are given. Original title-page wording is normally used, with capitalization following the general rules of the dictionary; roman numerals may be used to reproduce original wording, but otherwise arabic numerals are preferred, except where their contiguity to opus numbers might cause confusion. (Thus ‘6 Sonatas’, ‘6 sonates’, ‘VI sonate’, ‘op.2. Six Sonatas’ etc. represent publications under those titles; ‘6 sonatas’ represents a collective listing.) Short titles only are given, with sufficient information for unambiguous identification. For a vocal work, a parenthesized name denotes the text author (his or her initial is given only on first appearance in each list, unless its omission introduces an ambiguity); for dramatic works, a parenthesized arabic numeral following the title denotes the number of acts or other main divisions. Where a key is named, it precedes the details of instrumentation; capital letters denote major keys, lower-case minor. Alternative instrumentation is denoted by an oblique stroke (I) or, in complex cases, by an oblique stroke and parentheses: ‘Qt, A (pf, fl/ob, ci, bn)/(pf, str trio)’. For voices, symbols separated by commas denote soloists and those printed continuously represent a choral group; thus ‘S, A, Bar, SATB’ stands for solo soprano, alto and baritone with a chorus of soprano, alto, tenor and bass. Information may be given in less specific form: ‘3 solo vv, 4vv’ means that the work is for three soloists and fourpart chorus; for English verse anthems this is notated ‘3/4vv’. Unless parenthesized (when it is the date of publication), a date following details of a work is the date of composition; details of first performance (where known) are given routinely for dramatic works, and are included also for other works by major composers. Where quotation marks are included in the title of a mass (e.g. Missa ‘Da pacem’), the quoted matter identifies the cantus firmus or parody model.

Editions that include a substantial number of works are cited at the heads of work-lists (or sections of them); often they are assigned a sigillum, appended in square brackets, which is noted, with volume and sometimes page numbers if appropriate, against each item included in them. In such citations, we have aimed to indicate composers’ names in the form used in the edition (e.g. Ludwig van Beethovens Werke). Smaller editions, and editions of individual works or groups of works in modern anthologies or collections, are cited alongside the particular entry (such citations may refer to a work listed in the bibliography of the article, e.g. ‘ed. in Smith (1950)’). Individual items in a work-list may be referred, by a sigillum derived from an original publication date, or from RISM B/I/1, to a list of publications above.

Where lost works are listed, the source of information about them is normally cited. ‘Inc.’, following a title, means that the work is incomplete; following a source citation, it means that the source is.

Any abbreviation found in a work-list and not in the abbreviation list at the beginning of each volume is explained at the head of the list (or of the section of the list) concerned.

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