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Music: Musician Dates & Bios

A comprehensive resource guide for music research

"The Musicians" by Pablo Picasso

painting The Musicians by Pablo Picasso

Biography Databases

20th-21st Century Composers

A Bio-Bibliographical Dictionary of 'Twelve-Tone and Serial Composers.  (1970)
ML 105 .C39

Contemporary American Composers:  A Biographical Dictionary. 2d ed. 
REF ML 390 .A54 1982

Composers in America: Biographical Sketches of Contemporary Composers with a Record of their Works (1947)
ML 390 .R38 1947

Contemporary Composers
REF ML 390 .M677 1992

A Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Composers (1911-1971)
REF ML 118 .T5

Directory of Music Faculties in Colleges and Universities, U.S. and Canada
ML 13 .D57

Index to Biographies of Contemporary Composers
ML 105 .B9 v.1-

Music Since 1900 (1994)
REF ML 197 .S634 1994

Women Composers

Black Women Composers: A Genesis
ML 390 .G83 1983

International Encyclopedia of Women Composers
REF ML 105 .C7 1987

Women Composers: a Handbook
REF ML 105 .S7

Women Composers, Condutors, and Musicians of the Twentieth Century
ML 82 .L46

Women in Music: A Biobibliography.
REF ML 105 .H6

Classical Performers

Concert and Opera Conductors
ML 128 .B3 C68 1987

Concert and Opera Singers
REF ML 128 .B3 C7 1985

Conductors' Gallery: Biographical Sketches of Well-Known Orchestral Conductors
ML 402 .B76 1947

Conductors on Record
REF ML 105 .H65

The Penguin Dictionary of Musical Performers
REF ML 105 .J33 1990

Twentieth-Century Brass Soloists
ML 399 .M4 1994

Composers You Should Know

Visit the Composers You Should Know Guide - many composers listed by time period

General Information

Art Song Composers of Spain: An Encyclopedia
REF ML 106. S7 D73 2009

Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians
REF ML 105 .B16 2001 v.1-6

Biographical Dictionary of Black Musicians and Music Educators
ML 85 .B43

Biographical Dictionary of Russian/Soviet Composers
REF ML 106. S68 B56 1989

Contemporary Musicians
REF ML 385 .C615

The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music
REF ML 105 .H38 1996

International Dictionary of Opera
REF ML 102. O6 I6 1993 v.1-2

International Who's Who in Music and Musicians' Directory
REF ML 106. G7 W4

The New Grove Dictionary of American Music
REF ML 101. U6 N48 1986 v.1-4

The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz
REF ML102.J3 N48 1994
REF ML102.J3 N48 1988

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
REF ML 100 .N48 1980 (more current online)

American Composers and Musicians

Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians
REF ML 105 .S67 1982

Biographical Dictionary of American Music
REF ML 106. U3 C6

Contemporary American Composers: A Biographical Dictionary
REF ML 390 .A54 1982

Dictionary of American Composers 
REF ML 106 .U3 B87 1984

Directory of Music Faculties in Colleges and Universities, U.S. and Canada
ML 13 .D57

Fifteen Black American Composers: A Biography of Their Works
REF ML 106 .U3 T57

The New Grove Dictionary of American Music
REF ML 101 .U6 N48 1986 v.1-4

Who's Who in American Music. Classical. 2nd ed. (1985)
REF ML 106 .U3 W35

Gospel/Pop/Jazz Musicians

Afro-American Religious Music: A Bibliography and a Catalogue of Gospel Music
REF ML 128 .S4 J3

Biography of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers
ML 390 .H25 1971

The Complete Encyclopedia of Popular Music and Jazz, 1900-1950
REF ML 102 .P66 K55 v.1-4

Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World
REF ML 102 .P66 C66 2003

The Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music
REF ML 102 .G6 E63 2005

Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock and Soul
REF ML 102 .P66 S8 1989

Encyclopedia of World Pop Music, 1980-2001
ML 102 .P66 J44 2003

The Encyclopedia of Popular Music, 4th ed.
REF ML 102 .P66 G84 2006 v.1-10

Encyclopedia of Rock
REF ML 102 .R6 H37 1988

The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz
REF ML102.J3 N48 1994
REF ML102.J3 N48 1988

The Oxford Companion to Jazz
REF ML 3507 .J32 2000

The Rock Who's Who
REF ML 102 .R6 H5 1996

The Virgin Directory of World Music
REF ML 3470 .S95 1992

Who's Who of Jazz: Storyville to Swing Street
REF ML 106 .U3 C5 1985