The Oxford Companion to Music

First published in 1938, The Oxford Companion to Music has been the first choice for authoritative information on all aspects of music for generations of researchers. Online access to this acclaimed work is included with a subscription to Grove Music Online.

Newly revised for an online-only edition in 2011, the Companion now includes new and updated biographies, with a particular emphasis on contemporary composers; new terms; and improved cross-referencing. In articles that range from clear, concise definitions of musical ideas and terms to extended surveys of musical forms and styles, the Companion features authoritative coverage of virtually every musical subject. Embracing the world of music in all its variety — including jazz, popular music, and dance — the Companion offers a concentrated focus on the Western classic tradition, from the Middle Ages to the present day.

More than 8,000 articles sweep across an extraordinary range of subjects: composers, performers, conductors, individual works, instruments and notation, forms and genres. From the study of music — theory, aesthetics, scholarship — to the way it is performed and disseminated, the Companion provides comprehensive, accessible coverage of music in all its artistic, historical, cultural, and social dimensions.