Index for this guide: General Music Dictionaries & Encyclopedias Finding Books on Your Topic Finding Articles on Your Topic Music Journals on Medieval/Renaissance Topics Scores and Score Collections Original Manuscript Listings Other Resources Recordings of Medieval/Renaissance Music Bibliographies of Interest Web Sites on Medieval/Renaissance Topics

Research Guides

Medieval & Renaissance Research Guide

 

I. To get an overview of your topic(s):

 

General Music Dictionaries & Encyclopedias

 

New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
[MUSIC REF. ML 100. N48 2001]
A good general starting point for information on composers and music.
(Look under Renaissance Music; Medieval Music;Masses; Vocal Music; Church Music, composers' names, etc.)

 

Other dictionaries interesting and useful to consult:

 

Roche, Jerome & Elizabeth Roche.
A dictionary of early music: from the troubadours to Monteverdi.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1981.
[MUSIC REF. ML100.R695]

Strahle, Graham.
An early music dictionary: musical terms from British sources:1500-1740.
Cambridge [England]: Cambridge University Press,1995.
[MUSIC REF. ML108 .S88 1995]

 

II. To find books on your topics:

 

Search the UO Local Catalog by Subject:

When you look in the subject section under: Medieval Music,
you get the following subject headings:

When you look in the subject section under Renaissance Music,
you get the following subject headings:

Other subject headings to search include:

You can also tack -500-1400 on to instrument names
(e.g.: Keyboard instrument music- 16th century)

Other Subjects to Search:

 

• See MUSIC 500-1400
• See MUSIC 15TH CENTURY
• See MUSIC 15TH CENTURY
• See MUSIC 16TH CENTURY
• See MUSIC 17TH CENTURY
• Secular Vocal Music
• Sacred Vocal Music
• Masses
• AGNUS DEI (MUSIC)
• COMMUNION-SERVICE MUSIC
• GLORIA IN EXCELSIS DEO (MUSIC)
• KYRIE ELEISON (MUSIC)
• PROPERS (MUSIC)
• REQUIEMS
• Names of early instruments
• Performance Practice Music -500 - 1400
• Names of composers

 

 

III. For Articles on your topics, consult the following indexes and journals:

 

Indexes to Music Articles:

 

• The Music Index
  [MUSIC REF. ML118 .M84]
  (On the web from 1979 to the present; in paper on Music Reference shelves from 1949 - 1985; on the Music Index Table from 1993-2001.)
  (Use the same headings you found in the Library's catalog- or consult the separate subject heading book in the last two years.)

   

• RILM [Repertoire international de litterature musicale]
  (Searchable on the web version of the Library's catalog from the Articles, Databases & Indexes
  Also available in paper form to 1995 on Music Index Table.
  Especially good for articles in non-music resources and in languages other than English. Annotations are given for a great number of the resources.
  The thesaurus of searching terms is available at the Music Reference Index Table.

   

• Arts & Humanities Search
  Also available on the web through the Library's web catalog, using the Articles, Databases & Indexes search connection on the left-hand side of the catalog.
  Especially good for tracking the impact an article and its author has on other articles and authors. You can search by author (to find out which authors are writing new articles) or by cited reference (to find out those authors who have cited your author.)

 

Serial bibliographies of interest:

 

International Medieval Bibliography
[KNIGHT Z6203 .I63]
Also on the web: Search for "International Medieval Bibliography" in the UO Library Catalog; after submitting search, click on "Go to UO's copy of Brepolis web site, click on Enter database, then select International medieval bibliography."

Medioevo Latino
[KNIGHT Z2000 .M35]

Medioevo Musicale
[MUSIC REF. ML 114 .M35]

 

Journals on your topic:

 

(These are indexed in the Music Index and RILM, as well as other resources- and those that are available online are marked with an asterisk (*)

 

Current musicology.
[MUSIC ML 1 .C9]

Early music.*
[MUSIC ML 5 .E3]

Early music history.*
[MUSIC ML 5 .E123]

Journal of the American Musicological Society.*
[MUSIC ML 27 .U5 A83363]

Performance practice review.*
[MUSIC ML 1 .P10876]

Plainsong & medieval music*
[MUSIC ML 169.8 .P54]

 

IV. Scores

 

At the University of Oregon:

 

Use the UO Library's Catalog to find scores, listed by composer and title, in our collections. We also have collections of reference scores in the M2's and M3's. These are indexed in the works lists in the New Grove under the composers' names, and in the following resources:

Heyer, Anna Harriet, 1909-
Historical sets, collected editions, and monuments of music : a guide to their contents. 3d ed.
Chicago: American Library Association, 1980.
[MUSIC REF. ML113.H52 1980 v.1 -v.2]

Hill, George Robert and Norris Stephens.
Collected editions, historical series & sets & monuments of music: a bibliography.
Berkeley, Calif.: Fallen Leaf Press, c1997
[MUSIC REF. ML113 .H55 1997]
(Updates the Heyer for newer collections, including Recent Researches in the Music of...)

