Inside scoop on Oxford Music Online

[Updated on August 13, 2008]

In 2007, Oxford University Press purchased Grove Music Online and the entire family of Grove dictionaries.  Oxford University Press has recently released a complete redesign of Grove Music Online and added to its suite of online resources.

Oxford Music Online includes the content of Grove Music Online as well as the latest editions of the Oxford Dictionary of Music and the Oxford Companion to Music.  Grove Music Online encompasses articles from the New Grove Dictionaries of Music & Musicians, Opera & Jazz.   Oxford University Press has decided to consolidate the articles found in these three dictionaries under one main article. Only these main articles will be updated and revised by the editorial staff.  Future plans will expand Grove Music Online to include content from former  Grove dictionaries, such as the New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments and the New Grove Dictionary of American Music which currently are only in print form.

A new feature of Oxford Music Online includes links to external sources.

“As part of the redevelopment, we have also established partnerships with Classical Music Library, Digital Recordings in American Music (DRAM), and RILM abstracts in music literature.  Links to each of these sites is available from relevant articles for subscribers to those sites.”

Future posts will highlight  new features of Oxford Music Online.  Your feedback is always welcome.  Just email cimlibrary@gmail.com.

RISM Music Manuscripts in British & Irish Music Libraries

In the current, May/June 2008, issue of Choir & Organ, Matthew Power introduces a new resource on music manuscripts located in British and Irish Libraries. RISM United Kingdom & Ireland serves as an open guide to the music manuscript holdings of libraries in the British Isles & Ireland. A collaborative effort, this manuscript database has been six years in the making. Mr. Power provides a description of the database and interviews Sr. Sandra Tuppen, who headed the team of catalogers.

The URL is: http://www.rism.org.uk

An image gallery of select manuscripts is available from the site as well. The database is searchable by keyword, manuscripts, people, institutions, titles, and subject and by library.