Guide to Using Oxford Music Online Created by Rachel Crane, Music/Fine Arts Librarian Wichita State University

Oxford Music Online This is the interface that provides you with access to the electronic version of the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the New Grove Dictionary of Opera, the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, and some of the New Grove Dictionary of America Music, all combined. Find here full text articles about people, places, styles, musical forms, etc. Particularly useful for bibliographies and works lists. Paper copies may be found in the reference section of the Music Library (the latest edition) and Ablah Library (reference section and 2 nd floor, 1980 editions).

Access Oxford Music Online through the library webpage by clicking on the link to “Electronic Databases” (Or click on the “Resources by Subject” link, or select the “Subject Guides” tab. Then choose “Music” from the lists of guides by subject.):

Type “Oxford Music” in the search box, or click on the letter ‘O’ to find it listed:

Click on the title link to enter the database.: Note: For off-campus access you will need to log-in with your myWSU ID and password.

The Oxford Music Online homepage:

You may search in either search box. Please be aware that if you leave the boxes checked for “The Oxford Dictionary of Music,” “The Oxford Companion to Music” or do not check the “Search Only Grove Music Online,” you will receive search results from these additional publications.

Results from the sample search for information on “Mozart. ” Choose the entry from the “Source: Grove Music Online”:

When clicking on either link for “(Johann Chrysostom) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart”…:

The subsections pertaining specifically to Wolfgang Amadeus, within the larger article on the Mozart family will result. The article outline, on the left, provides quick links to other section of the larger article.:

To access the list of a composers works click on the “Works” tab at the top of the page, or the “Works” link at the end of the article or applicable section on the left- hand side of the page.:

Works lists often begin with a designation of the editions referred to in the list of works that follow.:

A sample section of the “Works” list of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:

Most articles conclude with a bibliography, although not necessarily as thorough as this bibliography for W.A. Mozart: (Note: Mouse-over any dotted-underlined abbreviation to determine the full name of the source. A cursor placed over “MQ” in this bibliography would reveal the full journal title, “Musical Quarterly.”)

The bibliographies contain links to the WSU online catalog. Click on the “360 Link to full Text” icon ( ) to see if WSU owns this item.

Combine terms in the search box to uncover relationships within a given article. You may also select “Grove Music Online” to limit your search to Grove encyclopedia entires.

This search for Cage and Cowell found 38 articles containing mention of both composers. Results may be further limited to biographical entries, subject entries, or images.:

In this example, the article on “Exoticism” mentions both composers’ use of gamelan style (highlighted with yellow). You will also note that the blue area at the left provides additional information about the article. The author “Ralph P. Locke” is listed at the top. Article revisions are noted just below, along with links to previous versions. Any links to “Archived Articles” provide access to articles found in other Grove variants such as the “Grove Dictionary of Opera,” the “Grove Dictionary of Jazz,” or the “Grove Dictionary of American Music.”

For additional search The “Advanced Search” option options, choose the is very handy for searching in “Advanced Search” article bibliographies for a link: specific work, or works by a specific author: For additional search The “Advanced Search” option options, choose the is very handy for searching in “Advanced Search” article bibliographies for a link: specific work, or works by a specific author:

This search for Charles Rosen’s book “The Classical Style” throughout all Grove bibliographies results in 16 records:

Upon opening the record, the respective search terms are highlighted in the corresponding bibliography for the article on “Harmony”:

The “Advanced Search” option is also particularly useful when searching for themes or orchestration patterns within the composers work lists:

29 Composers have created works entitled “Transfiguration”:

Both Messiaen and Hovhaness have composed works with the idea of transfiguration in mind: Olivier Messiaen Alan Hovhaness

When searching for a instrumental combination, place the instruments in score order and within quotation marks. For example:

Results in 14 records: An example from the works list of Peggy Glanville-Hicks

From the links at the upper left corner of the screen, you may wish to browse through articles by heading, either all articles (“All Content”), biographies only, or subject entries only. The Tools & Resources pages are highly recommended for in-depth research:

In particular, on the “Tools & Resources” page, follow the link for “Research Resources,” toward the bottom of the page: Click on either blue text link

Some recommended sections to explore for background on music reference resources:

If you have any questions or need further information, please contact me by To return to the Music Library page Click hereClick here. Click here Revised 6/15/2011