Hilton, Ruth B.
An index to early music in selected anthologies.
Clifton, N.J.: European American Music Corporation, c1978.
[MUSIC REF. ML116 .H54]

For a guide to a specialized collection, see:

Hall, Alison.
E.H. Fellowes, an index to the English madrigalists and the English school of lutenist song writers.
Boston: Music Library Association, 1984.
(Index to the English madrigalists and the English school of lutenist song writers.)
[MUSIC REF. ML120.G7H34 1984]

 

Original manuscripts at other Universities:

 

Bibliographical inventory to the early music in the Newberry Library, Chicago, Illinois. edited by D. W. Krummel.
Boston: G. K. Hall, 1977.
[MUSIC REF. ML136.C5 N43]

The British union-catalogue of early music before the year 1801:a record of the holdings of over one hundred libraries throughout the British Isles.
London: Butterworths Scientific Publications, 1957.
[MUSIC REF. ML116.B7 v.1 & v.2]

Wood, David A.
Music in Harvard libraries: a catalogue of early printed music and books on music in the Houghton Library and the Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library.
Cambridge, Mass.: Houghton Library of the Harvard College Library: Harvard University Dept. of music: distributed by Harvard University Press, 1980.
[MUSIC REF. ML136.C23 H33]

RISM [International inventory of musical sources]
A series that provides bibliographic access some of the world's libraries' manuscript collections. Individual volumes cover specific areas of music and theory.
The UO Library has access to Series A online, from the Articles, Databases & Indexes list, under R
[MUSIC REF. ML 113. I6 (and series numbers)]

See also: Manuscript Research Guide, at http://library.uoregon.edu/music/researchguides/manu.html

 

V. Other Resources worth consulting:

 

• The Liber usualis: with introduction and rubrics in English .Edited by the Benedictines of Solesmes.
  Tournai: Society of St. John the Evangelist, Desclee, 1938,c1934.
  [MUSIC MINIATURE M2151 .L4 1997]

   

• Wolff, Arthur S.
  Speculum; an index of musically related articles and book reviews.
  Ann Arbor, Mich.: Music Library Association, 1970.
  [MUSIC ML113.M84 no.9; 2nd ed.= [MUSIC ML128.M3S6 1981]

   

• Doctoral Dissertations in Musicology-Online, at http://www.music.indiana.edu/ddm

   

 

VI. Recordings & Discographies of Medieval and Renaissance Music:

 

Discography of Medieval and Renaissance Music in the Knight Library's Douglass Listening Room.
Eugene, OR: University of Oregon, Knight Library Publication, 1996.
[On the Web, at http://library.uoregon.edu/music/
Discographies/MedRen/medrendisco.html]

Coover, James [and] Richard Colvig.
Medieval and Renaissance music on long-playing records.
[Detroit, Information Service] 1964.
"First supplement, 1960-61" included with the above.
[MUSIC ML156.2 .C67 & Sup.]

Croucher, Trevor.
Early music discography: from plainsong to the sons of Bach. 1981 ed.
Phoenix, Ariz.: Oryx Press, c1981.
CONTENTS: v. 1. Record index- v. 2. Composer, plainsong, anonymous work, and performer indexes.
[MUSIC REF. ML156.2.C76]

Henry, Derrick.
The listener's guide to medieval & Renaissance music.
New York, N.Y.: Facts on File, 1983.
[MUSIC ML171.H29 1983]

 

To find out what we own in the UO Library:

 

To search for just the compact discs:

 

 

•  

  To all of these, you can limit the list to just recordings (or scores).

