Reader's Guide to Music: History, Theory, Criticism.(Review)

Reader's Guide to Music: History, Theory, Criticism. Edited by Murray Steib. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1999. [xxxvi, 891 p. ISBN 1-57958-143-9. $135.]

This volume comprises approximately five hundred entries that "describe and evaluate the critical monographic literature in English on a wide variety of topics" (p. vii), including composers, theorists, and historians (but not performers). The focus is on Western art music, with a few entries on non-Western and popular music included as well. In determining what topics to cover, the editor chose to Omit those "for which there were fewer than two books in English" (p. viii). In addition to the useful "Alphabetical List of Entries" (pp. xv-xx), there is a "Thematic List" (pp. xxi-xxxvi) that will help the reader find entries that relate to a particular subject; the heading "Ethnomusicology" (p. xxiv), for example, directs attention to entries for specific regions or countries, important individuals in the history of the discipline, and ethnomusicological issues (history, theory, method, and the uses of notation).

The main body of the work is arranged alphabetically. Each entry begins with a select bibliography; this is followed by a discussion that provides an overview of the topic, summarizes the literature cited in the bibliography, and comments on related issues. There is a "Booklist Index" (pp. 799-834) as well as a "General Index" (pp. 835-72), each following word-by-word rather than letter-by-letter alphabetization; readers would be well advised to consult both when looking for the name of a particular author or editor. The volume concludes with "Notes on Advisers and Contributors (pp. 875-91), which gives thumbnail biographies of the scholars (over 250) who contributed and identifies their entries.

Several features of this volume are disconcerting. For example, there are no entries for Harrison Birtwistle or Karel Husa, for at the time the volume was assembled, neither met the requirement of having been the subject of two books in ...