  Using the UO Local Catalog:
  • Search a performing group as an Author (e.g. Anonymous 4 or Music for Awhile)
  • Search a composer's name as an Author (e.g. Hildegard)
  • Search the subject headings (listed above)

   

   

  • Start with the Call# tab on the UO Local Catalog.
  • Scroll down to the Non-LC Call #:
    You will receive a list of the 16000+ compact discs we own- you can then limit by author (composer) or title or subject heading.
  • If you want to browse our compact disc collection by genre (which doesn't include entries by instrument, see our genre web page at http://library.uoregon.edu/music/musgenres.html
  • Browse our CIRCULATING CD COLLECTION.
    The covers are available for browsing as you walk in to the Douglass Room. For recordings by specific performers, come browse our Performers section under their last names. These will be compilation albums of many different composers.
  • Check out our Audio Resources Online, at http://library.uoregon.edu/music/aso.html
    These databases provide streaming audio listening from 5 subscriptions, including the Database of Recorded American Music (DRAM) and Classical Music Library.
    Searches can be by instrument, composer, genre, performers, etc.
    (If you're having problems connecting off campus, see our Access to Electronic Resources site, at http://library.uoregon.edu/systems/proxy/

VII. Bibliographies of interest:

 

Hiley, David.
Western Plainchant: A Handbook
New York: Oxford, 1993.
[MUSIC ML3082 .H54 1993]

Hiley, David.
"Writings on Western plainchant in the 1980s and 1990s, " in Acta Musicologica 49 (1997) 53-93.
[MUSIC ML 5 .M6]

Hughes, Andrew.
Medieval Music: The Sixth Liberal Art.
Toronto: University of Toronto, 1980.
[MUSIC REF ML114 .H8 1980]

Jackson, Roland John.
Performance practice, medieval to contemporary: a bibliographic guide.
New York: Garland, 1988.
[MUSIC REF. ML128.P235 J3 1988]

Krummel, Donald William.
Guide for dating early published music: a manual of bibliographical practices.
Hackensack, N.J.: J. Boonin, 1974.
[MUSIC REF. ML111 .K78]

Krummel, Donald William.
Bibliotheca Bolduaniana a Renaissance music bibliography.
Detroit: Information Coordinators, 1972.
Paulus Bolduan's "eighty-page section on music, in the Bibliotheca philosophica, with 1299 titles, is here reproduced in facsimile with annotations on the facing page."
[MUSIC ML114.K78]

Switten, Margaret.
Music and Poetry in the Middle Ages: A Guide to Research on French and Occitan song, 1100-1400.
New York: Garland, 1995.
[MUSIC REF ML128 .M3 S9 1995]

Vinquist, Mary and Neal Zaslaw.
Performance practice: a bibliography.
New York: W. W. Norton [1971]
[MUSIC REF. ML128.L3 V55 1971]

VIII. RESOURCES FOR RESEARCHING RENAISSANCE AND MEDIEVAL MUSIC ON THE WEB

 

Journals:

 

Notitiae Cantus is the international newsletter for Gregorian Chant and other Repertoires of Western Chant.
Direct your comments or questions to the Internet address mc1194@mclink.it. Subscription through email is free. A hardcopy of Notitiae Cantus has been made available to subscribers who require or prefer this mode of publication.

 

Web Sites:

 

• CANTUS project
  A Database for Gregorian Chant Indices of the chants in selected manuscript and early printed sources of the Divine Office.

   

• Early Music Links
  A very comprehensive resource that includes links to early music journals, instruments, other early music pages, bibliographies and library sites, examples of early music (both in tablature and in audio), links to early music societies, performing groups, and record catalogs that specialize in recordings of early music.

   

• The Gregorian Chant Home Page

   

• Medieval Studies Guide at the University of Oregon Libraries

 

LISTSERVS:

 

• CIMCIM-L on listserv@nrm.se
  CIMCIM is the International Musical Instrument Committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) and serves as a focus for the interests of musical instrument museums and collections. It has about 200 members worldwide in nearly 40 countries.
  If you wish to join CIMCIM-L please send a message to, listserv@nrm.se containing the following command on the first line of the body of the message,

  SUB CIMCIM-L Yourfirstname Yourlastname

   

• med-and-ren-music
  This list enables those engaged on research into any aspect of Medieval and Renaissance Music to exchange information. This includes questions of research, conference details and reports, library information and any other useful material.
  To subscribe to this list, send the following commands in the body of an e-mail message to mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk:

  join med-and-ren-music
  help
  stop

 

Organizations' Web Sites

 

• American Musicological Society home page
• Renaissance Society of America

 

University Library/Music School Web Sites

 

 

[Note: these are just a few of the sites. To get a more comprehensive list, see the University of Oregon's library web site, which includes links to the major university libraries in the world.]
• University of Oregon
• Indiana University
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology

 

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